---
node: spot_ubud_ubud_palace
type: spot
slug: ubud_palace
destination: dest_ubud
title: "Ubud Palace"
lead: "Puri Saren Agung is the home of Ubud's royal family, still lived in by their descendants, with its front courtyards open to visitors by day. Its gates and carvings are the work of I Gusti Nyoman Lempad, the artist who shaped much of what Ubud looks like."
published: 2026-08-12
updated: 2026-08-12
image_file: spot_ubud_ubud_palace.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:001_Puri_Saren_Agung,_Ubud,_Bali_in_2025.jpg"
image_author: "JyotiPN"
image_license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

## Overview

The palace was rebuilt after the 1917 earthquake flattened much of southern Bali, and the family's decision in the 1930s to take in foreign painters is why Ubud became an artists' town rather than another market village. Only the outer courtyards are open; the family lives behind them. Lempad worked here as architect and sculptor, and his own house a few doors north is also open.

## Highlights

Come in daylight for the carvings and at seven thirty for the dance, which is performed in the courtyard most nights on a rotating programme of legong, barong and kecak. Tickets are sold at the gate an hour before and the front rows are worth the extra. Ubud Market is directly opposite, busiest before nine in the morning when it still sells to cooks rather than tourists.