3.99/5
1,662 reviews
Photo by Patrick Craig via Unsplash

Ubud, Bali

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great

canggu

yoga

nomads

coworking

party

good

outpost

internet

jungle

designed

traffic

ride

beautiful

spots

road

spaces

older

yogis

Ubud is popular among digital nomads thanks to its fast and reliable internet, multiple coworking spaces like Outpost, and affordable cost of living. You can find decent housing under $1,000/month, and eat out for $10–20 per person. The area offers a unique mix of jungle views and modern amenities, with activities like yoga, gym access (e.g., Titibatu), and cultural festivals. There's also a sizable expat community, making it easy to meet people and network. Villages like Penestanan and Nyuh Kuning are common residential choices for long stays.

However, Ubud has serious drawbacks. Traffic is a recurring complaint—roads are congested and noisy, with scooters often weaving through narrow lanes. It's not walkable; sidewalks are barely existent, and many visitors recommend riding a motorbike to get around. Some describe the town center as chaotic and overdeveloped, comparing it to a theme park. Cleanliness is another issue—trash in streams and littering are frequently mentioned.

Overall, Ubud offers a comfortable remote work setup and a vibrant expat environment but comes with trade-offs in infrastructure, noise, and pollution. Best suited for those who prioritize work-life balance over urban convenience.

AI-generated summary of reviews
9 months ago

Ubud is an excellent place for digital nomads. Accommodation is reasonably priced—a decent house or room can be found for under $1,000. Meals at local cafes cost between $10-20 per person.
There's an excellent coworking space called Outpost. It's open 24/7 with multiple internet channels—connectivity never let me down. They have both quiet and loud zones. I spent a month there and really enjoyed it. Monthly membership ranges from $150-200 depending on the package you choose.
The town of Ubud itself is just 3-4 streets, with surrounding villages beyond that.
The main attractions in this area are temples, rituals, and yoga centers. This gives the town a slightly ethereal, "spaced-out" vibe. I love this kind of atmosphere, so I felt right at home.
There's a huge expat community that's very easy to meet and connect with. During our month there, we made acquaintances and even friends.
There are plenty of gyms—I can recommend Titibatu, which isn't just a gym but also a space with saunas and two huge pools.
Ubud is very beautiful—you're living in the jungle with city comforts, plenty of cafes, tons of activities for any taste. However, there are downsides:

Traffic jams – The city wasn't designed for this volume of traffic, and the streets seem to have been designed for no clear purpose. If you don't know how to ride a motorbike on the shoulder, in oncoming lanes, and weave around cars, you'll have a hard time.
No walkability – There are no sidewalks or pedestrian paths here. This place is absolutely not designed for walking.
Dirty – Locals litter everywhere, and you often see them throwing trash into streams. Many beautiful spots have piles of garbage.

9 months ago

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.

2 years 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.

2 years 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.

2 years 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.

3 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!

4 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.

7 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.

7 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.

8 years ago

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

8 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.

8 years ago

✅ Fast internet

✅ Great for digital nomads

✅ Affordable accommodation

✅ Beautiful surroundings

✅ Strong expat community

✅ Many coworking spaces

✅ Affordable to live

✅ Very safe

✅ Lots of fun stuff to do

✅ Warm now

✅ Warm all year round

✅ Good air quality usually

✅ 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

❌ Heavy traffic

❌ Not walkable

❌ Dirty

❌ Overdeveloped

❌ Noisy

❌ 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)

3290°
hot

3391°
hot

3290°
hot

2882°
warm

2984°
warm

3290°
hot

3188°
hot

Real (median)

