Hey There! I hope you enjoyed the last post on our first couple of days in Ubud, Bali. While looking for hotels to stay at in Bali I came across the tree houses in the Green Village just a few miles outside of Ubud. The pictures online (Airbnb) looked too cool to pass up and I also thought to myself ‘where am I going to EVER find a place like this in the states for $300/night’ so I decided to book us two nights at the Temple View House.
**Though its $300/night, the Temple View House has 3 bedrooms and more than enough room for 3 couples so it works out a lot less if you’re in a group. Unfortunately it was just us two, and that’s just what happens when you travel with spoiled-bratty me. The photo above is the main entrance as you walk into the Temple House- the coolest front door or what?!?
The Green Village had about a dozen homes (that I could see) all made out of bamboo and perched in the jungles surrounding Ubud. We rented the “Temple View House” which at 3 stories tall had some of the best views the jungle could offer. The are many size tree house options ranging from 1 bedroom to like 5 or 7 bedrooms. The biggest one was right across the river from us and it looked like it easily had an extra story compared to ours. The entire tree house was way too big for just the two of us, but we were like what the heck, how often do you get to stay in a tricked-out treehouse?!?
The view of our treehouse from across the Ayung river.
The Temple House is three-stories tall with three bedrooms and three bathrooms along with a plunge pool and gazebo outside (pictured below). Directly outside of our villa was the Ayung River. It was really relaxing and harmonic to wake up to the sound of the flowing river directly outside of your room.
The living room and kitchen area is HUGE (photo below)and could easily fit 20 people comfortably. All of the staff there were incredibly friendly and they catered to your needs very well. From bringing welcome drinks the moment we arrived (that seems to be the thing in Bali).
There is a restaurant on-site but there isn’t very much space for sitting so it’s best to order and eat in your villa. There is also a private shuttle on-site that can provide transportation anywhere you need for an inexpensive cost usually. This is a perfect place to stay especially if you have kids and/or really into being in the open space. Bali has an open concept design for a lot of their homes, so this bamboo house was similar in that only the bedrooms were totally enclosed. Meaning the big kitchen area does not have windows or any physical structure to really protect you from the environments, something to watch out for if that’s not your thing. Not sure if you can see in the photos but there are no windows or any enclosure upstairs to keep out the environments (thank God we went in the dry season).
It can be a little frightening at night because the bats, bugs, and small critters like to come out to play once the sun sets. It is definitely a different type of experience than you are used to and one that I would recommend, but maybe only stay for two nights like we did (unless nature is really your thing, then stay forever my friend…stay forever)
Typical to our previous hotel in Ubud, there was a lot of complimentary meals at the Green Village. All of the food is delivered to your villa since there isn’t a formal restaurant on-site. You just walk down to the bar area of the restaurant and put in your order for breakfast and dinner (we usually went off-site for lunch) and tell them what time you would like it delivered- so convenient! The Green Village had a lot more Balinese/Indonesian style food choices compared to the restaurants in the hotels. They also had refreshing fresh squeezed juices such as guava, papaya, orange, coconut, etc which is perfect in that Bali heat. Seriously there were time that just walking to the restaurant (2 minute uphill walk from our villa) produced about a marathon’s worth of sweat, so hydration was key. The coolest thing is that the straws are made of bamboo (say what!). So of course I cleaned them and took like five home 🙂
The menu for the Green Village changes all the time which they email to you a few weeks in advance. Above are some photos of commonly found Balinese dishes around the island.They were all really yummy, and the beef rendang (click for caption) was very spicy for those of you that aren’t too keen on spicy!
Activities
There isn’t too much for activities on-site but they do provide transportation if you want to leave the premises (extra charge avg. $20 rountrip). The Green Village is not too far from Ubud if you want to take a day trip down and it is also not much further to get to Kuta/Seminyak area. TIP: If you leave the site make sure you have the number to the office and have the address written somewhere (photo screenshot of the address is always great) because nobody in Bali will know what you mean when you say, “I need to get back to the ‘Green Village'”. The entire place is hidden within the jungles, so if your taxi driver hasn’t been there in the past there is a good chance he/she will have no idea where it is.
If you are into learning more about the science of bamboo they offer tours to visit the Bamboo School where designers and crafters show you designs and the process of constructing a bamboo house. If you want to get hands on experience/fun with bamboo they offer a 3-day workshop where you get to assist the crew with constructing some bamboo structures.
Picture of a bookshelf that was located in the common sitting area at the Green Village. You will find bamboo in every detail of their furniture and site area.
