Bali Travel and Holiday Guides.
The Indonesian Island of Bali has much to offer for a holiday with it's excellent weather, fantastic beaches and lots to do.
If
you fancy a change from lazing around sunbathing on Bali's beautiful beaches
then there are a myriad of other activities on offer. You could for instance go
out into the mountains or the jungle trekking or cycling, go off on an elephant
safari to see some wildlife, enjoy some golf, go water rafting or if down on the
beach find surfing, jet-skiing, snorkelling and diving as well as any other
water sport you can imagine. Access to all of these activities is simple to
arrange by using any of the small travel kiosks located in all of the towns
along the coast. Bali is also handy to use as base to go off and visit the
neighbouring island of Lombok and/or one of the Gilli Islands for a few days by
using one of the ferry services on the island.
About Bali. Located south of the Equator the
Indonesian island of Bali is around 70 miles long and 95 miles wide. The centre
of the island is mountainous with these mountains drifting over to the eastern
coast - the highest point on the island is the active volcano of Mount Agung at
10,308 feet - this volcano last erupted in 1963. There is also another volcano
called Mount Batur which is around half the height of Mount Agung - Batur last
erupted around 30,000 years ago. The south of the island has plenty of rivers
which although generally dry can be violent and overflowing when heavy rain
occurs. - the longest of Bali's rivers is called the Sungai Ayung. Bali is
surrounded by coral reefs and beautiful sandy beaches with the northern beaches
having black sand and those to the south are white sand. The population of Bali
are mostly members of a form of the Hindu religion and Bali's capital is Denpasar.
Weather on Bali. Located close to the Equator Bali
is a tropical island with average temperatures of around 30 degreees. The wet
season is normally between October and April when you can also expect quite high
humidity. Therefore temperatures are generally excellent for holidaymakers all
year round - the only exception might be if travelling up in the mountains where
it can get pretty cool at times. Probably Bali's months of June through to
August are one of the best periods to chose for a holiday as the island enjoys a
cool breeze during this part of the dry season.
Communication. The country code for Indonesia is
0062 and the city code for Denpasar is 361
Getting to Bali. Flying in. There are direct flights in from Singapore and Hong Kong (which is the usual route in from Northern Europe) as well as the long distance flights arriving from Australia, New Zealand and the Americas. There are budget airlines operating from Australia - the trip takes around 4 hours from Darwin and around 10 hours from Melbourne. The main Indonesian airline is Garuda which offers flights to many other Indonesian and other destinations. It's worth noting that the Garuda airline own or have interests in several hotels on Bali and if you fly with them you may be able to achieve a flight and hotel package which could save a fair bit of money.
Bali's main airport of Ngurah Rai International Airport is located just outside of Denpasar and this large modern airport has good facilities for travellers. (The airport is named after Inondesia's Nation Hero Lt.Col. Gusti Ngurah Rai who was killed during the Battle of Marga against the Dutch in November 1946). On arrival the baggage reclaim is normally quite quick and efficient - once outside there are plenty of taxis - these usually quote in US Dollars and how much you will be charged is fully negotiable. As an idea to get from the airport to Sanur the taxi driver might ask for perhaps 25 USD but a reasonable amount is probably around 15 USD including tip (this was in December 2008). Buses are available from the airport to major towns such as Denpasar, Kuta and Sunur but probably taxis are the best option especially after a long flight
Visas. It is necessary to have a visa to enter Bali - you can easily get a visa on arrival (VOA) for 10 days which currently costs 10 USD or 30 days which is currently 25 USD. The process is simple - you queue at the VOA desk, hand over your money (preferably USD), they give you a form and then go to the immigration desk where they fill in the details of where you are staying etc. for you.
Security.
The airport has significant and highly visible security. On arrival they will
open and search a large percentage of baggage and you can find a queue although
the process is fairly quick. When you leave Bali before even getting to the
check-in at the departure terminal your baggage is screened and tagged and they
don't like you opening it after this. Departures are tannoyed regularly and
there are plenty of departure screens etc around. When you get to the actual
departure gate your hand luggage will get screened again.
