The island of Bali is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Indonesia and certainly the most famous.
A holiday in Bali is synonymous with a trip in which to experience different experiences since both the coast and the hinterland of this island offer incredible and unique places in the world that cannot be missing from a traveler’s bucket list.
Here’s our “1 week Bali Itinerary”!
From the bright green of the rice paddies to the deep blue of the beautiful beaches, from traditional Balinese villages to towns like Ubud, Bali is an island that lends itself to an itinerant holiday. Staying in one place, on the same beach, would be a mistake as well as a missed opportunity to see unique wonders of the world.
In this article, we’ve put together a ‘One week Bali itinerary’ to help you see the island’s best bits in just a week. We know there’s so much more to explore, but a 7-day trip will give you a taste of Bali and its culture. Here’s our ‘One week in Bali Itinerary’!
The first day of our ‘1 week Bali Itinerary’ begins with exploring the village of Ubud and the surrounding area. If you are not staying in Ubud, we recommend that you arrive by car and spend this first day exploring on foot.
You will start your walking tour in the centre of Ubud, strolling through the main streets where you will find many shops, restaurants and clubs, interspersed with historical and important buildings such as the Ubud Palace and Hindu temples such as the Saraswati Temple or the Pura Desa Temple. The main streets with shops are Jl. Raya Ubud and the road leading to the Monkey Forest.
We recommend that you stop to visit the Saraswati and Pura Desa temples and plan to visit the Ubud Palace in the evening when traditional Indonesian dance performances take place!
There are also two markets in the centre of Ubud: the traditional market on Jl. Karna, which closes at around seven o’clock in the evening, and the more ‘touristy’ market in a building on the main street, Jl. Raya Ubud, opposite the Ubud Palace, which stays open into the evening. If you are looking for souvenirs, handicrafts, clothes, jewellery and anything else you can think of, these two markets are the place to be (we recommend the traditional market if possible).
After exploring the centre of Ubud and stopping for lunch at one of the many local warungs along the streets, the second stop on day one of our ‘1 week in Bali Itinerary’ is one of the trails that lead from the village towards the north of the island, through rice fields and forest: the Campuhan Ridge or the Sweet Orange Trail. Both trails allow you to explore the lush nature that grows around the village and the rice fields: a true immersion in green. The trail is not strenuous and is quite short; consider a 30-40 minute round trip.
The third stop on our ‘One week in Bali Itinerary’ is the Ubud Monkey Forest, which can be reached in about half an hour’s walk.
First of all, if you don’t want to spend your 7 days in Bali queuing, we suggest you buy your tickets in advance on the official website! Joking aside, the queue can be quite long during the busiest times.
A visit to the Monkey Forest is an enjoyable experience for everyone. You will walk along different paths that lead into the park, which is a real forest, where you will also find a Hindu temple and a traditional Balinese cemetery, and where many monkeys live that are used to the presence of tourists.
You can walk among these cute monkeys as they rest in the trees or go out in search of food or something to steal from you (be careful with sunglasses, cameras, etc!). The length of the visit depends on how long you want to stay in the park, but we recommend one to two hours.
Ubud Monkey Forest
The second day of our ‘1 week in Bali Itinerary’ involves an early morning wake up call to take advantage of the early morning hours when there are few tourists to visit one of the must-see places on your 7 day Bali trip: the famous terraced rice paddies. The most famous terraced rice fields in Bali are those of Tegallagang, but we recommend a visit to the nearby Abian Desa rice fields, which are less crowded but still beautiful. A visit to the rice fields takes about an hour, during which you can follow the path that takes you through the rice fields and up and down the green terraces surrounded by jungle vegetation.
The second stop and in our opinion one of the most beautiful temples and definitely on the list of a One week in Bali Itinerary is the Pura Gunung temple. This temple is less well known than some of the more famous ones and therefore less crowded with tourists. You can enjoy the relaxed and serene atmosphere as you stroll past the beautiful water pools where purification rituals take place, or simply sit down to meditate and admire the view.
The third stop on this second day of the ‘1 week Itinerary Bali’ is one of the most famous temples on the island of Bali, the Tirta Empul Temple. Like Pura Gunung, this temple has pools of water in which to perform the purification ritual, but with the large number of tourists visiting, the evocative atmosphere is lost. However, the temple is beautiful and ornate, as well as being very large, so it will take some time to see it all.
