Our Bucket List Trip to Bali

Anyone that I have talked to about Bali has said that it is on their bucket list to travel to, it's just that place! You know, the kind of place with beaches, volcanoes, jungle, rice fields, and waterfalls. The place where the hardest choice is what adventure to take that day? The kind of place where locals are friendly and the culture is so unique. The kind of place where even if you do eat a ton, you're walking it off wandering the markets anyway. The place with alllll the Instagrammable moments hah! My point is, Bali is the place you go and never want to come back. I could write a novel about our trip in its entirety, but for now I want to focus on this little beauty of a place called Ubud.

Tegenungan Waterfall in Ubud.

Our private villa at the Sender Pool Suites.

Ubud is about 1.5 hrs from the airport, but a must if you're ever in Bali. It's full of art, adventure, and culture! Everything you wish to experience when visiting a foreign country, all at the palm of your hand. You will truly never get bored here! We stayed at the Sender Pool Suites which is walking distance to central Ubud. (We'll come back to why that's important later!) The staff at Sender are quite literally some of the nicest and most helpful people we've ever met. Not to mention, our villa was absolutely stunning and had a private pool. It felt like every boho lovers dream! And all you tall folks out there, the bathtub is definitely large enough for anyone over 6 ft. Chad especially loved this feature because he has never been able to comfortably fit in one (plus it came with complimentary bath salts)! Breakfast is included in your stay and you can even have it delivered to your villa. Take it up a notch and order a floating breakfast for a extra $30- totally worth it! The location of the villa is fantastic and away from the hustle & bustle of the main street. It's not too far away by any means, in fact we still walked to the main street multiple times a day. But just enough peace and quiet on this street to get away. If you're exhausted and needing a break from walking, the staff will assist you in renting motorbikes or getting a taxi! *Disclaimer: do not rent a motorbike if you've never driven one! Okay it's really not that hard, but these streets aren't made for newbies either.

Floating breakfast at the Sender Pool Suites.

Now on to the adventure! Ubud is full of outdoor adventure, cooking classes, art classes- you name it, they probably do it! We decided to do an ATV trek and cooking class during our stay. Both equally fun in their own ways. You'll find a ton of stalls that offer tours, but if you do just a tiny bit research online it'll probably help your decision. These are ones that we found in Ubud, but there are plenty of tours that will take you on further excursions.

The Ubud markets are located near Ubud center (mentioned above) and were walking distance from our villa! We went several times and each time I still felt like I was still missing something. This is 100% an experience in itself, just walking around and talking in the sights and smells. You'll find many hand carved goods, handbags, baskets, and clothes. If you're looking for unique souvenirs, you'll definitely wait to visit these markets! The best (and most fun) part is you get to barter with the sellers. Don't get me wrong, I was utterly nervous to attempt, but after bartering for a purse I was bartering left and right! It's a little bit of a game to the sellers as well, I think they enjoy it just as much as we do.

My favorite part of Ubud was Monkey Forest, a sanctuary located right in the heart of Ubud where monkeys roam free! I have never experienced anything like it. Monkeys are so intriguing to watch, especially when they're playing. This is a true sanctuary too, the grounds are beautiful and kept up extremely well. The monkeys are very content and well fed! With wild monkeys, also comes curious monkeys though... So you are on your own when it comes to monkeys possibly stealing from you hah! They mainly go for water bottles in close proximity, but I took off my jewelry just in case. Don't be alarmed if a monkey climbs on you either, they usually jump off within a few seconds! Be prepared to spend some time in here, there are a lot of monkeys and you just can't help but stop and admire.

Wearing bl^nk striped tunic from Anthropologie.

I would also love to recommend a few restaurants that deserve some attention, but I have to give credit where credit is due! This list from Honeycombers is pretty much where we got all our eating inspo. There is one restaurant (that I don’t think was mentioned) that we loved, Honeymoon Kitchen in Ubud! It is on the same street as the Sender, so we found it during one of our walks. Absolutely delicious nasi goreng and espresso martinis here! 

Bali consistently captures the hearts of the people who visit and once you go, you'll understand why.

I feel like there is still so much to be written about our trip, but I’ll come back another time. In the meantime, where are you traveling to next? And where would you like to see us travel to?
 xo Chels