Ubud was the final stretch of our Bali adventure and we planned on using it as a time to relax after the bustling streets of Seminyak. Ubud was beautiful. Its known as the art capital of Bali and this shows with the colourful markets and amazingly painted villas on the side of the road. It’s a little more up market than Seminyak and is incredibly heavy in culture. It was about an hour and a halfs drive from Seminyak and we got a blue bird taxi there I think it cost around 10$ each. Ubud is located up in the green mountains and isn't near the coast. Your accommodation has to have a pool because although there was less humidity than the coast the heat was still there.

 There are rarely any taxis in Ubud but honestly walking is the best way to take everything in. It was about a 20 minute walk into the main town from our hotel but we did it a few times a day because there was so much stuff to see on the way. We found little signs painted on the side of road leading us to rice paddy views and little creeks. It was the most serene, relaxing place I've ever been. Everything was so lush and green!!

Food in Ubud was delicious and easy to find. We got lucky with our accommodation and had a really good restaurant that served an amazing breakfast, lunch and dinner just behind our suite. We ate all our breakfasts here and dinner on the first night.

• On our second night we ate at the black beach Italian in the center of town. We all had a pizza, pasta and 2 fresh fruit juices for under $10 each. It was such a cool place to eat too, it was 4 stories high, with a rooftop terrace that overlooked the rest of the village. On the night we were there they had a movie playing on a massive screen and it seemed heaps of backpackers or locals who had been in Ubud for a while had all come to watch the movie. (we never worked out what it was because the title was in Indonesian) 
• On our last night we went to this incredibly fancy Japanese restaurant called Minami which was 24$ a head and served 6 courses. I ordered tepinyaki chicken and the man cooked my food on the table in front of me, Lucy and Nicola who like raw fish (maybe I would if I tried it but ugh no thanks) had what they claimed was some of the best Japanese food they had ever had so yeah, this place is worth checking out.  It also had a beautiful terrace garden lit with fairy lights and wifi.
• There are also heaps of really good cafes that are worth trying for lunch, we loved the Locus cafe on the main street of Ubud across from the markets and I've heard Alchemy which is a vegan and Vegetarian café is also really yummy. 

We went to a spa on our last afternoon. It was beautiful surrounded by green rice paddies and flowers.

Bali Botanica is meant to be one of the best spas in Ubud and does an amazing flower bath overlooking the lush green mountains. You have to book at least 2 weeks in advance though and I think this can be done online. 

 For 30$ each a night I am still puzzled by how this hotel is still running.  We all had our mouths hanging open for at least half an hour after we arrived, while we all thought 'god damn I need longer than 4 nights here'. 6 infinity pools (one of which was our own), tiered manicured gardens, Balinese music playing around the entire resort, a free shuttle service all around the town, a 24 hour restaurant overlooking the gardens, a pool within 5 meters of our suite and massage tables on the balcony above our room and that was just outside. Our suite had a huge marble bathroom, comfy king sized beds and air-con (thank god). I can't say one bad thing about this place and I am itching to go back. ah

You can find the website for where we stayed here 

 On our first day in Ubud we organsied for a driver from our hotel to drive us the 40 minute drive to Git Git waterfalls. It was a really nice trip through quiet Balinese towns and green fields of rice paddies. Our driver waited for us while we ventured down the steep steps to the waterfall. It was insane, the power of the water echoed throughout the whole valley. Everything was so lush and green, we were pretty much speechless. We put all our stuff down and ran into the water. It was brown which obviously isn't as inviting as the aqua blue waterfalls you see in other parts of Asia but it was incredible. The weight of the water was too much to stand under, it was like a really intense Chinese massage. We spent the best part of the morning down there and then headed back up the steep walk to the car.

On our last day in Bali we went on road trip through the highlands of Bali and explored tiny village streets. We visited 3 different temples including the famous Lake Brantan and an awesome Balinese coffee plantation where we got to taste test all their handmade coffees and teas. I bought three bags including the Mangosteen tea which was so yummy (Not cheap though, about $10 a bag) we stopped to stare at some incredible rice paddy views from secret spots our guide told us about and went to natural hot springs hidden in the valleys of Mt Arung.