Bali

Why go

Bali runs on two calendars at once. One is the visitor's year of surf seasons, villa rates and flight sales. The other is the Balinese Hindu calendar, and it fills the island with ritual. Small palm-leaf trays of flowers and rice appear on doorsteps and dashboards every morning. Bamboo poles called penjor arch over village roads at Galungan. Processions in white and gold stop traffic, and nobody complains.

The island is small, about 150 km from end to end. Active volcanoes rise above crater lakes. Rice terraces are still watered by the subak system, a cooperative irrigation network run through water temples and listed by UNESCO. Limestone cliffs drop into surf that draws riders from around the world, and the reefs off Nusa Penida bring manta rays close to the surface. Eating is cheap and good at the warungs, the family-run cafés where a plate of rice with five small dishes costs a couple of dollars.

Almost seven million foreign visitors arrived in 2025, by the provincial statistics office's count, and the south can feel like one long traffic jam. The rules have tightened, from a tourist levy to a governor's code of conduct. Go inland early and stay longer in fewer places.

The lay of the land

The airport sits on the narrow neck of land at the island's southern tip. North of it, the west coast runs through Kuta, Legian and Seminyak to Canggu, a string of beach towns that has merged into one built-up strip. South of the airport, the Bukit Peninsula holds Jimbaran's bay, the resort enclave of Nusa Dua and the cliffs and surf breaks around Uluwatu. Sanur faces east across the strait to Nusa Penida and its smaller neighbours, Lembongan and Ceningan.

Ubud lies in the green foothills about an hour north of the airport on a good day, surrounded by craft villages and terraced valleys. Beyond it, a spine of volcanoes runs east to west. Batur has a caldera lake and a popular sunrise trail. Agung, the island's highest and most sacred peak, rises above the mother temple of Besakih and the Sidemen valley. In the cool central highlands, Bedugul and Munduk sit beside the lakes of Beratan, Buyan and Tamblingan. The north coast around Lovina and the dry east around Amed see far fewer visitors.

There are no railways, and most roads radiate from Denpasar, the provincial capital. Distances look short on a map and take much longer to drive.

When to go

Bali has a dry season from about April or May to September and a wet season from November to March. Temperatures barely change, with highs around 29 to 31°C on the south coast all year. January is the wettest month, with close to 390 mm of rain at the airport, and the driest is August, with about 16 mm. Ubud and the highlands are wetter and noticeably cooler, and nights in Munduk call for a jumper.

May, June and September are the best months, dry and green, with fewer people than in July and August, when European and Australian school holidays fill the island and prices peak. Christmas and New Year are busy and wet. In the rainy months, onshore winds often wash plastic onto the west-coast beaches around Kuta and Seminyak, while the east coast and the highlands are quieter.

Plan around Nyepi, the Balinese Day of Silence, which next falls on 8 March 2027. The night before, villages parade giant ogoh-ogoh effigies through the streets. Then from 6am the whole island shuts for 24 hours: no flights, no traffic, no lights, and visitors stay inside their hotels. Galungan, when families welcome ancestral spirits home, falls on 13 January 2027 and again on 11 August 2027, with Kuningan ten days later each time. The Bali Arts Festival fills Denpasar's art centre from mid-June to mid-July, and the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival runs from 21 to 25 October in 2026.

What it costs

A nasi campur at a local warung costs IDR 25,000 to 50,000, about $1.50 to $3. A smoothie bowl and a flat white in a Canggu café cost several times as much. Alcohol is heavily taxed, so a small Bintang at a warung is IDR 30,000 to 45,000, and imported wine is expensive everywhere. Accommodation is good value: a 3-star double runs IDR 600,000 to 1,200,000, and a private pool villa can cost less than a chain hotel room at home.

The fixed costs add up before you leave the airport. The visa on arrival is IDR 500,000, the Bali levy IDR 150,000, and the main sights charge foreigners IDR 60,000 to 130,000 each. Nusa Penida adds its own area fee. Restaurant menus marked "++" add government tax and service to the listed prices. Hiring a driver for the day, about IDR 600,000 to 900,000, is often cheaper than a string of app rides once you add waiting time.

