Best Co-Working Spaces in Ubud for Remote Workers and Freelancers

Photo by  Aria Bima

17 min read · Ubud, Indonesia · co working spaces ·

Best Co-Working Spaces in Ubud for Remote Workers and Freelancers

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Words by

Andi Pratama

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I have spent the better part of three years working from Ubud, cycling through nearly every desk, beanbag, and warung table that markets itself as a workspace. The search for the best co-working spaces in Ubud becomes a personal obsession once you realize that your entire livelihood depends on a stable Wi-Fi signal and a chair that does not leave you limping by Friday. What I have learned is that this town rewards the curious freelancer, the one who walks past the obvious spots on Jalan Monkey Forest and ventures toward the paddy edges and the quiet lanes behind the royal palace. Ubud was never built for the nine-to-five crowd. It grew as a haven for artists, mystics, and healers, and that spirit still hums through every shared office Ubud has to offer today.

The Evolution of Workspaces on Jalan Monkey Forest

Hubud: Where the Nomad Movement Took Root

Hubud sits right on Jalan Monkey Forest, which makes it the first place most remote workers google and quite possibly the busiest shared office in all of Southeast Asia. I spent my first four months in Ubud here, and it taught me everything about how this town operates. The space opened back in 2013 and essentially invented the co-working culture in Bali. You walk in and immediately feel the energy of a proper entrepreneurial community, not just a cafe with extension cords draped across every surface. The fiber-optic internet runs at around 150 Mbps down on a good day, and I have clocked upload speeds close to 90 Mbps more than once on the private booths upstairs. Memberships start at roughly 200,000 rupiah per day and scale down to around 3,500,000 rupiah per month for the full deal with meeting room access and a dedicated locker. The rooftop terrace is the real draw on slow afternoons when you need to reset your eyes after staring at a screen too long. Order the turmeric latte from the ground-floor cafe and ask for extra ginger. Most people do not realize that Hubud runs a structured mentoring program for early-stage startups, which is completely free for members. One honest complaint, though, the main co-working floor can turn into a networking circus by mid-morning, making deep focus work genuinely difficult unless you retreat to one of the phone booth rooms. The place connects directly to the story of how Ubud transformed from a sleepy art village into a global hub for location-independent workers, and walking through its open-plan floors feels like stepping into the origin chapter of that story.

Outpost Ubud: The Quiet Competitor Just Down the Road

Outpost is tucked along Jalan Raya Penestanan, a short walk west of the center and close enough to Monkey Forest that you can still grab lunch there and back within the hour. I moved here after Hubud became too distracting and never regretted it. The whole campus is built around a garden concept with open-air pavilings and a pool that actual remote workers use between calls, not just pose beside for Instagram content. The hot desk Ubud options here are excellent. A single day pass runs about 165,000 rupiah, and the monthly membership sits at approximately 3,200,000 rupiah with 24-hour access and printing privileges. Internet bandwidth has consistently tested above 100 Mbps during my visits, though I noticed occasional drops during heavy rainstorms, which is fairly typical across Bali's infrastructure. The communal kitchen serves a surprisingly solid nasi goreng on Tuesdays and Thursdays, prepared by the on-site staff. Order the espresso from the barista stall near the pool. It uses Singapore-sourced beans and pulls a clean shot. A detail most visitors miss is that Outpost hosts a monthly pitch night where members present business ideas to a small panel of angel investors and seasoned entrepreneurs based around Southeast Asia. It is free to attend even if you are just dropping in on a day pass. The one downside worth noting is that the open-air design, while beautiful, means the workspace gets uncomfortably humid between noon and 2:30 in the wet months of January through March. Outpost carries forward Ubud's artistic lineage in its own way. The Penestanan neighborhood was historically home to the Pita Maha artist collective, founded in the 1930s by Walter Spies and Rudolf Bonnet, and working here you occasionally feel that same creative charge in the air.

