Cycling in Ubud

Cycling in Ubud is highly recommended for those who don't mind a combination of uphill and downhill roads. We rented our bicycles from our resort in Tanggayuda, and cycled along the road towards Kedewatan. A recommended stop is the viewpoint just beside Kupu-Kupu Barong resort. We locked our bicycles near the entrance to the view point(it was safe) and started our trek to Ayung River. At the mid point, we had a good view of the valley of lush green padi fields and the flowing Ayung river glittering in the morning sun. There are some recommended treks which might take half a day but as we did not have enough time, we did not take the trek. You might bump into a 'freelance' trekking guide who would volunteer his service of taking you for a tour around the valley, I'm not sure if it'll be a rip-off as we did not take his service. We trekked down to the ayung river, walked across the hanging bridge to cross Ayung river. It was a very easy track.

After our trekking, on the way back to our resort, we stopped at one high-end resort to check out the interior and spa. We picked Royal Pita Maha Resort and Kirana spa, which is right next to the resort. This resort was incredibly large, from the top of the hill all the way down to the Ayung River valley below. The view was splendid. The price per room was also magnificent—it'll burn a hole in your pocket. Maybe it was the low season for the resort and spa, the staff in both resort and spa was very friendly, courteously showed us around the resort and explained to us the facilities, hoping that we would come back to the resort one day as their guests. Especially worth a visit is Kirana Spa, the mother of all luxurious spas. The spa is as big as a small hotel, you have to see it to believe it! It is definitely a good place to splurge when you need a little bit of pampering.

From Royal Pita Maha, we cycled uphill all the way back to Tanggayuda, where we branched out from the main road to the padi field. We jumped down from our bicycle and took a leisurely walk around the padi field just to soak in the atmosphere of a Balinese village.

The whole journey took us around 4 hours, including the stops in between. If we had more time in our hands, we would love to cycle a little bit more and explore more resorts along the Ayung river, which are all the luxurious resorts and offering magnificent views of Ayung river valley.