Eat
Ubud at night: an evening built around food
Cook your dinner in Petulu
IDR 350.000per guest, shared class
Ubud has no big nightlife, but its evenings are good for eating. Cook dinner in Petulu, watch the herons come home, or ride out to the Gianyar night market.
By Chef Wayan Suryana, Warung Tumang BaliLast updated
The short answer
For food lovers, Ubud evenings work best two ways. Take the 2:30pm–5:30pm cooking class in Petulu, which ends in the dinner you cooked as the village herons fly in to roost (around 5pm to 5:45pm). Or ride 25 to 35 minutes to the Gianyar night market, where stalls run until about 11pm. Do them on different nights.
Ubud is quiet after dark
Ubud has none of the beach-club nightlife of Canggu or Seminyak. Its evenings are better spent eating: a long dinner, a market, a dance performance in town. The two plans below keep food at the center and work best on different nights.
Evening one: cook your dinner in Petulu
The afternoon session at Warung Tumang Bali runs 2:30pm to 5:30pm: a walk through the Petulu rice fields, cooking with Chef Wayan Suryana, then dinner at the table where you cooked. Pickup and drop-off are free from hotels in the main Ubud area, so you are back in town early in the evening with nothing left to plan.
The class ends as the herons arrive. Petulu's white herons fly in from the rice fields to roost in the village trees from around 5pm, and most have settled by about 5:45pm. Ask Wayan on WhatsApp whether a stop at the viewing platform on the way back works that day.
Evening two: the Gianyar night market
Pasar Senggol Gianyar is where Balinese families eat after dark, 25 to 35 minutes east of Ubud. The stalls run until about 11pm; arrive around 6pm for the full choice. Order babi guling, sate lilit, and a sweet from the cake stalls, and bring small notes.
Sayan night market, on the west side of Ubud, is smaller and closer if you only want a quick plate.
Which evening first
With one free evening, take the class: dinner, the herons, and a recipe booklet in one block. With two, cook first. The night market makes more sense once you have ground base genep yourself and know what is in the sate. Do not plan both on the same night; you will not be hungry after the class dinner.
Prefer mornings? The 8:30am class adds the morning market and ends around 12:30pm, which leaves the evening free for Gianyar.
Questions before the day
- What is there to do in Ubud at night?
- Eat, mostly: a cooking class that ends in dinner, the Gianyar or Sayan night market, a long warung dinner, or a dance performance in town. Ubud has no big club scene.
- What time do the Petulu herons arrive?
- From around 5pm. Most have settled in the village trees by about 5:45pm, a little earlier or later with the season and the light.
- Is there an evening cooking class in Ubud?
- The Petulu afternoon class runs 2:30pm to 5:30pm and ends in dinner, with free pickup from the main Ubud area. There is no later session.
Plan the rest of the day
- The Petulu herons at duskThousands of white herons fly into Petulu village near Ubud every evening. Arrive about 5pm, park by the north booth, and watch from the platform mid-village.
- The Gianyar night market from UbudGianyar night market (Pasar Senggol) is 25–35 minutes from Ubud. Arrive around 6pm for babi guling, sate lilit, lawar, and klepon. Bring small cash notes.
- Morning session or afternoon sessionChoose the 8:30am Petulu morning (market, rice walk, cooking, lunch) or the 2:30pm afternoon (rice walk, cooking, dinner). Same kitchen, pickup, and group size.
Cook the dishes from this day
- Sate lilitHow to make sate lilit: mix fish or chicken with fried base genep and coconut, wrap it around lemongrass, and grill. Twelve skewers from a Petulu kitchen.
- Peanut sauce for sateBalinese peanut sauce (bumbu kacang): fry peanuts, grind them with chili, garlic, and shallot, then simmer with palm sugar and sweet soy. No peanut butter.
Where the kitchen is
Chef Wayan Suryana at Warung Tumang Bali, Banjar Laplapan, Petulu, Ubud, Gianyar, Bali 80571. The kitchen is about 10 minutes from central Ubud, depending on traffic. Pin -8.4945671, 115.2812928.