Bali travel guide

To visit Bali on a short holiday, most travellers from the US, UK, Australia and the EU need three things before landing: a B1 visa on arrival (best bought online in advance as an e-VoA), an All Indonesia arrival card filed within 3 days of arrival, and the Bali tourist levy of IDR 150,000 per person. All three come from official Indonesian government sites, and this guide links each one. It also covers when to go, which area suits you, getting around, money, mobile data, calling and plugs, checked in October 2026.

Entry rules: the visa on arrival and e-VoA

Indonesia’s Directorate General of Immigration lists dozens of countries whose citizens can use the visa on arrival, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Japan and most EU countries. The official eVisa site sets out the B1 tourist visa on arrival as follows, as of October 2026:

Detail	B1 visa on arrival
Cost	Rp500,000
Stay	Up to 30 days, extendable for another 30 days
Use	Tourism, visiting friends or family, business meetings, medical treatment
Not allowed	Working for pay, or selling goods or services
Documents at arrival	Passport valid for at least 6 months, and an outbound ticket from Indonesia

You can apply online as an e-VoA on evisa.imigrasi.go.id before you fly and pay by Visa, Mastercard or JCB card. The approved visa is emailed to you, and the site lets one application cover up to 5 people. If you want to stay longer than 60 days, look at the other visit visas on the same site before you go.

Check that your nationality is on the visa on arrival list, and use only the official .go.id addresses. Plenty of agency sites charge extra for the same form.

The All Indonesia arrival card and the Bali levy

All Indonesia is the government’s online arrival card. The eVisa site states that all travellers are required to submit an arrival card within 3 days before arriving in Indonesia, and the Ministry of Tourism describes the same window. Have your passport number and flight details ready, fill it in on allindonesia.imigrasi.go.id, and save the confirmation. The Ministry of Tourism says it also covers customs clearance and can store your details for future trips.

The Bali tourist levy is separate from the visa and goes to the Bali provincial government. As of October 2026, the Love Bali site sets it at IDR 150,000 per person. Its FAQ says the levy is paid only once per trip, before you leave Indonesia, and must be paid cashless: online through Love Bali before you reach Bali, or at payment counters at the airport and ports. It accepts Visa, Mastercard, American Express, JCB, UnionPay, bank transfer and QRIS, and you receive a voucher with a QR code by email. Holders of diplomatic visas, transport crew, residence permit holders (KITAS and KITAP) and a few other groups are exempt.

When to go

Indonesia’s Ministry of Tourism says that in most of the country, including Bali, the dry season runs from April to October and the wet season from November to March, though it adds that the seasons have become less predictable. Temperatures barely change through the year: around 28°C on the coast and cooler in the hills, which is why Ubud and the mountain areas feel fresher than the beaches.

The dry months bring the most reliable beach and hiking weather and the biggest crowds. The wet season brings greener rice terraces and fewer visitors, but plan boat trips and volcano hikes with spare days in case of storms.

Photo by Harry Kessell on Unsplash

Where to stay

Bali is bigger and slower to cross than it looks on a map, so choosing a base matters. A rough guide to the main areas:

• Ubud: inland, among rice fields and forest. Temples, crafts, yoga and cooler evenings, but no beach.
• Seminyak: beach town with restaurants, shops and beach clubs. Busy and well set up for a first visit.
• Canggu: surf beaches, cafes and plenty of remote workers. Lively, with heavy traffic on its narrow roads.
• Uluwatu and the Bukit peninsula: cliffs, surf breaks and sunset views in the far south.
• Sanur: calmer beach town on the east coast, popular with families and a jumping-off point for boats to the Nusa islands.
• Nusa Dua: large resorts on quiet, groomed beaches in the south.

Many people split a trip between Ubud and one beach area. Our guide on how to book hotels and the hotel booking site comparison help with the booking itself, and how to find cheap flights covers getting there.

Getting around

Bali has no train network, so most visitors get around by road. The common choices are a private car with a driver, booked for a day or a half day, metered taxis, ride-hailing apps, and scooters. Traffic in the south can be slow, so allow more time than the distance suggests.

Scooters are cheap and everywhere, but think twice if you have never ridden one. Before renting, check that your licence covers motorbikes and that your travel insurance covers you as a rider, and always wear a helmet. Boats to the Nusa islands leave from the coast near Sanur.

Money

The currency is the Indonesian rupiah (IDR, written Rp). The Ministry of Tourism notes that by law all transactions must be conducted in rupiah. Cards are widely accepted in hotels, large restaurants and big stores, with Visa and Mastercard the most widely taken. Smaller shops, warungs (local eateries) and rural areas often want cash.

ATMs are common in tourist areas and take international networks. They usually dispense IDR 50,000 or IDR 100,000 notes, and the ministry points out that big notes can be hard to break outside tourist areas, so keep some small ones. To change cash, the Love Bali site lists money changers by area, including Kuta, Seminyak, Canggu and Ubud. You must declare cash above IDR 100 million (or the equivalent in other currencies) to Customs when entering or leaving Indonesia.

