Yulko Polo Travel Blog

General Info

Country: Indonesia | Language: Indonesian, Balinese | Currency: IDR | Flag: 🇮🇩 | When visited: Feb. & Dec. 2023

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🚗 How to commute

If you don't have a transfer arranged by your hotel, or friends, who can meet you, you'll have to take a taxi to commute from the airport to that part of Bali, you are going to stay. We used Grab App to get a taxi (as it's cheaper than what multiple drivers directly at the airport will propose you), and at the same time there are other Apps helping to get a taxi even cheaper like Gojek or inDrive (but it's cash only). In general, there is no public transport and people are moving by car or bike around the island. It's also not that much comfortable to walk around, as side walks are not everywhere, and traffic is really heavy.

🏨 Where to stay

There are multiple options available, from cheap hotels to luxury villas. Most people want to rent a villa to live a comfortable and luxury live here, but it got more expensive recently. Anyway, we were staying at our friend's villa in Kerabokan area. It is a lovely place with a small swimming pool and a lot of space.

🍽️ What and where to eat

To my taste, the local food is not that good. Locals eat at so called “Warung”, where pretty similar to Malasian dishes with rice and chicken are sold for pennies. We haven't tried any of them, and have been to some bakeries like Conato Bakery, cafés like 25:PM Coffee, ordered a lot of food via GoJek/Grab from multiple places and even tried some snacks at Pepito To Go café at Pepito supermarket. Our favourite option to eat here is Sunday brunches, which are available at multiple hotels and beach clubs such as Kempinski, Hyatt as well as other smaller local hotels.

Some highlights include: – Brunchcation, The Apurva Kempinski Bali, Nusa Dua – amazing option not only to eat tasty food and fresh seafood, but also to spend time on the great hotel premisses featuring few swimming pools, and beach with multiple beach sport and water sport activities. It's not that cheap (around 1.000.000 IDR after taxes and service fees without alcohol), but considering the unlimited seafood such as crabs, lobsters, oysters etc. and opportunity to use the whole territory for the whole day, it's an amazing deal! We loved this place a lot, and been there multiple times!

👀 What to do and what to see

Of course, it depends on your time, budget, and preferences. In general, one can choose from multiple options, such as: * Visit various beaches and bays around the island and on the neighbour islands. It is worth to mention, that not all beaches here are that nice as you may expect and may even not be good for swimming and staying either due to the unclear water or dirty beach. Many people here prefer to go not to a beach themselves, but to beach clubs, which are located at various beaches and provide not only additional pools with an impressive view, but also various food and services such as changing rooms/WCs/Wi-Fi etc. * Visit multiple temples and enjoy the culture. Moving around the city, you will surely see multiple small temples, where you can even see traditional dances and rituals. But of course, there are few popular places, which are considered to be more culturally important, such as Pura Tanah Lot or Taman Ayun Temple and so on. Just do a quick search and find a place, that looks more interesting for you to go :) * Enjoy nature by going to rice terrace, waterfalls, forests, national parks and other beautiful places. * Do some sport or water sport. People here like to look good and there are multiple options from fitness halls, yoga classes, tennis/padel courts to surfing schools and so on. * But if you want to look better, but not to be that active, you can enjoy massage or other wellness and spa procedures. There are multiple places, few of which we tried and can recommend, include Massaji Spa Bali (in the heart of the city in Canggu) and Putri Bali Spa (in a green lovely area in Ubud).

💡 Some highlights

• There are constant traffic jams almost everywhere. Due to that, many people prefer to go by bike. If you are not ready to rent and drive one, make sure you check the situation on the road in advance.
• It's pretty hot and humid all the year around.
• Recently, Bali got pretty expensive, so don't expect a paradise for pennies here.
• Of course, it's possible to pay with Visa/MasterCard in most cases and places, but be informed that a minimum amount of 50.000 IDR will be applied in this case. You also will need to have cash sometimes (for some local shops, cafés or services like post etc.), so do exchange some money. You can do it pretty anywhere in the city, where you'll have a better exchange rate than at the airport, and it will be the same in most places.