Currency. Indonesia's currency is the Indonesian Rupiah (Rp) and you will find the bank notes have plenty of zero's - i.e. a beer would cost you a frightening 15000 Rp but this is actually around 1 UK Pound Sterling or 1.5 US Dollars. At time of writing 100,000 Rp is equivalent to 9 USD or 6 GBP (December 2008). Generally the shops, restaurants and taxis and so on will quote in US Dollars to make life easy but they are happy to take either currency.
Getting Around Bali:
Bali certainly has a plentiful supply of taxis - you cannot walk any distance
without being tooted at by the taxi-drivers as they tout for business. As long
as you barter and clearly agree the fare all is well - never get into a taxi
without agreeing the fare otherwise you will pay far too much. Taxis are easily
the best way to get around the island - much better than the buses. Scooter hire
is available all over the island but bear in mind that the roads are very busy
in the towns but much quieter and safer out in the countryside. Car hire and
mountain bikes are also easy to hire on the island. Bali is, however, a very
easy place to get lost in - especially after dark - as road signs only point to
major towns and hardly exist at all in the countryside.
Various Places on Bali.
Sanur. This is on the south coast a little to the
east of Bali's capital Denpasar - and around 20 to 30 minutes ride from the
airport. Sunur is quite an old resort - it used to be where all the artists and
sculptors lived and worked until about 30 years ago when tourism arrived - all
of them then moved out and went up to Ubud. The resort and it's beautiful beach
stretches along the coast for around 7 kilometres - hotels are located right
along the beach but are nicely spaced out so it's simple to find a quiet spot if
you wish.
There are plenty of little bars, restaurants and shops along the coast and on
the beach - a paved track runs between the beach and the hotels which is widely
used by cyclists, joggers and people out for a stroll. Behind the hotel area a
generally quiet road runs along where you will find many more restaurants and
shops as well as the car hire and cycle hire business. Behind this road you will
then find the main road to Denpasar.
The beach at Sanur is very safe to swim in and has beautifully clear water -
there are any number of water sports available at Sanur and you can also swim or
take a small boat out onto the reef which is around 500 metres away from the
shoreline for some excellent snorkelling. The hotels tend to have their own
section of beach at the back of the beach where they have their guest's
sun-loungers and sun-shades plus there is some security as well. Beach
facilities like beach bars and snack bars are available which anyone can go and
use and there is general public use of the front part of the beach. From a
safety point of view there are people out on jet-skis who keep an eye on people
swimming and so on and of course plenty of other boats around such as fishermen
so it's pretty safe.
Ubud. The town is set inland and is
approximately one hour from Denpasar. It is a quiet little place which is sort
of shaped in a square where you will small markets, little streets and alleys -
more temples than you can believe perhaps and it's very popular with artists and sculptors.
The King has a Residency here and just outside of the town is the very popular
monkey forest tourist attraction. There really are some excellent little
restaurants in the town - all reasonably priced - accommodation is often mostly
small guest-houses - there are no large hotels there. If you want a day out from
loafing around on the beaches Ubud is definitely a good choice for an enjoyable wander around.
Kuta. Located on the south west coast and around 20 minutes from Denpasar, Kuta is the busiest resort on the Island of Bali and one of Indonesia's major tourist destinations. Kuta's long white sand beach is ideal for watersports and is world famous for its surfing, however the sea here does suffer from a quite dangerous undertow. Kuta is also famous for it's fantastic sunsets. There are a large number of budget hotels and it is the ideal place to stay for partying as most of the late night bars and clubs on Bali are located here. Kuta also boasts a large selection of galleries, shops, cafes and boutiques as well as a huge market located just off Kuta Square where you can buy all manner of items from dvds and cds to fake brand shoes and clothing etc.
Eating and Drinking. You are really spoilt for choice on the island - from the small beach restaurants offering simple sea-food, noodles and so on through to five star restaurants. The food is really diverse as there is plenty of Indonesian and Chinese influence on the island as well as Indian and European/Australian - the island caters for everybody. Food is very reasonably priced for instance at a beach bar some chicken noodles and a beer or two would cost around 3 or 4 US Dollars whilst a meal of a prime Australian Steak plus a few beers costs around 15 US Dollars. The local beer is Bintang which costs around 1 USD a bottle depending on where you buy it. Wine is far more expensive and predominantly Australian - a bottle of reasonable wine might cost you around 15 USD in a restaurant.
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