2.81/5
1,510 reviews
Photo by Patrick Craig via Unsplash

Ubud, Bali

To increase honesty, reviews are anonymous. You can only add one review per city or it replaces/edits your old one. Reviews with URLs or emails are removed. If you're writing about data being wrong, please don't do it here as it'll be removed here.

great

canggu

party

good

yoga

road

nomads

coworking

spaces

older

yogis

cheap

jungle

night

hope

stay

starting

traffic

Ubud receives mixed feedback from reviewers, especially from digital nomads and long-term visitors. For remote workers, it offers strong appeal thanks to fast and reliable internet and many co-working spaces like Outpost. The area also has stunning natural surroundings, such as rice fields and jungle, and generally friendly, welcoming locals, making it an inviting place to settle for a while. Some visitors also highlight meeting other remote professionals and entrepreneurs, creating a sense of community. Learning to ride a scooter is highly recommended to get around efficiently.

However, multiple reviews emphasize significant downsides, particularly in and around the center of Ubud. These include heavy traffic, noise pollution, and a sense that the town has become overly touristy and inauthentic. Infrastructure, such as the road network, is lacking, which can make commuting or scheduling activities challenging. Burning seasons near rice fields can also be unpleasant if staying nearby. While some people find it livable with adjustments, others find it overwhelming and recommend limiting stays to shorter visits unless one is fully prepared for the area's challenges.

AI-generated summary of reviews

The whole city is a well made jungle flavored theme park. A well-designed area where even the inconveniences are intentional. If you are not a party monster I still recommend living here. It's heaven on earth. The downside is the road network infrastructure. I don't recommend planning a lot of moving schedule when living here. Drivers use Klaxons as a way to communicate on the one way road at night, so pick a your house that's set back from the road. I hope they build a good subway throughout the whole island of Bali.

4 months ago

Ubud is dead. I plan to stay here for a month starting today, but my heart is already breaking. The traffic is too much. The center of Ubud is always crowded with cars and motorcycles, not a very relaxing environment. It's a pity.

1 year ago

Spent 10 months here in 2019 (Nyuh Kuning) and another 10 mo in 2023 (Penestanan). Worked at Outpost, which had reliable internet and organized socials. Met some folks starting up a business or working remote. Around 3pm (or 9am Moscow time) the ambient language shifted to Russian. Before you come, learn to ride a scooter. Seriously. Noisy, dirty, chaotic, incredibly beautiful and kind people. Avoid staying next to a rice field during burning season.

1 year ago

Can’t recommend Ubud. It’s just the same overdeveloped and overpriced mentally isolated tourist trap that is Canggu, just a bit worse. If you have never been anywhere else, it might be okay for 2 weeks, but to any seasoned traveller it’s a the type of place you dread.

2 years ago

Great place for Digital Nomads :) Fast internet, many Co-working spaces and beautiful views around - rice fields, jungle, palms :) Oh, yeah! One of the best place in the World to work remotely!

2 years ago

Honestly, this is an awesome place to be if you're actually trying to get work done. It's a bit of an older vibe than Canggu, and there's certainly a big chunk of yogi's kicking around — but I liked it much better than Canggu and found it less pretentious. Plus, you can drive down there in 45mins whenever you want some beach or party vibes.

As others mentioned, there's some great coworking spaces, cheap warungs, some really nice spots to stay cheaply if you go just outside of the mad touristy areas like Hanoman/Monkey Forest/Penestan.

You're definitely going to want a scooter, and you'll learn quickly which roads to avoid at what times because the traffic can be pretty crazy — but that's true for Canggu as well.

It's green and lush, there's great food and a handful of good bars, lots of great pools and chillout spots, good yoga and gyms, and you're within 45mins ride of the beach, waterfalls, and jungles. Pretty damn good in my books.

6 years ago

Ubud is great for older nomads over 35 who are over the party scene. It has great amenities like coworking spaces (HUBUD and Outpost), a dope-ass gym (Titi Batu) and some of the best yoga studios in the world (Yoga Barn and Radiantly Alive). And that's not even mentioning the food, which is incredible. Cons: no Uber or metered taxis so getting around is a total pain and the wild dogs at night can be treacherous. Overall, I don't understand why it's slipped in the rankings bc it really is awesome.

