Hikes

A Family walk at the Tegalalang rice terraces in Ubud, Indonesia

Bali is famous for lush green rice terraces and there are many rice terraceas for you to discover. If you happens to be in Ubud, Tegalalang is the most well-known and the most touristic rice terraces in the area.

For this reason we hesitated going to Tegalalang rice terraces. I have been reading reviews on the tripadvisor and I didn’t like what I read! To many people thought that Tegalalang was more like a amusement park with I love Bali-signs, photo spots and Bali swings all over Tegalalang. And the locals would ask for donations whenever you cross one rice terraces to another. And not to mention all the crowds!

Well, despite these rumors we decided to have a family walk at Ubud’s most famous rice terraces! And actually, we really like it!❤️

Down below you can read about our day and find some useful informations for a successful easy hiking day at Tegalalang rice terraces in Ubud.

Mirabelle posing by a view point at Tegalang rice terraces in Ubud Bali.

STARTING AND EXIT POINT: There are many entrance and exit points at the Tegalaland rice terraces. If you wants to follow our itinerary step-by-step, you should put on the Google map exactly Rice terrace entrrance and exit…yes entrance with 2 r’s!

There are a lot of talk about an extrance fee, but we never paid the entrance. We don’t know if it because we enterred into the rice terraces early in the morning…

We parked our scooter in front of a souvenir shop, right across the barely visible entrance to the Tegalalang rice terraces. We bought a big bottle of cold water so he didn’t mind us parking our scooter there.

The entrance and exit point of Tegalalang rice terraces in Ubud.

 

HOW LONG: The loop trail is about 2,5 -3 KM, on a very slow pace with about 45 min of pause, the Tegalalang trail took us 3 hours to complete.

WHEN TO GO: Anytime of the year but very early in the morning! That’s the keyword, early in the morning! To avoid muddy trails, don’t come if it has been heavy rains few hours before. Or even if it has been heavy rain the previous day.

IMPORTANT! If you are unlucky, the rice paddies will not be green and lush upon your arrival. Once the rice reaches their ripening phase they will turn into golden brown, or they have been cut and harvested, and sometimes there are no rice but only muddy paddies. We were there on the 1th of February 2020 and as you can see we had some green rice paddies and some muddy one!

I have already mentioned it before but I want to remind you again to come early in the morning! We started the hike at around 8 am and the light was beautiful, there were no people or vendors on sight!

When you enter to Tegalalang rice terraces, there are stairs leading you down to a bridge and once you cross the bridge, turn right. From there on, follow the signs Rice terraces.

Mirabelle playing hide and seek while having a family walk at the Tegalalang rice terraces in Ubud.

During this easy and child friendlyTegalalang rice terraces walk, you will come across many Bali swings. At some station, there are colorful long beautiful dresses you can rent to wear while you swing for the ultimate dreamy instagram shots.

You will also passes many donation boxes. We always played by the rules and paid IDR 5000 for each adults. For us, this is a small amount of money to help the locals.

Until nearly the end of the trail, we were passing by a small hut where a person was laying down while holding out his money box yelling at people to pay. We didn’t pay and just walked by….

When you reach this view point you can either make this walk short or like we did, continue further to the more secluded and quite part of the rice terraces.

A uncomprehensive map of the Tegalalang rice terraces in Ubud.

Check the spelling on the map. Can’t help but laught and love everything about it! There are so many spelling erros on the map making us wondering if they did it with purpose.

Here is the translation for you who don’t understand, hehe :

Oround = Around

No Akses = No access

Brigge = Bridge

Foto Sport = Photo spot

You have to keep this No Akses in mind for later because the trail will separate, one is going straight and another one is a steep but short way down to the rice terraces. The way down is the right way! Just mind your feet and help your little ones while descending !

Do you see the photo here below, with the sight written Santana rice terrace Bali ? Thats where you will be heading.

Once you have cross the rice field and you have reach the other side you should take the trail above the sign while passing by the shed. We didn’t know this because there was another way up but luckily we were guided by a local farmer who led us on the right direct for about 10 meters or so. He asked for a compensation for his effort which we couldn’t refused so we gaved him 20K.

Our own local guide on our walk at the Tegalalang rice terraces in Ubud.

Normally we need to walk down the stairs and cross a tiny bridge but we were curious of what lies further deep in the rice terraces. There was a pond, the stairs up on the right leads you to a temple and on the left of the pond will lead you nowhere. If Mirabelle wasn’t nagging about a snack, we would have gone much deeper or even up to the temple.

So instead we went back to cross the tiny bridge! Once on this side of rice terraces, there are some small and cozy warungs where you can have something to calm your hunger and thirst. We opted for the first warung around the corner. We shared a delicious young coconut while looking over the beautiful and green scenery in front of us. The kind owner also gave Mirabelle a private music lesson on his Rindik, a traditional musical instrumental from Bali.

One of the many cozy restaurants on the quite side of Tegalalang rice terraces loop walk.

A kissing pause among the rices paddies at Tegalalang rice fields walk in Ubud Bali❤️ This is how I charge my batteries during my hikes! Before it used to be David whom I am kissing but now he is replaced by this sweet little thing.

The way out of Tegalalang rice terraces.

Just follow the exit signs and you will not get lost. Or if you do, there are always a local somewhere you can ask the way out of the Tegalalang rice terraces.

You will walk on some more rice terraces, pass some funny warungs and a beautiful bamboo forest. And then at last, the “front part”. When you get to this point of the photo below, just follow the steppingstones. From here on, its about another 10 minutes walk to the entrance where you started the walk earlier.

We didn’t meet many visitors on the “back part” of Tegalalang but as soon as we submerged to the “front part” around 10 am, there were already a lot of people.

So, come early to avoid all the crowds and the heat!

And if you weren’t hungry earlier but now are, there are many restaurants on the main road.

 

Have a nice walk everyone!❤️

 

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If you want more beautiful child friendly walks in Ubud, have a look of our walk at the Campuhan Ridge walk. Just click on the link ⬇️

A Family walk at the Campuhan Ridge trail in Ubud, Indonesia

 

 

Family Earth Trek

14 Comments

  1. Yukti Agrawal Reply

    I really love lush green fields and Bali’s lush green terraced rice gardens is on my wish list since long. Good to know that when I visit Ubud, Tegalalang is the most well-known and the most touristic rice terraces in the area. Your daughter Mirabelle looks very cute with those terraced garden and a local conical hat on her. I never knew that it has start and exit point with whole map which navigates us through all area. Those English words with wrong spellings are really funny. Having cozy restaurant beside it must be great for having quick snack. I agree for such hikes your really need these kiss stops in between with your children or partner. Beautiful photos and they are making me tempt to go right now.

  2. This looks like such a gorgeous hike through the Tegalalang. I appreciate the sign translations too, haha. I can’t tell if it’s a joke either or not. I like how simple the trails are, so that you can enjoy the full length of the trail.

  3. Just as you say, I too mostly avoid crowded and super-touristy places, but yes, there are some very few places that do defy the odds and stay beautiful! Thanks for the tip about heading there early in the morning and yeah, buying something at the nearby shop would be a good idea if you have a scooter for safekeeping! 2.5-3km and just 45 mins? Wow, So the terrain must be super-flat, right?

  4. Bali is on my mind and it’s fantastic that you’re exploring Bali as a family
    This is very motivating for families thinking Bali is just for digital nomads.
    The walk at Tegalalang rice terrace looks lush, well detailed and simple to do as a family. The experiences you’re giving your daughter is simply priceless.

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