2781°
warm

2882°
very warm

2781°
warm

2678°
warm

2679°
warm

2781°
warm

Humidity

sweaty
88%

sweaty
87%

sweaty
86%

sweaty
83%

sweaty
84%

sweaty
86%

nice
82%

nice
83%

nice
82%

sweaty
86%

Most common

☔️ Rain

Rain

rainy
384mm

rainy
273mm

rainy
249mm

rainy
93mm

rainy
80mm

rainy
77mm

rainy
54mm

dry
43mm

rainy
62mm

rainy
116mm

rainy
253mm

rainy
222mm

Cloud

overcast
90%

cloudy
84%

cloudy
78%

cloudy
61%

pockets
48%

pockets
41%

pockets
40%

pockets
33%

pockets
36%

pockets
45%

cloudy
65%

cloudy
86%

Air quality

okay
50 US AQI

bad
136 US AQI

okay
50 US AQI

Sun

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
9 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
9 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

Remote workers

7,306 people

7,500 people

7,767 people

9,185 people

5,682 people

6,450 people

3,400 people

5,541 people

7,125 people

7,088 people

8,160 people

5,963 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

Current weather data from MET Norway (CC BY 4.0)

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

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✈️4h

$1,666 / mo

32 Mbps

Indonesia

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked bad

👮 Safety bad

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 31° 88° 27° 81° Barely AC 🥵 AQI 127 😷

🚕44min

$3,430 / mo

🌇 Also went here681 people

Singapore

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 36° 97° 29° 85° Has AC AQI 134 😷

✈️2h

$5,532 / mo

🌇 Also went here667 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.

🎒 Nomad Score™	3.99/5 (Rank #24) 1662 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍13 liked it 👎3 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Good
👶 Family score	Okay
🎒 Community score	Okay
🤯 Overcrowding score	9% is nomad here
💵 Cost	😙 Affordable: $1,991 / mo
📡 Internet	😡 Slow: 14 Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Great
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🥵 Hot: 29°C84°F (feels 35°C95°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	🥵 Sweaty: 82%
❄️ % of buildings with AC	🥵 Very low: 9%
💨 Air quality (now)	😷 Unhealthy for some: 136 US AQI
💨 Air quality (annual)	🌱 Great: 50 US AQI
👌 Safety	Good
👩 Safe for women	Good
🌈 Safe for LGBTQ+	Good
🤮 Food safety*	Okay
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Great
🤝 Lack of racism*	Great
🎓 Education level*	Mediocre
⚡️ Power grid	Great
🌊 Resilience to climate change	Good
💰 Income level*	Very poor: $422 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Bad
😤 People density	🧘‍♀️ Low density: 4k ppl/km² (1 per 16x16m)
🚶 Walkability	Great
🚦 Traffic safety*	Bad
✈️ Airline scores*	Great
🧳 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
🎅 Startup Score	Okay

🌍 Continent	Asia
🚩 Country	Indonesia
🗓️ Average trip length	17 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	14 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	☀️ 29°C 84°F + 🥵 Sweaty (82%) = feels 35°C 95°F
💨 Air quality (now)	👎😷 136 US AQI = 🚬 🚬 / day
💨 Air quality (annual avg)	👍 50 US AQI
🔌 Power	230V 50Hz
🧔 Best neighborhood to stay	Jalan Raya
🚀 Upcoming neighborhood	North Ubud
🚕 Best taxi app*	GoJEK
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
💸 100,000 IDR in USD	USD 5.57
🏧 Suggested ATM take out:	IDR 10,000,000 = USD 557
💸 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
🦷 Fluoride added	🚫 No fluoride added
♻️ Return rate	👍13% of visitors return
📸 Visitors per year	6,238,300 visitors
📸 Tourists now	119,557 tourists
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	77,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$5,060 / year
😤 Population density	🧘‍♀️ not busy: 16x16m (256m²) per person
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 77% 👱‍♀️ 23%
⛪️ 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	$1,991 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$1,895 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$4,374 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$1,250 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$514 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$2,823 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$1,187 / month
🏠 Median home price	$212,154
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$24 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$93 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$204 / month
🍛 Dinner	$3
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$1
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$2
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$2
👩‍🏫 International school	$5,211 / year
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi)	$1 / trip

Ubud, Bali

7,200 remote workers in Ubud now, of which 9+ members checked in (some members are set to private)

Members who will be here soon

Members who have been here

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