THD | Eat the world
Bali is a popular destination for travelers from around the world. The island is rich in culture, spirituality, religion, natural wonders, temples, and of course, lots of delicious, cheap food. My boyfriend Shane and I visited Bali this past January (2018), and we were there for almost a week before continuing our journey to the surrounding islands. Overall, we really enjoyed our time there, were glad we went, and may even consider going back in the future. Of course, there are some foods/places/activities/etc that we enjoyed more than others, and we learned a lot of valuable things over the course of the trip.
Should we go back to Bali, we will be much more prepared and have a better idea of what to see, where to go, and what to stay away from. So, without further adieu, here’s my comprehensive guide to Bali based on our experience there.
Balinese, Indonesian, English
Indonesian Rupiah (Rp); $1 US = ~14,000 Rp
Tip: Wait to exchange currency until you arrive in Bali, as the exchange rate tends to be cheaper. You can check exchange rates before you leave to make sure.
Though Indonesia is considered the most Muslim country in the world, the island of Bali predominantly (~90%) practices Balinese Hinduism. This is easy to see once in Bali, as there are Hindu offerings at every home/business/temple entrance on the island. There are also mosques and Christian churches found on the island, but Hindu temples more than make up the majority of religious buildings and have even inspired residential and commercial architecture throughout the island as well.
The average temperature in Bali is ~ 80 degrees Fahrenheit year-round, and its tropical climate yields very high humidity. I did a quick check on the weather right now in Bali, and the humidity level read 100%. Bali is also very close to the equator and thus closer to the sun.
Transportation in Bali can be very tricky. The roads are often congested, there aren’t many highways, and traffic is actually frightening. You drive on the left-hand side of the road here, but you’ll notice many drivers (mostly motorbikes but cars/taxis too) will frequently use the right hand lanes when there’s not much traffic coming. If you do decide to rent a car/motorbike while in Bali, make sure to always carry your international drivers license and passport. You won’t need your drivers license to hire, but if you’re pulled over you could be taken to jail if you don’t have one, or be forced to pay the cop off. Neither of which are really ideal during vacation.
This is my preferred method of transportation in Bali for a few reasons. For one, you will get around much more quickly on a motorbike. The roads get very congested, especially going to and from popular destinations, and in a car you have no choice but to wait in traffic. On a motorbike, however, you are able to navigate around traffic on the edge of the road and sidewalks, sometimes allowing you to cut your travel time in half. Motorbikes are also much easier to find parking for than cars. Having a bike, I don’t recall one time that we couldn’t find parking.
I also prefer motorbikes because they are incredibly cheap. You can rent a motorbike from your villa/resort/hotel or find them for hire on busier streets in more crowded areas. A motorbike rental will set you back anywhere from 50K Rp – 150K Rp per day, though many motorbike renters try to take advantage of tourists, so prepare to haggle. We, personally, rented from our villa for about 120K Rp ($8) per day, and that worked well for us. There isn’t much, if any, negotiation room at hotels, but there is definitely value in not having to search around for the best deal. Especially when we’re talking about such a small amount of money.
Petrol stands are fairly easy to find, especially in more popular areas, and will set you back about $2 to fill your tank. If you choose to rent a motorbike, a helmet is necessary, and you should make sure you get a helmet that fits your head. The person renting you the bike should have a helmet for you. We saw a group of teenagers get pulled over while driving through Kuta for not having helmets on, so you know they are actively enforcing. For their sake, I hope they at least had their international drivers licenses on them. Also, make sure to lock your bike up and secure any valuables in the seat so they don’t get stolen.
We did not rent a car in Bali, but again, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it because you’ll increase your travel time and have a more difficult time with parking. It’s also more expensive than renting a bike.
I recommend using a car hire service for day trips around the island. Bikes are great, but if you’re riding them for several hours, your butt definitely starts to hurt/go numb. Car hires are especially useful if you feel there is a possibility of rain, which is the case almost every afternoon in Bali. If you are dependent on your phone for navigation, it is absolutely no fun getting caught in the rain on a motorbike.
