Bali
Bali is Hindu in a country that is nearly ninety per cent Muslim, and the difference runs through everything: twenty thousand temples, and one day a year when the airport closes for a religious observance.
Bali in a nutshell
Bali: what to expect
This is what 688,000+ planned stops in Indonesia on Stippl say about Bali.
Bali is one island and you plan it as two or three bases, never one. The island runs 145 kilometres end to end with no useful public transport, so a private driver is how you actually move. Uluwatu's clifftop temple stages the Kecak fire dance at sunset, Tanah Lot sits on its rock at low tide, Mount Batur is the pre-dawn climb, the Liberty wreck lies a few metres off the beach at Tulamben, and the manta rays are off Nusa Penida. Ten to fourteen nights is a first island trip.
Plans that just say Bali usually say nothing else. Bali opens about seven in ten of the trips it appears on and closes about six in ten, which is the shape of an itinerary with one line in it. Four in five of those trips never name Ubud, and the island's own towns are the last thing they name. A trip written that way carries roughly half as many Indonesian stops as one built around the towns themselves.
So write the places down rather than the island. The south gives you surf, food and the beach clubs, Ubud gives you the interior and the temple day trips, and Amed, Sidemen or Munduk give you the quiet half nobody books. Travellers here start planning 85 days out. Skip Bali if you expected somewhere undiscovered, or if you can only travel December to February, when the wettest months land on the most expensive weeks.
Who Bali is for
First-time Asia travellers
the island is set up for visitors to a degree nowhere else in Indonesia is: English works, the roads are signed, ride-hailing runs, and the two-hour radius from the airport contains most of what people come for
Surfers
reef breaks on the Bukit for the experienced, beach breaks at Canggu and Kuta for everyone else, and a season that runs opposite between the two coasts
Digital nomads
Canggu is one of the most established remote-work bases in the world, with co-working, monthly villa rates and an Indonesian visa route built for it
Divers and snorkellers
Amed's shore diving, the Liberty wreck at Tulamben, and manta rays off Nusa Penida
Wellness and yoga travellers
Ubud is the centre of an industry, not a scattering of studios
Families
Sanur and Nusa Dua for calm water; the interior for everything else. Both areas exist because the south's surf beaches are not swimming beaches
Maybe not for you: anyone expecting an undiscovered island: the south is genuinely crowded and the traffic is genuinely bad, and every publisher says so; anyone who wants to move fast, because 145 km can take a day; anyone travelling December to February, when the wettest months land on the most expensive weeks; and anyone who wants one beach for a fortnight, because the areas are different holidays and the island rewards moving
The best time to visit Bali
Dry season
May–September
with April and October as shoulders; the whole island works. August is the floor on both coasts at 42 mm south and 41 mm interior
Wet season
November–March
afternoon downpours rather than all-day rain, but the interior takes 336–410 mm a month and the roads flood. One publisher notes that drivers charge more in the rainy season because the roads congest
Peak
July–August
plus Christmas–New Year; driest weather, worst traffic, highest prices. Our own data disagrees with our sources on when Bali is busiest: January is the most-travelled month for Bali trips at 12.3%, ahead of September's 9.8%, a northern-hemisphere-winter pattern that the guidebooks' dry-season framing does not describe
- The two coasts surf in opposite seasons: the west and south-west (Canggu, Kuta, the Bukit) work in the dry season; the east coast works in the wet
- For 24 hours from 06:00 the entire island stops: no one leaves their accommodation, roads are closed, shops and restaurants shut, and Ngurah Rai airport closes completely, no flights in or out. Tourists are bound by the rules with minor relaxations: you may talk indoors and keep lights dim, but you may not go outside your property. Hotels cannot take check-ins or check-outs that day
- the Ogoh-Ogoh parades, giant demon effigies carried through every village and burned. Roads are heavily congested or closed island-wide. If you must travel that day, travel in the morning
- Nyepi is part of a six-day observance and is its third day; the day after is Balinese New Year and normal life resumes
- Galungan and Kuningan, the ten-day cycle when ancestral spirits are held to return, fill the island with penjor bamboo poles and fall twice in most Gregorian years on the 210-day Pawukon calendar. Not a closure, but temples are full
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Things to do in Bali
Photo by Nick Fewings via Unsplash
Photo by Ismail Hamzah via Unsplash
Photo by Juan Cruz Mountford via UnsplashUluwatu Temple at sunset with the Kecak dance
the clifftop temple, and a fire-and-chorus performance daily at 18:00. Roughly 150,000 IDR for the dance on top of temple entry
Tanah Lot
the sea temple on its rock, best at low tide and at sunset, and one of the most photographed places in Indonesia
Mount Batur at sunrise
the standard pre-dawn volcano hike, done as a guided group climb from about 03:00, with hot springs afterwards
The rice terraces
Tegallalang on the Ubud tourist route, Jatiluwih on the UNESCO subak system in the west, which is larger, quieter and further
A day with a driver through the interior temples
Tirta Empul's purification springs, Besakih the mother temple on Agung's slope, Pura Lempuyang's "Gates of Heaven" (and its notorious queue)
Diving and snorkelling at Amed and Tulamben
shore diving on the USAT Liberty wreck, and reefs a few metres off the beach
The neighbourhoods of Bali
Canggu
digital-nomads
The surf-and-café coast north-west of the airport: black sand, beach clubs, co-working, and traffic that is now genuinely bad
Bali's best café scene and its easiest landing, an hour from the plane.
