Bali 4N5D Ubud+Kuta

Ubud is inland hill country, an hour from the nearest surf. The Tegallalang terraces north of town are cut into the subak irrigation network that UNESCO lists — a thousand-year-old system of water temples and shared channels. Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary and the Campuhan Ridge Walk both start from the centre on foot. The ridge is best at first light; by ten the heat and the tour coaches have arrived.

Kuta is Bali's original surf beach and still the busiest strip on the island — long beach break, beginner surf schools, and a sunset that draws a crowd every evening. It is loud and commercial in a way Ubud is not. The beach is walkable all the way north into Legian and on to Seminyak. Uluwatu Temple sits on a cliff about 70 metres above the Indian Ocean on Bali's southern tip. The Kecak fire dance is performed in the clifftop amphitheatre at sunset, around 18:00, told through a chanting male chorus rather than a gamelan orchestra — the timing means the performance ends as the light goes. Fair warning: the resident macaques are practised thieves and go for sunglasses and phones.