Ubud With Kids: Rice Terraces, the Monkey Forest and a Pool Villa

Ubud is the town in the hills of Bali where the rice grows in steps and the monkeys run the temple. It is the half of Bali that is not a beach, and for a family it is the half to do first.

Rent a villa with a pool. In Ubud a two bedroom villa with a private pool, a garden and a cook who makes breakfast costs less than a chain hotel room in Florida. Book one on the edge of town, in the rice fields, with a driver on call.

The Tegalalang rice terraces are the postcard, twenty minutes north. Go at seven before the tour buses, walk down into the terraces, and let the kids run the paths between the paddies. The swing over the valley is a tourist thing and the kids will want it and it is fine.

The Sacred Monkey Forest is in the middle of town. Seven hundred macaques in a temple forest, and the rules are simple. No food, no sunglasses, nothing dangling, and do not look them in the eye. Follow the rules and it is one of the best hours in Asia. Break them and a monkey has your hat.

The dance, the class, the water

The Kecak dance at the palace or the Uluwatu temple, a hundred men chanting in a circle around a fire while the Ramayana is acted out. Kids follow it because there is a monkey army and a fire. The Legong at the Ubud palace is the graceful one.

A cooking class with a market visit in the morning. Tirta Empul, the water temple where Balinese families bathe in the spring pools, a dip the kids will remember. A day at a waterfall, Tegenungan or Tibumana, with a swim.

Four nights. Then a beach at Sanur or Nusa Dua for the calm water, or the boat to the Gili Islands for turtles and no cars.

Planning Indonesia with kids? Start with the full Indonesia family travel guide, or send me the ages and the dates and I will come back with what is really available.