Ubud
art-lovers
Inland among rice terraces and river gorges: temples, yoga, galleries, and the island's cultural centre
Bali's cultural heart, and the base for everything in the interior.
Sidemen
Rural quiet
The rice-terrace valley east of Ubud under Mount Agung, with a fraction of Ubud's visitors
Ubud's landscape with almost none of Ubud's traffic.
Amed
Divers
The dry black-sand coast in the far east: a diving and snorkelling village strung along one road
The island's best shore diving, and roads quiet enough to ride.
Munduk
off-the-beaten-path
The cloud-forest highlands in the north: waterfalls, coffee, cool nights, mountain lakes
Cool air, the island's best waterfalls, and the wettest, greenest ground on it.
Uluwatu and the Bukit
luxury
The limestone peninsula in the far south: cliffs, world-class reef breaks, the sunset temple, resorts spread thin along dirt roads
The best beaches on the island and the sunset that everyone books.
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Where to stay in Bali
The private-pool villa is Bali's characteristic room and it is cheaper here than the equivalent anywhere else in Asia. It is what the island's mid-range and upper market is built on, and it is why so much of our sources' accommodation writing is about villas rather than hotels
Canggu
€25–120
The surf-and-café coast north-west of the airport: black sand, beach clubs, co-working, and traffic that is now genuinely bad
Ubud
€20–200
Inland among rice terraces and river gorges: temples, yoga, galleries, and the island's cultural centre
Sidemen
€15–90
The rice-terrace valley east of Ubud under Mount Agung, with a fraction of Ubud's visitors
Amed
€15–90
The dry black-sand coast in the far east: a diving and snorkelling village strung along one road
Munduk
€15–80
The cloud-forest highlands in the north: waterfalls, coffee, cool nights, mountain lakes
Uluwatu and the Bukit
€30–250
The limestone peninsula in the far south: cliffs, world-class reef breaks, the sunset temple, resorts spread thin along dirt roads
What to eat in Bali
Whole suckling pig, spice-rubbed and spit-roasted, served with rice, crackling and lawar: the island's ceremonial dish, and impossible in Muslim Indonesia
Duck packed with spice paste, wrapped in banana leaf and steamed or buried for hours until it falls apart
Minced meat, grated coconut, and vegetables bound with spices, and, in the traditional version, blood
Minced fish or chicken with coconut and lemongrass, moulded onto a lemongrass stalk rather than a skewer
Rice with a spread of small dishes chosen at the counter, the everyday warung meal
Grilled fish and prawns eaten at tables on the sand at sunset
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Balinese customs and what not to do
A sarong is required
at temples, and usually issued with the ticket. Shoulders and knees covered; a good driver carries spares and knows which gates check
The offerings are religious
canang sari on pavements and doorsteps are live objects. Do not step on them, move them or photograph them being placed without asking
The 2025 code has teeth
Bali issued a formal code of conduct for foreign tourists. The provincial circular requires modest dress in public places, at sacred sites and at attractions; respectful behaviour toward temples, statues and pratima; payment of the levy; use of licensed guides and legal accommodation. It prohibits entering the inner temple zones (utamaning and madyaning mandala) other than for worship, and among the acts it names are climbing sacred trees and monuments and behaving disrespectfully at holy sites. Penalties run to fines and deportation
Inner courtyards have a rule
menstruating women are traditionally asked not to enter temple inner courtyards; the sign at the gate says so and it is observed
Right hand, heads untouched
use the right for giving and receiving, and do not touch anyone's head, general Indonesian etiquette that is observed strictly here
Bargain in markets only
not in shops, restaurants or with drivers who have quoted a day rate
Do
- Pay the levy before you land; it is cashless and takes two minutes
- Book a driver for any day that crosses the island
- Carry an IDP and wear the helmet if you ride at all
- Cover up at temples, and take the sarong they give you
- Check whether Nyepi falls in your dates before you book flights
Don't
- Don't step on the offerings
- Don't enter a temple's inner courtyard as a sightseer, the 2025 circular makes it explicit
- Don't plan a day around a 60 km drive in the south
- Don't learn to ride a scooter in Canggu
- Don't assume you can fly on Nyepi. The airport is closed
Daily budget in Bali
Budget
€22–34
Hostel or homestay, warung meals, a shared scooter, temple entries
