Read some Bali travel information and get in holiday mood

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Want some Bali travel information? You are in the right place. On this page we will give you some facts about Indonesia and Bali.

Bali is just one of many islands in Indonesia, the capital of Bali is Denpasar (shortcut DPS) and the airport Ngurah Rai is the only one on the island where national and international flights arrive.

It's a small airport and you can already get a feel of the island while landing, fishing boats will always be there to welcome tourism to the island.


To find out about the best flight deals check out the link below. If it is a long flight time from your departure airport, we do recommend to invest a bit more money for flights to Bali. Emirates and Singapore Airlines are the most comfortable ones and the service is excellent.

Indonesian visa (Bali visa):

After landing at the airport you must get an indonesian 'visa on arrival' for your stay in Bali. the 30 day Visa (cost: 25 US$). You have to go to the counter before immigration to obtain the visa, your passport must be valid for 6 months and you must fill in the immigration card (you get them on the plane or around the counter from Visa on arrival). It is possible to pay the fee in different currencies or by visa or mastercard, but we recommend to pay in US$ as they tend to charge credit card fees. This visa can be extended by another 30 days.

The following countries can obtain a visa on arrival (voa):

Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Hungary, Iceland, India, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Laos, Latvia, Libya, Lichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Maldives, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Panama, People's Republic of China, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Suriname, Switzerland, Sweden, Taiwan, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and the United States of America.

Very important Bali travel information!!

Be careful with the immigration departure card - you MUST show it again when you leave Bali plus you need a departure fee of 150.000 indonesian rupiahs (click here for Yahoo exchange rates) which you pay after check in and before immigration.

Do not overstay your visa - immigration is very strict and they will charge you 25 US$/day for overstay.

Bali internet

I realized that a good Bali travel information is the internet here, as it still difficult to get the right information fast.
There are many internet providers in Bali, unfortunately the speed and stability is not very good.
If you live in Bali and have a telephone line, use Speedy from Telkomnet it is stable and reliable, the costs are quite ok depending on your usage. The unlimited contract costs 750.000rps/month.
If you only need a certain amount of hours they have a contract for 22h/week which is 200.000 rps/month.
Disadvantage of the Speedy is they only do yearly contracts and you need to either have a telephone line in your house or if you want to apply for one you need to be a kitas holder.
I have used Speedy all the time here in Bali and can only recommend it, however now we are moving around Bali and it gets more difficult to use the internet at home.

We have now bought a new internet modem from Telkomsel (Flash) a 3.5 G Modem, with a monthly top up sim card for 200.000 rps/month unlimited.(we bought it in Carrefour, sunset road and paid 499.000 rps for the modem plus 200.000 rps for one month unlimited, easy installation, I use a MacBook Pro)

here is more information about the USB modem

When I started using it I was happy with the speed, but as I am sitting long hours in front of my computer I realized that the speed is not stable, early hours great speed, during the day dreadful slow!
Now I found this special program which speeds up the internet speed dramatically and it works for every system anywhere in the world. I used to use it when we first arrived in Bali as even Speedy was not very fast, but later forgot about it as the speed got better. I remembered it when the speed got so slow with the new USB connection and I can see the difference instantly! Check it out!

It says for dial up it can be up to 10x faster, for usb connections up to 8x and for Broadband up to 5x. If you use a Speed Test before installing Onspeed you can measure the difference (or if you live in Bali you can see it instantly! :) ).


Best thing is they also speed up mobile phone connections!


10x faster browsing on your mobile phone! ONSPEED mobile makes surfing on the move a pleasure. www.onspeedmobile.com

I am very happy with the speed and it makes it so easy to use the internet all over Bali!! Try it!!

Bali map (map of Indonesia)

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The population in Bali was recorded as 3,151,000 in 2005. The main religion here is hindu (a minority in indonesia). About 93% of Bali's inhabitants are hindus, most of the others follow islam.


Bali is the largest tourist destination in indonesia because it is highly developed, main tourist areas are Kuta, Sanur, Seminyak followed by Nusa Dua and Jimbaran. There are many things to do in Bali, if you like cultural things or art you will be impressed by the balinese dances, sculptures, paintings, leather, metalworks and silver crafts.

The products are sold in many markets and all over the island. You will find the same products again and again.

Bali weather (Bali travel information)

The climate in Bali is warm all year round (endless summer) with high humidity. There is a wet season (from october to march/april) and a dry season (april to september), june, july and august are windy, however the climate is changing and this year (2009) we are still having some heavy rains during the night (in july). There are not many full rainy days per year, usually it clears up very quick and you can enjoy a variety of outdoor activities. However if you choose to explore the mountain areas or Ubud you might need an umbrella.

Bali money (Indonesian currency)

Here is some more important Bali travel information about Bali money and Bali banks:

The currency in Bali is indonesian rupiahs, there are notes of 100.000, 50.000, 20.000, 10.000, 5.000 and 1.000, coins are 1.000, 500, 200 and 100.

Almost all ATM cards are accepted, but not all ATM machines have the same limit to take out. Some give 1.250.000, some give you 3.000.000 (some Permata Banks, some BII Banks, some City Banks)

The Bank opening hours in Bali are

monday to thursday 8am to 2pm
and
fridays from 8am to 11am

This opening hours are approximately as they might not let you in at 10.55am on a friday, make sure you are early and be patient as you might be waiting for a long time.

Bali Travel Information about Traffic and Taxis

The traffic in Bali is very hectic, most of the balinese people have bikes (scooters) and travel with the whole family on them or even with some massive furniture as it is their only way to get around.

For a holiday or if you are not used to drive a car (especially for europeans, as they drive on the left hand side of the road here in Bali), we recommend to use Taxis or hire a car with driver.

If you plan to explore the island then you should consider hiring a driver who speaks good english and can give you all interesting Bali travel information. It is not easy to find your way around if you are here the first time, signs are rare and seldom very informative, the maps are ok but as the traffic is so busy it won't give you much time to decide where to go.

Looking for a tea shop in Bali or some healthy food, click here

When using a Taxi we highly recommend Bluebird Taxis (phone number: 0361701111), they are easy to spot, the color of the car is light blue and the sign on top of the car has a blue bird on it. They use meters like everywhere in the world and the minimum fee is 5.000 rps (about 0.50 US$) during the day and a bit more later in the evening. Bluebird Taxis are reliable and will usually not try to drive you around town to get you to your desired destination.

If you want to use them to go to a restaurant or shopping mall you can ask them to wait, but stop the meter, most of the time they will be happy to do that as it guarantees them a ride back instead of looking for new customers.

There are also transport points, like from shopping malls, they will show you a list of how much it costs to get to certain areas, usually they are more expensive.

Let us know if you need more Bali travel information, contact us for more information and ask your questions, we will be happy to answer your Bali travel information questions as quick as possible!





Looking for more Bali travel information?

If you are planning to come to Bali you might want more Bali travel information, so we think you should also check the information about indonesian food, click the link below to go to indonesian food.

Go from Bali travel information to indonesian food


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