The easiest way to spend one week in Bali is to stay in three places: Ubud for three nights, the Sidemen valley in East Bali for one, and Sanur, on the south coast, for the last two. The drives stay manageable, and you wake up in a village at least once.
Here is that 7 day Bali itinerary day by day, as we plan it at Five Pillar Experiences: two village tours near Ubud, our Sidemen 2 Days 1 Night journey, then a slow finish by the sea.
Bali itinerary, 7 days at a glance
- Day 1: arrive and settle into Ubud.
- Day 2: the Living Heritage Village Walking Tour in Bedulu.
- Day 3: A Village Gastronomic Journey in Bedulu.
- Day 4: Sidemen, day one: market, cooking class and a temple blessing.
- Day 5: Sidemen, day two: a bicycle, a waterfall and the weavers, then on to Sanur.
- Day 6: a free day on the coast.
- Day 7: fly home.
Day 1: arrive and slow down in Ubud
Land, transfer to Ubud and leave the rest of the day empty. After a long flight, a walk and an early dinner are plenty. Ubud makes a good first base because most of our Curated Tours run within 15 to 20 minutes of it, so the next two days involve almost no driving.
Days 2 and 3: two village tours near Ubud
Both tours take place in Bedulu, an old royal village 15 minutes from Ubud. Neither fills the whole day, so the rest of each day is yours.
Day 2: Living Heritage Village Walking Tour
Two to three hours on foot among shrines, banyan trees and family compounds, with a look at local stone carving and a visit to Puri Agung Bedulu, the old royal palace. Your guide explains how the banjar adat, the traditional village council, organizes everything from ceremonies to cremations. It’s a useful first lesson before you sleep in a village yourself.
Day 3: A Village Gastronomic Journey
Three to four hours on how a Balinese village eats. You smell and taste 15 to 20 traditional spices, make base gede by hand, taste dishes cooked by local mothers with their own spice pastes, then walk the village for snacks and visit homes for cakes, tropical fruit and traditional drinks. Base gede, also called base genep, is behind much of the village cooking you’ll eat in Sidemen the next day.
Both tours run by arrangement, are priced on request and are designed for groups of five or more. Smaller groups, couples included, can often be arranged, so ask our team before you plan the days around them. Waste to Wisdom, about 40 minutes from Ubud, is the one Curated Tour that runs from a single guest. Transport to Bedulu isn’t included.
For the rest of those days, our guides to hands-on cultural experiences in Ubud and ethical shopping in Ubud have ideas.
Days 4 and 5: a night in the Sidemen valley
Sidemen is a valley of rice terraces under Mount Agung in Karangasem, East Bali, roughly an hour to an hour and a half by car from Ubud. It has no big sights, and that’s the appeal: the days are organized around markets, kitchens, fields and looms. Our Sidemen 2 Days 1 Night journey picks you up from your hotel in Ubud.
Day 4: market, kitchen, blessing
The day starts at a traditional market, where you see what the valley cooks with, then moves into a hands-on Balinese cooking class. Lunch is what you made. In the afternoon a local host teaches you to make canang sari, the small palm-leaf offering placed at shrines and doorways every day, and leads a traditional temple blessing. A walk through the rice terraces follows, and the rest of the afternoon is free at your hotel. Dinner is on your own.
Day 5: the valley by bicycle, then the coast
After breakfast you cycle through the countryside to Gembleng Waterfall, stop for a coffee or a young coconut, and visit an arak plantation to see how the local palm spirit is made. Lunch is in Sidemen, and the last stop is a traditional weaving house where artisans work on the valley’s textiles. Then, instead of heading back to Ubud, you can be dropped at your hotel in Sanur for an extra transfer fee; mention it when you book. Sidemen is two hours or more from the south coast, depending on traffic.
The journey includes a local English- and Indonesian-speaking guide, private transport for both days, all activity fees and two lunches. The hotel night isn’t included: you can add a room with breakfast as an option when you book, or stay where you like. Bring a light layer for the evening, a top that covers your shoulders, and a sarong and sash for the blessing, or ask us to arrange one.
Our guide to two slow days in Sidemen covers the food, the weaving and the roads. To compare Sidemen with Amed, Candidasa and Klungkung, see all our East Bali journeys.
Day 6: a free day in Sanur
Sanur is a gentle end to the week. A reef offshore keeps the sea calm, a paved path runs along the beach past fishing boats and small shrines, and the town faces east, so the day starts with the sun coming up over the water. Walk or cycle the path at sunrise, look into the small Le Mayeur Museum on the beach, and plan swims around high tide, because at low tide the water near the shore gets very shallow. Our guide to things to do in Sanur has more.
Prefer to stay in the east? Amed, on the north-east coast, is about an hour and a half from Sidemen, with salt farmers on the beach and coral close to shore. The trade-off is the drive to your flight: allow about two and a half to three and a half hours from Amed to the airport. Amed isn’t one of the Sidemen journey’s standard pickup areas, so ask about the transfer when you book.
Day 7: departure
Sanur is a short drive from the airport, which makes even an early flight easy. With a late flight, you have one more morning on the beach path.
When to go
Our month-by-month guide to the dry season has the detail. In short, the dry season runs roughly from April to October: the rains ease through March and April, the island is at its driest from June to September, and showers start creeping back during October. May and September are quieter. July and August are the busiest months, when traffic around Ubud can crawl for much of the day.
Online booking for our 2 Days 1 Night journeys needs at least three days’ notice; in July and August, a few weeks is wiser. Whatever the month, plan walks and viewpoints for the morning, and don’t be surprised by a temple festival, because the Balinese ritual calendar runs on its own cycles rather than the seasons.
Changing the route
Nothing here is fixed. Swap a stop, add a night or combine the Sidemen journey with another region: mention it in the booking form. The East Bali journeys link naturally, so a second journey in Amed, Candidasa or Klungkung is easy to add, and we can stitch the two into one route with a single guide. If you’re traveling with children or have dietary needs or mobility limits, say so up front, since they shape the day.
Have more time? Our 10 day Bali itinerary adds a night in the Munduk highlands and a morning on the north coast.
Questions travelers ask
Is 7 days enough for Bali?
It’s enough to add two regions to a stay in Ubud without spending most of the week in a car. If you also want the highlands and the north coast, that is where ten days start to make sense.
Can I visit Sidemen as a day trip instead?
You can: it’s the easiest of Bali’s quiet valleys to reach, and it works as a long day trip from Ubud. But the view usually shows up early: on a clear morning Mount Agung stands over the terraces, and by late morning cloud often takes the summit away. Staying the night puts you there at breakfast.
Does this itinerary work for families?
Yes. Sidemen has gentle activities and plenty to do with your hands, and the cycling day suits curious children. Sanur’s calm water and flat, car-free beach path suit young children well. A family of five also meets the minimum for the Curated Tours.
