I have to admit that when the country Bali comes to mind, it’s not necessarily the first country you think of as a budget travel country. You probably first think about honeymoon suites and expensive all-inclusive resorts. But the truth is, Bali falls on either side of the spectrum. You can survive in Bali on only a few American dollars a day- or you can go all out and spend thousands of dollars a day. Somewhere in the middle, but still on the budget side of things is ballin’ on a budget in Bali. In the fall of 2018, my husband and I spent about a month traveling around Bali, and for the most part, did so spending an average of 15-20 American dollars per day per person. WHAT?! Yes, that is correct. And I am going to break down exactly how my husband and I did this.
Since we spent a total time of 1 month in Bali this was just too much to break down in one blog post, so I am going to break this down in two different posts. We spent the majority of our time in a few different areas, while exploring others nearby. First, I will talk about our time in Ubud, Canggu, Denpasar, and Seminyak areas, and next week I will go over our time in Nusa Penida and Uluwatu.
Flight
The first thing I need to cover is our flight, because of course that is one of the largest expenses to get to any destination. There are several ways you can do this, which I will touch on down the road more in-depth, but for this particular flight, I simply just monitored flight prices for about a year in advance and we had flexible travel plans. We knew we wanted to travel South-East Asia, but we were very flexible with where we started traveling. We also had time, which not everyone always has, but if you do, taking multiple flights sometimes helps break down costs as well. One other trick is if you don’t live next to a major airport, you can search flights out of major airports nearby that would be cheaper and just look at getting a small connecting flight. For us, we live outside of Metro Detroit which is a decent-sized airport, but I also always look at flights out of Chicago and New York. Every day I would log on and check flights into major airports around Southeast Asia. One day, I just so happened to find a one-way ticket flight from Chicago to Denpasar International Airport in Bali for only $300, and I bought the tickets that day- no extra thought put forth. It was too good of an opportunity to miss. Also, the train from Detroit to Chicago was cheap as well and worth the commute for the cheap plane tickets. We had a few connections but, our main plane was EVA Air which was top-notch and Hello Kitty Themed.
Ubud and Canggu Accommodations
Typically, when we budget travel, we look at a few different accommodation options including Couch Surfing, Hostels, and Air BnB’s. Although some people may be against sleeping in hostels in a shared room with other strangers, sometimes you can get a private room at hostels that is much cheaper than what you would pay for a hotel room. Some of our favorite hostels in Bali included WW Backpackers Hostel in Ubud and Surfers Dorm House in Canggu. We were able to grab these accommodations for around $6-8 a night. What a steal! Although hostels around the world are a little pricier today, you can still find a good hostel in Bali for less than $10!
Another major score that we still can’t believe happened is an amazing couch surfer that we stayed with in Bali. We had our profile on Couchsurfing and that we were in Bali and this gentleman reached out to us asking if we were looking for accommodations because most couch surfers don’t host couples. After all, they don’t have enough space for two people. We were a little hesitant, but jumped on the opportunity. Long story short, we met an extremely lovely soul and made a friend for life. As well as meeting a great group of other couch surfers. Although this is extremely rare, instead of crashing on someone’s couch, we were escorted to a private villa with 3 bedrooms, an outdoor kitchen, and a pool. We thought for sure that a mistake had been made and let our new friend know that there was no way we would be able to afford this, but he let us know if would be free for us to stay there. Come to find out, the owners were also couch surfers and our friend was the manager of the place, and the owner would let couch surfers crash when it wasn’t booked. We had scored big. So, for the next two weeks, on and off we stayed in a gorgeous villa, along with some new couch surfing friends. This was a huge relief for our budget and allowed us to splurge on some of our activities. You don’t always get this lucky, but when you open yourself up to new experiences that may be out of your comfort zone, sometimes the universe rewards you with the best experience imaginable.
Transportation
This is another aspect people don’t necessarily consider when they travel is if you don’t have a personal car, the expense of getting from place to place can add up. Most of the time, we walk as much as humanly possible. I think some days we clocked in around 10 miles of walking per day in Bali, but that’s just us, not everyone always wants to hoof it everywhere they go. Thankfully, Bali has a few different options. Grab and Gojek are two transportation companies used around Southeast Asia and are like Lyft and Uber. You download an app on your phone and call for a ride. One big difference in Bali is that you can call for a scooter which is much cheaper than a car ride. Typically, $1-$3 for a ride depending on where you are going. If you aren’t a daredevil however, proceed with caution calling for a scooter rental, because the few rides I had were a little dicey. But all a part of the experience!
