We will be first time visitors to Bali and will be spending 4 days in Ubud in October. We are looking for a place to stay walking distance to town and, ideally, with a view of the rice paddies. We'd like to spend under $100, if possible. We've been considering the following properties:Cedana Resort, Kebun Indah, and Alam Jiwa.. Any comments on these places or other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
We're also wondering how important it is to have air conditioning in late October.
Thanks!

I don't have personal experience at the places you list but you shouldn't have a problem finding something in your price range.

The Ubud Writers Festival (which is earlier in October) provides the following list of accommodations. You might want to take a look at some of these:
http://ubudwritersfestival.com/content/accommodations

Air conditioning is a personal decision. I'm okay without it but my husband thinks I'm out of my mind.

It's hot all year in Bali. It isn't so much the temperature that forces us to close the windows and crank up the AC: It's the humidity and mosquitos. If you have cross ventilation and a new mosquito net, maybe.

I ended up with a non-AC room at the Tchampuan Hotel a couple months ago. The heat wasn't a problem at all, but the dampness was. It rained a little while I was there. I got wet so I hung my t-shirt out to dry in the room but it was so damp in the room it never really dried out.

alam shanti in one of the less expensive units ($95) or splurge for the gangga if it is available

Most of the rooms at Tegal Sari have rice paddy views, as does the pool. It is walking distance from town, but if it seems too far away, especially in the heat, they have a shuttle to the palace at the other end of Monkey Forest Rd. When we stayed there it was well under $100, but haven't looked at the prices in the last 3 years.

If you want to be right in town there are several places right on Monkey Forest that we looked at that are fairly cheap, have tropical looking grounds, but I don't know how they are to stay in and can't remember the names. You could google hotel and the road and they should come up.

Ubud is a terrific place to stay for your first time holiday in Bali. I just love it!

Alam Jiwa is a really nice choice, it's surrounded by green vegetation, nice pool and very quiet setting.

Not far from Alam Jiwa you have Alam Indah. It's from the same owner and has kind of the same atmosphere. But if you are able to book the hibiscus room you will be treated with a gorgeous river gorge view throughouth your stay. It's the nicest room and under US$100. It's not ricefield view but still really great and it's walking distance to town as there is a small path (shortcut) through Monkey Forest.

A far cheaper resort (not as nice as the ones above) and almost next to Alam Indah is Saren Indah resort. They claim they have ricefield view, but you do have to see through the bushes to see it ;-).

Anyway another place where I love to stay in in Villa Lady Bamboo. Check pictures here: http://www.bali-travel-life.com/lady-bamboo-villa.html It only has a couple of rooms and it's along the river gorge. Just behind it you can find the ricefields, so you can easily walk up the street and check out it out.

I just realized that most of the hotels I recommend have river gorge view. The nice places along with ricefield view are often more than 100USD and you need to take a shuttle bus to the village.

And about the airco conditioning, to be honest I never really needed it in Ubud, sometimes it can get pretty chilly at night. But I can imagine that it can be comfortable so if it's included in the room I would take it. Just in case.

i have never been to bali when a/c was not essential....it is also a great anti-bug preventer...

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Normally July/August/September are the wonderful cool months in Ubud....delicious! However, this year we never got the really cool season and it rained almost every day. Not all day, but for an hour or two during the day and some big rains at night. It's become something of a bad joke here how the rainy season lasted all year and the dry season never came.

Today was beautiful, and no rain at all. However, as soon as I type this I'm sure it will rain! So to answer your question, normally October is the edge of the cool season but you can't count on it. You might try someplace that has aircon just in case you do need it. It also helps keep mosquito activity to a minimum.

I have been offered accommodations at Kibun Indah, the Sandat Room and the Teahouse.

Can anyone comment specifically on those? Are they easy walking distance to town? They look charming and are certainly inexpensive!

Looked at the website, the price is quite standard for Ubud. If you want to be near the 2 main restaurant streets of Monkey Forest and Hanoman it is a bit of a walk, but it depends on how much you like to walk and it's easy to get transport anywhere. And, there are restaurants in that area and the Arma Museum as well. I'm starting to feel that Central Ubud is getting less attractive, as there are so many other areas that offer places to eat and shop. If you are carrying a lot of luggage a bit of a downside I noticed from the site is that cars can't come in, so the staff will have to handcarry all your stuff the 130 meters in and out...

The main thing really is to get out of Ubud "downtown" and explore the countryside.. there are lots of nice places to go and things to do and see that don't involve the Monkey Forest or the Market. Have a fun trip. 4 days is a very short time to be in Ubud!

Kuluk, I'll be in Ubud 8 days. If you can make any other recommendations please feel free to email me privately at [email protected].

I will be traveling alone and would like a comfortable but authentic experience.

Ok, tried to send you a return email but it bounced. Also tried to PM you but can't find the link....
Maybe you can PM me? Kuluk

Just to make things easy, I'm copying and pasting my reply to you.

Dear Grasshopper, (belalang in Balinese)
I have to tell you, I don't stay in hotels since I live here. Your choices are probably fine, and I can't say which hotels for sure have rice padi views or not, as new developments pop up all the time and views get covered up, unfortunately. However, you will see a lot of rice padi all over Bali, especially the areas just outside of Ubud central downtown. I can however, recommend some places that I have seen in the past.... Anom Cottage, great views of the river gorge, but hard to get into. On Monkey Forest Road there are bungalows every 30 meters, such as Sagittarius, Ubud Bungalow, etc etc. Also, most places are not advertised on the internet, as they are locally owned and managed and don't have websites.
Also, there are a lot of nice cute looking places on Jalan Bisma, such as Honeymoon Guesthouse. Do a search, you will see a lot of choices. And, it's walking distance to town on a nice street. Also, the streets directly around Monkey Forest street and Hanoman street are a warren of cute accomodation...you might check those out when you are here in person.
Don't know if I've mentioned it, but if you are unsure you can always just book the first one or two nights and do a short walk around to check out other options. Sometimes the places I recommend are either too luxurious or too basic for my friends, so everyone has their own level of comfort, taste, etc. I have seen on Trip Advisor where half the reviews say it's the best place they've ever stayed and the other half say it's terrible ...!
There just are soo many cute places, and most are not fully booked out, except maybe July -Sept.

There are many fantastic things to do in Ubud...you will love it, just be sure you get out of the downtown...take trips to the countryside, walk through rice fields, if lucky you will see ceremonies in both family and village temples. Or, the many colorful processions as you see in postcards. At minimum you can meet many nice Balinese people.
Ubud is actually both the name of a village and the name of a district, so when people talk about Ubud sometimes it gets confusing to visitors.

Thank you so much!

Belalang

Thanks for all these great ideas. We are ending up staying at the Cendana Resort. Has anyone heard of that place? Our trip is in just around 3 weeks - can't wait!