After a lunch break, we head to the last stop on this second day of our ‘One week in Bali Itinerary’: the Segara Windhu coffee plantation. Here you will learn how Balinese coffee is made and taste the different types of coffee and tea produced locally. Indonesian coffee is called Kopi Luwak, where the word Kopi means coffee and Luwak is a mongoose typical of the island. This is because the coffee is made from the excrement of the luwak, which feeds on the coffee berries and, by digesting them, changes the flavour, giving it a roasted note.
During the tasting you will be able to taste this coffee and learn to distinguish the flavour of a coffee produced by a female Luwak from that of a male. You can also try a range of coffees and teas flavoured with local fruits such as mangosteen and mango.
Terraced rice fields: Abian Desa
Relax in Pura Gunung Kawi Sebatu temple
Segara Windu coffee plantation
The third day of our ‘One week in Bali Itinerary’ is dedicated to exploring the area north of Ubud, starting with our first stop: the terraced rice fields of Jatiluwih. These rice fields, like those of Abian Desa, are less frequented by tourists than those of Tegallagang, but they are just as beautiful and very large. You can choose between several trails of different lengths: the shortest can be done in about an hour, while the longest and most complete can be done in about two hours. We recommend the medium route, which will allow you to walk through the magnificent terraces covered with rice plants and immerse yourself in the bright green of this extraordinary place.
After visiting the rice fields of Jatiluwih, we move on to our second stop: the Leke Leke waterfalls, about half an hour’s drive from the rice fields. These waterfalls are less well known than others near Ubud, and here you have the opportunity to spend some time listening to the sound of the waterfall, surrounded by jungle vegetation, without the hustle and bustle of large crowds of tourists. If you feel like it, you can swim in the pond at the foot of the waterfall.
After visiting the waterfall, you can stop for lunch in the nearby village before heading to the last stop on this day of our ‘1 week in Bali Itinerary’: the beautiful water temple of Pura Ulun Danu Bratan.
Located on the Danau Beratan lake, which is actually the caldera of a volcano and an important water reservoir for the surrounding area, the Pura Ulun Danu Baratan temple is a small temple that has the peculiarity of having two buildings on two platforms on the water.
A special feature of this beautiful Hindu temple is that there is also a Buddhist Stupa, a stone dome with a statue of Buddha inside, very close to the temple complex.
After the temple visit we head back to the town of Ubud where a fantastic experience awaits you: a typical Indonesian cooking class in the home of a local family. We recommend this experience as it gives you an insight into traditional local customs and Balinese daily life. After your cooking lesson, you can enjoy dinner with your host family.
There are many suggestions, but we recommend that you book a private lesson with a local family who will teach you about Indonesian customs and traditions while you cook typical dishes such as chicken satay or sweet kelepon. Here’s what to must see in 1 week Bali Itinerary: everyday life!
Terraced rice fields Jatiluwih
Pura Ulun Danu Bratan temple
Typical indonesian dish
The fourth day of our ‘1 week Itinerary Bali’ is almost entirely dedicated to discovering the waterfalls around Ubud.
The first waterfall we recommend is Taman Sari, which was our favourite as there were very few people there and below the waterfall there is a small pond where you can take a rejuvenating bath and stand under the waterfall jet for a fantastic shoulder and back massage!
The second waterfall nearby is the Tibumana waterfall, where you will find a bit more tourists than the previous one, because it is more famous, but also because as you get closer to the middle of the day, the number of tourists around increases. To reach this waterfall, you have to take a path that winds through the jungle vegetation and cross small bridges made of bamboo canes. The waterfall is located in a clearing at the end of the path and flows into a small pond below where you can swim, but you cannot get close to the waterfall jet.
The third waterfall you will visit on this day of our ‘1 week Itinerary Bali’ is the Goa Rang Reng Waterfall. This waterfall is also very beautiful and not so popular, so you can enjoy the spectacle of the water flowing through the natural tunnels it has carved into the rocks and vegetation.
Taman Sari Waterfall
Kanto Lampo Waterfall
Goa Rang Reng Waterfall
The last waterfall to visit is the Kanto Lampo, probably the most aesthetically pleasing, but we warn you that it is one of the most popular with tourists, who queue up for a long time to take a photo under the spray of the waterfall. We advise you to take the path that follows the watercourse below the waterfall and walk up to a small cave and viewpoint opposite the Goa Rang Reng waterfall.
The fourth day of our ‘1 week Bali Itinerary’ ends with a visit to the Hindu temple of Pura Puseh Desa Batuan, which is located near the waterfall and is a very large temple, less frequented by tourists than others. Here you can enjoy a quiet and relaxing break, walking around the temple complex away from the hustle and bustle.
