Advice and Ideas For a Trip to Bali

DezUk

DezUk

DezUk

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I am in the Lucy position that I am going to Bali with my other half at the start of 2025. We fly out of Edinburgh on NYD for two weeks and I have never been before, never done the long-haul flight and never been that side of the world. So I thought I would ask for tips and suggestions from anyone who has been and what you recommend I look into for things to do and places and sights to see.

Lucky for me my Mrs has planned all the accommodation over the two weeks, starting in Ubud and then the second half of the trip we will be on the Gili Islands, moving between resorts. I am not a big sports person and at the moment have a bit of a knee injury but I am not going to let that hold me back, trip of a lifetime!

So has anyone been and what do you recommend?...... We both like a party but at the same time I would like to sample the traditions and the sights so let me know what I should consider.

As I type this, I am away to look into travel insurance and also what we can do in Dubai airport on the way home, as we have a 13hr stop over on the way home.

I look forward to your suggestions.

Cheers.

FYI.... These are our hotels/resorts for the two weeks (in no particular order):

Mutiara Bali Boutique Resort & Villa

Pearl of Trawangan

Bucu View Resort

Samabe Bali Suites & Villas
 
Stock up on Smidge.

Do go see the Komodo dragons if you can. I saw them on Flores. But take your sunglasses off! The shadows can be so sharp and deep that the dragons are hidden. One of our group almost stepped on one.
 
Bali is great, the people, the weather, the food and the hospitality. Been quite a few times, its a relatively cheap and short hop from here. I don't often do much mind, use it to escape winter for a week and spend the entire time in a one bed villa with its own pool doing a lot of sleeping and reading and not a lot else. Usually Seminyak as I find the restaurants to be superb and its not far from the airport, however year before last we were in Nusa Dua and then Lombok for the first time which was good although very quiet. Bali sunsets are something else though.
I'll be in Uluwatu in Jan as part of our honeymoon trip (on the way back from Maldives) so looking forward to that as not been to that part before.

2 things. 1 - avoid any Australians you may see there if you can. They'll be easy to spot (loud, bad haircuts, Bintang vests) and secondly, there's nowt much to do in Dubai airport except drinking or shopping and it's not cheap to do either. If you are flying with Emirates they will put you in a hotel for a 8 hour + layover although it may not be apparent on your booking so enquire with them. Sometimes this a short bus ride but I've had them in the terminal above the duty free shops before. For me that would be best use of your time there unless 15 quid pints of Heineken are irresistible to you.
 
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Vandle said:
2 things. 1 - avoid any Australians you may see there if you can.
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As an Aussie I concur, Bali seems to attract the 'Bogan' traveller because it's relatively cheap.

I went to Semanyak once, didn't like it. Got some 24 hour virus, not sure if it was from the food. The footpaths are in ruins, electrical cables running everywhere, basically a third-world hellhole in my opinion.

Enjoy
 
The best way to get around is hire a driver and they are super cheap, like £35 / day. Here's my recommendation if you need one. The traffic around Ubud is truely dreadful (it can take an hour to get a couple of miles) so bear that in mind when planning things.

For sights, set aside a day to visit east Bali which is has some awesome things to see and is also much quieter than the rest of the island. Try and get to Taman Ujung and Tirta Gangga early in the morning. Puri Agung Karangasem is also worth a stop and then then head to Lahangan Sweet for some awesome views of Mount Agung. Another popular place in the east is Penataran Agung Lempuyang, but we avoided it as it sounded it's just full of instagrammers queueing for 3 hours for one photo.

Between Ubud and the airport is Hidden Canyon Beji Guwang, which is a guided trip through a water canyon with a mixture of (very light) climbing and swimming. That was one of the unexpected highlights of the trip.

If you are foodies and fancy a blowout checkout the chefs table at Syrco Base in Ubud, which is run by a Dutch guy who previously had a 2 Michelin starred restraurant in the Netherlands. It's not cheap at £100 / head for the tasting menu, but an equivalent in the UK would be £250+ so make the most of it! It was easily in the top 5 restaurants I've ever visited.
 
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Jaap74 said:
As an Aussie I concur, Bali seems to attract the 'Bogan' traveller because it's relatively cheap.

I went to Semanyak once, didn't like it. Got some 24 hour virus, not sure if it was from the food. The footpaths are in ruins, electrical cables running everywhere, basically a third-world hellhole in my opinion.

Enjoy
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No offence intended :). My best mate is an Aussie and so is my soon to be wife! But yes, it's rife with them. Its cheap and easy to get to. You can often find return flights for less than $500 with jetstar.

