TIPS FOR TRAVELING TO BALI (AND NOT SHIT)

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Bali is one of our favorite destinations. The motives? Many: it has an incredible and unique culture, with a frankly delicious cuisine, with temples that will leave you hallucinated and natural corners that will make you want to marry Mother Nature. Of course, there are some things we would have loved to know before our first visit, because it is clear that not even the island of the Gods is perfect. Here we leave you 13 tips for traveling to Bali (and not shit).

The best time to travel to Bali is from May to September, although we visited it in February, April and October ... and it didn't rain too much: typical of the monsoon season, a good shower falls for a few hours and then good weather.

Kuta can perfectly be the idea of traveling hell: muscular “backpackers” with a bintang in hand, more tattoo businesses than temples, streets full of garbage and plastic, congested traffic and hustlers offering you motorbikes, accommodation, drugs, girls… So Our recommendation is not to stay longer than necessary in Kuta.

Although we have to recognize something, even Kuta deserves a visit. The sunset from its beach is one of the best we have ever seen.

A stay of 7 days is the minimum to discover Bali, although we recommend at least two weeks: the island is bigger than it seems and, although in kilometers it does not seem to you that the distances are long, in reality it takes much more than expected. For example, by taxi from Kuta to Lovina (less than 100 km), it's between 3 and 4 hours! In this post we tell you the main things you can see and do in Bali.

If you want to discover part of your soul you need to leave the typical route…. And for that, of course, you need time. We were in total for more than a month and we still have things to see and places to discover. And is that Bali is a box of surprises.

We always say that in Asia, as dilapidated and rudimentary as it may be, public transport is a tip: wherever you go you will most likely find a bus that, within not much, leaves for your destination. Well, in Bali it's not like that. We do not know why or how, but the public transport of the island is practically non-existent, inefficient and expensive (you can take a look at the Perama company website). The alternatives They are:

→ Rent a motorcycle (as we did on our first trip): by motorcycle you will be able to reach tourist sites, be 100% free and enjoy Bali to the fullest. The rental of the motorcycle in Kuta was updated for 40,000 IDR, plus 10,000 IDR insurance. The liter of gasoline goes to 4,500 IDR at the gas station and 5,000 IDR in the street bottles. (More info in our Route I diary and Route II diary and in our Bali motorcycle book * our first son-ebook *)

→ Hire taxi / cars with driver: The option is more comfortable but more expensive (calculates about 80,000-100,000 IDR per hour) or about € 40 for a car with driver for the whole day. You can book it here.

→ There is a third option that, although it seems to be “illegal” in Bali, everyone uses it: Uber and Grab to Taxi. We contacted a driver to take us from Kuta to Lovina and we got the trip for 300,000 IDR when the taxi requested between 500,000 and 800,000 IDR. We leave you the WhatsApp contact of Hasan, our driver, highly recommended: +62 812 4644 2627 (if you finally hire his services give him memories of us :)). Even if you see prohibited signs using this tool, if you do it without being too chanting, there is no reason to have problems.

And of course there is also the option to hire “tours”. The good thing is that you will make the visits accompanied by a guide who knows a lot about the island and is not very expensive! Some of the most recommended tours are:

Bratan Lake, waterfalls and swing.

East of Bali and Pura Besakih temple.

South of Bali and Uluwatu.

Don't forget to take your international driving license (with the car B it is enough to drive 125CC scooters). In Bali, the police usually stop tourists, if you don't have the international card you will have to give them a small bribe so they don't get fined. If this happens we will tell you a little trick to save some money: carry two wallets, the one you use always have it well guarded, and another, spare, with a few rupees ... Why? When the cop asks you for the payment for not carrying the card, take out the spare wallet and show the little money you have (5-10 €), happy backpacker of slipper! He will probably keep the money and let you go. You can also be surprised and say that you forgot in the hotel (it worked for us, and it was also true :-p Thank you Karma!).

So do not limit your visits to spend the day between one temple and another. You will end up tired and not enjoy the trip. Temples apart, there are many things to visit in Bali: typical villages, gastronomic stops on the road, rice paddies, lakes, volcanoes ... The more heterogeneous the better. Now, things as they are: the temples of Bali are a past ... Here we tell you which are the best temples in Bali.