Eastern Escapes Along the Campuhan Ridge

The Yoga Barn Garden Studio: Work Surrounded by Garden Energy

The Yoga Barn sits further east along Jalan Raya Pengosekan, and most people associate it solely with yoga and detox programs. What fewer freelancers know is that the garden area functions as an informal co-working spot during morning hours, before the wellness classes kick into full swing. I worked from the outdoor deck several times and found it surprisingly productive. The Wi-Fi signal extends well beyond the main building into the covered garden zones, though speeds cap around 40 Mbps, which handles video calls but struggles with large file uploads. There is no formal coworking membership Ubud arrangement here, so you pay the standard drop-in fee for classes or purchase a day pass that grants garden access, which runs about 250,000 rupiah. The raw cacao smoothie from the juice bar is the one thing I keep coming back for. Try it with activated charcoal blend. Between 7 and 10 in the morning, the garden is nearly empty except for a few early risers and it is the most peaceful window to get serious writing done. After 10:30, wellness tourists flood the space and the tranquility dissolves. The local tip here is to ask about the weekly ecstatic dance Fridays. It has zero to do with productivity, but it is one of the most memorable social events in all of Ubud and will connect you with people far outside the typical nomad bubble. The Yoga Barn connects to Ubud's spiritual backbone, that deep Balinese Hindu current mixed with New Age practice that has drawn seekers here since the 1960s. Working in the garden, surrounded by frangipani trees and the distant sound of gamelan rehearsal, you understand why this town became what it became.

Mandala Spa and Events: The Overlooked Campuhan Option

Mandala sits up along the Campuhan Ridge walk route on Jalan Raya Campuhan, and I stumbled into it during a week when every other workspace in town was fully booked. The minimalist open-air structure overlooks the Sungai Ayung valley, and the Wi-Fi reliability surprised me, hovering consistently around 75 Mbps on several visits. This is less of a formal co-working space and more of a dual-purpose venue that accommodates remote workers during off-peak hours. A day workspace access pass costs roughly 120,000 rupiah, making it one of the more affordable options in the area. The fresh coconut served by the staff upon arrival is a small gesture but it sets the tone perfectly. Best time to arrive is right at opening, around 8 AM, because by late afternoon the spa side of the business picks up and the quiet atmosphere shifts into a more social one. I learned from a local friend that the original building was designed with feng shui principles by a Balinese architect trained in Hong Kong, which explains the slightly unusual but very pleasant flow of the interior space. It is the kind of detail that never appears on any website or review. Parking on the ridge road can be tight during the midday tourist surge for the famous ridge walk itself, so scooter parking fills fast. Mandala sits at the heart of Ubud's most photographed landscape, that emerald ridge meeting point that has inspired painters and photographers for over a century, and it is worth treating the workspace as a secondary reason to visit rather than the primary one.

Spots in and Around Ubud Central

IZB Coworking on Jalan Goutama

IZB is located on Jalan Goutama, one of those quieter north-south streets that most tourists never wander onto unless they are looking for the local market. It is a proper dedicated co-working space with air-conditioned rooms, private phone booths, and a rooftop terrace. I used it intensely for one month when I had a video-heavy project and needed guaranteed uptime. The coworking membership Ubud pricing at IZB runs around 200,000 rupiah per day and 2,800,000 rupiah per month. The air-conditioned main room is a genuine advantage, because Bali humidity is the silent enemy of marathon work sessions. Internet speed tests here are between 80 and 120 Mbps depending on how many users are online, which is respectable. The Vietnamese iced coffee from the small kitchen is the house specialty and costs roughly 25,000 rupiah. On Wednesdays, IZB runs a community lunch where members share a communal nasi campur plate while freelancers and founders swap contacts. That weekly lunch has led to more real collaborations for me than any formal networking event. Most visitors do not realize that Jalan Goutama has its own neighborhood temple, Pura Dalem Goutama, which holds ceremonies roughly every 210 days on the Balinese calendar. During those ceremonies, the gamelan music and incense fill the entire street and working from IZB becomes a completely different sensory experience. The only real drawback here is that the air conditioning runs cold enough that I always kept a light sweater in my bag. IZB represents a newer wave of Ubud entrepreneurship, the slightly less romantic, more infrastructure-focused generation of workspace operators who understand that freelancers ultimately care more about upload speeds than sunset views.

