10 Tips for Balling on a Budget in Bali

Not going to lie, I always thought Bali was this exotic, romantic, and most of all, expensive place that you go to once in a lifetime for your honeymoon or something. But I was wrong x1000. Actually, x13,350 to be exact. That’s the exchange rate in Indonesian Rupiah for one U.S. dollar, and yes, it will make you feel as rich as it sounds.

You won’t only feel rich from having thousand, hundred thousand, and even one million dollar bills, but also because most things required for living, like food and accommodation, can be insanely cheap in Bali as well! Actually, you could probably even plan your dream Bali honeymoon on a reasonable budget too!

I had no idea how affordable Bali was before I started researching where to stay within my budget, which made everything make sense when I saw how many expats were living there.  Although my budget is a little different since being a travel blogger sometimes allows me to stay at hotels for free, I wanted to still test out budget travel in Bali, which I did through booking places to stay on AirBnB.

Oh, and I like to think I’m an expert on budget travel, but I’d say I’m in the “comfortable-low” budget area, meaning I don’t mind paying a little extra for a nicer place, or giving up on haggling prices because I feel bad. But I happened to be with a “spend-next-to-nothing” budget traveler who had also been to Bali before, and helped a ton with getting the cheapest possible prices.

Overall, I’d definitely say I felt like I was balling on a budget in Bali. Here’s my tips:

1. Don’t Stay in the Super Touristy Areas

This is probably a “duh” since most people know that touristy areas are always more expensive, but in Bali’s case, it’s so significant that I had to mention it first. You can still get an accommodation for fairly cheap in touristy areas like Kuta and Seminyak, and maybe even eat there without breaking your budget, but if you want to go somewhere and get back to those areas, you’re going to end up spending a ton of money sitting in traffic.

It literally took us an hour to go 9km in Seminyak, and if we would have been in a taxi instead of a free hotel shuttle, it probably would have costed over 200k. So that shittiness plus the given up-prices of accommodations and food won’t be as beneficial to your budget as staying in an area just outside of, or completely away from super touristy areas.

2. Get a Day Pass Instead of a Room at Expensive Hotels

If you’re the type of traveler that loves upscale exotic hotels, then Bali is definitely the place for you, but not so much if your’e on a tight budget. Good news though, you don’t have to spend the ridiculous amount of money to sleep at the fancy hotels in order to experience them; you can simply buy a day pass and just hang out instead.

Then you can spend those hundreds of dollars on drinks at the pool instead of a room! Or, maybe save it for another flight somewhere.

3. Use AirBnB, Booking.com, or Ask Around!

So as I mentioned, part of being a travel blogger is the perk of being able to work with nice hotels for complimentary stays in exchange for a blog post or Instagram photo. But, I tend to only do those types of collaborations when I’m specifically interested in writing about the hotel, otherwise I’ll just book my own accommodation, which I always tend to do quite well with on a budget.

Bali was one of the places that I specifically wanted to book budget accommodations, because not only did they look awesome, but I really wanted to show how anyone can do Bali on a budget. I found an AMAZING AirBnB rental in Ubud (there were tons of good ones listed) that was only about $30 a night, for an entire one bedroom one epic bathroom house, with it’s own little yard, and balcony that overlooks a rice patty field. I’m not exaggerating about the bathroom either. It had an outdoor shower in a roofless area with giant windows that looked out into the jungle, and a neighboring stone bathtub with a view outside as well.

I also saw a ton of awesome-looking tiki-hut villas in Lombok and Gili Islands on AirBnB for insanely cheap prices, but sometimes if I don’t feel like going through the booing process with a host, I’ll use booking.com or Agoda for last minute deals on hotels.

3. Always Ask if Transfers are Included

If you decide to go the hotel route, make sure you ask if a transfer is included. This is one thing I never think to do, but Tom always did, and it ended up saving us a lot of money since taxis are expensive AF and there’s only about 10 Uber drivers total on the entire island of Bali. Transfers are offered from the airport to the hotel at some hotels, and even if it’s not mentioned on their website, it’s still worth asking about.

We also had transfers included with some of our ferry rides, which was listed as included in the price on the websites like BaliFerry.com that compares the different companies. Our Gingarri ferry had a shuttle pick us up from our AirBnB in Ubud, and when we had to go even further to Canggu on the way back, it was only an additional 50k IDR.