Prepare to haggle with local taxis from the airport. Fare from the airport to Kuta shouldn’t cost more than 150K Rp, to Ubud that cost shouldn’t be more than 300K Rp. Ubers are not technically allowed to operate in certain areas, the airport is one of them, and it gave us nothing but problems. We requested an Uber twice only to have the driver never show up and not cancel, forcing us to cancel and deal with removing cancellation fees. Later, we attempted to use Grab, but the service is also very unreliable. When we called for a Grab, a driver accepted our trip, and then just decided he didn’t want to come get us because traffic was too heavy.
A couple more things that are important to remember… If you don’t have a data plan that allows you to take international calls or have an international cell phone, you really don’t have a way to communicate with these drivers, so your hands will be tied a lot of the time. In some cases, your hotel can arrange these rides for you, but again, it doesn’t always mean they’ll show up. The best luck we had was ordering while in a busier area. Possibly because the drivers didn’t have to go far to pick us up.
The food in Bali is great, if for no other reason than how carb-centric and cheap it all is. I recommend looking for Warungs, or local family restaurants, for most of your meals. You’ll find dishes like Nasi Goreng and Mie Goreng (fried rice and fried noodles), satay (skewered and grilled meat), rendang (braised spicy meat dish), and bakso (meatballs) among others, and they’ll set you back only a couple bucks each time.
If you’re looking for restaurants, Bali also has plenty of good ones. I would recommend going off the beaten path, and not choosing restaurants in really touristy areas of Kuta, Seminyak and Ubud. Here are the restaurants we went to and what we thought of them.
This was our favorite Warung on mainland Bali. It’s right on the beach in Uluwatu, and all of the food was delicious and fresh. The atmosphere is also great and has a boho feel with brightly colored pillows and blankets. I ordered the Pitaya (dragon fruit) Bowl (pictured), mie goreng, and a frozen vodka lemonade. Nothing was too sweet, everything had great flavor, and the price was very reasonable. I would highly recommend coming here and spending a few hours.
When you think of what brunch would be like in Bali, you’d probably picture this place. Completely open-air looking over a local sports field, this breakfast and lunch spot is serving up the most colorful and fresh creations, all with a tropical feel that matches Bali to a T. You have the choice to sit at regular tables or at cozy couches with a coffee table. Naturally, we sat at a couch, because it’s chill like Bali and us in Bali.
We ordered so many beautiful dishes including an avocado toast with soft poached egg, a Mediterranean salad that had what seemed like an entire garden in it, a bowl of the most gorgeous exotic tropical fruits, and this stack of blueberry hot cakes topped with vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup and fresh berries. The food was mostly pretty good. The fruit was super fresh, as was the salad, and the smashed avocado toast had great classic flavor combinations. The only dish that disappointed a bit was the hot cakes. They were still very good, but definitely too sweet for me. If you’re a fan of sweet though, you’ll love them.
This is a great place to come, grab a drink, watch the sunset, and possibly stay for more drinks in Uluwatu. I recommend getting there at least an hour before sunset so you can get a good seat facing the water. As far as the food, it was pretty underwhelming. We thought the dishes were really under-seasoned. Which was a shame because the Karaage Chicken Burger sounded so good on the menu. But sadly, it had hardly any flavor and the chicken wasn’t crispy.
This bustling stand in Kuta is a pretty small operation that’s serving humble food to the locals. They are best known for their spicy dishes. Since Shane and I can’t tolerate spice that well, we chose non-spicy foods, but I did get a taste of their hot sauce. It was extremely spicy, but had good flavor. All in all, I recommend this place for a taste of the more traditional local food at a very cheap price.
We absolutely loved hanging out at Cabina. The restaurant is completely open to the pool area, which comes complete with comfy lounge chairs and donut floaties. They also serve donuts from a local donut shup called Dough Darlings if you want to get a picture on a donut floatie while eating a donut. Shane and I each ordered an entree. Shane didn’t mind his at all, while mine was just OK. However, we didn’t mind so much about the food because the atmosphere was so relaxing and cool. We still had a great time.
