Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, Ubud

Monkey Forest is the perfect attraction for all ages and a respite from the heat. You can spend a long time watching the monkeys play with each other. The park itself is beautiful. There are amazingly detailed statues everywhere. The monkeys are great just follow the rules. Don't make eye contact and carry your belongings tight. There are many ancient banyan trees. You may only need a couple hours at most to see everything. Definitely a place to see if you're in Ubud.

Would not do this again. The monkey forest is not a sanctuary. It is a tourist trap designed for people to indulge in exploitative photo opportunities with monkeys. These beautiful animals deserve better. We saw a Chinese tourist exiting one of the First Aid centres on his way to hospital after being bitten as well as two young girls foolishly holding a water bottle being chased by a monkey. Signs clearly state no water bottles. They also state "no feeding monkeys", yet the staff use food to get monkeys to sit and climb on tourists for pictures. This has conditioned the monkeys to climb on people. We kept our distance. All of my pictures were taken with a zoom lens and we kept moving, Staying still had you surrounded by monkeys who do not understand the difference between someone sitting down to rest and someone paying to have a picture taken by using food as an incentive. Beautiful Forest but not entirely comfortable with monkeys being used as props. I love monkeys but they are wild and deserve respect 🐒 I felt very sad for these monkeys and at times nervous for my safety 🐒 🙈 Edit update: the responses to poor reviews by the owner are a clear picture of what you get when you visit.