Ubud Airbnb Rice Field Villa
When I began planning our trip to Bali, I struggled to pick between the amazing options for accommodations.
It is actually really common throughout Bali to rent a private villa, which makes it easy to travel there with friends and family on a budget. There is also no shortage of five star hotels throughout Bali, each offering a gram-worthy infinity pool and epic views at typical Asia prices. This is literally what makes planning a trip to Asia so much fun!
I decided to split our time between a small ocean front boutique hotel in east Bali (see here and here), this private villa via Airbnb in jungly Ubud, and a beachfront resort in Seminyak (coming soon).
I first learned about the Desa Bulan community of villas set in the rice fields of Ubud a few years back from another blogger. She shared photos of the clean modern design which perfectly contrasted the busy jungle view. She also described the slow, relaxing days of cooling off in the swimming pool and how easy it was to wander into Ubud for a day of exploring.
I was really torn about staying at one of the main resorts in Ubud, but ultimately decided that a cheaper villa would be better since we would be out exploring most of the day. Thankfully, I remembered the Desa Bulan community villas and was able to find each one listed on Airbnb.
Each villa looks similar with a clean, white, open air design, a thatched roof, a private plunge pool of varying sizes, and a view of the rice fields. There is also a gorgeous community pool available which is mostly unused since everyone has there own pool.
It is about a twenty minute walk into town, but the owners recommend renting motorbikes to get around. Since I am fairly accident prone, we relied on taxis instead. We loved Made from Hire Bali Driver (+62 819 3311 6036) and you can call him any time to arrange a pick up or tour.
Our villa Blue Moon (book here) had what I understand to be the largest plunge pool. It is a two bedroom two bathroom villa, although only one of the bedrooms has an AC unit. There was fresh fruit and papaya juice waiting for us when we arrived and the place looked immaculate. We ate dinner in town each evening and then watched the sunset from our pool. During the day, we made a trip to the Tegalalang Rice Fields (see here) and the Sekumpul waterfall in Northern Bali which I will share in my next post.
Other fun things to do in Ubud include:
Monkey Kingdom - hold on to your valuables though! We skipped this since we had already seen a lot of monkeys in Thailand and Cambodia.
Sunrise Hike to Mount Batur - we only had time for this or the Sekumpul waterfall. I'm really happy with my choice, but would love to go back for this volcano hike!
Yoga class at the Yoga Barn - maybe next time on a solo or girls trip! Dan is not much of a yogi :)
Tegenungan waterfall - go early, only twenty minutes from Ubud! See my post here.
Campuhan Ridge Walk - great for sunset, hiking trails, and hilltop views!
Dinner at one of many gourmet restaurants - explore the ever changing list here. For some places like Locavore, you need to make a reservation six weeks in advance!
Shopping at the local markets- if you've been looking for the basket bag made famous by fashion bloggers, you can buy it here for half the price!
People watching in town at one of the local cafes or restaurants. Taco Casa and Mamma Mia were life savers whenever I needed that taste of home.
In all honesty, we left Ubud a day earlier than planned. It was hot and buggy (which we were fairly warned about by the owners, hence the pool) and a little touristy in my opinion. Most of the people we met were backpackers or transplants from other parts of Bali looking for work.
Our villa was beautiful, though, and I would love to go back for a yoga retreat someday!
