Ubud Cooking Class: Balinese Market & Farm-to-Table

You Start at a Balinese Market Before You Cook

You start your day at a local market buying ingredients, visit a traditional Balinese home to learn how families live, then move to a farm where you harvest spices before a chef teaches you to cook three to four authentic dishes using traditional techniques. Lunch is the food you made, and pickup from your Ubud hotel is included.

Step-by-step itinerary

Balinese cooking and cultural experience

• Visit traditional morning market
• Buy spices from local vendors
• Visit local Balinese house
• Learn about Balinese culture and lifestyle
• Explore farm and harvest spices
• Choose menu for cooking class
• Learn Balinese cooking techniques
• Cook authentic Balinese dishes with chef

The experience

The morning class begins at the market in Ubud's west side, where you'll walk through stalls with your guide and pick out fresh spices and ingredients from local vendors. It's the part most cooking classes skip: the part where you actually see where the food comes from and how locals shop. After the market, you visit a traditional Balinese house to understand how families live and organize their spaces, the way the building sits on the land, what matters in daily life there. It's not a museum stop. It's someone's home, and the guide explains the reasoning behind it.

Then you head to the farm attached to the cooking school. Before any chopping happens, you harvest the spices and vegetables you're about to cook with: lemongrass, torch ginger, coconut, whatever's on the day's menu. A Balinese chef walks you through the techniques: how to use a lesung (the traditional mortar and pestle) to pound spices the way it's been done for generations, not the shortcut way. You'll cook three to four dishes depending on what you choose: satay lilit (chicken wrapped in lemongrass), a soup with young banana plant and Balinese spices, steamed fish in banana leaf, sambal, crepes with palm sugar. The menu rotates, and you can pick vegetarian, vegan, or regular options when you book.

Lunch is what you cooked, eaten at the farm or in the kitchen space. Coffee, tea, Balinese cake, and water are included throughout. The whole experience runs about four to five hours for the morning class. Hotel pickup in the Ubud area is included, and the vehicle is air-conditioned, which matters when you're walking through a market in tropical heat and then working over a stove.

What’s included

Your day includes hotel pickup in Ubud, a guided tour of a traditional morning market where you buy fresh spices and ingredients, a visit to a local Balinese home to learn about daily life and architecture, access to the farm where you harvest the herbs and vegetables you'll cook with, a hands-on cooking class with a Balinese chef covering traditional techniques like pounding spices with a lesung, preparation of three to four dishes (your choice of vegetarian, vegan, or regular menu), lunch featuring the food you cooked, coffee or tea, Balinese cake, mineral water, and air-conditioned transport throughout.

Options for this experience

2 options

Guide in English07:00

Guide in English12:30 and 16:30

Options with the same name differ in details you'll see when you pick a date.

You see the exact price of each option when you check availability.See dates & prices

Before you book

Days and timesEvery dayDepartures at 07:00, 12:30 and 16:30

AgesAdult (5 to 80 years) · Under 5: can't be included in the booking

Meeting point and pickupHotel pickup included.

Cancellation and refundsFree cancellation up to 24h before the start. After that, no refund.It may be canceled due to bad weather or if the minimum number of travelers isn't reached. If that happens, you're offered another date or a refund.

Prices and times updated today

Good to know

Not for heart conditionsNot for back problems

Operated by Lesung Bali

Is this one for you?Right for travelers who want to cook but also understand where food comes from and how Balinese people actually live. The market and home visit are what separate this from a standard cooking class, and they're what make the cooking part feel connected to something real.

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Top questions

What happens if it rains?

It may be canceled due to bad weather. If that happens, you're offered another date or a refund. Free cancellation up to 24h before the start.

Can I do this if I'm vegetarian or vegan?

Yes. Menu options include vegetarian and vegan choices alongside regular dishes. You choose when you book.

Is this cooking class suitable if I have mobility issues?

The class involves walking through a market, visiting a local house, exploring a farm, and standing to cook. It's not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries or poor cardiovascular health.

What's included in the price?

Hotel pickup in Ubud, the market tour, farm visit, cooking class with a Balinese chef, lunch (the food you cook), coffee or tea, Balinese cake, water, and all fees and taxes.

How long does the class take?

The full experience, including market, home visit, farm, and cooking, typically runs four to five hours.

Do I need cooking experience?

No. The class teaches you from the beginning, starting with how to use traditional tools like the lesung and moving through each dish step by step.

Is hotel pickup available outside central Ubud?

Free shuttle service is available for the Ubud area only. Confirm your hotel location when booking.