Mid-range
€50–105
Guesthouse or small hotel with a pool, café and restaurant eating, a shared driver day
High-end
€170+
Private-pool villa, beach clubs and fine dining, a driver on call
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Fun facts about Bali
Bali has around 20,000 temples, roughly one for every hundred residents
About 83% of Balinese practise Hinduism, in a country that is nearly 90% Muslim, a Majapahit legacy
Nyepi is the only day of the year on which an international airport closes for a religious observance
Bali's subak irrigation co-operatives, which have organised rice water-sharing since the ninth century, are a UNESCO World Heritage listing in their own right
Babi guling exists here and effectively nowhere else in Indonesia, because Bali is the archipelago's one Hindu island
Local tips for Bali
No public transport
There is no useful public transport on Bali and every publisher says so. The options are ride-hailing in the south, metered taxis, scooters, and a hired car with a driver
A driver, all day
A private driver is the island's real transport system. Quoted at 550,000–1,500,000 IDR (~€30–85) for a ten-hour day, or 375,000–1,500,000 for a six-hour half-day, fuel and parking included; a second publisher's own average was 600,000 IDR a day; our own data says €30–34. The three agree at the bottom of the range and the spread is about the car and the season: one source notes prices rise in July–September and in the rains
Grab and Gojek
Grab and Gojek work and are the price check. Both do cars and motorbike taxis; one publisher's advice is to open the app for the quote even when taking a street taxi. Note that some areas restrict app pickups in favour of local co-operatives
Don't learn here
Scooters are everywhere and two publishers advise against learning to ride here. Canggu's traffic in particular is named as a bad place to start. Wear the helmet, and carry an International Driving Permit: one publisher paid about €13 (US$15) for one at home and says it is what police ask for. The insurance consequences of riding without the right licence are
Rabies is endemic
Rabies is endemic on Bali and this is the largest blind spot. The island has had continuous rabies transmission since 2009; more than 39,000 animal-bite incidents were recorded in 2024, and over a hundred human deaths have been attributed since 2008. Stray dogs are the main reservoir; monkeys and cats also carry it. Any bite, scratch or lick on broken skin needs immediate washing and same-day medical attention: post-exposure treatment works and waiting does not. Our sources mention dogs and monkeys as a nuisance and never as a disease vector
Monkeys steal and bite
The monkeys at the Sacred Monkey Forest and Uluwatu Temple steal, and they bite. Sunglasses, phones and loose bags come off you. Uluwatu's are the more aggressive of the two
Bali questions, answered
Two bases for a week, three for a fortnight, and never one. The island's towns are each a stop in their own right: Ubud alone carries 73,000+ planned stops on Stippl, more than the whole of South Korea. Lay the bases into Stippl and the drives between them will explain themselves.
Ten to fourteen nights for a first trip, across two or three bases; seven works with two. Each base wants three nights: travellers planning Ubud on Stippl give it 3 nights, and Canggu, Uluwatu and Seminyak all land in the same place.
Only if you came for one thing. Just 12.08% of Ubud stops planned on Stippl are a single night, and the pattern repeats across the island: people settle for three nights at a time and then move. The south, the interior and the east are ninety minutes and a world apart.
Yes, a one-off provincial levy per person, paid online through the official Love Bali portal before or on arrival. It is not collected at immigration, which is why so many visitors still miss it, and enforcement is tightening at temples and attractions. Pay on the government site, not a third party.
In the south, yes, and every guide says so: Canggu, Seminyak and the Bukit are busy and the traffic is genuinely bad. The north and the east are not, and they are ninety minutes away. Amed, Sidemen, Munduk and the Lovina coast are the island people say has disappeared.
Get a driver for anything crossing the island: a day with one costs less than most people expect and takes the traffic off you. If you ride, carry an international permit with a motorcycle entitlement and wear the helmet, and do not learn here. Balinese traffic is not the place to start.
Every guide is written by the Stippl editors and checked against the trips our travellers actually plan. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
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