Where to go around
Ikan Villa sits in Singakerta, on the quiet southwestern edge of Ubud. Far enough from the traffic that you hear frogs and rice fields at night, close enough that most of what makes Ubud worth the journey is ten or fifteen minutes away. Here is where we point guests first.
A SLOW START IN NYUH KUNING
The woodcarving village of Nyuh Kuning is the gentlest way to begin. Narrow lanes, family compounds, carvers working in open-fronted workshops, and a village field where children play football at dusk. A handful of small warungs make it an easy morning before the heat arrives.
THE MONKEY FOREST, EARLY
From Nyuh Kuning's northern gate you walk straight into the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, known locally as Mandala Suci Wenara Wana. Moss-covered temples, enormous banyan roots, and several hundred long-tailed macaques who are entirely unbothered by you. Go soon after it opens, keep sunglasses and loose jewelry in your bag, and continue north up Monkey Forest Road into town.
TEMPLES, PALACE, AND MARKET IN THE CENTER
Pura Taman Saraswati, the water temple set behind a lotus pond, is a few minutes' walk from the top of Monkey Forest Road. Puri Saren Agung, the Ubud Palace, stages Balinese dance most evenings in its courtyard, and the Ubud Art Market sits directly opposite. All three sit within one short stretch of Jalan Raya Ubud.
THE CAMPUHAN RIDGE WALK
Roughly fifteen minutes north of the villa. The trail begins near Pura Gunung Lebah, at the meeting of two rivers, then climbs onto a narrow spine of hill with valleys falling away on both sides. Come at sunrise or late afternoon, and carry on to the cafés in Bangkiang Sidem if you want to make a morning of it.
ART IN PENGOSEKAN AND PENESTANAN
ARMA, the Agung Rai Museum of Art in Pengosekan, holds one of the finest collections of Balinese and Javanese painting on the island. The Neka Art Museum in Sanggingan is the other worth your time. In between, Penestanan's stepped path leads past working studios and long views over the Campuhan valley.
FURTHER OUT
The Ayung River, just west of us below Sayan, is where the rafting trips run. Goa Gajah, the eleventh-century Elephant Cave, is about twenty minutes east. The Tegallalang rice terraces are half an hour north and best reached before eight in the morning, when the light is soft and the tour buses have not yet arrived.
Ask at the villa and we will arrange a driver, a guide, or simply a good map and directions to the quietest route.
