Ubud or Sidemen? An honest comparison for choosing your base

The short answer: pick Ubud if you want plenty within reach – restaurants, dance performances, yoga and shops. Pick Sidemen if you mostly want to walk and have quiet evenings. They're an hour's drive apart, so most routes include both: a few nights in Ubud first, then Sidemen on the way east.

Ubud and Sidemen side by side

What is Ubud like?

Ubud is the cultural heart of Bali. There's a palace, a market, and every evening a dance performance somewhere – Legong or Kecak. Around the town are rice fields, artists' villages like Mas and Batuan, and walking trails like the Campuhan ridge.

It has also become busy. During the day the centre is full of cars, and the Monkey Forest and the swings at Tegallalang are attractions with queues. Stay just outside the centre, among the rice fields or in a village like Penestanan or Sayan, and you have all the choice of Ubud with quiet evenings.

What is Sidemen like?

Sidemen is a valley in East Bali, an hour's drive from Ubud. Rice terraces, a river and villages where life revolves around the harvest and the temple calendar. When the sky is clear you look out at Mount Agung, Bali's holy volcano. There are a few homestays and small hotels, and not much else: no nightlife, no shopping street, no big sight that coaches stop for.

What do you do there?

In Ubud you walk the Campuhan ridge early in the morning, go to the market while the offering flowers are laid out, and watch a dance performance in the evening. The one at the palace costs around IDR 100,000 per person (2026). You can cook with a family, take part in a water blessing at a quiet spring, or do yoga. When it rains, there are museums, massages and cooking classes under a roof.

In Sidemen you walk along the terraces with a guide from the village, visit a songket weaving workshop and perhaps join a cooking class. Beyond that you read, look at the mountain and eat at a warung. There is little to do, and that is exactly why people come. If you want to see something new every day, one night is enough.

Where do you stay, and what does it cost?

Around Ubud you find everything: a homestay in a family compound, a small hotel among the rice fields or a resort in the Ayung river valley. In Sidemen it is mostly homestays and small hotels among the fields, some with a pool. In 2026, budget about €25–80 a night for two for a homestay or small hotel, and about €80–200 for a villa with a pool. Because Sidemen has few places to stay, the good ones fill up quickly in July, August and around Christmas. Book well ahead for those months.

Food

In Ubud you can eat somewhere different every evening, and vegetarian or vegan food is easy to find. In Sidemen you eat at one of the warungs or where you stay. Kitchens close early, and not everywhere takes cards. Bring enough cash. There is more about what you eat in Bali under Food and drink.

How do you get there, and how do you get around?

Ubud is an hour to an hour and a half from the airport, longer in traffic. In the centre you walk. Grab and Gojek work, but they're not allowed to pick you up everywhere in Ubud. Sidemen is about two hours from the airport. Ride-hailing apps hardly operate in the east, so you need a driver or ask your accommodation to arrange transport. A scooter is possible too, but only with the right licences. There is more under Getting around Bali.

Who should choose which?

Pick Ubud if it's your first time in Bali, if you want choice in the evenings, if you travel in the rainy season or if you don't have a driver.

Pick Sidemen if you want to walk, if you already know Ubud, if you want to get away from the crowds or if you're travelling on to Amed and the east coast.

Why most routes include both

They're an hour apart, and Sidemen is on the way east. That's why you often start in Ubud: it's closest to the airport, it's an easy place to recover from the flight and there's plenty to do. Then you drive to Sidemen, and from there on to Amed and Karangasem. That's how we do it in Quiet Bali, with three nights in Ubud and two in Sidemen, and in Bali in three weeks, with three nights in each.

Still not sure, or want a different split? Then we work out together what suits you.