Bali travel guide

Plan your trip, step by step

• Where to stay
  Pick your base — or your two bases — and hotel vs villa.
• Things to do
  Decide which temples, boats and treks to book ahead.
• Bali in 3 days
  Follow a plan that splits south Bali, Ubud and one island day.
• Estimate your trip cost
  See what a Bali trip costs in rupiah at your style.
• First-timer mistakes to avoid
  Skip the errors that cost first-timers whole days.
• Bali on a budget
  See what a lean, comfortable or generous day really costs.

The areas at a glance

Seminyak & Petitenget

Known for the polished end of the south-coast strip — restaurants, spas, boutiques, beach clubs and a wide grey-sand beach with a strong sunset habit.

Canggu & Berawa

Known for surf breaks, café culture and a very large remote-working community, spread along narrow lanes that were rice paddies a decade ago and now jam solid at rush hour.

Ubud

Known for the inland cultural centre — the royal palace and dance performances, the Sacred Monkey Forest, the Campuhan Ridge walk, and the rice terraces and temples in the villages around it. No beach.

Uluwatu & the Bukit Peninsula

Known for limestone cliffs, Bali’s most serious surf, clifftop resorts and Uluwatu Temple, where the Kecak fire dance is performed at sunset.

Sanur

Known for a flat, calm, east-facing beach with a long seafront path, an older and more family-leaning crowd, and the fast-boat harbour for Nusa Penida and the Gili Islands.

Nusa Dua & Jimbaran

Known for the gated resort enclave with the island’s calmest swimming water, next door to Jimbaran’s seafood-on-the-sand dinner strip and the airport.

Deciding where to base yourself — or whether to split the stay? The where-to-stay guide turns these areas into a lodging decision.

When to go — month by month

Average daytime high (bars) and rainy days per month, from 5-year climate normals. Greener months are the most comfortable to visit.

Destinations with a similar climate

Like Bali’s weather? These places have the closest year-round climate in our data — tap through for each one’s best time to visit.

• Quito →
• Mauritius →
• Bogota →
• Cusco →
• Bora Bora →
• Medellin →

Know before you go

Currency

Indonesian rupiah (Rp / IDR). Cards work at hotels, malls and mid-range restaurants; warungs, markets, temple entries and most scooter rentals are cash. Withdraw from ATMs inside banks or malls, and change money only at licensed money changers with a proper shopfront — the “no commission, best rate” booths in tourist lanes are the island’s oldest short-change trick.

Language

Bahasa Indonesia is the national language and Balinese is spoken at home and in ceremony. English is widely spoken anywhere tourism reaches. A “terima kasih” (thank you) and a nod are enough to be well received.

Tourist levy

Foreign visitors pay a one-off Bali tourist levy of Rp 150,000 (about US$8) per person, cashless, through the government’s Love Bali system. It is charged once per visit — officially, once while you are travelling in Bali and before you leave Indonesia — and is easiest paid online before you fly; you are emailed a QR-code voucher, so keep it. Diplomatic and official-visa holders, transport crew, KITAS/KITAP holders, and family-unification, student and golden-visa holders are exempt. The levy sits under the provincial regulation Perda Bali No. 6 of 2023, as amended by Perda No. 2 of 2025.

From the airport

I Gusti Ngurah Rai International (DPS) sits at Tuban, directly beside Kuta. Use the official airport taxi counter (fixed zone fares), a pre-booked hotel transfer, or Grab/Gojek from the designated ride-hail pickup area. Reckon on 15–30 minutes to Kuta or Jimbaran, 30–45 to Seminyak or Sanur, 45–75 to Canggu or Uluwatu, and 75–120 to Ubud — all traffic-dependent, and the evening peak is real.

Getting around

There is no meaningful public transport network for visitors. In practice you use the Grab and Gojek apps (both do cars and motorbike pillion), Bluebird metered taxis, a car with a driver hired by the day, or a rented scooter. The Kura-Kura Bus runs scheduled shared shuttles on the Kuta–Ubud and Kuta–Kintamani corridors. In parts of Ubud and Canggu, local transport cooperatives restrict app pickups and you will see signs saying so — walk a few hundred metres or use the local drivers waiting there.

The date that ruins trips

Nyepi, the Balinese Day of Silence, falls in March on a date set by the Saka lunar calendar and shifting each year. For 24 hours the entire island stops: no flights in or out of DPS, no vehicles on the roads, no beach, lights kept low, and you stay inside your accommodation. Check the date against the official Bali sources before you book March travel.

For the best months to visit and a day-by-day plan, see Bali in 3 days.