Ubud Palace legong: worth it?

The short answer

It earns its evening if you want one clear look at Bali's court dance in the kind of place it was made for. The setting does a great deal of the work: a carved gateway, guardian statues and an orchestra of bronze, a few steps from the town's main street. The evening suits first-time visitors, couples, families and anyone with a single free night in Ubud. It suits less well anyone who needs a comfortable chair, a fixed seat or a refund if plans change. Treat it as a cultural evening at a low price rather than a polished theatre production, and you will judge it fairly.

What the ninety minutes hold

The evening is a sequence of Balinese dances, not one long piece, and the legong is one of them. A gamelan plays throughout, and the dancers wear brightly coloured cloth painted with gold motifs, with gold-leafed headdresses and accessories. Balinese dance tells its stories through the whole body: fingers, hands, head and above all the eyes, from a basic posture with the knees turned outward. UNESCO describes facial expressions and eye movements that show happiness, sadness, anger, fear and love. The company settles each night's dances and their order itself, so any running order you find online is a sample, not a commitment.

The legong itself

The legong is the most refined of the dances you are likely to see. English Wikipedia describes intricate finger movements, complicated footwork and expressive gestures and faces. Its best-known form, the legong kraton, uses two dancers called legong and a third, the condong, an attendant who sets the scene and hands the two their fans. The usual story is the tale of the king of Lasem and the princess Rangkesari, told in stylised pantomime rather than words. The name itself joins leg, a supple dance movement, to gong, the orchestra that accompanies it. Knowing the outline of the story before the dancers appear makes the gestures far easier to follow.

Read next: The legong's Lasem story

The courtyard and the palace

Ubud Palace was the residence of Ubud's royal family, and the family still owns it. The palace in its present form was built in traditional Balinese style during the reign of Tjokorda Putu Kandel (1800–1823), and many of its stone carvings are the work of the Ubud artist I Gusti Nyoman Lempad. Dance performances and ceremonies are held in its courtyard, where the stage is backed by an ornamented angkul-angkul, the traditional gateway with guardian statues. That backdrop is the main reason to watch Balinese dance here rather than on a hotel stage.

Book ahead or buy at the gate?

Tickets are sold at the palace gate as well as online, so you can decide on the night. Booking ahead settles the ticket before you leave your room and keeps the evening fixed in your plans, which helps if you are juggling several Ubud nights. What booking does not do is hold a seat. Nobody gets a reserved place, whether they bought at the gate or online, so early arrivals take the best benches. Either way, the advice is the same: be at the palace at least 45 minutes before the start shown on your ticket, and treat the waiting time as part of the evening, watching the courtyard fill and the musicians settle. In a group, one early arrival can keep a stretch of bench.

Why the sale is final

Read one condition before paying. Free cancellation until the day before is normal on GetYourGuide; this ticket is the exception. It is non-refundable and valid only on the date you pick, and the performance takes place in an open courtyard, so a wet evening, a late arrival in Bali or a simple change of plan costs you the ticket. Because the price is low, the risk is small, but it still argues for booking once your Ubud evenings are settled. If your plans are loose, buying at the gate on a night that suits you is the sensible alternative, and it costs you nothing in seating, since nobody's place is reserved.

Seats, sound and comfort

The seats are hard benches, and ninety minutes is long enough to notice, so a folded sarong or a light wrap makes a useful cushion. The gamelan is loud, especially in the front rows; some visitors love being close to the bronze, others find it too much. Young children and anyone sensitive to noise may prefer a place a few rows back. The venue is wheelchair and pushchair accessible. Bring your voucher, a camera and some cash, and leave knives and other sharp objects at your room, because they are not allowed in. Insect repellent is worth carrying to any open-air evening.

• Your voucher, on a charged phone or printed
• Something soft to sit on
• A camera and some cash
• Insect repellent for the open courtyard

Children and families

Children pay exactly what adults pay; there is no child rate. That is still a small sum for an evening of live music, colour and costume, and the legong has deep roots in childhood: its dancers were traditionally girls who had not yet reached puberty and who began rigorous training at about the age of five. For younger children the length is the real question. Ninety minutes on a bench is long for a toddler, so sit towards the back and the edge, where the gamelan is gentler and leaving early disturbs no one. Older children often enjoy the story most if you tell it to them beforehand: a king, a princess who refuses him, and a giant bird with bad news.

Getting there

Nothing in the ticket covers transport, and in central Ubud you rarely need any. The palace stands where Jalan Monkey Forest meets Jalan Raya Ubud, the main street, so most visitors staying in the centre simply walk. Metered taxis and ride-hailing pickups are not permitted within Ubud; a ride means agreeing a fare with a driver from the local taxi cooperative. If you are staying outside the town, book a driver for the evening and fix the pickup point before the show, because the whole audience leaves at once and the street fills quickly.

Read next: Walking to Ubud Palace

Who this isn't for

Pass on it if you need a reserved seat, a cushioned chair or a refund if the evening goes wrong; none of those comes with this ticket. Think twice if loud percussion bothers you, or if your children cannot yet sit through ninety minutes. And if you would rather hear Bali's chanted Ramayana with a fire scene than watch court dance with an orchestra, the kecak is the evening to choose instead. Many visitors settle the question by seeing both on different nights, which at these prices is easy to do.

Read next: Legong or kecak in Ubud?