During our stay in Ubud, Bali, we were determined to see and experience the natural wonders that Bali has to offer. Our first adventure was hiking Mt Agung, which was about as intense as you can get! We wanted to do something a little more relaxing but still adventurous to spend one of our last days in Ubud. Finally, after some searching, we settled on tubing the Ayung River.
Tubing the Ayung River: Booking the tour
We booked the river tubing through Bali Tubing Tour at a cost of $50 per person ($100 total). Included with the tour was hotel pick up and drop off, all tubing and safety equipment, insurance, and a buffet lunch at the end of the river. Also, a dedicated guide travels with each group. The Ayung river tubing route is a little over 9 miles with 28 class 2-3 rapids. The entire trip takes about 3.5 hours to complete.
Tubing the Ayung River: What to bring
Bring a camera, GoPro, or this cheap alternative (that we use) to document your travels.
Make sure you have a good accessory kit for your video camera to use in the water. This one has worked great for us.
Sunscreen.
An extra change of clothes for when you’re all finished.
Water shoes or tennis shoes you don’t mind getting soaked.
Cash for the tour and additional drinks or souvenirs if desired.
Tubing the Ayung River: Getting ready
We were picked up and dropped off on time from our hotel at about 8:15am. After filling out a quick page of paperwork for registration, we collected our equipment: life jacked, helmet, paddle and waterproof sack. We met our guide Wayan and then had a 10 or so minute walk down to the river.
Kim and I with our guide
There were plenty of groups going rafting, however we found that we were the only two people who were going down in a tube! This got us wondering, does everyone else know something we don’t?
Tubing the Ayung River
It turns out we were the smart ones! If you do this adventure I would highly recommend going in a two person tube over a large raft. You have far more mobility and control over the tube and you get more contact with the river.
It takes a little bit to get the hang of how to attack the rapids. If you hit them sideways there is a good chance you could flip your tube. Try to enter them head on and pick your line early!
Kim’s face is priceless
The view on the river is really amazing. There are waterfalls and dense jungle all around.
Waterfall into the river
Half way through the river, we pulled up on a beach where there were a couple stands selling beers and drinks. This might be the only place you can have a beer in the middle of your white water tubing trip!
Beer time!
There were some incredible waterfalls that you could tube directly underneath, which we did! Check out highlights from the river in this video on our YouTube page!
The walk back
Once we reached the end of the route, we had to walk back about 10 minutes up a long upward stairway along with our paddle.
Soaked but so happy
Back at the main lobby area they have showers so you can rinse off the river water and change into a new set of clothes. the buffet was set up to go for lunch. The food was so-so, not nearly as good as food we had else where in Bali, but it wasn’t the worst either.
Tubing the Ayung River: Pictures
The tour has picture stations throughout the river ride around areas where you’ll be going over the biggest rapids. They sell a CD with all the pictures for $20. We had to buy it, because some of the pictures were just too good (especially of Kim!).
About to be dunked
And the dunk!
Once we finished eating, we waited about 10 minutes for transportation to get back to our hotel.
Tubing the Ayung River: Final thoughts
Make sure when you get back to your hotel to rinse off your shoes and the clothes you wore on the river in the shower or they will smell (REALLY bad). If you’re staying in a hotel that has laundry service, this might be a good time to take advantage of it.
We had a blast tubing this river. It was hard enough to keep you very physically engaged, but not so difficult to where you were fearing for you life. The scenery was beautiful and our guide was great too.
We approve
Check out our other Bali adventure hiking Mt Agung!
