Bali how to organize a do-it-yourself trip, practical advice on flights, accommodation, time zones and credit cards, but also practical help to define the first draft of the itinerary.
Or rather, how I organized my first trip to Bali.
Very first thing, I bought my trusty Lonely Planet guide, and I devoured it. Although I have a secret to tell you, in the end I hardly ever follow their advice regarding where to sleep and where to eat. In practice, I only buy them for decide my itineraries and have some more information on places to visit. Maybe this time I'll follow some advice on clubs and restaurants, I'll let you know!
Second phase, I searched online for the stories of other travel bloggers who have already been there. In my opinion it is always the best thing to do. Who better than them can advise and give the right suggestions? I chose so in fact of stay in Gili Meno and keep as a basis Ubud, following their valuable recommendations.
From here on, the real practical organization began. I spent days looking for various flight options and choose the one that was best for us. I am not there, or at least I have not found, direct flights Italy-Bali. Usually with a departure from the main European airports you make a stopover in Dubai or Abu Dhabi and then fly to Jakarta, Bangkok or Singapore and then leave for the Indonesian island from one of these destinations. We will depart from Marco Polo, stopover in Abu Dhabi, destination Jakarta and then with a low cost flight by AirAsia we will reach Bali. The flights are quite long but not very long, in the sense that the first Italy - Abu Dhabi route is around 6 hours, followed by a small stopover of another 7 hours and the second connection to Jakarta lasts 9 hours.
To reach Bali from Jakarta instead it takes about two hours of flight. In itself, therefore, we will not spend many consecutive hours in the skies, but Bali is not around the corner, consider that the first day will be just travel. There are also direct flights Italy-Bangkok / Singapore without stopover, but they are usually quite expensive, at least for the high season. We booked the flight in May to leave in August and I'll be honest, if we had anticipated even a little we would have saved a little bit, in any case the rates are around 700/800 euros each to which about 80 euros must be added for the AirAsia Jakarta - Bali flight, not bad I would say. Pay attention when booking that the arrival and departure airports are the same! It will seem trivial but it is easy to make a mistake and arrive at one airport and have to leave from another.
The second phase we have undertaken concerns the choice of accommodation and consequently the drafting of a first rough itinerary. We have chosen to spend the first days in Ubub and from there we move daily for excursions, as recommended by most. We will then move a few days to Gili Meno where we will make trips to visit the other two Gili islands and finally return to Bali, staying in the area of Seminyak for the last few days before returning to Italy. There are countless accommodation options ranging from guesthouse managed by clubs up to mega hotels e 5 star resort. The choice is yours, but I advise you to book early enough so as not to risk finding limited options or high prices, especially for the month of August.
How will we get around Bali? This is an aspect still in planning. The options are varied: rent a moped, a car or rely on a local driver. We will opt for a mixture of all these options based on the destination, if close and easy to reach we will move independently, if distant and more difficult we will rely on a local driver (the cost is around 60 euros for the day). Note: in Gili Meno there are no cars or vehicles, you can move on foot, by bicycle or with small typical horse-drawn carriages. To reach the Gili Islands instead we'll take one fast boat with departure from Padang Bai which in about an hour and a half arrives at the islands.
Bureaucratic and practical aspects: A visa 30-day duration is given upon arrival at Denpasar airport for the price of $ 25 and a passport with a residual validity of at least 6 months is required. There are no mandatory vaccinations but only recommended, I suggest you ask the Local ASL what is best for you, in any case bring liters and liters of mosquito repellent and prevent by bringing a small personal pharmacy! Bali has a +8 time zone compared to Greenwich, the climate is instead tropical, characterized by a dry season (April-October) and one rain season (November-March). The best month to go there is August as it is the driest. Make sure you always have cash with you, especially if you go to the Gili Islands, where they say there are no ATMs, even if major credit cards they are accepted in almost all major hotels.
Bali is a predominantly island Hindu and Muslim, obviously respect for the place you visit and its traditions must always be in the first place. Therefore appropriate clothing, especially if you are going to visit temples or sacred places, respectfully cover your arms and legs (very often at the entrance they rent sarongs), never place yourself above priests or believers in prayer. The recommended clothing includes something to cover yourself in the evening, comfortable shoes or trekking shoes if you want to make them, rock shoes to avoid cutting yourself on the coral reef and snorkeling equipment (although you can easily rent them on the spot). The classic health precautions instead concern washing hands, avoid drinks with ice and raw vegetables.
This will be our trip, if you have already been there and have other tips to add, we will be happy to read them or if we have put our curiosity and desire to visit Bali away, stay with us, we will write again soon.