6 years ago

I like it here better than Canggu. It's more walkable, more cheap warungs, more convenient. You could find all kinds of shop catering to different type of visitor, from cheap to luxurious. Not a party place if you're looking for it, which made it even more perfect. More female than male, great for dating.

6 years ago

Agree with the other comment. Full of weirdos and yogis.

6 years ago

This used to be the hotspot for digital nomads in Bali until 2016 when Canggu took over. It’s more deserted now and mostly filled with Chinese tourbuses, older Euro families and some yoga girls and yogi’s. Not as hip as it once was. Who knows when it will make a revival. I hope.

7 years ago

✅ Fast internet

✅ Beautiful scenery

✅ Friendly people

✅ Very safe

✅ Lots of fun stuff to do

✅ Warm now

✅ Warm all year round

✅ Good air quality on average

✅ Nomads.com members liked going here

✅ Many Nomads.com members here all year round

✅ Spacious and not crowded

✅ Easy to make friends

✅ Easy to do business

✅ Democratic

✅ Very safe for women

✅ Family friendly

✅ Very friendly to LGBTQ+

✅ Not a lot of alcohol abuse

❌ Overdeveloped and touristy

❌ Traffic and noise

❌ Poor infrastructure

❌ Freedom of speech is weak

❌ Very sweaty and humid now

❌ Quality of education is low

❌ Hospitals are bad

❌ Roads can be dangerous

❌ People don't speak English well

❌ Many people smoke tobacco

❌ Marijuana is illegal

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Feels (median)

33°C / 91°F hot

32°C / 90°F hot

33°C / 91°F hot

29°C / 84°F warm

30°C / 86°F warm

31°C / 88°F hot

36°C / 97°F hot

34°C / 93°F hot

36°C / 97°F hot

Real (median)

28°C / 82°F
very warm

26°C / 79°F
warm

27°C / 80°F
warm

27°C / 81°F
warm

29°C / 84°F
very warm

28°C / 82°F
very warm

29°C / 84°F
very warm

Humidity

sweaty
90%

sweaty
87%

sweaty
84%

sweaty
85%

sweaty
88%

nice
84%

sweaty
85%

sweaty
86%

sweaty
92%

sweaty
89%

Most common

☔️ Rain

Rain

rainy
384mm

rainy
272mm

rainy
249mm

rainy
92mm

rainy
79mm

rainy
76mm

rainy
54mm

dry
42mm

rainy
62mm

rainy
116mm

rainy
253mm

rainy
222mm

Cloud

cloudy
60%

cloudy
54%

pockets
50%

pockets
36%

pockets
42%

pockets
41%

pockets
42%

pockets
47%

pockets
49%

cloudy
60%

cloudy
52%

Sun

avoid sun
6 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

avoid sun
6 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
6 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

Remote workers

2,507 people

2,543 people

2,713 people

3,109 people

1,863 people

2,013 people

1,137 people

1,675 people

2,585 people

2,486 people

2,862 people

2,029 people

Green is good. Red is bad. Values shown are the medians of all daily highs in a month based on past few years, not necessarily current numbers. Remote worker count is estimated based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members.

If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomads.com's Climate Finder

Based on Ubud's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:

	Lead Data Engineer @ Open Architects
	Software Engineer II @ Everbridge
	Senior React Native SDK Engineer @ Nami ML
	Tech Cofounder CTO @ Founders Factory
	Senior Backend Engineer @ HockeyStack
	Senior Full stack Developer @ Lemon.io
	Senior Account Lead @ Sanctuary Computer
	Developer Productivity Engineer @ Narwhal Technologies Inc.
	Spanish Speaking Software Support E... @ Payara
	Full Stack .NET Developer @ Smart Working Solutions
	Typescript Engineer @ wander.com

Help pick the best photos for Ubud and improve this page's look by tappingclicking on them and the site saves your feedback Vote photos

