Bali Travel Guide
The Bali Travel Guide covers everything you need to plan a trip to Bali: stay options, food options, top places to visit in Bali, famous places to see in Bali, mobile connection options and more.
We were a group of 12 (4 grandparents, 4 parents and 4 children including 1 infant) visiting Bali in June for a family reunion of sorts. We were all vegetarians and had some food constraints considering the ages and health conditions of travelers. Based on my experience, these are my 2 cents on traveling to Bali:
Bali does offer something for everyone with so many places to see in Bali. There is the hill side with lush terrace farmed paddy fields and there is also the sea side with water sports and lovely beaches. Try to split your stay to spend some time in both. We stayed 3 days in Ubud in this beautiful property and 3 days in a villa in Seminyak.
Refer to this map for regions in Bali:
Take a local SIM at the Bali airport as soon as you land. Will be very useful especially in coordinating with the villa manager, driver etc
Bring your walking shoes along. There are some lovely hiking trails manageable even with children
Villa stays are a great idea especially if you are traveling in bigger families like 4 people or more. In many places you even get chefs to cook for you as per your preferences (vegetarian in our case). Most of these have a pool and some even have a game room etc for a family fun evening/ night.
The other great part about staying in a villa is getting a taste of the local culture. The villa manager made some amazing Indonesian pancakes, veggie curries and veggie nasi goreng (fried rice) for us. And not just the food, they made 2 beautiful galungan crowns for the 2 little princess with us as well.
Local transport is not much to talk about except for Uber and Grabcar. Rental cars and vehicles with drivers are also abundantly available and can mostly be arranged by the bnb/ villa you are staying with. You can discuss this with the villa manager before hand.
3 rules in Bali: NEGOTIATE, BARGAIN, HAGGLE. Be it driver, car rental, stay, shopping or water sports. Make sure to bargain and you will land yourself a better deal.
Top places to visit in Bali includes many temples. All these temples in Bali have an entry ticket as these are the main places to see in Bali. Shortlist the ones you definitely want to visit. Tripadvisor does a great job in listing the best ones and they really are absolutely worth visiting
One can shop for some really good wooden articles in Bali. Walking through the entire street of Mas is recommended. Articles in the art center are usually much more expensive and usually at fixed price. Some artisans in Mas will also explain you how to choose a good wooden art piece.
Kuta and Seminyak offer some of the best villas which are at walking distance from the beach and don’t burn a hole in your pocket. One of the top places to visit in Bali is of course the beach, and these provide the perfect location to stay next to the beach. However, the villas in Kuta are all situated in narrow streets and alleys which cannot accommodate a 12 seater or bigger vehicle. If you are traveling in a big group, clarify beforehand with the villa manager, how they will assist in getting the luggage inside the streets. Other than the big buses, narrow streets are not an issue
I am a firm believer in having some snacks with me handy at all times. I would suggest you the same in case you are a vegetarian too. You can find some ideas here.
