How To Plan a Trip To Bali [Ultimate Guide]

Gone are the days when you'd rely on a travel agent to plan your holiday or book a ready-designed package deal. It’s now super simple to organize your own Bali adventure, giving you far more flexibility to mix and match the places and activities you'd like.

Drawing on over two years of experience travelling around Bali between us, we’ve got our trip planning down to a tee. In this ultimate guide, we’ll take you step-by-step through the process of planning a trip to Bali and share some helpful tips we’ve learned over the years.

Step One: Choose Your Dates

There’s no bad time to visit Bali, which is good news if your dates are determined by work or school commitments. But if you’re able to choose, we'd recommend visiting during the dry season.

Local Celebrations To Be Aware Of

When planning your trip to Bali, it's also important to be aware of any cultural events that may affect your visit. Known as the "island of the Gods," Bali is a highly spiritual Hindu island with many ceremonies and celebrations taking place throughout the year.

Nyepi

Nyepi marks the new year in the Balinese Saka calendar and usually falls in March. During Nyepi, the entire island shuts down for 24 hours, earning it the nickname "the day of silence."

During Nyepi, everyone must stay inside for the entire day. All shops, restaurants, bars, and even the airport are closed. It’s an important part of Balinese culture and is great to experience, but it can easily write off 2-3 days of planned activities, so you'll have to decide if it's right for you.

In 2025, Nyepi falls on 25th March.

Galungan and Kuningan

This is an important 10-day celebration that happens every 210 days in Bali. It's the period when ancestral spirits visit the Earth, and the Balinese people welcome them with elaborate offerings, amazing cermonies, and huge feasts.

During the festival, streets across the island are adorned with colourful decorations known as "penjor". If you can coincide your vacation with this celebration, you’ll see the island at its most beautiful.

The next one takes place between 25th September 2024 and 5th October 2024.

How Long To Stay in Bali?

If you're visiting for a laid-back beach vacation in south Bali, one week is enough. But if you want to explore more of the island, you'll need at least 2 weeks (if not more).

There are so many diverse areas and fantastic activities in Bali that you could easily fill as much time as you have available.

Step Two: Book Your Flights

Once you have your dates in mind, head over to Skyscanner where you can compare the best flight deals. Here are some booking tips:

• To ensure you get a good price, try not to book your flight too far ahead or too last minute.
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• If you’re flexible on dates, the sweet spot for booking is roughly 4-6 months before departure. But if you have specific dates in mind, start monitoring prices right away.
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• Often the cheapest flights will arrive in Bali late at night. This isn’t too much of a problem. Just ensure your first accommodation has 24-hour check-in and make sure you have a plan for getting there (see tips here).
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• Flying from London? Consider flying with Etihad for a free 2-day stopover in Abu Dhabi with a hotel included. We did this and it was an amazing experience - find out more.

Don’t worry about anything else until you’ve booked your flights – the rest will fall into place.

Step Three: Decide Where To Base Yourself

Bali is a lot bigger than most people realise so deciding where you’ll stay is one of the most important factors.

The first thing to consider is whether you’d like to spend your whole vacation based in one place or move around the island. This will largely depend on how long your trip is and what type of traveller you are.

If you’re all about getting some R&R by the beach or chilling-out at an upmarket resort with the occasional day trip, staying in one place might be a good idea (see our where to base yourself guide for our top picks).

But if you’re an active traveller and keen to explore more of the island, splitting your time between a few different bases will give you more variety and freedom.

For most first-timers planning an itinerary with multiple stops, we recommend something like this:

• Start: Begin your trip with 4-5 nights in Ubud.
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• Middle: For a longer trip, consider bulking out the middle of your itinerary with some shorter stays in northern Bali or on nearby islands. For example, 2 nights on the Nusa Islands, 2 nights in Kintamani, 2-3 nights in Sidemen, 3 nights in Amed, or 3-4 nights on the Gili Islands.
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• End: Finish with 3-4 nights in one of the coastal towns in the south such as Seminyak, Sanur, Uluwatu, or Nusa Dua.

Step Four: Book Your Accommodation

Now that you know which areas you’re staying in, it’s time to book your accommodation.

