Bali
Indonesia
Rice terraces, temples, and surf breaks
Photo by Niklas Weiss on Unsplash
Photos by Jeremy Bishop, Harry Kessell, Katarzyna Zygnerska and Lesya Soboleva on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Indonesia
April to October (dry season)
Climate month by month
The next sixteen days in CangguOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 345mm in Jan
Where it is
8.41°S, 115.19°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Several days- Visit Ubud rice terraces and Monkey Forest
- Watch sunset at Uluwatu Temple
- Surf at Canggu or Kuta
- Snorkel in Nusa Penida
- Visit Tirta Empul water temple
- Take a cooking class
Bali travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Indonesia
Good valueExchange at authorized money changers (BMC, Central Kuta) — avoid random street changers who use sleight of hand. Airport rates are bad.
ATMs & cards
BCA and Mandiri ATMs are the most reliable. Max withdrawal usually Rp 3,000,000 (∼€175). Use ATMs inside banks (safer, less skimming). Fee is Rp 30,000-50,000.
Avoid these
- standalone machines on tourist strips
- ATMs without a bank branch attached
Use these instead
- BCA
- Bank Mandiri
- BNI
Card skimming has been a recurring problem. Use machines inside a bank branch or a guarded mall, and cover the keypad.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Indonesia
SafeCrime against visitors is rare and the island feels relaxed day and night. The real risks are practical: scooters are how most people get hurt, so ride only if you already can and always with a helmet. Watch the monkeys at Monkey Forest, who take glasses and phones, and drink bottled water.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (9 areas)
Worth more attention
- Kuta — at night, for bag snatching from scooters and drink spiking
- Scooter riding without a licence or a helmet, which is how most visitors are hurt here
- Methanol in cheap cocktails and arak — stick to sealed bottles and known bars
- Currency-exchange booths offering a rate better than the banks
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Indonesia visa rules
e-Visa requiredup to 30 days500,000 IDR (~€30)
Visa on arrival is the same price and available at Bali airport, but the queue is long — the e-visa lets you walk to immigration directly. Extendable once by 30 days.
Other passports
Visa required in advance
How to get it: Apply at evisa.imigrasi.go.id before flying, or pay on arrival at the VOA counter. Every arrival also files the electronic customs declaration and the SATUSEHAT health pass.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Before you fly: the arrival card
All Indonesia (electronic customs declaration)Required
In the three days before you arrive.
Have these in front of you before you start:
- passport
- flight number
- the full address of your first night
The customs declaration is per family group rather than per person.
Use the official link above. Sites that charge a "service fee" to submit one of these for you are not the government, and they want the same passport details the real form does.
Health & emergencies all of Indonesia
Good but costlyRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Hepatitis A
- Typhoid
- Tetanus up to date
- Rabies — Bali has an active dog and monkey rabies problem
- Japanese encephalitis for long rural stays
Getting treated
Bali has good international clinics (BIMC, Siloam) used to treating tourists, but they are expensive and anything major means evacuation to Singapore or Australia. Insurance with evacuation cover is not optional here. Public hospitals are cheap and variable.
Rabies is the serious one — any monkey or dog bite means immediate treatment. Dengue is common. Malaria is not a risk in Bali or Jakarta but is in Papua and parts of eastern Indonesia.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodEat at warungs (local eateries) for Rp 25,000-40,000 per meal. Try nasi goreng, babi guling (roast pig), and lawar.
Nightlife
Beach clubs in the afternoon that turn into clubs at night, and a very different, much quieter island half an hour inland.
- Canggu — beach clubs and the current crowd
- Seminyak — the smarter, older version
- Kuta — the cheap, chaotic original
- Ubud — dinner, a jazz bar, and bed
Closing: Canggu until 03:00, Kuta later, Ubud by 23:00.
A beer in a bar: 30,000–70,000 IDR
Nyepi, in March, closes everything for 24 hours — no lights, no going outside, and the airport shuts.
Getting around
Easy and cheap- GrabWorks here
- GojekWorks here
- MaximWorks here
- UberNot here
Gojek the Indonesian one, and the better app here
- From the airport
- Denpasar airport to Seminyak Rp 120,000–200,000
- Against a taxi
- Far cheaper than the airport taxi desk and the hotel car.
