Short answer: a one-bedroom villa in Ubud is 8–15 million IDR a month, a room in a shared villa 3.5–6 million, and a two-bedroom with pool 15–28 million — roughly 25–35% below Canggu for equivalent space. The variable that actually decides whether an Ubud villa works is not price, it is internet and damp, and both vary more between two houses on the same lane than between two areas.
Last checked: 13 August 2026. Prices in Indonesian rupiah, monthly. Ubud is less seasonal than Canggu but still peaks in July, August and around Christmas.
Rent by neighbourhood
| Neighbourhood | Room in shared villa | Coliving | 1-bed villa | 2-bed pool villa |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Penestanan | 3.5–6M | 7–13M | 8–15M | 15–26M |
| Nyuh Kuning | 3.5–6M | 7–12M | 8–14M | 15–25M |
| Central Ubud | 4–6.5M | 8–13M | 9–16M | 17–28M |
| Sayan / Kedewatan | 5–8M | 9–15M | 15–30M | 25–45M |
| Tegallalang | 3–5.5M | 6–11M | 7–14M | 13–24M |
| Further out (Payangan, Petulu) | 3–5M | — | 6–12M | 12–22M |
| Long-term (6+ months) | 20–30% below any of the above |
Which neighbourhood, honestly
Penestanan — uphill from the centre, quiet, green, café-dense, and walkable down into town. This is where long-stay nomads end up, and for good reason. Some of it is reached by steps rather than road, which is charming until you are carrying groceries.
Nyuh Kuning — a proper village south of Monkey Forest. Leafy streets, guesthouses, eco cafés, slower. Best if you want a neighbourhood rather than a scene.
Central Ubud — walkable to restaurants, market, temples and the palace. Right for a first short stay with no scooter. Also the noisiest and most congested part of town, and the streets are narrow.
Sayan / Kedewatan — the Ayung River valley. Jungle, dramatic views, resort territory, the best restaurants. Beautiful and you will ride 15–25 minutes for everything.
Tegallalang — rice terrace views 25–35 minutes north. Cheapest scenery in Bali, and you will drive for dinner every night.
Full area context: things to do in Ubud and working from Ubud.
The internet test — do this before you sign
More important in Ubud than anywhere else in Bali, because the variance is genuinely large.
- Speed test standing in the room you would work in. Not at reception, not next to the router.
- Record download, upload and latency. Upload and latency break calls; download rarely does. Under 30 ms latency is comfortable, over 100 ms will hurt.
- Ask: fibre or wireless link? Wireless links degrade badly in heavy rain, and Ubud gets heavy rain daily in wet season.
- Test at 8pm, when the whole compound is streaming. An 11am test tells you nothing.
- Ask what happens in a power cut — generator, and is the router on it.
- Ask how many units share the line.
- Run a real video call if you can. Thirty seconds tells you more than any number.
If the owner will not let you test, that is your answer. Carry a Telkomsel or XL eSIM (100,000–250,000 IDR a month) as backup regardless — see internet in Bali.
The damp check nobody does
Ubud sits inland and higher, in a river-valley microclimate. It is noticeably more humid than the coast, and that has consequences a two-day viewing does not reveal.
What to look for:
- Bathroom ceilings and grout — black mould is the tell.
- Wardrobe corners and the backs of built-in cupboards, where air does not move.
- A musty smell when you first open the door, especially in a villa that has been empty.
- Cross-ventilation. Windows on two sides beats aircon for this.
- Leather and electronics left in a closed room grow mould here in weeks. Plan storage accordingly.
Practical fixes: a dehumidifier (or aircon on dry mode), leaving windows open when you are out, and silica packs in wardrobes. None of this is exotic; it is just not something a Canggu villa demands.
