Practical Tips To Think About Before Traveling to Bali

Bali is an amazing destination to go for whatever reason and no matter how long you choose to stay here. But there are some practical tips to consider before your trip to Bali and I have listed them all in this blog post!

I traveled to Bali in March 2019 and have an updated list of lots of great things and tips that are necessary to know before your stay in Bali. Because you don’t want to risk being sent home after arriving at Bali’s airport, right?

What you need to know before traveling to Bali:

Passport

Your passport must be valid for at least 6 months after the departure date from Bali and provisional passport is not accepted here! In addition, Indonesia has recently tightened their rules on damaged and / or worn out passports, which means that it is more difficult to enter Bali if you have any type of damage on your passport. However, there is no definition of when a passport is too damaged or worn, it is up to the airline you flying with to decide already when you check in at the airport.

Visa

If you are a Swedish citizen, you don’t need to apply for a visa in advance, you will automatically get it in the passport control in Bali. The visa is valid for 30 days and if you want to stay longer in Bali you need to apply for a visa that applies for 60 days, which is easiest to do at the embassy in Stockholm. You can also do it once you are in Bali, however, it is a bit more complicated so I recommend doing it before you traveling to Bali.

Flight ticket

To travel to Bali you need to have booked an exit/ return ticket, and the check in staff at Arlanda Airport will check it several times. Also the passport control in Bali will ask when you will be traveling again, because you can only stay as a tourist in Bali for 30 days. (My tips is to book a rebookable flight ticket).

Money / Currency

The currency in Bali is called Indonesian Rupiah, but most of the time you only say rupiah. 1,000,000 (one million) rupiah is equivalent to about $70 / 70 Euro to make an estimate.

Cash is king

Cash is king applies in Bali. Here you basically pay EVERYTHING with cash so I recommend to change money before you go to Bali so you at least have about 7,000,000 – 8,000,000 rupiah (about 500 Euro) in cash. You don’t want to look for an ATM the first thing you do once you arrived into Bali, I promise you! I exchanged my money on Forex on Sveavägen in Stockholm and it went just as well. They also take credit cards so you don’t have to take out Swedish money in advance and then change to rupiah (which may be good to know).

Credit card

Credit cards work to withdraw money in the ATM machines with, but I recommend having different credit / debit cards with you, eg VISA and MasterCard, because some ATM machines doesn’t accept one card or another. In addition, it is difficult to pay things in Bali with credit cards, since most of the time you always pay with cash.

ATM

There are ATMs around Bali, especially in conjunction with supermarkets where they are located in the entrance and the same with petrol stations. But don’t expect to find a ATM machine around the corner in Bali, it can be difficult to find them, something that is good to think about.

Tip

Giving tip is common in Bali, if you for example have received massage or when eating at a restaurant. Some restaurants include tax and tip while others doesn’t. They will print  it out on the menu what is/ not is  included and therefore puts it later on the bill when paying.

Electrical outlets / Adapter

It is the same electrical outlet in Bali as it is in Sweden. You don’t need to bring any adapter with you, but I always recommend to bring an adapter regardless. (There may only be one electrical outlet in the room and you need to load several things at the same time, then it is good with an international multitask adapter as I call it) 🙂

Nypie Day (Silence day)

Once a year, the day of silence will taking place in Bali, also called Nypie day. This year (2019) it was in beginning of March that the day of silence took place, which meant that I couldn’t leave the hotel or have the lights on for 24 hours. What is good to know is that this day varies from year to year, so check out before your trip if Nypie day occurs during your stay in Bali. The night before Nypie day is a big festival that takes place on the streets around Bali, the biggest one will be in Kuta.

Taxi

Taxi is easy to take from Bali airport and the easiest way is to negotiate the price with the driver before the trip. There are many taxi companies around Bali but I recommend going with the Blue Bird taxi company. Bali have Uber here and also Uber for scooters.

Water

You shouldn’t drink the tap water in Bali, buy water in a bottle instead!

If you want to know more about Bali, I have written a lot of travel guides to Bali here:

• My Travel Tips For Kuta, Bali

• The Best Beaches in Uluwatu, Bali

• My Best Travel Tips To Seminyak, Bali 

• My Best Travel Tips To Canggu, Bali

• My Travel Tips for Nusa Penida 

• This is The Best Beach Clubs at Nusa Ceningan  

• My Travel Tips For Nusa Lembongan – What To See, Do and Eat

Happy Travels!
// Charlotte