Bali Buda on Jalan Jembawan

Bali Buda is technically a health food cafe and store on Jalan Jembawan, but the upstairs seating area works as a low-key co-working spot during non-peak hours. I have spent dozens of afternoons here with a laptop, and the staff has never once made me feel unwelcome despite the cafe not formally marketing itself as a workspace. Wi-Fi is provided free to customers and holds steady around 30 Mbps from the upper level. You do not pay a membership. You pay for food and drinks, which keeps the cost manageable. The raw chocolate mousse cake and the miso ramen are the two items I would send someone to try. The upstairs gets quietest between 1 PM and 4 PM, after the lunch rush thins and before the early dinner crowd arrives. Most visitors upstairs do not know that Bali Buda started as a small Bakery and cafe in the early 2000s and was founded partly by the same family connected to the organic farming movement that brought permaculture to Ubud's surrounding villages. The store section downstairs sells locally made spices and cooking classes that connect you to the food traditions of Balinese smallholders. The honest critique is this. The chairs upstairs are not designed for all-day comfort. If you plan to work more than three hours, your lower back will start registering a complaint. Bali Buda reflects the health-conscious, sustainability-minded wing of Ubud's identity, the same impulse that gave rise to the massive organic Saturday market at the town square and the permaculture courses in nearby villages.

West of Center: The Penestanan and Sayan Corridors

Sayan House: Workspace With a River Valley View

Sayan House sits along Jalan Raya Sayan, southwest of the main Ubud town center, perched above the Ayung River valley. It operates as a restaurant and event space but permits co-working from the upper decks during off-peak periods. I started coming here on Sunday mornings when the town feels most relaxed and the tourist foot traffic is at its lowest. There is no formal co-working membership Ubud offered at Sayan House, just the expectation that you order food and drinks, which easily runs 150,000 to 300,000 rupiah for a productive morning session. The Wi-Fi performs at about 60 Mbps on the upper deck, which is adequate for most tasks but not ideal for large video exports or continuous cloud syncing. Order the avocado toast with poached eggs and add a fresh-pressed guava juice. The view from the deck is one of the finest in all of Ubud, looking out over the canopy toward the river far below. Here is the insider detail. If you arrive before 9 AM on a Sunday, you can claim the corner table with the best light and one of the rare power outlets near the railing. After that window, it fills fast with brunch couples. Sayan House ties into the legacy of the Sayan ridge area as a favorite retreat for artists and intellectuals. The Dutch painter Walter Spies built his home in this corridor in the 1920s and 1930s, essentially planting the seed that turned Ubud into an international arts destination. The one practical issue is parking. The access road narrows near Sayan House, and during weekend brunch hours it becomes a bottleneck for scooters and cars alike.

The Sila Co-Working Space on Jalan Subak

Sila sits on Jalan Subak near the Penestanan area and operates as a purpose-built co-working venue that most tourists have never heard of. It remains one of my personal favorites in the entire co-working ecosystem of Ubud. The monthly membership came to approximately 2,500,000 rupiah during my last visit, and a day pass was 150,000 rupiah. The space is compact but thoughtfully laid out, with a dedicated air-conditioned room for calls, a communal desk area, and a small garden patch with a hammock for decompression. The internet runs at around 90 Mbps, tested consistently on multiple visits, with a backup connection that activates automatically when the primary line drops. The small in-house kitchen serves a Balinese-style breakfast plate each morning for 30,000 rupiah, including a tiny portion of lawar that is better than what some dedicated restaurants in town produce. Tuesday mornings are the quietest, which I attribute to the fact that most nomads end up at Hubud or Outpost on Mondays to start the week, then drift to the smaller venues by midweek. What most visitors do not know is that Jalan Subak, the street Sila is on, derives its name from the Balinese subak irrigation cooperative system, a UNESCO-recognized network of water management cooperatives that has governed Bali's rice terraces for over a thousand years. Working here puts you on a road named after communal resource-sharing, which feels almost poetically appropriate for a co-working space. The space fills up quickly during high season, July through September, and booking a dedicated desk more than a week in advance is strongly recommended.