4. Use Uber if You Can, Even Though It’s Frowned Upon

Disclaimer: I probably shouldn’t be promoting using a big company like Uber in a country where the taxi business plays a huge role in the local economy, especially when it’s publicly frowned upon via massive anti-Uber signs in many areas. BUT, as much as I’d rather support people than a company, it’s not like the Uber drivers aren’t getting paid, plus I don’t exactly have a ton of extra money laying around for taxi fares that are almost double what an Uber would be.

The other downside aside of Uber being frowned upon in Bali, is that it’s so frowned upon that it’s actually not allowed in certain areas, and there’s hardly any in the areas that there is. The good news though is that if you can get an Uber, you’ll save a ton of money, plus have a comfortable, pleasant drive with a friendly driver. Make sure to save their number too because you can even text them for potential rides the next time you need one.

5. If You Must Use a Taxi, Haggle Using Distance

I’m pretty sure that no one really enjoys taking a taxi. They’re always over-priced, they tend to never be clean, and it always seems like no matter what, the drivers are pissed off and out to overcharge you. One thing that massively sucks about Bali is that the traffic is so bad that the taxi drivers have an upper hand when it comes to over-charging.

They’ll start with a ridiculously high price, which you should obviously try to haggle, and the way that we were able to get the lowest price is when stating the actual distance (often not a very far one), or claiming that the hotel told us how much we should be charged.

6. Rent a Motorbike to Get Around

Unless you have luggage to carry, or you’re planning on drinking, I’d highly recommend renting a motorbike to get around Bali over a taxi or an Uber. For the millionth time, there is a shit ton of traffic, which means either way, if you’re in a car or van, you’re going to be stuck. If you have a motorbike you can weave in between the cars, which will get you places twice as fast, and will save you four times as much. Plus they’re insanely fun!

In Ubud the motorbikes were a lot cheaper, probably because the AirBnB host hooked us up with a local rental place for only $4 a day. In Canggu we couldn’t find any rental places, so we ended up renting one through the hotel for around $10 a day.

7. Know How Much Ferries Should Be

Your best bet at getting the cheapest price for a ferry to one of the islands from Bali, is by comparing prices and booking the tickets online. You can definitely still get the same price at the ferry terminal, but there’s still companies/people around the terminal that will try to scam you for a higher price that they say is the normal price and non-negotiable.

So here’s a few prices of ferries that we took to islands to and from Bali:

•  Ubud to Lombok via the Gingarri fast boat (with transfer to the dock): 300,000 IDR per person, one way
• Lombok to Gili Meno via fast boat: 8.500 IDR per person, one way
• Gili Meno to Gili Trangawan via private boat to catch the ferry back to Bali: 175k (haggled at a local company initially wanting 250k)

8. Buy Snacks & Drinks from a Food Mart

For some reason I feel like I’m always hungrier than normal when I travel, and that I spend way more money on drinks than I do back home. My solution is always to go to a food mart, whether it’s local or a 7-11, and stock up on snacks and drinks so that you don’t end up paying extra at your hotel or a restaurant.

Alcohol is ALWAYS cheaper to buy a bottle of at a food mart or liquor shop than it is to buy at a bar, hotel, or restaurant. I’m not saying that so you can go get wasted, I’m just saying that it’s really easy to break your budget on buying a couple glasses of wine at dinner, rather than enjoying a few in your room.

9. Eat Local & Away from Touristy Streets

Another way to easily accidentally spend unnecessary amounts of money, is by only eating out at restaurants in Bali. I mentioned before that the touristy areas will definitely increase the menu prices (which honestly aren’t even that bad), but there’s tons of local places all around that sell delicious food for dirt cheap as well.

Some of my favorite cheap dishes in bali were Fried Noodles, Shrimp Curry, and a local dish called Gado Gado, which is a platter of tempe, tofu, and cooked veggies covered in a peanut sauce.

10. Wait to Buy Souvenirs Until the End

An easy way to overspend your money in Bali is by buying every awesome souvenir you see. Trust me, they aren’t going to run out of sarongs or bracelets, so you might as well wait until the end of your trip to buy stuff, so you don’t run out of cash for things you actually need…like food. This will also give you a good idea of how much people charge; the cheapest sarong I bought was only 22k IDK, and many places would try to charge 100k for the same exact one!