Indonesia
Bali
Nobody enters visa-free. Everyone needs the $35 visa on arrival, the free arrival card and the IDR 150,000 tourist levy.
Contains affiliate links — what that means.
- Entry
- Nobody enters visa-free. Visa on arrival, IDR 500,000 (~USD 35), 30 days, extendable once
- Also required
- The free All Indonesia Arrival Card and the IDR 150,000 tourist levy
- Currency
- Indonesian rupiah (IDR) — roughly 15,500 to the US dollar
- Dry season
- April to October. Wet season is November to March.
Checked 15 August 2026. Prices and visa rules change — tell us if something here is wrong.
Three things before you fly
Bali has quietly become one of the more paperwork-heavy destinations, and all three of these are separate. Missing one means a queue at the airport at best.
1. Visa on arrival — IDR 500,000
There is no visa-free entry to Indonesia for Western or Gulf tourists. Plenty of blogs imply otherwise. Americans, British, EU, Australian, Chinese, Indian, Russian and all six GCC passport holders all need the visa on arrival — 97 nationalities are eligible for it.
It costs IDR 500,000 (about USD 35), gives you 30 days, and can be extended once for another 30 at the same price. Buy it in advance as an e-VOA at the official site evisa.imigrasi.go.id — apply at least 48 hours before travel — or on arrival at Ngurah Rai. Passport needs six months' validity and two blank pages.
Overstaying costs IDR 1,000,000 per day — a forgotten week is seven million rupiah, plus possible detention and a re-entry ban. This is far harsher than Thailand's.
2. All Indonesia Arrival Card — free
Mandatory for every arrival including infants, submitted within 72 hours before you land at allindonesia.imigrasi.go.id. It replaced the old separate health declaration and customs declaration, so guides describing those as two steps are out of date.
It is free. The UK Foreign Office has warned specifically about fraudulent sites charging for it.
3. Bali tourist levy — IDR 150,000
About USD 10, separate from and on top of the visa, payable at lovebali.baliprov.go.id (note the .go.id — there are many copycats). You get a QR voucher. Cashless only.
Is it enforced? Reasonably. Bali's tourism office runs voucher checks at tourist sites, not just at the airport, and unpaid arrivals get sent to a payment queue. Nobody is fining you — you just get told to pay on the spot. Do it online before you fly and skip the queue.
Also worth knowing: if you stay in a private villa rather than a hotel, you are supposed to register with local police. Hotels do this automatically; a IDR 5,000,000 fine is the stated penalty for not doing it.
Getting from the airport — and why times matter more than distance
Grab and Gojek do work at the airport. Some transfer companies claim otherwise; they are selling you something. What is true is that you cannot be collected at the arrivals kerb — you walk 300–500 m to the designated e-hailing pick-up zone.
| To | Grab / Gojek | Airport taxi | Journey time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kuta / Legian | IDR 120–180k | 200–250k | 30–45 min |
| Seminyak | 130–200k | 250–300k | 30–45 min |
| Canggu | 180–260k | 300–350k | 45–90 min |
| Ubud | 200–320k | 400–450k | 1.5–2 hours |
| Sanur | — | ~200k | ~30 min |
| Uluwatu | — | ~300k | ~45–60 min |
Distance means nothing in Bali. Ubud is only about 35 km from the airport and routinely takes two hours. Ubud to Uluwatu can be three hours or more at sunset. Plan your itinerary around driving time, not the map — this is the mistake that ruins Bali trips.
Blue Bird is the reliable metered taxi brand — light blue with a bird logo. Insist on the meter and watch for look-alike liveries. Immigration takes about 15 minutes through the autogates, 45–60 if you get processed manually.
Where to stay
| Area | Range | Good for | The downside |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seminyak | $60–1,400 | Best all-rounder for a first trip — restaurants, beach clubs, shopping, without Kuta's rowdiness | Heavily developed and traffic-choked; little that feels Balinese; the beach is fine, not great |
| Canggu | $70–650 | Surfers, remote workers, café culture | A victim of its own success — construction noise, gridlocked single-lane roads, and the strongest local resistance to Grab and Gojek |
| Ubud | $60–1,500 | Culture, rice terraces, waterfalls, wellness | No beach; the centre is congested; you need a scooter or driver to reach anything good |
| Uluwatu / Bukit | $50–1,200 | Clifftop views, serious surf, quieter and more upmarket | Isolated — everything is a long drive, beaches are down steep stairs, and you'll pay for a driver constantly |
| Sanur | Mid | Families and calmer trips; flat, walkable, closest beach area to the airport | Sleepy; east-facing so no sunsets; limited nightlife |
| Kuta | $40–550 | Cheapest beds, surf schools, closest to the airport | Best visited briefly rather than stayed in — aggressive touts, dated nightlife |
Where to stay in Bali
Pick your area before you pick your hotel. A cheap room in the wrong part of the island costs you hours in traffic every day.