This is one of the most highly recommended and nicer restaurants in Ubud. The food is gorgeous, plated very nicely, and had a higher price tag to match. Sadly, however, we really thought all the food we ate was pretty bland. We left wishing we had eaten something cheaper at a warung. Though, we sat near a fan, which was great, and the atmosphere was very nice.
This Ubud shop serves up fresh cracked coconuts, along with other treats like fresh-squeezed juices, ice cream and pastries. We opted for just a coconut, but it was absolutely delicious. They crack it for you to order, and once you’ve drank all the sweet coconut water from the inside, they’ll hack the coconut open all the way and give you a spoon to scoop up the tender flesh. It’s such a simple treat, but one of my favorites from our trip to Bali.
We stumbled upon this amazing little restaurant while driving in North Kuta where we were staying. We were actually on our way to eat at another restaurant, but felt inclined to stop into this place after driving by and seeing how packed it was. Mind you, we typically avoided touristy/packed locations in more popular areas, but this place is basically alone on a random street, not near anything. So, we knew people went out of their way to get there. Needless to say, the food did not disappoint.
We ordered chakhohbili, a chicken dish simmered in tomato sauce and spices, khinkali, thick-skinned Georgian dumplings, and the piece de la resistance, khachapuri (pictured). Khachapuri is a Georgian pie filled with house-made cheese that’s a cross between feta and pecorino and then baked until golden brown. Ours had an egg yolk placed on top. It was literally glorious. I still dream about that pie from time to time, and may consider making one of my own soon. Also, this place lets you smoke hookah inside too, which for us was a huge plus. Definitely one of our favorite meals/restaurants in Bali for sure.
This place was highly recommended online by several different websites, so we had higher expectations going in. Their sister restaurant, Locavore, is their more fine dining concept, while Night Rooster is more small bites and cocktails. We ordered a couple small bites, and have to say they were not very well done. We ordered pickled deviled eggs that were over-pickled and way too tart. The Noodles we ordered were OK but they literally gave us all of the seasonings and oils on the side to add ourselves (but why?). We also ordered another dish whose name I can’t even remember anymore, so that’s how memorable it was. This place is on the more expensive side comparatively, so I wouldn’t necessarily recommend going for anything more than a quick bite to test it out.
The people that own the elephant sanctuary in Tegallalang also own a chocolate factory, and give you free admission to the factory if you’ve just come from seeing the elephants. The restaurant literally looked like a building out of Jurassic Park. The ceiling is high pitched, the structure is made from natural materials like bamboo, and the whole place is open overlooking rice terraces. If the weather is nice, there is also a pretty decent pool to swim in. As far as the chocolate factory, the chocolates themselves weren’t bad, but also nothing to write home about. I ordered some ice cream that was also just OK and a chocolate cake that didn’t taste like chocolate at all. How does that happen?
I wish we got to spend more time at the night market. We were in a hurry to get to the airport and had only about $5 left in Rp to spend, so we were definitely limited. However, with $5 we managed to buy “the best satay in Bali,” per an Aussie that frequents Bali, a hefty bowl of Halo Halo, and a comforting bowl of Miyam Bakso, a dish with fresh noodles (shown above), sauteed greens, and marinated soft cooked egg served with broth and different sauces to add in. The Halo Halo, shown in the first picture shown above, is an incredibly refreshing bowl of dragon fruit, passion fruit, papaya, and other tropical fruits topped with rose water, evaporated milk, and a scoop of ice. As the ice melts, you can see it creates almost a cold soup. Super refreshing, super delicious, and super cheap. I’d say that’s a pretty stellar deal. These dishes are definitely some of the best food we ate in Bali.
This rice terrace is gorgeous and definitely worth a visit. I recommend going in the morning to avoid crowds and afternoon sun. Also, prepare to have to pay entrance fees, possibly more than once. It’s impossible to know who is working for the Terrace and who isn’t, but either way, you don’t want to have angry Indo’s after you, so best to pay. The fees are very small anyhow. If you get hungry or thirsty, there should be at least one or two stands available for food and drink purchase. These items are very basic, so manage your expectations. And expect locals to hound you trying to make money. I realize this sounds terrible, but it was very annoying. It’s almost easier to give them money so they’ll leave you alone half the time. Case in point, older woman and cute young child begging us to wear their hat for a picture. You win.