To be fair Seminyak has been much improved over the years, in particular the footpaths down the main street. A lot of things we take for granted here like pedestrian safety and wheelchair access aren't a thing in these parts of Asia.
 
Go to Munduk and stay at the Munduk moding plantation hotel it's beautiful it has two infinity pools now only one when I went.

I liked Ubud for mainly places to stay, I found a local driver on TripAdvisor and used him a lot to get around. I didn't think much of Canggu the black beaches are horrible I'd avoid.
 
Will keep an eye on this thread, heading to Bali next Oct for 2.5 weeks. Currently deciding where to split our time. Whether to do a week in Phuket/Krabi and rest in Bali or just spend it all in two spots in Bali.

Will be taking a one year old so need good amount of child friendly things to keep them occupied!
 
R.O.S.S.I said:
Will keep an eye on this thread, heading to Bali next Oct for 2.5 weeks. Currently deciding where to split our time. Whether to do a week in Phuket/Krabi and rest in Bali or just spend it all in two spots in Bali.

Will be taking a one year old so need good amount of child friendly things to keep them occupied!
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Phuket was nothing special 10 years ago, I can only imagine it has got worse. Krabi people either love it or hate it. For us we were pretty much the latter, Bali is where I would be spending my 2 weeks.
 
Jimbeam3678 said:
Phuket was nothing special 10 years ago, I can only imagine it has got worse. Krabi people either love it or hate it. For us we were pretty much the latter, Bali is where I would be spending my 2 weeks.
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Lots of lovely hotels and resorts in and around Phuket imo.

But agreed will most likely stay mostly in Bali as neither my partner or I have been before.
 
We went to Bali for a fortnight last October, and really enjoyed it.

We stayed in Nusa Dua which is a very nice and well kept part of the island.

Potato head beach club in seminyak is good, but expensive.

I took a fast boat out to Lembongan island to do some fishing. It's a very chilled place.

Our hotel was a fancy place with lots of honeymooners. The food was great, but we still ate out at a few Wurungs, where the locals eat. It was delicious.

One thing to note about Bali is that there is no public transport. No buses or trains. So, it is moped mayhem and cars everywhere. At peak times built up areas grind to a halt. Day trips are 50% sat in traffic.

Apart from that it's great!
 
Hi Guys,

First of all, thanks for all the replies. It sounds like I am in for lots of fun, getting close now, fly out NYD, that will be a thing, never been in the airport at that time of year.

So sounds like I am in for lots of fun. I think we have a pretty good idea of what we are doing. One thing we are planning is going to Finns Beach Club, anyone got any experience of going there?... I know I should expect it to be about £400 per head for the day, but that includes all drinks and food I believe.

I also fancy going to check out some of these amazing looking waterfalls, but we both have dodgy legs/knees (I am awaiting an operation on mine). So wondering what its like accessing these sorts of places. Is it possible with a dodgy knee, should I be considering specific footwear?

I have been doing a bit more research and have come up with this list of things to consider when going over there:

GoJack App (Travel)
Transferwise App (Money)
Google Translate App
Tourist SIM card (local phone shop) OR eSim
Dengue fever / medication / repelent
Always have cash


Cheers
 
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Also be wary of stray dogs there loads in Bali thing that hit me rather quick, I went for a walk with my girlfriend at the time and there was a pack of 15 dogs at least.

Ive grown up with dogs but it makes you feel a bit uneasy, also I went on a day trip and they run across the road my driver hit one. This was back in 2018 whilst I know they are not carrying rabies you can't be so sure.

It's like going to the monkey forest in Ubud, do you risk having to get a rabies jab if your bitten which doing research at the time is a right palava.
 
DezUk said:
GoJack App (Travel)
Transferwise App (Money)
Google Translate App
Tourist SIM card (local phone shop) OR eSim
Dengue fever / medication / repelent
Always have cash


Cheers
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I've been at least half a dozen times, I don't think you need any of those things. Maybe a sim if your roaming charges are excessive but they seem to be pretty reasonable these days. Almost all the bars and restaurants will take card or phone payments as well as having free wifi and there are ATMs everywhere as a fall back. They are well used to the tourist $ and don't want to miss out on a chance of you going elsewhere.
 
DezUk said:
I also fancy going to check out some of these amazing looking waterfalls, but we both have dodgy legs/knees (I am awaiting an operation on mine). So wondering what its like accessing these sorts of places. Is it possible with a dodgy knee, should I be considering specific footwear?
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You get to most of them by walking up / down a few dozen / 100+ steps. Then you may need to walk along some slippy stones or wade up to your knees to reach the waterfall. Water shoes are perfect for this - grippy and no problem getting them wet. I have these
 
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