The next option you have is to just rent a scooter for a day or week. Again, you can typically get these rentals for super cheap, although you will need to get an internal Driver’s permit IDP, otherwise you risk getting pulled over and getting a ticket. And if you aren’t aware of the rules of the road or comfortable driving, it can be risky to drive yourself. We had a few friends who got into minor accidents while they were traveling. Thankfully everyone was okay, walking away with minor injuries, but we saw regular scooter accidents on the daily while out in town.
Another option, just a little more pricy but still well worth it if you truly want to feel like a baller on a budget, is to get a personal car rental for the day. We rented a car for the day with a few friends, and it was only 550,000 Rupiah or about $36 split between the four of us for a private driver. Our group truly felt like royalty being able to do this and explore around Bali with a personal driver!
Food
As far as food goes, it’s all up to you how much you would like to spend. When traveling, a good rule of thumb is to go where the locals go. For Bali, the best and most affordable places to eat are called local Warungs, which translates to a small shop or restaurant. Our favorite go-to local dishes were Nasi goreng or Mie goreng, coming in at less than 1 American dollar for an entire plate of food that was delicious. Most of the time, we only go out to eat once or twice to save our budget, but Bali was the exception. Everywhere you look, there is a local Warung offering authentic Balinese food for Penny’s on the dollar. There are even a few buffets for only a few dollars if you want to try all the local delicacies.
Attractions
When it comes to activities to do in Bali, there are a multitude of things you can do for free or cheap. If you are looking for free things to do, of course just walking around and exploring is the best. You never know what you will find, and you can run into some of the best shops and markets where you can just browse or even get to know the locals. Specifically in Ubud, you can check out the Campuhan Ridge Walk. It is a stunning walk to explore some of the best sights that Ubud has to offer!
While in Ubud, I mentioned that we rented a car for the day and split it between a few friends to travel to some waterfalls and rice fields nearby. The waterfalls we explored were Tukad Cepung Waterfall, Kanto Lampo Waterfall, and Tegenungan. The great things about these waterfalls were they were all free to hike and explore! We also checked out a massive rice field that was only a few dollars to enter and well worth it.
Our one Splurge while in Ubud, was our volcano hike to Mount Batur, which was only a splurge because of our very minimal budget. If I remember correctly, it was only $20-$25 American which is a steal. This was an unforgettable experience, hiking an active volcano at sunrise.
Some of the other cheap or free attractions I would recommend around the Canggu/Seminyak area include the beaches, surfing, clubs, Monkey Forest, and coffee plantations. The beach is self-explanatory, gorgeous, and free experience, especially at sunset. If you want to elevate your beach experience just a little, our favorite bar was Hidden Beach Bar in the Canggu area, where we watched the sunset almost every night with either a fresh coconut or beer in hand for around $1. It was spectacular.
If you want to learn the art of surfing on a budget this is also completely doable. There are surfboards for rent all over the beach and with some bargaining I think we scored one for around $10 a day. (You can also make friends that have surfboards and would be willing to teach you!)
Although my husband and I aren’t typically club people, we wanted to experience one of the clubs that Bali had to offer, so this was also a splurge experience for us at the Sky Garden Club. At around $10 per person, we gained entry into the club and all-you-can-eat and drink access until midnight! Not a bad price for drinks, food, and entertainment for the night on a budget!
My last two top recommendations on a budget, for these areas in Bali would be the Monkey Forest in Ubud and a Luwak Coffee Plantation. The Monkey Forest is just something you have to experience once in your life as well as having a cup of the world’s most expensive cup of coffee, while still on a budget.
Overall, Bali is such a travel gem, because whether you are on a shoestring budget, or if you want to feel royalty, you will find something to your liking. From $15 a day or $100 a day, you are going to have the time of your life. There are a ton of other things to do in the Ubud or Canggu/Seminyak areas, but these are just some of my top budget recommendations. What would be on the top of your list to see and do? Next week, I will go over more specifics on areas of Nusa Pendida and Uluwatu in Bali!