Bali, Indonesia

Most nationalities enter on a Visa on Arrival — IDR 500,000 (about US$28–30 at the current weak rupiah), 30 days, extendable once by 30 — payable on landing or online as an e-VoA beforehand at the official molina.imigrasi.go.id (apply at least 48 hours ahead). A fee increase was proposed in August 2026 — IDR 750,000 for the e-VoA, IDR 1,000,000 on arrival — but hasn’t taken effect, so confirm the figure before you fly. Your passport needs six months’ validity.

Separately, every foreign visitor owes the one-time Love Bali levy of IDR 150,000 (around US$8), paid through the official Love Bali portal or app for a QR voucher scanned on arrival — pay it before you fly to skip the airport queue. On money, the rupiah trades near 17,900 to the dollar in 2026, so old conversion figures run low; cards work in hotels and established restaurants, but carry cash for warungs, markets and small operators.

Change money only at a licensed exchange — look for the Bank of Indonesia logo and QR, and use known names like PT Central Kuta — not the back-street booths with suspiciously good rates, which run sleight-of-hand recounts and hidden commissions. Count your notes before you leave the counter.

You get around Bali three ways. A private car with a driver (IDR 600,000–750,000 for a full day) is the easy default for sightseeing. A scooter is cheap and everywhere, but now genuinely policed — a valid IDP and helmet are required and enforced (see the FAQ). And ride-hail (Grab and Gojek) works island-wide and takes the haggling out of fares, though local “taxi-mafia” cooperatives block app pickups in parts of Ubud, Canggu and some villages (drop-offs are usually fine).

Beyond the roads, fast boats link Bali to its neighbours: from the organised new Sanur harbour to Nusa Penida and Lembongan (about 30–50 minutes), and from Padangbai to the Gili Islands and Lombok (1½–2½ hours). The table below is the quick comparison.

At the airport (DPS, just south near Kuta), use the official prepaid-taxi counter or the signed Grab/Gojek pickup points rather than the touts working the arrivals hall. Ride-hail can’t collect from inside the terminal — there’s a designated point a short walk out.

The south is the busy, built-up Bali, and it subdivides by mood: Kuta and Legian for budget and nightlife, Seminyak for upscale beach clubs, Canggu for the surf-and-café nomad scene, Jimbaran for seafood on the sand, Nusa Dua for gated resorts, and quiet, older Sanur — the departure hub for boats east. The clifftop Bukit peninsula around Uluwatu has the best surf and white-sand coves.

Inland, Ubud is the cultural heart — rice terraces, temples, art and wellness — and it makes the natural second base. The quieter edges reward you most: east Bali (Amed’s diving, serene Sidemen, Mount Agung), the far north around Lovina, and the dramatic cliffs of Nusa Penida and Lembongan a short boat away. The table pairs each southern area with what it’s really for.

The icons are spread across the island: the clifftop Uluwatu Temple with its sunset Kecak fire dance; the Sacred Monkey Forest and Tegalalang rice terraces around Ubud; the UNESCO-listed Jatiluwih subak terraces (Bali’s rice-irrigation culture has been World Heritage since 2012); the lake temple of Ulun Danu Beratan (the one on the older IDR 50,000 banknote) and the sea temple of Tanah Lot at sunset; and the Mount Batur sunrise trek in the central highlands.

A couple of these have tightened up. Besakih, the “Mother Temple”, now runs a mandatory ticket-office, guide and shuttle system, and the Mount Batur climb legally requires a registered local guide. The famous “Gates of Heaven” reflection shot at Lempuyang is an illusion made with a mirror held under the phone — there’s no water. The fees are in the table.

Temples need a sarong and sash and covered shoulders and knees (usually lent at the entrance), and by posted custom menstruating women are asked not to enter the grounds — both are written into Bali’s tourist-conduct rules. Don’t stand above or in front of people praying, and never climb a shrine for a photo; the authorities have deported visitors for it.

