Ubud - Bali

Ubud is famous with the center for it's art, artists and paintings. The regularly nightly traditional dance performances, which are part of the traditional culture and are arranged for tourists on a regular schedule. Ubud is popular in part today because it is the best place in Bali to break out of the tourist mode and get off the beaten path, although far from undiscovered.

Ubud gets it name from the balinese word ubad (medicine). Tourism on the island developed when Walter Spies came to Ubud, an ethnic German born in Russia who taught painting and music, and dabbled in dance. Spies and foreign painters Willem Hofker and Rudolf Bonnet entertained celibrities including Charlie Chaplain, Noel Coward, Barbara Hutton, H.G. Wells and Vicki Baum. They brought in some of the greatest artists from all over Bali to teach and train the Balinese in arts, helping Ubud become the cultural centre of Bali. A new burst of creative energy came in the 1960's in the form of Dutch painter Arie Smit (1916), developing The Young Artists Movement (wikipedia).

Ubud offers many beautiful and interesting places to visit, and plenty of hotels available to choose from - guesthouses to luxury private villas are also available.