Rafting Ubud Bali – Are you thinking about white water rafting in Bali? We recently did this in Ubud along the Ayung River and this was our experience.
The Ayung River is the longest river on the Indonesian island of Bali. It stretches for 75 km from the northern mountain ranges and flows into the Badung Strait near Sanur near Denpasar.
Rafting Ubud Bali
As always, we do our research and work with a good company for our adventure reviews. Indeed, we were not disappointed. Bali Sobek was the first whitewater company with more than 25 years of experience in providing adventure tours.
Graha Adventure White Water Rafting At Ayung River
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We arrived at the starting point of the river at 9:30am and were welcomed into their amazing eco-friendly facility overlooking the lush forest of Ubud. Once we settled in we started walking down to the river which was an easy walk up some very long stairs (500 steps I think). But the view during the hike is definitely worth it!
When we got off, our guide continued the safety briefing and explained the do’s and don’ts for our trip. There were only four of us on the boat and we started our rafting together with a Lebanese couple.
Reasons Travelers Love Water Rafting At Ayung River In Ubud
The rapids themselves were quite mild considering they ranged from Class II to Class III. We mostly cruised at a steady pace while taking the time to admire the things around us. The scenery was GREAT! Deep valleys and waterfalls surrounded us as we wandered through the lush forest in the heart of Ubud.
There were some pretty exciting rapids that nearly capsized us, but overall it was pretty mild, perfect for those who wanted to fully enjoy the scenery. The rapids are calm enough for families with children.
Insider tip: If you want a more intense whitewater experience, Bali Sobek also organizes trips down the Telaga Waja River, which is almost all around class III rapids!
We made a stop at the riverside where there was a local family who had set up a shop selling drinks, fresh coconuts and snacks. Although there are many travel agencies, Bali Sobek was very well managed and organised. Many other rafting providers have stopped much earlier on the river, but as Bali Sobek was one of the first, they chose an end that was right after some pretty epic rapids!
Ubud Rafting Bali
At the beginning of the trip the jungle was really lush and beautiful but unfortunately at the very end of the river there were big resorts scattered along the river bank. Don’t get me wrong, there were some beautiful resorts but it didn’t add much to the overall feel of the experience as I would have preferred to be surrounded by nature all the time.
After about two hours of paddling down the river, we reached our final stop. Next we started climbing the long stairs on our way to Bali Sobek Garden Restaurant.
There they had clean showers with towels for those who wanted to shower. We then proceeded to eat through their delicious buffet of traditional Indonesian dishes. Until then, we didn’t realize how hungry we really were until we saw the food!
The team behind Bali Sobek was very professional and made sure every step of the tour was easy and comfortable for us. Their equipment and crew were some of the best we saw on the river that day. The level of professionalism they all had was quite impressive. Since we were riding a motorbike to the starting point, they even arranged for one of their staff to carry our bike to the ending point, so we didn’t have to worry about getting a taxi back. How great it was!
Ayung River White Water Rafting Bali
We returned to Ubud where we were completely satisfied and happy. Overall, we really enjoyed our experience and highly recommend this adventure company.
Anna is the co-founder of Adventure in You and in the last 9 years she has traveled the world and lived on 5 different continents. She is passionate about destination advice, business, outdoor travel and discovering good food on the go. Her travel, equipment and construction experience has been featured in Foundr, Business Insider, Forbes, Yahoo! Travel and more. Rafting in Bali is safe for everyone. This is my conclusion based on my observation. I have seen families with young children go on white water rafting as if it were a ride in an amusement park. But I was a little nervous. I was afraid of falling into the river. And if I fall alone while my friends are still intact in the boat, and if I hit a rock when I fall; I know these are ridiculous concerns, but they are still my concerns. In my previous experience of rafting in Bali in 2008 with my friends, it was quite fast and challenging. I think these two worlds are completely different: rafting with boys and rafting with girls. My initial fears were unfounded. The rafting with the girls was much calmer and slower as we told our guide not to get dropped or wet lol!
Anyway, let me rewind my rafting experience from the beginning. Before leaving for Bali, we booked rafting directly with Sobko. Sobek is the most recognized rafting provider in Bali so we feel more confident to join them. Sobek has 2 rafting locations: Ayung and Telaga. We chose Ayung because it is level 2 and 3 while Telaga is level 3 and 3 plus. After all, we’re city girls and we want girls to have a good time. For Ayung Sobek offers a choice of Classic or Light. Classic includes insurance, shower, buffet lunch, and hotel pick-up, while Light includes insurance and fried rice lunch only. We chose Classicone and paid Rp 400,000 for domestic and USD 70 for overseas. The length of Ayung rafting is about 11km.
With you: wallet, phone, 1 set of dry clothes (shirt, pants and underwear), shampoo, facial cleanser, comb, hair tie or glasses (if you forgot to bring them, you can ask the guide), snack for travel consumption, memory card or pen drive (in case you want to buy their photos). I recommend wearing hiking or non-slip slippers, but don’t wear expensive ones in case you lose them in the river.
Amazing Ayung River Rafting Bali Activities
Since we chose a late morning, we were picked up from the hotel around 9am. The journey from our hotel to the starting point took about 1.5 hours. The pickup was not actually a Sobek vehicle, but had been outsourced. The car was only supposed to send us to and from the hotel, non-stop. It would send us to the starting point and wait for us at the finish line.
At first we kept our valuables (phone and wallet) in a waterproof bag and carried them with us. The rest of our belongings were placed in a large bag, locked and placed in the car. Sobek offers both a waterproof bag and a large bag. Then we have a life jacket, a helmet and a paddle. We then walked down the 500 steps to the river. When we got off, the guide explained some basic commands like forward, backward, left, right and stop. When the briefing finished we boarded the ship. Our guide took care of our waterproof bag so we could focus on paddling!
The raft started off leisurely with a few photo stops. The trail is mostly flat, with streams and waterfalls in places. If you are thirsty or hungry, which I doubt, you can buy overpriced food and drink in the shops that line the river. Our guide stopped at one of the shops to give us a break. We bought overpriced drinks at the shop and even bought our own guide. It was a gesture to contribute to the local population.
In addition to local residents’ shops, many resorts are built along the banks of the Ayung River. Some of them are: Kupu Kupu Barong and Ritz Carlton. My friend noticed that there were many carvings on the river wall and wondered how long they had been there. Our guide said they are fairly new, probably 2-3 years old.
Sobek Rafting Adventure
Ayung Sobek doesn’t just use the river as a rafting venue. There are many other companies providing rafting there. It is so common to pass ships of other companies. When that happens, the battle begins! Yes, it’s a tough fight. Any oarsman would spray his opponent
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