1194pts

597pts

197pts

145pts

133pts

118pts

113pts

85pts

68pts

36pts

35pts

25pts

22pts

18pts

15pts

10pts

8pts

1079pts

367pts

196pts

143pts

124pts

117pts

103pts

74pts

38pts

36pts

33pts

23pts

22pts

17pts

13pts

10pts

8pts

915pts

248pts

164pts

136pts

124pts

115pts

94pts

72pts

37pts

35pts

31pts

22pts

19pts

16pts

🚕3h

$1,090 / mo

9 Mbps

Canggu, Bali

Indonesia

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked bad

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 30° 86° 28° 83° AQI 50

🚕44min

$2,073 / mo

🌇 Also went here631 people

Members who will be here soon

Members who have been here

Values shown are estimated visits by traveling remote workers based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members. Visits to a place are only counted once per year per user, even if they visit more in that year. Visits are also normalized by overall trips added per month on the site, so if site usage goes up or down it does not affect trends. Not all digital nomads are on Nomads.com, and not all Nomads.com members log their trips. So the data is only indicative.

The chart below shows visitors by nationality normalized for population size. This means we take all trips logged on Nomads.com, check which country of origin the user is from, then divide that total visit count by the country of origin's population. If we didn't, it'd just show the big countries like US, Brazil and India always on top. Instead, this shows which nationalities worldwide proportionally visit more or less, which is more useful.

⭐️ Total score	2.81/5 (Rank #124) 1510 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍11 liked it 👎3 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Good
👶 Family score	Okay
🎒 Community score	Good
💵 Cost	😙 Affordable: $2,378 / mo
📡 Internet	😡 Slow: 12Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Great
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🥵 Hot: 28°C82°F (feels 31°C88°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	🥵 Sweaty: 77%
💨 Air quality (now)	🌱 Great: 50 US AQI
👌 Safety	Great
🤮 Food safety*	Okay
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Great
🤝 Lack of racism*	Great
🎓 Education level*	Mediocre
⚡️ Power grid	Great
🌊 Vulnerability to climate change	Good
💰 Income level*	Very low: $298 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Bad
😤 People density	🧘‍♀️ Low density: 4k ppl/km² (1 per 16x16m)
🚶 Walkability	Great
🚦 Traffic safety*	Bad
✈️ Airline scores*	Good
🧳 Lost luggage*	Great
😄 Happiness*	Okay
🍸 Nightlife	Okay
📶 Free WiFi in city	Okay
🖥 Places to work from	Great
❄️ A/C or heating	Okay
😁 Friendly to foreigners	Good
🗯 Freedom of speech*	Okay
👩 Female friendly	Good
🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly	Good
🎅 Startup Score	Okay

🌍 Continent	Asia
🚩 Country	Indonesia
🗓️ Average trip length	16 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	12 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	🌥 28°C 82°F + 🥵 Sweaty (77%) = feels 31°C 88°F
💨 Air quality (now)	👍 50 US AQI 🍃 OK
🔌 Power	230V 50Hz
🧔 Best neighborhood to stay	Sayan
🚀 Upcoming neighborhood	North Ubud
🚕 Best taxi app*	GoJEK
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
💸 100,000 IDR in USD	USD 6.13
🏧 Suggested ATM take out:	IDR 1,000,000 = USD 61
💸 Tipping	Yes, 7.50%
💳 Cashless	💵 No, cash only (esp. for foreigners)
💻 Best coworking space	Outpost
☕️ Best coffee place	KAFE
☕️ Best alt. coffee place	Kismet
🚰 Tap water	🚫 No, not drinkable
♻️ Return rate	👍13% of visitors return
📸 Visitors per year	6,238,300 visitors
📸 Tourists now	119,557 tourists
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	80,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$3,570 / year
😤 Population density	🧘‍♀️ not busy: 16x16m (256m²) per person
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 76% 👱‍♀️ 24%
⛪️ Religious government	Religious
💻 Online electronics shop	Tokopedia
🏠 Apartment listings	Airbnb
✈️ Best short-haul air carrier	Air Asia
✈️ Best int'l air carrier	Singapore Airlines
🏥 Best hospital	BIMC Hospital

💵 Cost of living for nomad	$2,378 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$2,261 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$4,574 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$1,307 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$731 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$4,226 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$1,270 / month
🏠 Median home price	$233,759
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$34 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$139 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$222 / month
🍛 Dinner	$2
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$1
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$2
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$2
👩‍🏫 International school	$6,133 / year