Locals save by eating at warungs and night markets, buying drinks at minimarts and riding scooters. Visitors can easily copy the first two. Leave the scooter to people with a licence.

Getting there and around

International flights land at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS), just south of Kuta. Buying the e-VOA online before you fly lets you skip the payment queue on arrival. The arrivals hall has a fixed-fare taxi counter: expect about IDR 250,000 to 350,000 to Seminyak, IDR 300,000 to 450,000 to Canggu or Uluwatu, and IDR 350,000 to 500,000 to Ubud. Grab and Gojek pick up from their own lounges near the car park. Allow 30 to 60 minutes to Seminyak and up to two hours to Ubud in afternoon traffic.

Once you are on the island, the choice is between paying someone to drive and driving yourself. Drivers hired by the day are the standard way to see the interior, and most double as informal guides. Grab and Gojek are cheap for short trips, but some villages, harbours and beach car parks bar app pickups to protect local transport groups; walk a few minutes away or take a metered Blue Bird taxi. The public Trans Metro Dewata buses cost IDR 4,400 a ride, paid by QRIS code, but run only a handful of routes in the south and stop in the early evening.

Fast boats to Nusa Penida leave Sanur harbour throughout the day. Choose an established operator, check that life jackets are on board and within reach, and do not board an overloaded boat in rough seas.

Where to stay

Split a first trip between two bases. Ubud suits travellers who want temples, dance, rice-field walks and food, and its centre is one of the few walkable places on the island. Staying a few kilometres out buys views and quiet but makes you dependent on drivers.

On the coast, Seminyak has the restaurants, boutiques and sunset bars. Canggu is for surfers, digital nomads and a young social scene, and its lanes are badly congested. Uluwatu and the Bukit suit experienced surfers and anyone who wants cliffs, sunsets and big resorts; many beaches are reached by long staircases. Sanur is calmer and older, with reef-protected water, a long beachfront path and the boats to Nusa Penida.

For slow days, Sidemen in the east and Munduk in the north are cool, green and far from the beach-club scene. On Nusa Penida, stay at least one night so you can see the viewpoints before the day-trippers arrive.

Avoid Kuta unless you came for its nightlife, and avoid isolated villas with no transport plan. Book licensed hotels, villas and homestays: the governor's 2025 circular requires visitors to stay in legally registered accommodation.

What to do

Start in Ubud early. The Sacred Monkey Forest opens at 9am, and the first hour is cooler and calmer for the macaques and the visitors. Walk the Campuhan Ridge at dawn, then visit Tirta Empul, where Balinese families bathe beneath carved spouts in a purification ritual that visitors may join if they follow the custom. The Mount Batur sunrise trek means a 2am pickup and two hours of climbing in the dark; on clear mornings the sun comes up over the caldera and Mount Agung.

Tegallalang's terraces near Ubud are the famous ones, and also the most crowded, with swings and selfie platforms. Jatiluwih, part of the UNESCO subak landscape, is larger and calmer, though the drive is longer. On the Bukit, time Uluwatu Temple for late afternoon and stay for the Kecak dance at sunset. Then spend a day on the beaches below the cliffs, such as Bingin and Padang Padang, if you can manage the stairs.

For day trips, choose by mood. Sidemen is all terraces, weaving and river walks under Agung. Munduk combines waterfalls, the twin lakes and the lake temple of Ulun Danu Beratan, best seen early before the mist and the coaches. Nusa Penida is the most dramatic and the most demanding: cliff viewpoints, snorkelling with manta rays, and roads that turn a 20 km trip into an hour.

Eat and drink

Balinese cooking rests on base genep, a spice paste of shallots, garlic, galangal, turmeric, ginger, chilli and shrimp paste, and on pork, which makes Hindu Bali different from most of Indonesia. The headline dish is babi guling, spit-roasted pig stuffed with spices. Warung Babi Guling Ibu Oka on Jalan Suweta in Ubud has served it since the 1980s and often sells out by early afternoon; Pak Malen on Sunset Road in Seminyak is the southern favourite.