Getting online

The Ministry of Tourism says local SIM cards are sold at airport booths and that foreigners register them with a passport. An eSIM skips the counter: you install it before you leave home and it is working when you land.

Pelesim, one option, sells prepaid data-only Indonesia eSIMs that work in Bali, with fixed-GB plans or daily-unlimited day passes that have a fair-use limit. The plan starts when it first connects in Indonesia, hotspot sharing is allowed, and you can get a refund within 30 days of purchase if the eSIM has not been activated. If you plan to stream, upload a lot of photos or work remotely, our unlimited data eSIM comparison explains how those plans and their fair-use limits work.

Calling home and calling Indonesian numbers

Messaging apps such as WhatsApp call contacts who use the same app over the internet. That covers chatting with family, but not ringing your bank about a blocked card, an airline about a changed flight, or a hotel landline. For those, use an app that calls the phone network, such as CallTuv.

It also reaches a villa or a driver’s mobile, calling regular landlines and mobiles from your browser or phone, pay as you go from $0.03 a minute, with credit that never expires. It makes outgoing calls only. Our guide on how to call home from abroad covers the rest.

To call an Indonesian number from abroad, the Ministry of Tourism says to dial +62 and drop the leading 0 from the area code or mobile number. In an emergency in Indonesia, dial 110 or 112 for police and general emergencies, and 118 or 119 for an ambulance, using a local phone line.

Plugs and voltage

Indonesia uses type C and F plugs, the two round pins common in Europe, and runs at 230 volts and 50 Hz. Visitors from the UK, Australia and the US will need an adapter. If you come from a 110-volt country, check each charger: phone and laptop chargers are usually fine from 100 to 240 volts, but single-voltage appliances need a converter. The Ministry of Tourism notes that adapters are sold in many local minimarkets if you forget yours.

Staying longer: remote work, visas and setup

Many remote workers base themselves in Bali, and Indonesia has a visa written for them. These are the routes on the Directorate General of Immigration’s official sites in October 2026. This is not legal or tax advice. Rules in Bali have tightened since 2025, so check the official eVisa site before you apply.

Visas for longer stays

Visa	Who it is for	Length	Fee
E33G Remote Worker	Employees of a company outside Indonesia	1 year, extendable	Rp7,000,000
C1 Tourist (single entry)	Longer holidays	60 days, extendable up to 180 days	Rp1,000,000
D1 Tourist (multiple entry)	Repeat visits within a year	Up to 60 days per entry, no extension	Rp3,000,000
Visa on arrival or e-VoA	Short trips	30 days, extendable once to 60	See the main entry section above

For the E33G, Immigration asks for an employment contract with a company outside Indonesia, income of at least US$60,000 a year, a bank statement for the last 3 months showing at least US$2,000, and a passport valid for 6 months or more. You need no sponsor and apply through your own account on evisa.imigrasi.go.id, and Immigration says processing takes 5 working days after payment. You may not sell goods or services in Indonesia or take pay from people or companies there.

The C1 also asks for US$2,000 in a recent bank statement, and allows no paid work or business. Two official pages disagree on part of its administration fee, so confirm the total when you apply.

To extend a visa on arrival, e-VoA holders apply online and airport VoA holders go to the immigration office for where they are staying. The 30-day extension costs Rp500,000. Visa-free entry for ASEAN passports cannot be extended.

Overstaying costs Rp1,000,000 for every day. From 60 days, Immigration deports you and can ban you from Indonesia for up to 10 years.

Tax

Indonesia’s tax directorate says a foreigner becomes a tax resident by living in Indonesia, by spending more than 183 days there in any 12 months, or by being there in a tax year with the intention to reside, for example on a long stay permit. Residents report their worldwide income. Whether foreign salary paid to E33G holders is taxed in Indonesia is a separate question we could not confirm on an official page, so ask a tax adviser before a long stay.

Setting up for a month or more

• Where you stay: a Bali governor’s circular from 2025 says foreign tourists must stay in licensed accommodation, and in 2026 the governor asked Airbnb to remove unlicensed villas. Hosts must report foreign guests to Immigration through its APOA system. Ask a villa or long-stay rental for its licence before you pay.
• SIM cards: under a 2026 regulation, foreigners register a local SIM with a passport and a valid stay permit, and the SIM works only once the registration is checked.
• Phones bought abroad: to work on an Indonesian SIM, a foreign phone needs its IMEI registered: at the operator’s outlet for stays of 90 days or less, and through customs (Bea Cukai) for longer stays, for at most two devices per person. Visitors who stay on roaming, or use a travel eSIM, do not need to register.
• Data: an eSIM keeps you online from landing, and our unlimited data eSIM comparison covers plans for heavy users.

Where remote workers base themselves

The Indonesia tourism board describes Canggu as the centre of Bali’s nomad scene, social and close to the surf, and Ubud as calmer and focused, with a creative, wellness-minded community. It calls Seminyak and Kuta more polished, Sanur quieter with an older crowd, and Uluwatu an emerging area. It suggests April to June or September to November for a long stay, and avoiding July, August and December. Our where to stay section above covers each area for a shorter trip.