Enjoy Bali on a Budget

Bali is a place where a lot of South East Asia backpackers find themselves for a number of different reasons. Maybe you will be stopping off for some R&R whist making your way around Indonesia, learning to surf or just plain beach bum partying – I have ended up there three times on my travels and those were my reasons!

Taking in the Bali view, cost: Free.

Whatever your intentions for being in Bali, you will need to learn how to get the most out of your daily backpacker budget, explained below are some good tips on how you can spend your travel budget more wisely and avoid being ripped off.

Arriving in Bali

If you are arriving in Bali at Denpasar Airport wanting to get to the backpacker area of Bali, you will be looking to get to Poppies lane 1 or 2 located in Kuta. The fixed rate for a taxi to the Poppies Lane area is 50,000 RP, but if you’re travelling light or the energetic type, a free airport transfer is available, Poppies 1 & 2 are within walking distance from the airport.

The walk from Denpasar Airport to Kuta will take you around 20-40 minutes and it’s quite straightforward, with plenty of people around at all hours to ask for directions. Another option for backpackers on tight budgets is leaving the airport area on foot and finding cheaper transport for the rest of the way. If it’s your first trip to Bali you will feel more comfortable on the walk back to Denpasar airport from Kuta. I made the walk myself to meet my friend when he was arriving in Bali, it was in the dark and I did get a little bit lost, but still made it to meet him on time.

Finding a Cheap Guesthouse

So you’ve got there, now you need a good value guesthouse that meets your budget. If it’s obvious you have just arrived and are taking some from of transport, chances are your driver will ask you if you have a booking anywhere, if you don’t he will try to take you to a losmen where he can get commission for bringing guests.  Don’t feel pressured by the drivers, you are free to take a look around and walk out of any guesthouse he takes you to.

If you are arriving on foot with all your gear, it will be obvious to some loitering touts that you are looking for a room and they will get your attention. This isn’t all bad, as they can sometimes take you to a descent guesthouse that you may not have noticed to go and look at yourself.

The best way of finding a cheap guesthouse in Kuta is simply stroll around the Poppies area and walk in and out taking a look at places until you find a suitable one. if you’re too tired after a journey maybe you can stay in the first one you get to and look around the next morning for a better one.

2010 prices around this area are generally between 50,000 to 300,000 RP. A couple of budget recommendations I have stayed in are Sari Bali down Gang Ronta (between poppies I and II) at 80,000 RP for a double room with fan and Dua Dara down poppies lane II at 100,000 RP for the same, prices can go up and down depending on the season and how busy the area is. Both of these guesthouses are a short walk to the beach, fairly clean, with communal pool areas and basic breakfast included. A stay at Dua Dara might involve meeting a character called Paul or “Paulus” as he likes to call himself, he resides in Perth, Australia. Paulus stays at Dua Dara on a regular basis and is, let’s say, “unique”.

Me with Paulus at Dua Dara

A good splurge option is Suji Bungalows, 200,000 and above gets you a room with TV, AC, great bathroom with, bath, shower and hot water. Suji also has a great pool area.

Transport and Tours

So you’re wanting to get to somewhere like Ubud and go in the Monkey Forrest or head up to the rice paddies, you ask your guesthouse reception how much to go, do you agree to that price? No! Generally prices for tours and transport around the island of Bali are more expensive when you arrange them with your guesthouse. Ask around to get an idea of what the cost should be for your trip, shop around the streets yourself and try to get the cheapest deal.

On a side note, sometimes the price for a tour to Ubud is as cheap as the plain transport option. Most of the said ‘tours’ to Ubud sold by touts in Kuta are useless, the driver taking you around to ten of his friends souvenir shops before you end up in Ubud. Take the transport only option.

If you’re comfortable on a motorbike or driving a car in the hectic traffic, you can rent one and travel to your chosen destination yourself. I wouldn’t recommend renting a motorbike in Bali to anyone though, especially beginners, since I’ve seen some horrific accidents on the Bali roads myself. If you do decide to rent a motorbike, check it over for damage, wear a helmet and have your paperwork in order.

If you rent a car or 4×4, ask about the insurance details, the excess amount and make sure everything is legit. Tourists have been stung for gargantuan amounts after road accidents which happen every day in Bali, another nail in the coffin of your travel budget.

Think about the environment, sharing a minibus is less polluting and a great way to make friends along the way, you also get an experienced driver for the frenzy that can be Indonesia’s roads!

Drinking and Partying

Going out drinking in Bali can be as cheap as Laos or as expensive as London. Finding somewhere to drink along Legian Street isn’t hard but you can end up spending a lot more money on a night out than you thought, here’s a few tips on keeping your costs down;

• Look for special offers, the beer garden out the back of the club-multiplex ‘Sky Garden’ often has as much Heiniken as you can drink for 50,000 RP, whilst showing live Premiership football on a giant screen.
• Buy drinks at rock-bottom prices from the local convenience stores, sit around a table in your guesthouse pool area or on ‘The Steps’ down poppies II, sounds like being a bum, but you’d be surprised what comes of the night! I’ve made some great friends doing this.
• Never ever take your bank or credit cards out, in addition to expensive drunken trips to the ATM, there is other risks involved. Myself and two friends got pick-pocketed on a night out around Legian Street, losing our bank cards, which was a huge pain in the rear!

