02 · GALLERY
Five frames.
Ubud has not commercialised the way Seminyak has. The Royal Palace, Puri Saren Agung, is still occupied by the royal family in the back rooms, and the front courtyard is where they have programmed evening performances since the late 1980s. Gamelan orchestra of 20 musicians, court-trained dancers in gold headdresses, you sit on a plastic chair ten feet from the gongs. The Monday and Friday Legong nights are the most musically rigorous. The Kecak nights are more theatrical but lighter on the music. Either way it is the most accessible serious Balinese music in Bali, and the rate is a fraction of what hotels charge for diluted versions.
The Monday and Friday Legong performances by the Bina Remaja troupe are the most musically rigorous. Most tourists default to the Kecak nights at Uluwatu.
Bali's sacred-music anchor. Pointedly not Djakarta Warehouse Project. The atlas resists the EDM-tourism default.
Nightly performances at 19:30, year-round. Monday and Friday Legong performances by the Bina Remaja troupe are the most musically rigorous. The dry season (April to October) is the listening window.
Daily evening performances at 19:30, 60 to 75 minutes. Daytime palace visits free during daylight hours. Each evening features a different troupe and programme; the schedule is posted at the palace gate.
Ubud central, walk to the corner of Jalan Raya Ubud and Jalan Suweta. From Denpasar airport, 90 minutes by taxi (USD 25). The palace is the most-photographed building in Ubud, opposite Ubud Market.