The Best Luxury Hotels in Ubud (2026)

Mandapa is one of the great hotels of the world, and the only hotel in Bali with three Michelin Keys. It’s about as good as hotels get, anywhere.

It steps down through rice paddies to the Ayung River, about 3 km from central Ubud. There are only 60 suites and villas, every one with a butler, so it never feels busy. The service is what I’d book it for.

Book a pool villa. The riverfront and rice-field-view villas are the ones I’d ask for. The suites are lovely, but they don’t have a pool, and the villa is where Mandapa really happens.

For dinner, book a table at Kubu, where you eat in a bamboo cocoon right on the river.

For a family, the suites don’t connect, so book a two-bedroom pool villa. The kids camp is for ages 5 to 12, with nothing set up for under-5s. As of January 2026 there’s also the Mandapa River Estate, a three-bedroom villa for up to 9 people, with a private chef on request. It’s what I’d book for a big family birthday.

The catch: it’s a world of its own, and you won’t pop into town for dinner. The valley is steep, so you’ll ride buggies everywhere.

Buahan is the most different hotel on this list, because the villas have no walls and no doors. Each of the 16 is an open-air balé on a jungle hillside above the Ayung River. You get a roof of bamboo and old ironwood, a bed, a copper bathtub and your own plunge pool, with nothing between you and the valley.

Most luxury hotels in Ubud show you the jungle through a window. At Buahan you fall asleep to the river and wake up already in the view. The hillside opposite is a forest reserve, so nothing will ever be built in it.

Banyan Tree runs it, but it feels more Balinese than any other luxury hotel I know. A Balinese architect designed it, and almost all the staff are local. Dinner is a set menu that’s mostly plant-based.

I’d book a Seven Peaks Pool balé, high on the hill with the best view. It’s adults-only, so this one’s for couples, and I’d go between May and October.

The catch: open-air still means open-air. You’ll hear every downpour and the birds at dawn, and in the wet season rain can blow in, the bedding gets damp and the mosquitoes come out. If you need a room you can shut to sleep well, this isn’t your hotel. It’s remote too, about 40 minutes north of Ubud and 2 hours from the airport.

The paths are steep and gravelly. From November 2026 to early March 2027, part of the resort is being modernised and the lift down the hill is out, so expect a lot of stairs.

Adiwana gets you a 5-star feel for mid-range money. It’s a Balinese group, started by an Ubud local, and it runs nine hotels in and around Ubud. They’re small and warm, with real Balinese hospitality, and I think they’re the best value in Ubud.

Of the nine, I’d book one of these three.

Adiwana Suweta is the one for a couple. Book a Jungle View Signature Pool Villa, with its own heated pool looking into the jungle. It’s about a 30-minute walk into town, but a free shuttle runs there through the day.

Adiwana Resort Jembawan is the one you can walk from. It’s right in central Ubud, with hundreds of restaurants within a few minutes’ walk, and it has a lovely pool and a great breakfast.

Adiwana Monkey Forest is the small one, with just 21 rooms, a short walk from the Monkey Forest. Book the Adiwana Room for the bath and the balcony, and there’s a spa on site. I’d pick it over Jembawan if you’re a couple who’d rather be in a smaller hotel.

The catch: these are boutique hotels, not big resorts. At Suweta, reception and the restaurant face the road, so you get some traffic noise, and it’s 30-odd steps from the pool villas up to the lobby. At Jembawan there’s no lift, and some ground-floor rooms can feel damp, so I’d ask for an upper floor. At Monkey Forest the pool is small, and the front rooms get noise from the road, so ask for a room at the back.

With kids, the Westin is my Ubud pick. Nothing else on this list does families this well for mid-range money.

It’s a modern resort south of town, about 15 minutes’ drive from central Ubud and a bit closer to the airport. The infinity pool looks out over the jungle, and there’s a kids pool with a little waterfall, with the kids club right beside it.

The rooms are big for the price. Even the entry Garden View King is 49 square metres, with a balcony. For a family of four, I’d book the Family Suite, with two bedrooms and a living room.

The catch: noise. Rooms facing the road, the lift and the lobby can be loud, so ask for the garden side. It’s a polished chain resort, not a Mandapa-style splurge, and you can’t walk into town, so plan on a driver.

I love Four Seasons as a brand, but this isn’t my favourite of their hotels. It costs about the same as Mandapa, and for that money I’d book Mandapa every time.

The arrival is still the best in Ubud. You cross a footbridge high above the Ayung gorge and step onto a roof covered in a lotus pond, with the resort below you. The villas are carved into the hillside, each with its own pool, and the service is everything you’d expect from Four Seasons.

The catch: it opened in 1998, and to me it feels dated. As of July 2026, only seven suites, the Ayung Terrace restaurant and the bar have been refreshed. If you do book, ask for one of those suites.

There are a lot of stairs and no lifts, so ask for a step-free villa if anyone in your group needs one. There are only two or three places to eat, and rafts and kayaks float past the riverside pool.