Arriving in Bali: A Complete Guide
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We're going to be talking about everything you need to know when arriving in Bali. Whether you're planning on staying here for a few weeks or a few months, keep reading, or watch the video above, because we will be covering everything from airport taxis to finding accommodation, both short and long term, transportation options including scooter rental, and finding a SIM card.
Over the last few years I have traveled and lived in Bali numerous times, and have learned from my mistakes in the past, which is why I wanted to create this video and share with you my tips on how to arrive in Bali without spending more time or money than necessary.
Airport Taxi
Once you arrive at the airport in Bali, you’re going to need a way to get to whichever area of Bali you’re heading to. If you’re planning on renting a scooter during your time in Bali, I would recommend waiting until you arrive at your accommodation to rent the scooter- we’ll get to that later in the video. You will most likely have a bit of luggage with you, so hiring a taxi will be the most efficient way of getting you to your destination. We are heading to Canggu, the digital nomad capital of Bali. You can expect to pay around 300K rupiah, or 21 USD to go from the airport to Canggu.
The first option you will have is to directly hire a driver at the airport upon arrival. Oftentimes this is the most expensive option, as they will quote you a higher price than the going rate, however, you can always negotiate with them. The second option is to hire a driver on the GoJek app, which is similar to an Uber, so you will be able to see the going rate before you book your driver. However, you will need an Indonesian SIM card in order to sign up for the app. As far as SIM cards go, you will see them available for sale in the airport, but I recommend waiting until you get to your destination, as the prices at the airport are more expensive. We will cover that later in the video.
The third option is to arrange a local driver before you arrive, which is what we did. A couple days before we arrived I called up Ajust, a driver I met a few years back while living in Bali, and arranged for him to pick us up from the airport. It’s always nice when you can build a relationship with a driver in Bali, because not only is it more personal, but you know who you are supporting, and can count on them for your future trips to the airport and around Bali. I will leave the contact info for our driver below, so feel free to WhatsApp him for your future trip! He has 3 little children and your business would help support him and his family! Make sure to mention my name when you message him, and he will hook you up!
Ajust Bali Driver WhatsApp: +62 813 3741 2571
Accommodation
The second thing we will cover is accommodation. We are planning to stay in Bali for the next four months, so we just booked a place from booking.com for the first few nights, to give us a chance to settle somewhere while we looked for longer term accommodation. We chose to stay the first 3 nights at La Pan Nam Exotic Villas, which is an absolutely stunning property in the middle of the rice fields of Canggu. Watch our video of the hotel here. We paid 250K rupiah per night, about 18 USD for a Joglo style room, which also included breakfast. We can highly recommend staying here, as it is still close to the center of Canggu, but feels like a secluded retreat making it the perfect place to unwind after a long journey.
If you’re staying in Bali long term like we are, you’ll probably want to find a long term accommodation, so you can receive a monthly rate, which can sometimes save you over 50% when compared to nightly rates. You should have no problem finding something, regardless of whether your budget is $200 a month or $2000 a month. The cheapest option is usually to rent a room in a guesthouse, similar to a hotel but usually small and locally owned. This is what we ended up doing, and we’re paying 3 million rupiah per month, about 210 USD. A step up from here would be to rent a room in a shared villa, usually with other digital nomads. I did this in the past and paid 8 million per month, about $560 per month, at a beautiful joglo style villa with a pool. And finally, usually the most expensive option would be to rent an entire villa for yourself. Obviously the price of this highly depends on how big it is, where it's located, etc.
When searching for long term accommodation, I recommend waiting until you get to Bali to book anything, as oftentimes the online prices are higher than the prices in person. You can begin your search on websites like booking.com and then visit the places once you arrive. Another strategy is to join a facebook housing group for the area you wish to live in, for example, Canggu Community Housing, and then you can stay up to date with postings from other members in the group, and directly communicate your interest with them. And a third method is to simply cruise around on your scooter, find places that look good to you, and then go up and ask them what their monthly rates are. This is what we did this time, and wound up finding a place on the rice fields at a price that was honestly lower than we were expecting to pay.
Transportation
The next thing you’ll want to organize is your transportation while you’re in Bali. Most people find it practical to rent a scooter, as it's easy to get around with one and the roads in Bali are honestly built more for scooters than cars, in my opinion. Plus you’ll avoid a lot of traffic if you have a scooter as opposed to a car. For scooter rental, you can easily find scooter shops around town if you’re in one of the more touristy towns in Bali. For a daily rate you can expect to pay between 50-100K per day, depending on your negotiation skills. For the longer term, you should pay between 500-800K per month, depending on the location and the bike. We rented ours for 4 months from a guy named Gusti, and he brought the bike to our Villa and we paid him for the first month on the spot. Usually to rent you will just need to send them a photo of your passport, and pay them cash for the first month. I will leave the contact info for Gusti Bike below, and you can WhatsApp him if you want to rent a scooter in the Canggu area.
Gusti Bike WhatsApp: +62 812 3628 2183
If you aren’t keen on the idea of riding a scooter, you can also hire a local driver to take you around, or hire a GoJek. There are tons of local drivers around Bali, like our friend Ajust, that you can hire for a daily rate. If you’re just looking to go from point A to B, then I would recommend taking a GoJek, remember the app I mentioned earlier. The rates are very affordable, especially if you choose the scooter option, in which a driver will pick you up on their scooter and take you to your destination. Sometimes it can cost just a couple bucks to take a half hour GoJek to somewhere.
SIM Cards
The final thing on our guide is getting a SIM Card. Although a SIM card isn't totally necessary since you have wifi at just about every business in Bali, it is definitely handy to have when you are out driving around and need directions, and it is necessary to have if you plan on using the GoJek app.
In my opinion it's worth having one, especially considering the low cost of data. You can easily drive down the road wherever you're staying and see numerous shops with banners outside advertising SIM cards. Stop at any of them and ask about their deals. We ended up paying 200K rupiah, or 14 USD for 35 GB of data from the provider Telkomsel, which is supposedly the best carrier in Bali. In order to buy a SIM card, you will be required to show them your passport so they can register you as the owner. This is apparently for national security purposes.
That concludes our Bali Arrival guide. I hope you found this information helpful. Please feel free to share with anyone you know who is planning on going to Bali, and hopefully you can save them some time and money. If you haven’t already, please hit the like button and subscribe to our email list or YouTube channel so you can be notified when our future Bali videos and blogs are released.
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