Bali is an amazing destination to travel to. For anyone planning on visiting, here are 5 things you need to know before travelling to Bali.
First Thing You Need to Know: Money Conversions
Knowing in your head the approximate money conservation from your country’s currency to the Indonesian Rupiah (IDR) is something really helpful. Especially as a budget traveller knowing how much you are spending can sometimes be really hard to keep track of when all the price tags are in thousands of IDR and you have no idea what that converts to. It took me a couple of days to wrap my head around it but don’t worry you will get it.
To look up your currency conversion click here.
Second Thing You Need to Know: Approximately How Much Things Cost
I wish I did more research before travelling to Bali about the approximate cost of things because as soon as we arrived in Bali we got ripped off by how much we paid for our taxi. A taxi ride should cost around 200,000 IDR for a 30-45 minute drive (which is around $20 CAD), but we paid 600,000 IDR. Don’t make the same mistake we did. Other costs like food and drink can be as cheap as 20,000 IDR (around $2 CAD). Accommodations can also be super affordable in Bali, depending on where you stay. You can get hostel rooms for around 150,000-200,000 IDR a night. And some private villas can even be affordable when splitting the cost with others. If you are a budget traveller you will be happy with how little you have to spend on things like food, accommodation and transport in Bali.
Third Thing You Need to Know: Pros and Cons of Different Transportation Options
There are a few different transportation options for travellers to Bali. Each has its pros and cons, so hopefully knowing these can help you when making a decision. A very popular transportation option many travellers choose is to rent a scooter/motorbike. The pros to renting a motorbike are they are super affordable, you can rent one for around 50,000 IDR (around $5 CAD) per day. One con when renting a motorbike is the chance of an accident. Bali road can be very crazy and if you don’t know the rules they can be very dangerous. Another option is to use apps like Grab (which is like Uber in Bali). The pros to Grab are they are a bit safer if you don’t feel comfortable driving a motorbike and they are between the prices of motorbike rentals and local taxi costs. A con to grab is that many locals are very against Grab since they believe it takes money and jobs away from local taxi drivers. And the other popular transportation option is local taxis. The pro is the fact you are providing money to locals. And a con is that it can sometimes be the more expensive option for transportation.
Fourth Thing You Need to Know: Be Prepared to be Heckled When Walking Through a Market
No in a bad way, but as a warning, you should be prepared when walking through a market to be approached by many shop owners/ workers trying to get you to buy their items. You have to remember it is their way of making a living and many don’t mean anything by it, but if you are not prepared it can be a little overwhelming. I know I had a lot of trouble with this due to the fact I felt bad saying no but sometimes you have to hold your ground if you really don’t want to buy something.
Fifth Thing You Need to Know: DO NOT Drink the Tap Water
The water in Bali is not safe to drink and no traveller wants Bali Belly so avoid drinking the water. Avoiding the water doesn’t just mean avoiding drinking out of the tap, it also means watching out for ice, like ice cubes in your drinks or blending drinks and some travellers even avoid using tap water to brush their teeth to be extra safe.
Extra Facts:
Make sure you watch where you are walking through the streets of Bali there are offering everywhere. They are beautiful so you want to make sure you are respectful and don’t step on them. And the last fun fact is if you are near rice fields when it’s raining watch out for snakes, they like to come out after it rains.
These are all things I was so happy I knew before travelling to Bali or really wish I knew before travelling. I really hope these tips were helpful for anyone planning on travelling to Bali soon.
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