The dry season runs roughly April–October (driest and best May–September), the wet season November–March, when rain usually falls in short afternoon bursts after sunny mornings. July–August and the Christmas–New-Year fortnight are the crowded, pricey peaks; May, June and September give you the dry weather without them.

Two things follow the monsoon wind, and they’re worth knowing. The surf swaps coasts — the west and Bukit (Uluwatu, Canggu) fire in the dry season, the east works better in the wet. And so does the beach rubbish: from roughly December to March, monsoon currents pile plastic debris onto the west-facing beaches from Uluwatu up through Seminyak and Canggu, with crews clearing tonnes a day. The swaps below are how to dodge both.

• Surfing in the dry seasonSkipthe blown-out east coastGothe west and Bukit — Uluwatu, Padang Padang, Canggu
• The Dec–Mar wet seasonSkipthe west-facing beaches, where monsoon winds pile up trashGothe east coast, the north (Lovina, Amed) or the Nusa islands
• Kuta feels like too muchSkipbasing in the party stripGoquiet Sanur or Nusa Dua, or inland Ubud

Catching Nyepi and its eve-of parades is a genuine highlight — but the shutdown is total and enforced by village pecalang watchmen, so the one thing you must not do is try to arrive, depart or travel on the day. Flights in and out of Denpasar stop entirely, so align your dates to be already settled in before it begins.

If you’re on the island for it, embrace it: hotels keep a skeleton service and you can relax within the grounds, but step out and you’ll be turned back. It’s a day of unexpected stillness on one of the world’s busier islands — and, cloud permitting, an astonishing night sky with the lights off.

Date it precisely for your trip: Nyepi follows the Balinese saka calendar and moves each year — 8 March in 2027 (the Ogoh-Ogoh parades the evening of 7 March). Book accommodation that you’re happy to be confined to for the full 24 hours.

The US sits Indonesia at Level 2 overall, with its only “do not travel” zones in remote Papua — nowhere near Bali, which is the country’s tourism hub and routinely safe for ordinary travel. The real risks here are specific: the scooter (by far the leading cause of tourist injury and death), methanol poisoning from cheap or illegal arak and spirits — a genuine, documented killer, so stick to sealed brand-name bottles and reputable bars and never leave a drink unattended — and petty stuff like bag-snatching from passing scooters, ATM skimming and the money-changer con.

The non-negotiable one is drugs: Indonesia has some of the strictest drug laws on earth, with the death penalty for trafficking and long prison terms for possession — there is no leniency for tourists. And at the temples and the Ubud Monkey Forest, keep a firm hold on phones and sunglasses, which the monkeys snatch and barter back.

On the volcanoes: Mount Agung is quiet (normal alert level) and not currently a concern. The one that periodically disrupts Bali is Lewotobi, far away on Flores — its 2024 and mid-2025 eruptions cancelled Denpasar flights with high ash plumes, so if you see “Indonesia volcano” flight news, check whether it’s actually affecting DPS before you worry.

Don’t drink the tap water — sealed bottled only, including for brushing teeth, and skip ice from unknown sources — to avoid “Bali belly”; a travel clinic will usually suggest Hepatitis A and typhoid cover, and rabies is present (give the temple monkeys and street dogs a wide berth). On manners: use your right hand to give and receive, don’t touch people’s heads, don’t step on the little canang sari flower offerings laid on the ground, dress modestly away from the beach, and give way quietly to the frequent temple processions — don’t honk.

For data, a Telkomsel SIM has the widest coverage, and eSIMs are easy (your foreign phone’s IMEI is whitelisted for about 90 days on a tourist SIM); wifi is everywhere in cafés and villas. The language is Indonesian (Balinese alongside it), and English is widely spoken in tourist areas — a “terima kasih” (thank you) goes a long way.

Save the emergency numbers: 112 is the national emergency line (Denpasar runs a 112 command centre), with 110 for police directly. Bali’s tourist police can be reached on +62 361 224 111.