Compare on Agoda
Agoda has particularly deep coverage in Southeast Asia and often beats other sites on the same villas.
What things cost
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Hostel dorm | $6–10 |
| Mid-range guesthouse | $25–50 |
| Hotel or villa | $80–150+ |
| Warung (local) meal | $1.50–3 |
| Mid-range restaurant | $6–14 |
| Grab or Gojek trip | $1–4 |
| Scooter, per day | $3–6 |
| Car and driver, per day | $40–80 |
| Uluwatu Temple | IDR 60,000 |
| Tanah Lot | IDR 75,000 |
| Ubud Monkey Forest | IDR 130,000 |
| Tirta Empul | IDR 75,000 |
| Besakih | IDR 150,000 |
Most temples and waterfalls are cash only in rupiah — carry small notes. Dual pricing is normal and openly posted (Tanah Lot charges Indonesians IDR 30,000 against IDR 75,000 for foreigners); it is not a scam. Peak season, July–August and December, adds 30–60% to accommodation.
Scooters: read this before you rent one
You need an International Driving Permit with a motorcycle endorsement, plus a home licence that covers motorcycles. A car-only licence has never been enough. Bali has run "no mercy" enforcement crackdowns, seizing tourist scooters. The fine for riding without a valid licence is IDR 1,000,000; no helmet is IDR 250,000.
More importantly: riding unlicensed voids your travel insurance. Australia's government travel service states this explicitly. That means an accident leaves you paying your own medical costs and any third-party liability. Collisions and fatalities among tourists have been rising.
Rental runs IDR 80,000–140,000/day for a Scoopy, up to 320,000 for a PCX, with 30–40% off weekly. Most street rentals include no insurance at all. Never hand over your physical passport as a deposit — a photo is standard at legitimate shops. Photograph and video the bike in detail before you ride off; invented damage claims on return are a known scam.
For two or more people, a car and driver at $40–80 a day beats scooters on both cost and risk — that's typically eight to ten hours with fuel and driver included.
The Grab and Gojek no-go zones
Both apps are legal across Bali and the transport agency has said so publicly. But local driver associations informally enforce no-app zones in Canggu, Seminyak, Nusa Dua, Uluwatu, central Ubud, Sanur, Lovina, Amed, Kintamani, Tanah Lot, Padang Bai and the Nusa islands. The hostility targets drivers, not passengers. The workaround is simple: walk five or ten minutes out of the zone and book from there.
Staying connected
Telkomsel has the best coverage and is the safe default; then Indosat and XL Axiata. SIMs must be registered against your passport — buy at airport kiosks (convenient, dearer, IDR 150–200k for a tourist plan) or an official GraPARI store. Convenience stores sometimes skip registration, which causes problems later.
Indonesia's IMEI registration rule does not affect normal tourists — it applies to stays over 90 days. Below that, tourist SIMs work normally. One caveat: local eSIMs from Telkomsel and Indosat can require IMEI registration first and may not activate instantly, so an international eSIM is the frictionless option.
When to go, and what wet season really means
Dry season is April to October. Wet season is November to March, wettest in January.
But wet season is badly misunderstood. The typical pattern is sunshine from 6am to midday, a heavy storm somewhere between 1 and 4pm, clearing by evening — that's roughly 70% of days in November, December and March, and 60% in January and February. The rain is intense but drains within an hour or two. Rates run 20–35% cheaper. March is the best risk-reward month of the wet season. Avoid 22 December to 5 January for price spikes.
Traps and scams
- Money changers. Sleight-of-hand shortchanging is endemic. Use authorised changers, count the money in front of them, and refuse "special rate" street booths.
- ATMs. Use bank-branded machines inside branches — skimming and card capture are reported at standalone machines.
- Methanol poisoning from counterfeit spirits and arak is a real and occasionally fatal risk in Bali. Stick to sealed bottles at reputable venues and avoid free-poured cocktails at very cheap bars.
- Airport porters are not free — agree about IDR 20,000 a bag before they take anything.
- Fake "compulsory donations" and unofficial guides at temple entrances.
- Scooter damage claims after you return the bike — hence the photos.