Bali

Splitting Bali between the Bukit, Ubud and the east

Plan Bali by area, because slow roads make the 144 km island feel larger. Five days suit two nights on the Bukit Peninsula for Uluwatu and three in Ubud for rice terraces, dance and a dawn walk up Batur; ten days add Besakih and Amed in the east, and two weeks reach Lovina or Lombok.

Above Ubud lie the lakes of Bedugul and the Batur volcano at Kintamani, and Besakih stands on the flank of Mount Agung.

• Five days: two nights on the Bukit for Uluwatu Temple at sunset and the beaches below it. Then three in Ubud for the rice terraces, the dance performances and a pre-dawn walk up Batur.
• Ten days: add the east. Hire a car and driver for the run past Goa Lawah to Besakih, then stay three nights in Amed to snorkel off the black-sand beaches. Finish with two nights on Nusa Lembongan.
• Two weeks: continue from Amed along the north coast to Lovina and the hot springs at Air Banjar. Then head into West Bali National Park for birdwatching and diving, or cross from Padang Bai to Lombok and the Gilis.

Move base every three or four nights at most, since a day spent changing hotels in southern traffic is a day lost. Lock in July and August hotels early. Before booking flights, put the next Nyepi dates (9 March 2027, 27 February 2028) in your diary, because nothing lands or takes off on the Day of Silence.

Bali's dry season, temple calendar and Nyepi

Visit Bali from April to October, the dry season, when Denpasar's rainfall drops to about 16 mm in August against 388 mm in January; July and August are the busiest months. The island also runs on a 210-day temple calendar, and on Nyepi, the Day of Silence, usually in March, everything stops for 24 hours, flights included.

The weather follows the monsoons: the west monsoon sets in around October and lasts to April, with the heaviest downpours from December to March. From June to September humidity drops, and Ubud and Kintamani turn cool in the evenings. Weather around Christmas and Easter is hard to call.

Many temple festivals run on the 210-day Pawukon cycle, which has nothing to do with Western months. Galungan, a ten-day festival marking the defeat of the tyrant Mayadenawa, comes round every 210 days and closes on Kuningan. Its Western date therefore shifts from year to year. Ask your hotel what falls during your stay, as a ceremony is often the most memorable thing you will see.

Nyepi, the Balinese new year, follows a different reckoning and usually lands in March. From 06:00 on the day until 06:00 the next morning everything stops, flights included. Arrive a day early with snacks in your bag and treat it as a rest day by the pool. July and August bring the biggest crowds. April and October sit at the edges of the dry season with more room on the beaches.

Babi guling, warungs and temple manners in Bali

Pork sets Balinese food apart from mostly Muslim Indonesia: babi guling, roast suckling pig, is the ceremonial dish, served at Ibu Oka's in Ubud and at night markets. Try bebek betutu duck, lawar and sate lilit, eat nasi campur in family warungs, and check tourist menus for 'plus plus' tax and service.

Babi guling (suckling pig roasted whole) is the ceremonial centrepiece, ordered days ahead for a family feast. Visitors find it at night-market stalls and at Ibu Oka's in Ubud, the best-known outlet. Bebek betutu is duck smeared with herb paste and roasted over charcoal inside banana leaves. Lawar is a chopped salad of vegetables, minced meat, coconut and spice. Sate lilit wraps minced seafood around lemongrass. Urutan is a spicy pork sausage.

Eat in warungs, the small family places, for nasi campur: rice with a spoonful of whatever the cook made that morning. At sunset on the beaches of Kuta and Seminyak, carts sell bakso, a soup of meatballs with noodles. Bills in tourist restaurants often carry tax and service on top of menu prices, so look for "plus plus" before you order.

Bintang is the everyday beer and Hatten the local wine. Never drink unbranded spirits.

The island now has a tourist police unit, and in 2023 the authorities deported 340 foreigners, many for behaving badly at sacred sites.

Drivers, taxis and boats around Bali

Bali has no railway, so getting around means roads and daily jams in Ubud, Kuta, Seminyak and Denpasar. Hire a car and driver for touring, use Blue Bird meter taxis, or Grab and Gojek where local taxi groups allow, and take boats from Padang Bai, Benoa or Sanur to Lombok, the Gilis and Nusa Lembongan.

The island has no railway, and the light-rail line planned between Nusa Dua and Canggu is not due before 2031. That leaves the road.

Inside arrivals, a booth sells fixed-fare taxi tickets until the last flight lands (it reopens at 08:00). Walk on past the drivers to reach a Grab desk where staff book a car for you even without the app. The cheap Trans Metro Dewata buses do reach Ubud. Expect at least 2½ hours with a change of bus.

Blue Bird taxis use the meter and have their own booking app, useful for dawn airport runs. For budget town-to-town hops, Perama runs shuttles between the main resorts. Scooter hire is everywhere, but the island is no place to learn to ride. Pavements are often a drain cover 60 cm wide, so walking is hard outside the beachfronts of Sanur and Seminyak.

Boats link Bali to its neighbours. Car ferries cross from Gilimanuk to Java every 15 minutes, day and night. Slow ferries leave Padang Bai for Lembar on Lombok about hourly and take roughly 5.5 hours.