For nasi campur, Warung Wardani in Denpasar has a following among locals for its spiced shredded chicken and sate lilit. Nasi Ayam Kedewatan Ibu Mangku, in Kedewatan village just outside Ubud, has served its Balinese chicken rice since 1963. Bebek Bengil in Ubud has fried crispy duck since 1990, and Warung Mak Beng in Sanur has served only fried fish and sour fish-head soup since 1941.

Markets open early. Pasar Badung in Denpasar sells jaje Bali, sweet rice cakes in banana leaf, along with the flowers and leaves for daily offerings. Eat with your right hand if you go without cutlery, and never step over or on the offerings placed on pavements.

Drink carefully. Arak, the local palm or rice spirit, is safe from sealed, branded bottles sold by licensed shops. Homemade arak and cheap cocktails of unknown spirits are the usual cause of methanol poisoning. Coffee from Bali's highlands is excellent; skip kopi luwak, which is usually produced by caged civets.

Practicalities

Money. Cards work in hotels, malls and most restaurants in tourist areas. Warungs, markets, drivers and temple tickets are often cash only. Use ATMs inside bank branches to reduce skimming risk.

Data. Tourist SIMs at the airport cost two or three times what the same packages cost in town. An eSIM bought before you fly, or a SIM from a carrier shop in Kuta or Ubud, is cheaper.

Water. Do not drink tap water. Refill stations are common, and Bali has been phasing out small single-use plastic bottles, so carry your own.

Power. 230 V, 50 Hz, with two-pin round plugs (types C and F).

Laws. Drug penalties include long prison terms and, for trafficking, the death penalty. Indonesia's new criminal code took effect on 2 January 2026. It makes sex outside marriage and unmarried cohabitation offences, but prosecution requires a complaint from a spouse, parent or child. Working, including paid influencer content, requires the correct visa.

Etiquette. Governor Wayan Koster's 2025 circular for foreign tourists bars visitors from the inner sanctums of temples unless they are praying in traditional dress, asks menstruating women not to enter, and forbids climbing sacred trees and structures or taking nude photos at holy sites. It also asks visitors to use certified guides at cultural and nature sites and licensed money changers. Monkey sanctuaries now post signs telling visitors not to touch the monkeys, and at Uluwatu the temple asks you not to touch, feed or tease them.

LGBTQ+. Same-sex relations are not a national crime, but there is no legal recognition, and the new code's rules on sex outside marriage apply to all unmarried couples. Seminyak has a small, long-established gay bar scene. Discretion in public is wise outside it.

Accessibility. Pavements are scarce and uneven, temples have steep steps, and many beaches are reached by long staircases. A driver with a van and a resort with step-free rooms make the biggest difference.

Phrases. Om swastiastu is the Balinese Hindu greeting. Terima kasih means thank you in Indonesian, and suksma in Balinese. Berapa? means how much. Tidak pedas means not spicy.

What nobody tells you

Traffic shapes every plan. The drive from Canggu to Uluwatu can take two hours, and evening rush hour in the south moves at walking pace. Choose one region a day and leave the rest for another trip.

The famous photographs come with queues. At Lempuyang, visitors wait two to three hours for the "Gates of Heaven" shot, and the lake reflection in it is made with a mirror held under the phone. Swings and paid photo platforms line Tegallalang's terraces. The Kelingking viewpoint on Nusa Penida is crowded by mid-morning.

Nusa Penida's cliffs kill people. An Australian woman died after falling at Kelingking on 12 September 2026 while looking for her own route to the edge, and visitors have drowned at Kelingking and at Angel's Billabong. Stay on marked paths, wear proper shoes and keep out of the water.

The Uluwatu monkeys are skilled thieves. They grab sunglasses, hats and phones, then wait for staff to trade them back for fruit. Leave loose items in the car.

Bali belly is common. Wash your hands, be wary of salads and raw food at places that look careless, and pack oral rehydration salts.

The island is enforcing its rules. Levy vouchers are checked at some attractions, and misbehaving tourists are deported. Dress for temples and keep your shirt on away from the beach.