Grab and Gojek work everywhere on the island and are very cheap, but a number of beach areas and villages — parts of Canggu, Ubud and the Bukit — are controlled by the local transport co-operative and block app pick-ups on the street. The fix is to walk a block, or let the villa call.
Time zone and your working day
Asia/Makassar — 12 hours ahead of you
0 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — — your time, — theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 21:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 21:00–05:00 on yours.
Nyepi, the day of silence in March, shuts the whole island — including the airport.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Indonesia
Why these are Indonesia's numbers and not Bali's
Home broadband — Fair. Video calls and streaming for one or two people — fine for a holiday, thin for a household working. Broadband here runs at 40% of the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Fair. Maps, calls and streaming; tethering a laptop works for an hour, not a day. Mobile runs at 61% of the global median of 109 Mbps.
Ookla publishes no separate figure for Bali, so these are medians for all of Indonesia. Cities usually beat the national number and remote islands and national parks fall well below it — treat this as the country's shape, not as a measurement of the street you will be staying on.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Indonesia, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Where to base yourself
Bali is not one holiday. The south coast is surf and traffic, the middle is rice terraces and temples, the east is diving, and the islands off it are a different pace again. Most trips split a week between two of these; staying in one and driving to the others means hours in traffic.
Ubud
The inland town among the rice terraces and river valleys.
Temples, walks, the monkey forest and the food — no beach at all, which is exactly why it is the counterweight to a coastal week. Cooler and wetter than the coast.
1h15 to 2h by car north from Denpasar (DPS), depending entirely on traffic.
Canggu and Seminyak
The south-west coast strip, and where most of the island's visitors now stay.
Beach breaks that suit a learner, and the densest concentration of cafés, gyms and coworking on the island. Also the worst traffic in Bali, by a distance.
30 minutes to 1h15 by car north-west from the airport.
Uluwatu and the Bukit
The limestone peninsula at the southern tip, with cliffs instead of a shoreline.
The serious surf, the cliff temple at sunset, and beaches reached down stairs cut into rock. Quieter and more spread out than Canggu — you will drive.
45 minutes by car south from the airport.
The reef breaks here work best in the dry season, roughly April to October.
Amed and Tulamben
A string of black-sand fishing villages on the north-east coast.
The Liberty wreck at Tulamben is a shore dive from the beach, which is unusual anywhere, and the whole coast is quiet in a way the south no longer is.
2h30 to 3h by car north-east from the airport.
Nusa Penida and Nusa Lembongan
Two islands off the south-east coast, twenty minutes apart.
Cliffs and manta cleaning stations at Penida; a slow, small, walkable island at Lembongan. Both are worth two or three nights rather than the day trip most people do.
30 to 45 minutes by fast boat from Sanur.
Mantas at Penida are most reliable April to October, when the water is clearer.
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Indonesian
- HelloHalo / Selamat pagiHA-lo / se-LA-mat PA-gee
- PleaseTolongTO-long
- Thank youTerima kasihtuh-REE-ma KA-see
- Yes / NoYa / Tidakya / TEE-dak
4 more phrases
- Excuse mePermisiper-MEE-see
- How much is it?Berapa harganya?buh-RA-pa har-GA-nya
- The bill, pleaseMinta bonMIN-ta bon
- Cheers!Bersulang!ber-SOO-lang
Religion
Muslim nationally, Hindu on Bali
Indonesia is the largest Muslim-majority country on earth, but Bali is the exception and is around 87% Hindu. The daily canang sari offerings on the pavement are religious — do not step on them.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Give and receive with the right hand, or both hands for respect
- Wear a sarong at temples — they are provided at the entrance
- Step around the small daily offerings on Balinese pavements
- Dress modestly away from the beach; Indonesia is a Muslim-majority country and Bali a Hindu one
Don't
- Do not use the left hand to eat, give or receive; it is the toilet hand
- Do not touch anyone’s head, or point with a single finger — use the whole hand
- Do not enter temples if bleeding, including menstruating, which is a stated rule at many
- Do not lose your temper in public; it causes serious loss of face on both sides
Where to stay in Bali
No Holistay rentals in Bali yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Bali on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Ngurah Rai DPS
20 minfrom the airport, roughly
20 min to Kuta, an hour to Ubud in traffic.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