Many arrive in Bali believing that they will find heavenly beaches when, in fact, in many other parts of Indonesia (and Southeast Asia) the beaches are infinitely prettier (and safer). The beaches of Bali are not ugly, nor the water is cloudy (it depends on the site) but they can disappoint, so do not go with the idea of enjoying days of baths and beaches, in Bali what is really worth knowing is its culture . And if you want cool beaches you can go to neighboring Gili.

In Bali, the Bukit Peninsula area is, perhaps, one of the most beautiful beaches, with fine and clear sand, an interesting environment and a good atmosphere, although the currents are dangerous. Another interesting area is in the busy Sanur and Nusa Dua, or in the less traveled Candidasa. In Lovina the beaches are black sand and the bathroom is not entirely fun. In the north, the Permutaran area is good for snorkeling and diving.

If you arrive in Bali thinking that it is a cheap and wasted price destination… mmm you may get a bad surprise, especially if in a few days you want to visit many places and choose to stay in beautiful hotels and eat in cool restaurants. Now, if you don't mind staying in local homestays ($ 5-8 per night), eating in warungs ($ 1.5-2 per meal) and sharing transportation with other travelers, we have good news: Bali is not a destination just for Ricachones and newly married couples. As we always say you can travel low cost anywhere (we learned it in Maldives).

The options of asking for currency before going on a trip, or changing money once we arrive at the destination, we don't like very much. We always recommend using a card when traveling, but beware of commissions! Here we tell you the solutions to have money abroad. After analyzing it well, we decided to always carry a Bnext card each, to withdraw money, and an N26 card each for payments and in case the first fails. They are free and will save us money in commissions.

Try to distribute your expenses in different families: do not eat in the restaurant of the homestay and do it in the one next door, managed by another family. Do not buy all your memories in the same position, do not hire all your excursions with the same boat, etc. We know that it is much more convenient to centralize everything in the same place but if you diversify your expenses you know that your money is helping a little to many different families that live from tourism. If you want to read more about responsible tourism, don't miss this article 🙂

When they bring you the bill at the end of the lunch / dinner, do not pay without first checking each and every one of the figures: it has happened to us on several occasions that the price of the menu did not correspond to that of the account or, also, that the sum total did not match the mathematical sum. And no, none of the times was in our favor 😉

Do not stay in Kuta or Ubud all the time. They are the two most tourist areas of Bali and there it will not be so easy to live the most authentic part of the island. If you have the opportunity, stay for a few days in a less touristy area, we did it on the outskirts of Ubud, and, between rice fields, streets where they crossed more chickens than motorcycles and super cheap shops where we could exchange a few words with the locals, we could Be part (for a few days) of the most authentic Bali.

In Lovina, where we stayed for about 10 days, we "mimicked" our neighborhood ... after a few days the locals already knew us and created a small routine made of dip in the pool, coffees from the shop of Mrs. Puspa ( Idola!), Of caresses to the most beautiful puppies of Bali, excursions and tasting of Balinese dishes (and the occasional cordon bleu) in the bars of our street. We did almost nothing (nothing recommended by the guides) but the day we left we felt (almost for the first time) that many of those who fired us did it really, as if we had broken the tourist / local barrier.

Indonesian politics is not joking in this matter: taking drugs is punishable by jail (and even with death penalty), so we were quite shocked when, walking through Kuta, several boys approached us asking if we wanted drugs. Mmm, it's not going to be. But if there are people selling ... there will be people (very little ready) buying. Don't be one of them because the drugs issue in Asia is no game.

To enter the temples of Bali you have to wear a sarong (the typical handkerchief that is put on the waist as a skirt both they and they). In most temples they are left free (although a tip is always welcome) and in others they are rented for about 10,000 IDR. It is not a bad idea to buy one at the beginning of the trip and use it in the rest of the visits, they are also very beautiful and will serve as a souvenir for your return home.

So far our tips for traveling to Bali (and not screw it up). If you have more we will love to hear them (or well, read them) since we will continue back to the island of the Gods 🙂 We are vicious, we know it!