7 Day Bali Itinerary: Ubud, Seminyak, and Uluwatu for First-Timers
A three-base week — Ubud, Seminyak, Uluwatu — built around real Bali traffic, not the no-traffic drive times most itineraries quote. Here's the day-by-day plan, what to book ahead, and where to verify the numbers that move.
This 7 day Bali itinerary — one week in Bali, if you're counting flights instead of calendar days — is for someone on their first trip who wants temples, rice terraces, and surf culture without doubling back across the island. It runs three bases — Ubud for three nights, Seminyak for two, Uluwatu for two — and moves south, following the geography instead of fighting it. The pace is moderate: three ticketed stops (Tirta Empul, Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, the Uluwatu Kecak dance) anchor the week, and everything else is walk-up or unscheduled. The trade-off is honesty about transfer time. Bali's roads are short on a map and slow in practice, so two of the seven days are built as half-day transfers, not sightseeing days. If you'd rather test a different base order or trip length against your own dates, Fortrip's itinerary selection tool can run the comparison before you commit to this one.
At a glance
Frequently asked questions
Is seven days enough?+
Yes, for this specific three-base route, but it's paced tightly around the three ticketed stops — treat Seminyak's open day as your only true slack in the week.
How much travel time should I budget for transfers?+
Use the ranges in the table above as your baseline, and check Google Maps' live traffic the morning you travel — Seminyak–Uluwatu after 3pm is the leg most likely to run long.
Do I need advance tickets?+
Tirta Empul and Monkey Forest are walk-up only. Tegalalang has no fixed ticketing at all. The Kecak dance benefits from advance booking mainly in peak season (July–August, year-end holidays).
What time should I arrive for the Kecak dance?+
Aim for 45–60 minutes before the 6:00pm showtime to get a seat with a clear view of both the stage and the sunset behind it.
Make this itinerary yours
Fit “7 day bali itinerary” to your dates, pace, and hotels, then check every transfer before you book.
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Day
Base
Key stops
Transit
1
Ubud
Jalan Hanoman, Monkey Forest street, arrival
DPS–Ubud ≈36 km, 40 min no traffic, 1h05–1h35 daytime (BaliRoads)
2
Ubud
Tirta Empul, Tegalalang
Local loop, no base change
3
Ubud → Seminyak
Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary
Ubud–Seminyak ≈33 km, 30 min no traffic, 55min–1h15 daytime (BaliRoads)
4
Seminyak
Jalan Kayu Aya, beach clubs, Kerobokan
None — open day
5
Seminyak → Uluwatu
Jimbaran seafood lunch
Seminyak–Uluwatu ≈26 km, 30 min no traffic, 50min–1h15 daytime (BaliRoads)
6
Uluwatu
Padang Padang/Bingin, Uluwatu Temple, Kecak dance
Short local drives only
7
Uluwatu → airport
Jimbaran Bay walk or a clifftop coffee, departure
Uluwatu–DPS ≈21 km, 30 min no traffic, 50min–1h15 daytime (BaliRoads)
How to read the numbers in this plan
Hours and fees for the three ticketed stops come from the venue's own page where one exists, or a named fee-tracking source dated at first mention — check the posted rate at the gate rather than budgeting against it exactly. Drive times come from one routing source (BaliRoads), given here as the full range the source states, not a rounded single figure; the morning you travel, a quick check of Google Maps' live traffic or a Grab fare quote will tell you more than any published range can. Tegalalang is the one stop in this week with no published fee at all, and that's addressed directly in Day 2 rather than guessed at here.
Logistics to sort before you land
A local SIM or eSIM (Telkomsel and XL Axiata both have airport counters) makes booking drivers and checking live traffic possible from day one.
Carry small cash — IDR 50,000 and 20,000 notes — for Tegalalang's per-viewpoint fees, temple donations, and sarong rentals, none of which take cards.
Install Grab and Gojek before you arrive; both work across all three bases and give you a real fare and ETA to compare against any hotel-arranged driver.
A sarong isn't required packing — Tirta Empul and Uluwatu Temple both rent them on-site — but bringing your own saves a small queue at the counter.
Day 1 — Ubud: arrival and settling into the rice-paddy pace
Morning
Land at Denpasar (DPS) and head straight to Ubud rather than staging near the airport first. The no-traffic distance is about 36 km / 40 minutes, but daytime traffic runs 1h05–1h35 (BaliRoads), so plan for the longer end and arrange your driver before you land.