Prices tend to be very similar across most booking platforms. We always use Booking.com which has the largest selection of accommodation in Bali, from hotels and resorts to homestays and hostels. They’ve also added a lot of private villas recently, but it’s still worth checking Airbnb too.

With so many places to choose from, it can be overwhelming. To help, we’ve created dedicated guides to each area where we advise the best neighbourhoods to stay in and some top accommodation picks based on our own experience:

• Where to Stay in Ubud

• Where to Stay in Seminyak

• Where to Stay in Uluwatu

• Where to Stay in Sanur

• Where to Stay in Nusa Dua

• Where to Stay on the Gili Islands

• Where to Stay in Kintamani

• Where to Stay in Lovina

• Where to Stay in Amed

• Where to Stay on Nusa Penida

• Where to Stay on Nusa Lembongan

Plus, if you're looking for something a little different, here are some of our favouite unique stays in Bali:

• The Stonehouse in Ubud

• Sumberkima Hill Retreat in North Bali

• Mountain Peak in Kintamani

• Bubble Hotel in Uluwatu

Step Five: Plan Your Itinerary

With your flights and accommodation out of the way, you can start to think about all the amazing things you’ll get up to on your Bali adventure.

We like to create a Google map outlining all the activities we’d like to do, but a simple list can work too.

For bucket list inspiration, we have lots of guides where we share our favourite things to do in Bali and each area:

General Bali Guides:

• Best Things To Do in Bali

• Top Cultural Activities in Bali

• Best Waterfalls in Bali

• Best Beaches in Bali

• Best Adventure Activities in Bali

• Best Watersports in Bali

Destination Guides:

• Things To Do in Ubud

• Things To Do in Seminyak

• Things To Do in Canggu

• Things To Do in Sanur

• Things To Do in Uluwatu

• Things To Do in Nusa Dua

• Things To Do in Sidemen

• Things To Do in Amed

• Things To Do in Bedugul

• View All Destinations

Once you’ve created your own Bali bucket list, you can start to think about a day-by-day itinerary. This is when it comes in handy having everything marked on a map.

Step Six: Decide On Transport

You don’t need to arrange transport too far in advance, but it’s a good idea to think about how you’ll get around during your trip. Here are the three main transport options in Bali we recommend:

Renting a Scooter

While renting a car in Bali is a bad idea due to the small roads and chaotic traffic, renting a scooter is manageable and gives you the freedom to explore the island by yourself.

But only choose this option if you’re an experienced driver and have an International Drivers Permit. We recommend renting from Bikago who have branches across Bali or can drop-off / pick-up the scooter at your accommodation.

Hiring a Private Driver

This option is best for day trips where you visit multiple destinations in one day. Private drivers are affordable and very knowledgeable about the island. Give them a list of places you want to visit and they’ll help plan your day.

It’s better value (and less hassle) than getting many taxis, especially for larger groups. Use this booking form to arrange a driver.

Using Online Taxis

For simple A-to-B journeys, such as moving accommodation or travelling to one specific attraction, we prefer using online taxis such as Grab or Gojek (similar concept to Uber).

Download the app, create an account, and order a car or scooter taxi from most places on the island. Just be aware of any Gojek-free zones and make sure you have mobile data.

Step Seven: Prepare Your Travel Documents

The final step is to make sure you have everything ready to enter the country and ensure a smooth journey through the airport. This includes your visa, customs declaration form, tourist tax, SIM card, and airport transfer.

There’s too much to cover here, so we have a dedicated guide to getting through Bali airport that covers all of these things.

Still Got Questions?

This was a quick rundown of how to plan a trip to Bali. But we answer dozens of common questions from our readers over on our Bali FAQs page.

Our Itinerary Planning Service

If you need help planning your trip, check out our tailored itinerary planning service.

We'll understand what you're looking for on a 30-minute Zoom call. Within two weeks, you’ll receive a fully customised PDF with:

• Day-by-day schedule

• Activities and booking information to get the best price

• Accommodation recommendations

Plus, we'll be on hand to answer any questions before or during your trip.