“The mere mention of Bali evokes thoughts of a paradise. It’s more than a place; it’s a mood, an aspiration, a tropical state of mind.” Lonely Planet bali travel tips
Bali is unique. There is no place in the world like this magical island. The Island of the Gods offer to its visitors pristine crystal-clear beaches, great natural sites to explore, countless Hindu Temples and Shrines, colorful religious ceremonies, volcanoes, jungle, rice terraces so green you will not believe your eyes, gifted artists and I could go on and on. You can find great variety of accommodation, restaurants and activities that suit all the budgets but that is not what makes Bali unique. There is this special vibe, authentic atmosphere that is difficult to describe, but it will touch your heart and you will want to come back again. I think it has something to do with Balinese people themselves, their beautiful smiley faces and warm welcoming character.
Bali is regularly rated as one of the top world destinations to visit, but this island is not that straight forward. Even though tourism blooms and you can see western influence in some of the cities, Bali stays true to itself – dynamic, diverse, vibrant and sometimes unpredictable. It is a real place with real people. bali travel tips
Here are some tips before you start planning your holiday to Bali, I hope you will find them useful.
Geography
Bali lies only 3.2 km east of Java and it consist of the main island of Bali and smaller islands Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan on the east. East coast is blessed with coral reefs, so if you love snorkelling or diving, plan your stay in this area. North Bali is overlooked by many visitors, but the whole coast is washed by Bali Sea, that is warm and calm which creates perfect conditions for swimming. Around 60% of the population lives up north, the biggest city is Singaraja, former capital with Dutch heritage. Indian Ocean on the west makes this part of Bali a real surfers’ paradise. The south has got two main tourist areas – Nusa Dua is famous for the beautiful sandy beaches and Uluwatu has got rocky coast with dramatic cliffs that make great background for any keen photographer.
If you have more time to spend, you can visit Island of Lombok on the east of Bali. You can either fly there from Denpasar airport or take a boat ride from Sanur. Lombok consist of the main island and three small islands called Gili – Gili Trawangan, Gili Air and Gili Meno. Gili are motor vehicle free, which means you can only ride a bike there (or a horse, a donkey or a cow). bali travel tips
Bali is a volcanic island with many still functioning volcanoes. Not so long time ago (in November 2017), Mount Agung erupted after over 50 years of sleeping. It was spitting ashes and fuming since August/September ’17 and I don’t have to tell you that it put me in lots of stress if we will be traveling at all. Everything ended up well for us, but I have read a story about an Australian couple who planned their wedding on Bali too and because of the eruption they had to cancel it. My advice here is – buy travel insurance straight after purchasing your flights and make sure it covers natural disasters, doesn’t matter if you are only going for a holiday or planning any bigger celebration. bali travel tips
Visa
If you are traveling from Australia or Slovakia, you don’t need tourist visa to Indonesia if you are staying for less than 30 days. I found this link very useful before traveling to Bali here, where you can find all the visa requirements for all the countries. bali travel tips
Money and Currency
The currency on Bali is Indonesian Rupiah – IDR.
1 AUD = approximately 10,500.00 IDR
1 Euro = approximately 16,260.00 IDR
Some of the shops in the main tourist areas accept credit cards and there are also lots of ATMs and currency exchange offices available, but if you want to explore “off the beaten path”, have cash ready. Taxis, local shops, fresh produce… none of them would have credit card terminal.
It is better if you exchange cash at home before traveling rather than rely on ATMs. This is the mistake we’ve made. In Seminiyak we found a Commonwealth ATM, but yet we still had to pay withdrawal fee (even though we have Commonwealth Bank in Australia) and the ATM would not let us to withdraw more than 1,000,000.00 IDR at once, which is less than 100 AUD. Indonesian biggest note is 100,000.00 IDR (less than 10 AUD).
Language
Balinese and Indonesian are the most spoken languages on Bali. From my experience, their English proficiency is not very good. Some of our drivers could speak barely any English. Balinese people are very nice and warm and even they do not understand they won’t get frustrated. Our very first driver Madej, who picked us up from the airport could speak very little English, not enough to have a normal conversation with him, but yet he had invited us for the celebration of his uncle’s cremation and he brought for Tomas and me flowers for our wedding.
To make it clear, he was not inviting us for a funeral. Balinese cremation ceremony – Ngaben is generally a happy occasion when the soul of the deceased person is entering an upper realm where it will be waiting to be reborn.
Transport
As I mentioned in my first article about Bali here, roads and traffic are quite an experience! Because we were a big group of people, travelling with our parents who like their comfort, we hired private drivers to take us around.
For an air-conditioned van that fits 6 to 8 people, with private driver we paid 120.00 USD (= 150.00 AUD = 1,598,000 IDR approximately) for a day, which I think is pretty reasonable. You can catch a taxi or even Uber should work even though we haven’t tried it. I am really not sure about the public transport, I can’t recall if we’ve seen any buses around and personally I would be scared to drive a car there (motorcycle are very popular though). bali travel tips
In my opinion, booking a driver in your hotel a day or two in advance is probably the easiest thing to do.
Weather
Being only 8 degrees down the Equator, Bali has got tropical climate with average temperature 30 degrees Celsius throughout a year and only two seasons. Wet season, or monsoon season lasts from October till April and it brings significant rain, especially from December to March. Dry season starts in May and lasts till September, with June and August as windiest months.
We visited Bali in mid-October and the first part of our holiday was really rainy. In the morning of our wedding day it was pouring “cats & dogs” I was just praying it will stop by the time I’ll walk down the aisle. Fortunately, in the afternoon the skies cleared completely and since then we didn’t see a single rain drop until our last day, when we were leaving to the airport.
Would I risk it again and travel in the wet season? I know that even during dry months there can be occasional rain, but I think I will not travel in monsoon season again. I love sun and rain can ruin your plans for the day, or the week. Our friends usually travel during wet season, when everything is (or should be) cheaper because of the lack of tourists, and they’ve never had a really bad rainy day on their holidays, but it is really about luck and if you are travelling to a new destination where you’ve always wanted to go, rather double-check those rainy months so you will not be leaving disappointed.
I hope this little piece of information will be helpful to plan your Bali vacation. If it wasn’t enough (it wouldn’t be enough for me but I don’t want to bore you), here are some more links about Bali and everything you want to know:
Happy travels!
