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After I left Munduk , my next stop was Ubud, a town in south-central Bali that is thought to date back to the eighth century, its name deriving from the Balinese word ubad , 'medicine'. Ubud has long been popular with the backpacker circuit and expats and there are as many yoga studios, co-working spaces and brunch spots as temples these days. Its central location also makes it a good base for visiting much of the rest of Bali: I took a day trip to East Bali, but the north is just as accessible on a one-day tour.  The traffic and crowded streets of central Ubud were a bit of a shock to the system after the peace and quiet of Munduk, but I soon warmed to the town's charms and very much enjoyed the four days I spent in and around the area. THINGS TO DO I stayed centrally so that I could easily explore the town on foot, dropping into the Puri Saren Agung (Ubud Palace) and other temples and historic buildings. My hotel was next to the small but lovely Komaneka Fine Art Gallery...

During my recent trip to Bali, I spent almost four days in and around Ubud. After the peaceful surroundings of Munduk Moding Plantation , the hustle and bustle of Ubud was a bit of a shock to the system, but I dived straight into exploring some of the town's numerous speciality coffee shops and roasteries. The places listed are all within about 15 to 20 mins' walk of the centre, depending on where you start. There will be a separate post about all the other things I got up to in Ubud, but read on to find out about my coffee experiences.  As you can probably guess from my map below, I'll be doing another blog post about the speciality coffee spots I visited in Canggu and Seminyak — some companies have cafes there and in Ubud and I tried to divide my time accordingly. As usual, my very favourites have purple icons (also marked in the list below with an asterisk) and the 'sister locations' I didn't quite have time for are in dark blue.  Anomali Coffee First in my l...

A few months ago, I received the invite of dreams — to attend a meeting in Bali. I was also able to fly out 10 days early to take some much-needed holiday before the work part. Cue several weeks of intensive research into where I should go and how I should spend my time. And one place soon emerged as a top priority: Munduk Moding Plantation , a resort and coffee farm in the mountains of north Bali. Munduk turned out to be a great first stop on a rather hectic whistlestop tour of Bali. After a two-hour wait to get out of Ngurah Rai International Airport and a two-and-a-half-hour drive north through the traffic of Denpasar and then the winding mountain roads up to Munduk, I was more than ready for some R&R. Surrounded by jungle and farmland, with views of Bali's northwest coast on clear days and of the looming dark peaks of distant mountains, Munduk Moding Plantation is located in a beautiful, peaceful setting. It's one of the loveliest hotels I've ever stayed in! I was t...