Afternoon
Once you've checked in, walk Jalan Hanoman and Jalan Monkey Forest to get oriented. Skip booking anything timed today — jet lag plus the midday snarl around Ubud's central market make a loose first afternoon the better call.
Evening
Eat at a warung off the main tourist strip rather than on Jalan Raya Ubud, where prices run noticeably higher for the same nasi campur. No reservation needed.
Day 2 — Ubud: Tirta Empul and Tegalalang in one loop
Morning
Tirta Empul in Tampaksiring is a working temple with a melukat (purification) pool, open daily 08:00–18:00. A fee-tracking source puts adult entry at IDR 75,000 and children aged 5–11 at IDR 50,000, with under-fives free (Ohana Agency, Oct 2026) — confirm the posted rate at the ticket window, since no official pricing page was available to verify this independently. Bring a sarong or rent one on-site, and arrive before 10am to beat the queue at the spring itself. It's walk-up only; no advance booking exists.
Midday
Drive a short distance north to Tegalalang rice terrace. There's no official entrance ticket here — landowners at each viewpoint collect their own informal fee, and neither the amount nor the number of viewpoints asking for one is published anywhere centrally. Carry small cash in case you stop at more than one lookout, and treat whatever's posted at the gate as the number to go by, not a figure from a guidebook or blog.
Afternoon
Loop back to Ubud by early afternoon. Combining both stops in one morning avoids a second trip out to Tampaksiring later in the week.
Day 3 — Ubud: Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, then transfer to Seminyak
Morning
The Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary is open daily 9:00am–6:00pm with last entry at 5:00pm, per its own visitor page (Monkey Forest Ubud). That page doesn't list a current fee; a fee update published in April 2026 puts foreign adult entry at IDR 130,000 and children at IDR 100,000, effective since April 1, 2026 (Bali.live) — noticeably more than the figures still circulating in older guides. Arrive close to opening to beat both the heat and the tour-bus crowds. No advance ticket is needed; it's walk-up, same as Tirta Empul. Secure loose items before entering — the macaques are habituated to grabbing anything held loosely.
Afternoon
Leave Ubud for Seminyak by early-to-mid afternoon at the latest. The no-traffic distance is 33 km / 30 minutes, but the daytime route through Denpasar runs 55 minutes to 1h15 (BaliRoads) — the leg in this itinerary most likely to run long, since it crosses Denpasar's midday traffic rather than a quieter coastal road. If you're compressing this week into fewer days, run the new day count through the itinerary validator before booking transfers, so no single day ends up carrying two timed stops at once.
Evening
Settle into Seminyak and keep dinner simple near your accommodation; you've spent the bulk of the day in transit.
Day 4 — Seminyak: beach days and Jalan Kayu Aya
Morning
Base near Jalan Kayu Aya (Eat Street) for walkable access to the beach, boutiques, and beach clubs without needing a driver for every meal. Biku, a Javanese-colonial house turned café on Jalan Petitenget, is a short walk north and worth a stop before the beach crowds build. Its hours shift seasonally and aren't posted on a fixed schedule anywhere central — check with the café directly the morning you go rather than planning around a fixed opening time.
Afternoon
Seminyak Beach has no entrance fee or gate; your only cost is a sunbed or a club entry fee if you pick a beachfront club. Potato Head Beach Club, on the northern end of Seminyak Beach, is one of the best known of these — its entry policy and any minimum spend aren't published on a stable page, so check its own site the same week you plan to go rather than assuming walk-in access on a busy day. This is the one day in the week with no fixed schedule, which doubles as slack if an earlier transfer ran long.
Evening
If beach time wraps up early, spend an hour or two in Kerobokan, just north of Seminyak, for its concentration of independent cafes and design shops.
Day 5 — Seminyak to Uluwatu via Jimbaran
Morning
Leave Seminyak by late morning. The no-traffic distance to Uluwatu is about 26 km / 30 minutes, but the daytime figure runs 50 minutes to 1h15 (BaliRoads), and the single coastal road through Jimbaran gets noticeably worse after 3pm — build your departure time around avoiding that window if you can.
