How Ubud and Bali (Canggu) compare on cost, visas, working hours, weather, internet and safety. Every figure comes from our city guides and tools, checked and dated there.
Dollars and pounds at today's exchange rate. Download speeds are the typical figure from each guide, which says where it comes from: some are for the city, some for the whole country, so treat a small gap as no gap.
Both are in Indonesia, so the rules are the same.
E33G remote worker visa
The catch. One Indonesian client breaks it, and since April 2026 immigration has been running patrols across Bali for people working on tourist visas.
See where your own income stands in every country. Check your income
A 9am to 5pm day in the employer's city, shown in local time, for today's date, so it allows for the clocks changing.
Different hours or another employer city? Use the time-zone planner
The average high in °C each month, coloured by the rule on our best-time page: green is a high of 20 to 32°C with under 150mm of rain; red is a high of 38°C or more or under 12°C, 250mm of rain or more, or 33°C or more with 150mm of rain or more. Hover over a month for its rain.
Ubud's nearest weather station is some way off, so its months are coloured on rain alone: green under 100mm, red from 250mm.
| City | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ubud | 31° | 31° | 31° | 31° | 31° | 30° | 29° | 29° | 30° | 31° | 32° | 31° |
| Bali (Canggu) | 31° | 31° | 31° | 31° | 31° | 30° | 29° | 29° | 30° | 31° | 32° | 31° |
Ubud: seasons and events · Bali (Canggu): seasons and events
Level 2: increased caution
Level 2: increased caution
The US level is for the whole country, as the State Department sets it, and some countries have stricter advice for particular regions.
From each city guide, word for word.
Remote employees of foreign companies earning USD 60,000 a year or more, who can get the E33G and want a quiet, green base with yoga, walking and cheap warung food rather than a beach or nightlife. It suits people who will work from a cowork rather than their villa. If a coliving room from about USD 850 to 1,150 a month plus 15 per cent looks like fair value for a desk and a ready-made community, Ubud makes the first month easy.
Anyone who won't ride a scooter: Ubud shrinks to the walkable centre plus one bus line, and Bali capped online taxi drivers in 2025. Anyone who needs fast internet: Indonesia's fixed average is about 47 Mbps, 117th in the world. Anyone coming for December to February, when it rains on most days, about 388mm on average in January. Anyone on an E33G who assumed under 183 days meant no Indonesian tax. Unmarried couples, since the new criminal code lets close family report sex outside marriage. Anyone who needs Adderall or Vyvanse, which are illegal. And anyone expecting a big nomad scene: we could not confirm a single meetup running in 2026.
Remote employees of foreign companies earning USD 60,000 a year or more, who can get the E33G remote worker visa and want a big community of other remote workers. People who ride a scooter confidently and hold the licence for it, and who want surf, rice fields and yoga around a working week.
Anyone planning to freelance for Indonesian clients, sell anything locally, or make paid content on a tourist visa: immigration is patrolling Canggu, uses face recognition on social media, and deports. Anyone counting on a tax exemption no official source confirms. Anyone who will not ride but expects a Grab everywhere, because village councils run no-pickup zones in Canggu. And anyone who hates traffic: 622 people died on Bali's roads in 2024, most of them on motorbikes.
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