Bali Flights/Favorite Things to Do

[amberlyrose]

We're going with friends to Bali from Jakarta in February. We have 4 days in Ubud and about 1.5 days near South Kuta on the beach. 

First- best airlines and airport from Jakarta recs? We like cheap, but we also like safe  

Favorite temples, food, things to see in Ubud?

Best suggestions for transportation from/to airport, between our AirBnBs?

I saw you guys talked about Bali earlier, so I'm tagging you: wise_rita, rupertpenny, SJ. Thanks!

[SJ]

How fun!

We like the sunset dance at Uluwatu, the monkey forest (well, I kind of hate the monkey forest- but it's a beautiful setting and worth seeing) & Dirty Duck restaurant in Ubud. There is lots of fun artsy shopping & galleries & yoga places & such as well. You can get a driver and go explore the rice terraces. I know there are some fabulous fine dining restaurants in/near Ubud, but we haven't been.

For beach, we normally stay up on the North Coast, but near Kuta we like to do the seafood dinners on the beach (Jimbaran Bay I think?)

For transportation, use Uber! Easy & cheaper than cabs.

We are going in January, but will be flying from Jogyakarta not Jakarta on Lion Air. My IL's live on Java so they made all the on the ground arrangements.

I will PM you the link to a friend's blog who just spent a month in Indonesia.

Our itinerary this time. Arrive to CGK, then spend several days at IL's house. Fly SUB-JOG (Sri Wijaya), see Borobodour & Prambanan, fly JOG-DPS (Lion Air), spend 2 days near Kuta, then 3 nights on the North Coast, then DPS - CGK (Lion Air) & home from there.

[rupertpenny]

I don't really know anything about the airline options between Java and Denpasar. We flew Garuda back to Hong Kong and it was actually really nice. My understanding is that they had some problems a while ago but have turned things around and are a perfectly legit airline now.

Definitely do a seafood dinner on Jimbaran bay! It's really gorgeous and the food was great.

We unfortunately didn't have much time in ibis because we got stuck in KL for a day on the way there, but we did go to Naughty Nuri's and it was good. We went to the Nusa Dua branch of the dirty duck place (Bebek Bengil ?) and were kind of disappointed but I'm sure the Ubud one is better.

The best thing we did was hire a driver to take us from Ubud to Nusa Dua when we switched hotels. He made it a tour and we stopped at the Teggalalang rice terraces, a traditional coffee farm with the little animals that eat the coffee beans, and a temple. He also tried to find somewhere for us to eat Babi guling but the places were all closed because it was a holiday. The company we used was Bali Made and our driver was Sweca. We were going to have them pick us up at the airport too but since our flight was delayed and we got in a day late we just got a taxi.

You will have a great time amberlyrose! Bali is so gorgeous. I really want to go back soon.

[wise_rita]

Ibu Oka restaurant(s) in Ubud has been overrun with tourists, but it's totally worth it. There's 3 locations so you can get your babi gulig fix. I'd spend one of your Ubud days going out of town to the rice terrace, the lewak coffee farm and the elephant safari park. I think it'd be difficult to entertain yourself for 4 full days in Ubud.

I wish we'd done the walks just west of town (I think it might still be considered in town). I heard the scenery is stunning.

Beware of the monkeys at Uluwatu, they steal glasses and flip flops, but if you stand your ground the sunset is phenomenal. The monkeys at the Ubud Monkey Forest were far less nefarious, so plan to spend at least 2 hours there.

Can't help you on airlines. What are your options? I'd go for the most non-local one there is - ha!

[rupertpenny]

Dec 23, 2015 19:08:28 GMT -5 @chloe77 said:

Jumping in - is Jetstar a terrible airline to take to Bali? We may be flying from Cairns to Bali, and Jetstar has the only direct flight. Otherwise, we'll have to go via Sydney or Brisbane. I'd rather not change planes as we will have kids with us.

I've never taken Jetstar but I wouldn't hesitate to do this. Direct flights are a must with kids!

[wise_rita]

Dec 23, 2015 19:08:28 GMT -5 @chloe77 said:

Jumping in - is Jetstar a terrible airline to take to Bali? We may be flying from Cairns to Bali, and Jetstar has the only direct flight. Otherwise, we'll have to go via Sydney or Brisbane. I'd rather not change planes as we will have kids with us.

Jetstar, a.k.a. the Bogan Bus, is perfectly fine.  I flew them from BNE to Denpasar direct, and it's not worth flying yourself [half way down] the country to avoid them.

Besides, from Cairns the flight should be short!  I know from Darwin it's like 2 hours.  Crazy!