Day five of our ‘1 week Bali Itinerary’ takes us to the southern part of the island and is one of the busiest days of this 7 day Bali trip.
After an early morning wake-up call, we set off for Nunggalan Beach, a little known but stunningly beautiful beach. To reach this beach you have to walk up a steep path for about half an hour, so we recommend you wear suitable footwear, such as hiking boots. The beach at Nunggalan is not very crowded, but it is stunning: fine, golden sand and crystal clear sea, surrounded by lush vegetation, stretching as far as the eye can see. The remains of a shipwreck can also be found on the beach, giving the place a very atmospheric feel.
We recommend that you make the effort to get to (and especially to) this beach, as you will find yourself in a spectacular place and with very few people (when we went there were about ten in total).
Once you have mastered the climb, head for your second stop: the temple of Uluwatu, perched on a cliff overlooking the sea. This temple, like others along the coast, was built to protect Bali from the forces of the sea.
Once you have visited the temple, make your way to Uluwatu beach, a truly incredible place and very popular with surfers. You have to go down a flight of steps to reach the beach, which is located in a sort of cave, surrounded and overlooked by rocks that protect it from the sea. In this area the sea is generally very rough, as this stretch of coast is more exposed, making it ideal for surfing, but not for a relaxing swim in calm waters. We recommend that you stop for lunch at the bar at the top of the cliffs, from where you can enjoy a magnificent view of the coast and admire the surfers’ acrobatics in the waves.
Nunggalan beach
Uluwatu beach
After lunch we set off for the Tanah Lot temple, which is close by but takes a long time to get to because of the traffic. The Tanah Lot temple, like the Uluwatu temple, is another coastal temple, but in this case it is right on the beach. At high tide, the temple is completely surrounded by seawater. This is one of the most picturesque places in Bali at sunset, when the sun rests on the sea, turning the sky red behind the temple.
On the penultimate day of our ‘One week Bali Itinerary’ we set off in the morning for the Tukad Cepung waterfall. This waterfall emerges from the rocks, which are narrow in this area and have been carved out by the watercourse, and flows into a small lake completely surrounded by rocks. One has the feeling of being in a kind of cave that has been broken through by the waterfall. We recommend arriving early in the morning as this is a popular spot for tourists as it is very photogenic!
The second stop of the day is the Mother Temple of Besakih, a huge Hindu temple with 6 levels and lots of stairs to climb! This temple is the most important Hindu place of worship on the island and is located close to Mount Agung. We recommend you spend at least an hour exploring the temple complex and all its buildings as it is a truly incredible place.
The last stop on the day is another temple, the Goa Lawah Temple, which is located on the south coast of the island and will take a while to get to. This temple is smaller than the previous one, but is still very beautiful and is located in an area where you can enjoy a beautiful view of the coast. After visiting the temple, we recommend you cross the road and take a walk along the black sand beach where you can also see the island of Nusa Penida.
Mother Temple of Besakih
On the last day of our ‘One week in Bali Itinerary’, we head to Tegenungan Waterfall, one of the most famous and largest waterfalls on the island. Although it is one of the most imposing and impressive waterfalls on the island, Tegenungan loses some of the natural and wild aspect that characterises the other waterfalls: a swimming pool, bar and restaurant with music have been built on the rocks, giving the place something of a water park feel.
The waterfall is absolutely beautiful, but you must bear in mind that it is very popular with tourists. We recommend that you visit early in the morning to avoid the crowds.
After visiting the waterfall, head towards the Goa Gajah temple, another Hindu temple surrounded by greenery. Inside the temple is the famous Elephant Cave, a cave whose entrance is the mouth of a demon carved into the rock. The complex also contains tanks, now empty, that were once used for purification rituals.
After visiting the temple, we head for the absolute last stop on the ‘7 day Bali itinerary’: the Carpenters’ Quarter, where there are many craft workshops where true works of art are created from pieces of rough wood using very simple tools. There are statues and paintings, finely crafted and carved to the smallest detail, in all sizes, from tiny to life-size.
Tegenungan waterfall
Carpenters' neighbourhood
Goa Gajah temple
This is our ‘1 week Bali Itinerary’, which will allow you to explore the island and the most emblematic places to visit on a 7-day trip to Bali. It is an intense, extremely varied and comprehensive experience, ranging from places of worship to the wonders of nature on this island. We have included in this itinerary some extraordinary and little-known places on the island, such as Nunggalan Beach, so that you can make the most of your travel time to explore Bali in 7 days. We hope you found this article useful as a starting point for planning your ‘1 week Bali Itinerary’!
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