In July 2023, I’ve spent 10 nights on Bali.
Other than my travels around Australia and New Zealand, which I did on my own, my friend flew over from home to do the last part of my travels together.
Indonesia was my first country I have visited in Asia, and it felt very different to all the other continents I have been on.
Suddenly streets were full and chaotic, people wanted to sell you stuff all the time and there was a lot of rubbish.
The people were so extremely nice, though.
They helped with everything, and it’s way cheaper than other places.
I loved their culture, the nature the island offers and the different animals.
If you plan on visiting Bali, I can recommend you to take notes on some of the places I visited.
I haven’t seen everything, so you should inform yourself on some other sites what else there is to see, because I wasn’t able to see everything in 12 days.

Den Pasar

I arrived by airplane in Den Pasar.
You can also get to the island by ferry from the Indonesian main land or other islands around.
The first night we slept in a hotel near the airport because I arrived pretty late, and it was easier that way.
Luckily, our hotel had a free airport shuttle, but there will be hundreds of men offering you a ride.
They are usually legitimate because they do it through a company called “grab” or “gojek”.
This is the Indonesian Uber, if you want to call it like that.
The rides from the airport can be pretty expensive, though, so I can recommend you to walk out of the airport and get a driver from there.
It will be cheaper.
We haven’t seen much in Den Pasar because we already drove to Uluwatu the next morning.

Uluwatu

We stayed 2 night in Uluwatu.
This is the southern part of the island, which is known for good beaches and surfers.
We got around in Uluwatu by scooter which we were able to rent one together at our hotel, and I’m sure most hotels offer that, or you can find scooters to rent along the streets.
Otherwise, you can get driven by someone through the apps “grab” or “gojek”.
They are not too expensive either and you can choose if a scooter is enough or you need a car, which is what we used for changing our sleep destinations.
The beaches I can recommend visiting are:

Bingin beach, here are some local restaurants on the beach you can have dinner at.
The tables were close to each other at the beach, and it looked like they were having a big family meal.
We went to this beach to watch the sunset and for another quick swim, and the sunset from here was immaculate.

Dreamland beach, this beach is better for surfing.
You can rent a surfboard at the beach or take a surf lesson.
On the day we went surfing, the surf was a bit too small and it was hard catching waves.
In general, if you are a beginner at surfing and want to surf in Bali, I can recommend taking a lesson.
It is not too much more expensive for a few hours, and it helps a lot to have a teacher help you.
It will be more fun!
You can also swim here very well.

Other things you could do in Uluwatu is to visit Uluwatu temple.
They have shows with cultural dances, that you should prebook.
We couldn’t watch the dance, but were able to walk around the temple at sunset which was really nice and there were lots of monkeys running around, so take care of your belongings!
We also went to get a massage in Uluwatu.
It was pretty cheap compared to western countries and the ladies did a great job.
This is really nice to calm down in between.
If you would rather party, I can recommend the bar “single fin” to you.
They have food and drinks, a beautiful view over the ocean, especially for sunset, a pool and good music for dancing.

Ubud

We stayed 3 nights in Ubud.
The first 2 nights we stayed at a homestay hostel which was the best overnight stay in Bali because you got to know new people and the family offered tours around the area for guests.
One night we stayed at an eco lodge in the rice fields.
I can recommend that if you want to have a calm stay or just to try it, but for young people I found it better to be close to the city and in a simple house.
In Ubud we visited local night markets to try their traditional Balinese food which was very interesting.
For food, I thought I would have to be more careful because of “Bali belly”, but I found you could usually tell whether a restaurant was good or not.
Most of the restaurants and cafés for tourists get their ice cubes delivered and don’t use tap water for ice cubes.
If you want to be careful or eat and drink local, ask without ice cubes and remember food should be boiled, cooked or peeled.

The second day, we did an “Ubud tour” by our hostel with a group of people from our accommodation.
The first stop of the tour was the waterfall  “tegenungan”.
It is a beautiful waterfall with a big, nice building next to it.
In it is a restaurant with a pool and you can swim next to the waterfall.
Afterward, we visited the “cantik coffee plantation”.
They show you different kinds of plants, and you can see how they produce their coffee.
You will be able to taste many different kinds of coffees and teas for free.
They also have luwak coffee there, which is made from coffee beans that have been eaten and pooped out by luwaks.
It is one of the most expensive coffees, and you can try it there for pretty cheap.
Their store offers all of their drinks and other great souvenirs for you to take home.
Our group did the water ceremony at the “tirta empul temple” after having a look around it.
The water in the pool is fresh from a spring in the temple and there are many fountains that stand for different kind of things, but to learn most about it and how to do it correctly, you should ask a local there.
The last stop of the day was the “tagallalang rice terrace” for sunset.
Because it was closing after us, it was pretty empty, and we had nearly the whole rice terrace for ourselves to look at the rice plants and to take pictures of the beautiful scenery.
That day was packed with wonderful experiences and places, and I would totally recommend to you to do a tour with a local.
The day after, we joined a rafting tour in the “ayung river”.
I loved the nature there, and we saw a couple of monkeys in the trees, and the guides made rafting good fun.
They provided us with lunch, which was included in the price.
Close to the river, there are many different companies that offer these same deals.

Nusa Lembongan

To Nusa Lembongan we got by ferry from Sanur harbor.
Be sure to wear short pants if you go to that island because they don’t have a harbor, and you will have to walk through the water.
We stayed at a hotel for 2 nights and spent our first evening there taking a look at “devils tears” and “dream beach”.
Dream beach is not too interesting, but pretty and devils tears is great at high tide to see the water “jumping” up, but it is definitely a perfect place to watch the sunset.
We really wanted to go snorkeling on Bali, which we did there.
At “mushroom beach” you can find several private and cheap tours that take you to multiple snorkeling spots on small boats.
You could also book bigger tours, but it was great being only in our group, and it was never full where we went in the water.
Be sure that you start your tour early enough, as some of them only get out until midday because afterward they can not guarantee that you can see mantas at manta bay.
Our first stop was “crystal bay”, where we saw beautiful fish and corals.
The most amazing bay was “manta bay” though.
This bay is pretty known, and we saw several huge mantas swimming around, which was very impressive.
At “tukad oyah bay” we saw a beautiful turtle, corals and colorful fish.
The rest of the day we rented a scooter to get to Nusa Cecilang over the yellow bridge.
There we went to blue point cliff and secret beach, which both were pretty nice places to see and go for a discovery walk at.
Our last few hours on Nusa Lembongan we spent doing a mangrove tour and chilling at the beach.

Canggu

The last area we went to is Canggu.
We stayed there for 1 night.
In the evening we went to the after party at the beach of “old mans”.
We were too late for the club because they close at 1 am, but even the after party was awesome and if I would be to go to a club in Canggu again, it would be “old mans”.
The next day we joined a surfing class of our hostel which was great.
We spent the evening at the beach to watch the sunset and afterward we grabbed a “grab” car to drive us back to the hotel in Den Pasar near the airport, where we started to be close to it when we have our flight the next day.

I loved Bali so much as it is so different to what I have seen before.
I get that some people might hold back because of the number of tourists there, but it was great getting to know people from other countries, and many locals told us how important the tourism is for the Balinese.
It was great learning about their culture!