Midday
Stop in Jimbaran for a beachfront seafood lunch at one of the grills along Jimbaran Bay — it sits roughly at the midpoint and breaks up the drive.
Afternoon
Treat the rest of the day as travel, not sightseeing. The Bukit Peninsula's roads narrow past Jimbaran, and arriving before dark avoids navigating unfamiliar cliff-top roads at night. If your accommodation is near Bingin or Padang Padang rather than central Uluwatu, add another 15–20 minutes and confirm your exact address against the route before booking a driver.
Day 6 — Uluwatu: the temple, Kecak dance, and cliff beaches
Morning
Spend the morning at Padang Padang or Bingin beach, both a short drive from central Uluwatu, before the afternoon heat sets in.
Afternoon
Head to Uluwatu Temple, perched on the cliff edge at the Bukit Peninsula's southwestern tip. Factor in a short, steep walk from the parking area to the temple grounds, plus modest dress requirements — sarong rental is available on-site.
Evening
Gates for the Kecak dance open at 4:00pm and the performance runs 6:00–7:00pm daily, per the temple's own schedule (Uluwatu Temple official site). Arrive 45–60 minutes before showtime, since the amphitheater fills from the front. That same official page is where to check current ticket prices and buy ahead online; it doesn't publish sell-out data, but travelers visiting during July–August or the year-end holidays report fuller crowds, so booking ahead there removes that risk if your dates fall in that window.
Day 7 — Uluwatu: a last stop, then departure
Morning
If your flight isn't until the afternoon or evening, spend an hour walking Jimbaran Bay's beach promenade or find a clifftop café near Suluban for a last coffee over the surf break below. Either works better than an unstructured morning with nowhere specific to go.
Afternoon
The no-traffic distance to Ngurah Rai Airport is about 21 km / 30 minutes, with daytime traffic running 50 minutes to 1h15 (BaliRoads) — build in extra buffer beyond that if your flight departs during the 3–5pm surge. Avoid scheduling any new ticketed attraction today; the week's three timed experiences are already covered.
Evening
For a late-evening flight, a half-day stop in Jimbaran or a Kuta-area day-use room bridges the gap better than idling in Uluwatu with checked-out luggage.
Who should cut, swap, or extend a day
With only five or six days, cut one Ubud night rather than shortening Seminyak or Uluwatu. Tirta Empul and the Monkey Forest combine into a single day as outlined above, and Tegalalang can be skipped without losing a signature stop.
If beach time matters more than temples, swap a half-day in Ubud for an extra half-day in Uluwatu — the extra time allows a return visit to Bingin or Padang Padang at a different tide or light, which a single rushed afternoon doesn't allow.
Arriving with a late-night flight or heavy jet lag? Extend Day 1 into a full buffer day rather than attempting Tirta Empul on day two while exhausted. The temple's queues are more tolerable when you're rested.
If Seminyak's nightlife isn't a priority, the week compresses to five days by cutting Seminyak to one night and adding that night to Uluwatu instead — the Ubud-to-Uluwatu drive is long enough that a single Seminyak night still works as a midpoint.
For a slower pace with less scooter stress, extend to eight or nine days and add a non-timed Ubud day — a Campuhan Ridge walk, a cooking class — without touching the three-base structure.
On scooters: they suit confident riders doing short, daytime hops within one base, like Seminyak to Kerobokan. For the longer intercity transfers — especially Ubud–Seminyak through Denpasar and the Uluwatu cliff roads after dark — a private driver removes the itinerary's biggest risk, which is traffic timing, not distance. If any of these swaps change your total trip length, Fortrip's AI trip planner can rebuild the day count around your new base split.
Common questions before you book
Is seven days enough? Yes, for this specific three-base route, but it's paced tightly around the three ticketed stops — treat Seminyak's open day as your only true slack in the week.
How much travel time should I budget for transfers? Use the ranges in the table above as your baseline, and check Google Maps' live traffic the morning you travel — Seminyak–Uluwatu after 3pm is the leg most likely to run long.
Do I need advance tickets? Tirta Empul and Monkey Forest are walk-up only. Tegalalang has no fixed ticketing at all. The Kecak dance benefits from advance booking mainly in peak season (July–August, year-end holidays).
What time should I arrive for the Kecak dance? Aim for 45–60 minutes before the 6:00pm showtime to get a seat with a clear view of both the stage and the sunset behind it.