What is usually excluded
| Item | Monthly |
|---|---|
| Electricity (often separate) | 600,000–2,000,000 IDR |
| Cleaning, 2–3× weekly | 400,000–1,200,000 IDR |
| Pool service | 300,000–700,000 IDR |
| Laundry, kilo rate | 150,000–350,000 IDR |
| Water | Usually included |
| Wifi | Usually included — test it |
Electricity is lower here than in Canggu for most people, because Ubud is cooler at night and plenty of villas are designed for airflow rather than aircon. That said, a badly insulated room with aircon running all night still adds 1–2 million a month. Ask to see a bill.
Where the listings are
The monthly market barely exists on booking platforms.
- Area Facebook and WhatsApp groups. The primary channel.
- Walking the lanes in Penestanan and Nyuh Kuning. Small signs, often hand-painted. Penestanan in particular rewards walking rather than riding, because a lot of it is footpaths.
- Asking at warungs and cafés. Word of mouth moves faster than any listing.
- Local agents for two-bed and above, and for year leases.
- Booking platforms for 5–7 nights only, while you look.
The sequence: book a week, arrive, walk the neighbourhoods, then negotiate in person. Monthly beats nightly by 40–60%; long-term is another 20–30% below monthly.
Before you pay
- Get it in writing — dates, price, inclusions, deposit amount and return terms.
- Photograph everything on move-in. Deposit disputes are the most common rental problem in Bali.
- Internet test as above.
- Damp check as above.
- Water pressure and hot water. Commonly bad, rarely mentioned.
- Ask about ceremonies and temple proximity. Ubud has frequent processions and gamelan practice, sometimes late, sometimes for days. This is not a problem — it is the reason to be in Ubud — but you should know if you live next to a banjar hall.
- Ride or walk the route to town at 5pm to see what the traffic actually does.
- Never leave your passport as security.
Good for / skip if
Rent in Ubud if: you want to spend 25–35% less than Canggu, you do deep focus work rather than six calls a day, yoga and wellness are part of your week, or you have already done Canggu and want the opposite.
Skip it if: you need guaranteed premium internet with no variance, you want the beach, you are learning to ride a scooter (central Ubud is a bad classroom), or you want nightlife.
The honest negatives
- Internet variance is the real risk, and the single most common thing that ruins a working month here.
- Damp and mould in poorly ventilated rooms.
- Central traffic is narrow and bad, and some streets restrict Gojek and Grab pickups so you may walk a block.
- No beach. The coast is over an hour away.
- Everything closes early — town is largely done by 9–10pm.
- Monkeys, if you live near Monkey Forest. They get into kitchens. Close your windows.
- Steps, not roads, in parts of Penestanan. Lovely, and a consideration with luggage or shopping.
Where the money leaks
Rent is the biggest line in your month and the leak is structural: the advertised price is the tourist rate. Monthly is 40–60% below nightly, long-term another 20–30% below monthly, and neither appears on a booking platform.
The same mechanic runs through everything else you buy weekly in Ubud — yoga multi-class passes well below drop-ins, spa slots in the empty 1–4pm window at 30–50% off, jungle and rice-field pool day passes at 150,000–400,000 IDR that nobody markets to the street, and an earlier 3–6pm drinks window than the coast's.
Last Call Bali tracks what Ubud venues are discounting right now, with a direct WhatsApp line to the venue. No commission, no booking fee, no card details.
See what's discounted in Ubud today →
Related
- Monthly rent in Bali by area — every area compared
- Renting in Canggu
- Working from Ubud: cafés and coworking
- Canggu vs Ubud
- Day passes in Ubud
- Cheap eats in Ubud
- Coliving in Bali
How this page is verified
Rent bands come from asking owners, agents and current Ubud residents what is actually being paid, cross-checked by neighbourhood and re-verified quarterly. Ranges rather than single figures, because Ubud rent is negotiated and varies sharply with how far you are from the centre and whether the place is reached by road or by steps. The internet and damp checks are included because they are the two things that most often make an otherwise good Ubud villa unworkable, and neither shows up in a listing photograph.