[origami]

I have been in Ubud for about a week. It's awesome. Here is what we liked and would recommend:
Things to do:
-Monkey Forest
-Ubud Palace and Art Market
-Elephant Park
-Tegalalang rice paddies/terraces
-Bike tour - includes coffee plantation, seeing rice paddies and a bunch of rural villages/temples
-Shopping in various craft villages - batik, silver, woodcarving, painting.
-Campuhan Ridge Walk - we did the 2km walk but there is a longer one if you like hiking. The 2km one ends at a restaurant with cute over the water bungalows you can eat in. It's also a spa.
-if I didn't have small kids I would have done the sunrise hike on the volcano.
-Get a bunch of massages or other spa treatments because they're DIRT cheap.

Temples:
-Tirta Empul temple (has pools where worshippers wash themselves and pray.)
-Goa Gajah - elephant cave. (Small and inside the cave is unimpressive but the carvings on the outside are interesting so it's a good stop if you're in the area IMO.)
-Tanah Lot (becomes an island in high tide). Most people go at sunset.
-Uluwatu - I haven't seen it yet because we're going next week but it's a good one I hear.

I have an itinerary with the above planned out if you want it. For food we have just eaten at different restaurants on the main downtown Ubud streets and we haven't had a bad meal yet.

[whatnext]

I haven't been yet but hiking one of the volcanos is high on my list of things to do

[amberlyrose]

Dec 25, 2015 3:15:25 GMT -5 origami said:

I have been in Ubud for about a week. It's awesome. Here is what we liked and would recommend:
Things to do:
-Monkey Forest
-Ubud Palace and Art Market
-Elephant Park
-Tegalalang rice paddies/terraces
-Bike tour - includes coffee plantation, seeing rice paddies and a bunch of rural villages/temples
-Shopping in various craft villages - batik, silver, woodcarving, painting.
-Campuhan Ridge Walk - we did the 2km walk but there is a longer one if you like hiking. The 2km one ends at a restaurant with cute over the water bungalows you can eat in. It's also a spa.
-if I didn't have small kids I would have done the sunrise hike on the volcano.
-Get a bunch of massages or other spa treatments because they're DIRT cheap.

Temples:
-Tirta Empul temple (has pools where worshippers wash themselves and pray.)
-Goa Gajah - elephant cave. (Small and inside the cave is unimpressive but the carvings on the outside are interesting so it's a good stop if you're in the area IMO.)
-Tanah Lot (becomes an island in high tide). Most people go at sunset.
-Uluwatu - I haven't seen it yet because we're going next week but it's a good one I hear.

I have an itinerary with the above planned out if you want it. For food we have just eaten at different restaurants on the main downtown Ubud streets and we haven't had a bad meal yet.

Can you get me the itinerary? Also, how's the weather? Thanks!!

[origami]

Jan 14, 2016 13:32:53 GMT -5 amberlyrose said:

Dec 25, 2015 3:15:25 GMT -5 origami said:

I have been in Ubud for about a week. It's awesome. Here is what we liked and would recommend:
Things to do:
-Monkey Forest
-Ubud Palace and Art Market
-Elephant Park
-Tegalalang rice paddies/terraces
-Bike tour - includes coffee plantation, seeing rice paddies and a bunch of rural villages/temples
-Shopping in various craft villages - batik, silver, woodcarving, painting.
-Campuhan Ridge Walk - we did the 2km walk but there is a longer one if you like hiking. The 2km one ends at a restaurant with cute over the water bungalows you can eat in. It's also a spa.
-if I didn't have small kids I would have done the sunrise hike on the volcano.
-Get a bunch of massages or other spa treatments because they're DIRT cheap.

Temples:
-Tirta Empul temple (has pools where worshippers wash themselves and pray.)
-Goa Gajah - elephant cave. (Small and inside the cave is unimpressive but the carvings on the outside are interesting so it's a good stop if you're in the area IMO.)
-Tanah Lot (becomes an island in high tide). Most people go at sunset.
-Uluwatu - I haven't seen it yet because we're going next week but it's a good one I hear.

I have an itinerary with the above planned out if you want it. For food we have just eaten at different restaurants on the main downtown Ubud streets and we haven't had a bad meal yet.

Can you get me the itinerary? Also, how's the weather? Thanks!!

sure, I'll do it tonight when I get back home. The weather in Ubud was comfortable(70s)/humid and rainy. The rain was light enough not to interfere with sightseeing except for one day. The rain was mostly in the afternoon/evening. In Nusa Dua the weather was absolutely perfect. Have a great time! Bali is awesome.

[ashap]

Bali is up there on my favorite places list!

We did
-Monkey Forest (buy the banana's on the way in!)
-Bike tour is a must must must we used Halo Bike Tours and it was absolutely amazing.

I did a write about on our Bali trip here if you are interested or still need suggestions. 

[larzhope]

We also did the monkey forest, which was pretty neat. do not carry food in your bags, and be very careful not to step on the monkey's tails (not that I'm speaking from experience...)

I second the recommendation for seafood dinner on Jimbaran Bay - we stayed in that area so it was out of sheer laziness, but it was one of the highlights of our trip.

Have fun!