We were told that this elephant park was a sanctuary, so we went in with expectations of elephants peacefully existing and frolicking around squirting water at each other. This couldn’t have been further from the truth. Sadly, the elephants are chained up in isolation from one another when they’re not being “used” for entertainment. Yes, it was fun to give the elephant a bath and feed them treats, but those are the only activities at this park I did not find detrimental. The talent show and elephant rides seemed like slave work, no matter how much they preach to you that it’s not.
This is one of the lesser known waterfalls in Bali, at least it was during our visit. The trip to Bangli was pretty easy to navigate via motorbike, though the entrance to the waterfall is not incredibly obvious, so keep your eyes open as you get close. Make sure to bring change for entrance fees, and wear water shoes if you can. The waterfall is located inside of a cave, and the journey to get there makes you feel like you’ve stepped into a fairy tale. Cue Little Mermaid on a rock pose.
The “hike” down to the falls takes about 10 minutes, and depending on the time of day, the cave could be flooded. Shane and I were fortunate enough to have the place to ourselves for almost 30 minutes before more people arrived. But again, popularity of this gorgeous waterfall is sure to increase as time goes on, so might be best to plan a morning trip to avoid crowds. Also, if you’re a photographer, think about whether you want to shoot the waterfall while the cave is flooded or not. In my opinion, the caves look best when they are slightly flooded, so in that case you may want to plan an late afternoon trip.
I am so glad we went to the monkey forest! If you’re interested in seeing monkeys, possibly having monkeys hop all over you, or want to feed monkeys, this is the place to do it. Bring a bit of cash so you can buy bananas to feed them, and for the love of everything don’t carry anything that resembles a plastic bag. Those monkeys are thieves and will snatch your bag and its contents directly from your hands. Also, do not, I reapeat DO NOT try to take a banana out of a monkey’s hand. As you can see in photo 2, he did not appreciate that sh*t.
For only about $10/person, you will see what is in my opinion a very emotional performance from the locals. The dances tell stories of the Hindu Gods and evils and are very theatrical. The costumes are ornate and over-the-top. It’s a really interesting experience that I would recommend doing. These performances also happen at some temples (Pura) around Bali as well.
Respect is a big deal when going to these temples. Remember to bring a sarong to cover up or prepare to rent one for the day. They are also available to purchase for pretty cheap in less touristy areas. Also, Shane and I kissed at one of the temples because we thought it would be a good picture. Don’t do that. Or a handstand. They frown on both.
This is one of the most photographed sights in Bali. However, in person, the temple is kind of underwhelming. The temple itself is beautiful, but is only 2/3 natural. This is also a very popular tourist destination, so expect a crowd at the temple. Unfortunately, the temple is not always accessible either. You can only walk across to the temple when the tide is low, but sadly these times are also peak hours for tourists. At high tide, you’ll find yourself among a dozen or so other tourists on the rocks leading to the temple struggling to find 10 seconds to get a good selfie. It’s very nerve racking, especially when you’re not even able to set foot in the temple.
This is where you’ll see the famous “Gates of Heaven” with a magnificent view of Mount Agung. If you take a look at the map below, you’ll notice there are actually 7 temples and about 1,700 steps to climb within Pura Lempuyang. The good news? The Gates of Heaven is at the very beginning. Shane and I arrived at the temple after getting caught in the rain on our motorbike, so we opted to just see the Gates of Heaven, but by all means, if you’ve got a few hours to kill, check out the rest of the property.
Uluwatu
Tirta Empul
Pura Besakih
Ulun Danu Beratan
Goa Gajah (Elephant Cave)
I hope that this guide serves you well and makes planning your trip to Bali a little bit easier! If you have any thoughts, feelings, opinions, recommendations, additions, etc for this guide or any others, please tell me about it in the comments below!
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This is a great representation for anyone looking to go to Bali…nice job???