Short answer: Ubud is the best base in Bali for day trips because it sits in the middle of the island — and the worst place to trust a mapping app, because these are mountain roads. Five routes work properly in a day. A driver is 600,000–900,000 IDR including petrol. Leave at 6:30am for every one of them.
Last checked: 12 August 2026. Prices in Indonesian rupiah. Drive times are measured, not app estimates, which underestimate these roads consistently.
The five routes
| Route | Drive one way | Full day? | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Bali waterfalls (Sekumpul + Banyumala) | 2–2.5 hr | Yes, long | The biggest payoff on this list |
| Temple + rice terrace loop (Tirta Empul, Goa Gajah, Tegallalang) | 20–50 min each | Half to full | Culture, and the easiest day |
| Kintamani and Batur | 1–1.5 hr | Yes | Volcano views, crater lake, cool air |
| Jatiluwih and west | 1.5–1.75 hr | Yes | Rice terraces without the photo platforms |
| East coast (Sidemen, Padang Bai, Bias Tugel) | 1.5–2 hr | Yes | Green valleys plus a swim |
1. North Bali waterfalls
Sekumpul (~2h15m from Ubud, ~125,000 IDR including the mandatory local guide) is a cluster of falls dropping into one valley, with a genuine 40-minute descent and river crossings. That walk is the filter — most groups photograph from the viewpoint and leave. Go down.
Banyumala Twin Waterfall (~2h, ~40,000 IDR) is 40 minutes from Sekumpul: two parallel falls into a shallow, clear pool you can actually swim in, which is rarer in Bali than people expect.
Doing both in one north Bali run is the best waterfall day on the island. Leave Ubud at 6am, Sekumpul first, Banyumala after, back by late afternoon.
Honest note: the Sekumpul climb back up is brutal in humidity. If your knees are a problem, it is a viewpoint visit.
Full detail: 5 waterfalls in Bali worth the ride.
2. Temple and rice terrace loop
The easiest day, and the one to do first.
- Tegallalang Rice Terraces (25–35 min, ~50,000 IDR + parking) — arrive before 8am, and walk down and keep going. Fifteen minutes in, the crowd disappears. Budget 20,000–30,000 for the small donation gates along the walk, in small notes.
- Tirta Empul (~30 min, ~50,000 IDR + sarong) — the purification temple. To actually bathe rather than watch, arrive by 8am, bring a sarong you do not mind soaking, and follow the local queue rather than cutting it. This is an active religious site.
- Goa Gajah (~15 min, ~50,000 IDR) — 11th century, meditation cave behind a carved stone face, bathing pools. Small site, 45 minutes, the most historically interesting thing near Ubud.
Shoulders covered and sarong on at every temple, and step aside for anyone carrying offerings.
3. Kintamani and Mount Batur
~1–1.5 hours north. A crater rim with a volcano and a lake in front of you, and air that is noticeably cooler than the coast — a genuine relief after weeks at 30°C.
- Sunrise trek up Batur is the famous version: roughly a 2am pickup, a 2-hour climb in the dark, sunrise from the summit. Guides are mandatory and cost 400,000–700,000 IDR depending on the package.
- Or skip the climb entirely and have breakfast on the crater rim at 8am, which is a different and much lazier good day.
- Toya Devasya and the hot springs by the lake are worth an afternoon.
Honest note: the sunrise trek is genuinely early, genuinely cold at the top, and genuinely crowded on the summit. Worth doing once if you want it, not because it appears on every itinerary.
4. Jatiluwih and the west
~1.5–1.75 hours. UNESCO-listed rice terraces that are far larger, far less staged and far less crowded than Tegallalang — no swings, no photo platforms, just an enormous stepped valley you walk through. Entry is modest.
Pair it with Ulun Danu Beratan temple on the lake, and Munduk, a cool highland village with its own waterfalls and coffee.
This is the route for people who found Tegallalang too commercial.
5. East coast
~1.5–2 hours. Green river valleys around Sidemen — what people imagine Ubud was twenty years ago — plus the coast at Padang Bai and the small clear-water cove of Bias Tugel.
The one route on this list that ends with a swim. See where to actually swim in Bali.
What it costs
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Private driver, full day, incl. petrol | 600,000–900,000 IDR |
| Scooter (own transport) + petrol | ~120,000–180,000 IDR |
| Entry fees, per site | 20,000–125,000 IDR |
| Small donation gates on walks | 10,000–30,000 each |
| Lunch, two people | ~150,000 IDR |
| Batur sunrise trek with guide | 400,000–700,000 IDR |
| North Bali day for two, with driver | ~1,200,000 IDR (≈ $73) |
Confirm before you book a driver: the itinerary, the finish time, and whether entry fees and parking are included — they usually are not. Split between three or four people, a driver is the cheapest comfortable option on this list.
Scooter or driver?
Scooter for the temple loop, Tegallalang and Kintamani, if you are confident. Cheaper and more flexible.
Driver for north Bali, Jatiluwih and the east coast. Five hours of round-trip mountain riding is a real day of work, and north Bali should not be your first long ride in Bali.
Central Ubud traffic is also narrow and bad — a poor place to build scooter confidence.
The combinations that do not work
- North Bali waterfalls plus east coast temples in one day. Six hours of driving. Tour flyers sell it; do not buy it.
- Batur sunrise then a full day of sightseeing. You will be asleep by 2pm.
- Four waterfalls in a day. Each one is a descent and a climb. Two is the honest maximum.
- Luwak coffee plantations. Frequently unpleasant for the animals, always overpriced.
- Paid "Instagram spot" gates on roads you were driving anyway. Bali has a whole genre of 30,000 IDR tickets to stand somewhere.
Practical notes
- Leave at 6:00–6:30am. Every place on this list is a different experience before 9am, and the tour vans arrive between 9 and 10.
- Cash in small notes. Most entry booths do not take cards and nobody has change for a 100,000.
- Shoes with grip. Waterfall paths are slippery; sandals are how people leave Bali in a cast.
- A dry bag, not a plastic bag, for phones.
- Wet season means stronger waterfall flow, slippery trails and occasional closures after heavy rain.
Where the money leaks
Drivers booked through a hotel or a tour desk carry a 30–50% markup over arranging directly. Entry fees are fixed, but the "packages" bundling them are not. And a return trip negotiated as one job beats two one-ways.
The same pattern runs through everything else in your week here: spa slots in the empty 1–4pm window at 30–50% off, yoga multi-class passes below drop-ins, jungle pool day passes at 150,000–400,000 IDR that nobody markets to the street.
Last Call Bali tracks what Ubud venues are discounting right now — day passes, spa slots, happy hours, food promotions — with a direct WhatsApp line to the venue. No commission, no booking fee, no card details.
See what's discounted in Ubud today →
Related
- Things to do in Ubud
- 5 waterfalls in Bali worth the ride
- 5 day trips from Canggu
- Amed and east Bali
- Day passes in Ubud
- Scooter rental in Bali
How this page is verified
Drive times are measured on the ground rather than taken from a mapping app, which underestimates Bali's mountain and central roads consistently — that gap is the single most common reason a day trip here goes wrong. Entry fees and driver rates are checked with drivers and at the gates directly, re-verified quarterly. Fees in Bali get revised without notice, so treat every figure as a range rather than a quote, and carry more small cash than you think you need.