Village-Adjacent Spaces Further Out

Kajeng Co-Working at the Edge of Ubud Town

K co-working space called by some locals as part of the Kajeng corridor operates near the junction where Jalan Kajeng meets the road toward Jalan Hanoman. It occupies a converted Balinese compound with open courtyards and a mix of indoor and semi-outdoor desks. The space appeals to freelancers who want to feel immersed in traditional Balinese architecture without sacrificing modern infrastructure. Day access costs around 130,000 rupiah, and I paid approximately 2,300,000 rupiah for a full month during a quiet season stay. Internet speeds tested between 60 and 110 Mbps depending on the time of day, with the best performance before 10 AM and after 6 PM. The compound includes a small temple to the eastern perimeter, and during temple anniversaries, known as odalan, the space transforms with decorated bamboo poles and ceremonial music. This is not a disruption. It is a bonus if you approach it with the right mindset. Ask the staff about the small family compound shrine near the entrance. It predates the co-working space by several generations and is maintained daily with offerings by the landowner's family. Most co-working visitors walk right past without noticing it, and stopping to observe the quiet ritual of a palm-leaf canang sari being placed on the shrine is one of the small grounding moments that makes living in Ubud different from working in any other city. The honest critique. Mosquitoes come out hard at dusk, and if you are planning a late session, bring or buy repellent. Kajeng as a street carries its own history. It was one of the first areas settled by theUBUD royal family and is home to several historic family compounds, so working here places you directly inside the DNA of the town's aristocratic past.

When to Go and What to Know

Ubud's co-working scene operates on a rhythm that mirrors the island's seasons and tourist flows. July through September marks high season, and the best spaces fill quickly. October and November, the transitional months before heavy rains, offer the sweet spot of decent weather and shorter wait times for dedicated desks. The wet season from January through March is when Ubud empties noticeably and you can walk into almost any space and claim your pick of seats, though the humidity makes air-conditioned rooms more valuable than at any other time of year. Power outages happen across Bali several times per year, and not every co-working space has an automatic backup generator, so it is worth asking before committing to a monthly membership. Most cafes in Ubud expect you to buy something every two to three hours if you plan to work from their tables, and this is a cultural norm, not a suggestion. Scooter remains the most practical form of transport to reach any of the spaces listed, as Ubud's one-way street system and limited parking can turn a car commute into a frustrating puzzle.

Frequently Asked Questions

How easy is it to find cafes with ample charging sockets and reliable power backups in Ubud?

Most dedicated co-working spaces in Ubud provide multiple charging sockets per desk and maintain backup generators or UPS systems for power continuity. However, casual cafes in the Monkey Forest area vary significantly. Roughly half of the popular cafes offer limited outlet access, sometimes only four or six for the entire venue. It is common for power cuts lasting 15 minutes to two hours to occur a few times per year, mostly during heavy wet-season storms, and only the larger co-working facilities have automatic generator failover.

Are there good 24/7 or late-night co-working spaces available in Ubud?

True 24/7 co-working access is limited. Outpost Ubud offers 24-hour access for key-holding monthly members, and a few smaller venues on Jalan Goutama keep extended hours until midnight. However, most co-working spaces in Ubud close between 10 PM and midnight. Remote workers needing graveyard-shift infrastructure typically rely on their accommodation Wi-Fi or relocate temporarily to the Canggu area, which has more late-night workspace options.

Is Ubud expensive to visit? Give a realistic daily budget breakdown for mid-tier travelers.

A mid-tier daily budget in Ubud breaks down roughly as follows: accommodation in a double-occupancy guesthouse or boutique hotel ranges from 400,000 to 800,000 rupiah per night. A co-working day pass costs between 130,000 and 200,000 rupiah. Three modest meals, mixing local warungs and mid-range cafes, run 150,000 to 300,000 rupiah. Scooter rental adds approximately 60,000 to 80,000 rupiah daily. This puts the total at approximately 740,000 to 1,380,000 rupiah per day, or roughly 50 to 95 US dollars, not including long-distance transport or flight costs.

What are the average internet download and upload speeds in Ubud's central cafes and workspaces?

Dedicated co-working spaces in central Ubud routinely deliver download speeds between 80 and 150 Mbps, with upload speeds ranging from 40 to 90 Mbps. Regular cafes without business-grade connections typically offer 20 to 50 Mbps download and considerably lower upload speeds. During peak hours, between 11 AM and 3 PM, speeds at shared locations commonly drop by 20 to 40 percent compared to early morning performance.

What is the most reliable neighborhood in Ubud for digital nomads and remote workers?

Jalan Monkey Forest and the Penestanan corridor to its west remain the most reliable neighborhoods due to the highest concentration of purpose-built co-working spaces with backup power, fiber connectivity, and community infrastructure. The Monkey Forest stretch specifically hosts the largest number of venues within walking distance of each other, while Penestanan offers a quieter alternative with similarly strong connectivity options within a compact area.

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