Surfing

Due to it’s consistent waves, Kuta Beach is an ideal place for beginners to learn to surf. If you want to try your hand at surfing in Bali, the cheapest way is to rent a surfboard yourself, go onto Kuta Beach, jump in the ocean and go for it. For free surfing lessons, watch other surfers and talk to them for tips and advice on how to get going, they will tell you almost exactly the same as the surfing coaches that you might otherwise be paying for, this is also a great way to meet new people and make new drinking friends.

Don’t rent surfboards from the guys in the surfboard trees along Kuta Beach, there are some good ones, but generally if they haven’t seen you before and you’re not a good bargainer, they will rip you off. The boys on Kuta Beach have been known to charge unsuspecting tourists up to 500,000 for a surfboard rental on occasion. Often those boards have dings or cracks and can easily break – which will cost you a lot to repair.

To get the best prices on board rental, walk around Poppies Lane 1 & 2 and look for surfboard rental shops – there are plenty around and they are much cheaper than the guys on the beach. You can get a board for 25,000 RP or less if your bartering skills are sharp, but surfboard rental around these backpacker streets generally goes for less than 40,000 for the day depending on the board, ask for discounts if you’ll be renting a board for several days. Remember to check out the board for damage beforehand and point out that you’ve noticed any existing dings, missing fins or any other damage, this is to avoid being charged for the repair when you take the board back.

Daily Budget for Bali: What does it cost?

Trying to figure out your daily spends as a backpacker in South East Asia can be a tough one. Most of the budget hotels and guesthouses down Poppies I and II you’ll be trying to get a room in, don’t have websites with updated room rates. Take a look at this information about Poppies Lane guesthouses for an example of outdated prices, you can almost double them now – that’s the danger! To help you figure out the amount you will spend per day, I’ve given three examples below of a daily backpackers budget in Bali. My own personal daily spends, a shoestring-budget backpacker and a splurge. All amounts are good for late 2009/early 2010.

• My Daily Spends in Bali
  • Room in Dua Dara Guesthouse: 100,000 RP
  • X 2 Bottles of Water: 5,000 RP
  • Breakfast: Free
  • Surfboard Rental: 30,000 RP
  • Lunch: Nasi Goreng 11,000 RP
  • Bicycle Rental: 20,000 RP
  • Dinner: Spaghetti Carbonara: 12,000 RP
  • Internet Cafe: 8,000 RP
  • X 2 Large Bintang: 36,000
  • Marlboro Lights Cigarettes: 11,500 RP
    • Total: 233,500 Rupiah

• A Costly Splurge
  • Room in Suji Bungalows: 250,000 RP
  • Breakfast: 15,000 RP
  • x 2 Coke: 20,000 RP
  • Motorbike Rental: 50,000 RP
  • Surfboard Rental:  40,000 RP
  • Lunch at Beachfront Restaurant:  50,000 RP
  • Internet Cafe: 8,000 RP
  • x2 Afternoon Bintang: 36,000 RP
  • Cigarettes: 11,500 RP
  • Dinner at the Beachfront: 50,000 RP
  • Heavy Night Out: 200,000 RP
  • McDonalds Munchies: 50,000 RP
    • Total: 780,500

• Shoestring Budget (Rough Minimum Spends In Bali – Enjoying Surfing but no Drinking, Requires Discipline!)
  • Room in Sari Bali Guesthouse: 80,000 RP
  • Basic Breakfast: Free
  • x 2 Water: 5,000 RP
  • Surfboard Rental: 25,000 RP
  • Basic Local Lunch: 10,000 RP
  • Shorter Internet Access: 4,000 RP
  • Go Surfing Again: Free
  • Basic Local Dinner: 12,000 RP
  • Reading a Book: Free
    • Total: 136,000 Rupiah

Bear in mind that all above are estimated costs for backpackers in Kuta, you can a just to your needs accordingly, no toiletries, transport tickets or tours around the island are included in my list, it’s just basic daily spends to give you an idea of rough prices and what a backpackers budget in Bali can be for 2010.

So there you have it, at the current exchange rate it’s possible to enjoy yourself as a backpacker in Bali for as little as 10 pounds per day or 15 US dollars per day. When working out your travel budget, it’s always advisable to give yourself some leeway for unexpected costs, I wouldn’t go as far as saying what some people say to “work out your budget, then double it”, though.

Personally I wouldn’t go for the bare minimum, I’d give myself 20-30 US dollars per day for Bali. 30 Dollars per day is a safe amount for a backpacker to budget for in Kuta, this amount gives you more freedom and you can easily spend less.

Don’t forget if you are sharing a room you can half the cost of that.