Im travelling to Kuta on sunday and know its a popular destination for Australians.
I want to know what your best tip is to avoid over paying for anything from bartering to tours to general tips and tricks.
What is your best tip for traveling to Bali?
Happythoughts11qq on 07/03/2016 - 18:35
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The shopping is pretty poor in Bali, I have also been to Bandung and the shopping their is much much better. They only thing i would recommend buying is real merchandise from the outlet shops (nike, hurley ect) as they seem to be the only decent priced products.
And definitely go white water rafting if that is your thing, thoroughly enjoyed that.Definitely recommend something like http://www.hurley.com.au/hurley-phantom-hyperweave-mens-boar…, picked it up for around $60 AUD… takes a lot of abuse.
stay away from cameras - in particular ACA/TT reporters
Dont try and import large boogie board bags of drugs
Dont conspire to arrange export of class A narcotics either
Just don't.
You have to haggle on everything. Their starting price is always twice/three times what they'll take. They start high purposefully. This is for markets/tours etc real shops are just normal price tags
For crap you're buying at markets, about 10000 shops sell the same crap so if you're bargaining and you don't get what you want, move on and try again. ..if it's like a 20-30 purchase get a baseline
We are able to hire private drivers for $50 for 10 hours a day. most drivers are a little pushy to get you to hire them but are really nice once they have your business
The sellers at the markets are all really pushy and in your face..i don't bother being polite anymore and just ignore/firm no.
Only exchange money at official places. Eg Travelex. They have cubicles/outlets everywhere. Don't use any of the million places worth "official money changer" signs offering impossible exchange rates. They'll rip you off. You'll be able to tell the difference between legit and the fakers.
Make sure to spend time out of kuta. Explore Ubud, Seminyak, uluwatu beaches etc trip advisor is good for the standard hot spots
Best tip for traveling to Bali?
Don't go to Bali.
Pffft, so you can have it all to yourself. Nice try KaptnKaos.
You can all keep it to yourself and leave the good spots in Asia (not Bali) to me.
Or at least stay out of Kuta. The rest of Bali is quite nice.
Learn the basics of the language Hello, please, thank you etc. But for OzBargainers your key phrase is "berapalah harga pas?" How much is your best price?
With haggling, my rule is if I have no idea of the value of something then my buy price is 30% of their initial offer. NEVER make the first offer. Walking away also works well.
For example, recently in Thailand a niece was trying to buy a wooden elephant for her boyfriend. She was getting ripped off but managed to knock him down a bit. I jumped in and made an offer - the same price for 2 of them. The sales guy refused and I told her to not worry about it and we started to walk off. He yelled back and knocked the price up by $4. I said ok. Effectively we got 2 of them for the price she was about to buy 1.
You also need to remember that even though you're dealing in thousands, it's not a huge amount of money. Sometimes you end up haggling over $1-2 and sometimes it just isn't worthwhile. Don't get swept up in the excitement.
For other tips:
BEFORE getting in a taxi either agree on a price or demand they use the meter. If you're unsure of prices at first, just use the meter until you know roughly how much a trip will be.
Eat local food. It's cheaper and tastes better. If you eat street food make sure it's cooked in front of you.
Learn a few words in the local language particularly hello, thank you, 'that was very yummy' and how much. Knowing 1-10 is also useful.
Treat the locals with respect. I know this sounds like common sense - but it really isn't.
Sellers can be very pushy. Just don't acknowledge them otherwise you'll get tired of saying 'no' all the time.
Taxi wise, only ever use Official Bluebird Group taxi's, they only use the meter so no agreeing on a price beforehand or them trying to squeeze more money out of you at the end of the trip.
To be honest, once you know how much a trip roughly is. No harm in agreeing to a price. Sometimes you might pay $1 or more for it but it beats having to hunt down a specific taxi.
Mind you it's been a while since I've been to Bali and no plans to go back anytime soon (the world is too big a place for that). But I'd assume you can also use Grab Taxi to call a cab now too.
I found Uber to be pretty reliable if you're going to have data or close to wifi. Just make sure you enter your destination before you get in. Far easier than having to find/call a taxi.
@zappy32: In my experience, if in most of Asia, as long as you're in the middle of no where, finding a cab is usually as simple as walking onto the street and there's always one within shouting distance.
Apps like Uber and Grab Taxi are useful but they're rarely easier than just grabbing a cab which is likely sitting on the road within 100m of your location.
Yes, it's not finding one but finding one that won't rip you off that's the issue I usually face.. This was more in reply to finding a Bluebird taxi who are respectable.
If you Must go and want practical advice, my best one is to take heaps of bottled water with you. Don't touch their "drinking" water and be careful if you order any greens, they could have been washed in water unfit to drink. Even use your own bottled water to brush your teeth! Also, if you can't take enough Australian water, drink soft drink for thirst. If your drink is alcoholic, make sure water isn't added. The alternative is horrific and you'll bless me for this advice.
I went to Bali 2 months ago, you can safely drink their bottled water (branda AQUA) without bringing OZ water (that's completely nonsense!). I also drank a lot of POCARI SWEAT, it's an isotonic drink, helps you reintegrate minerals and vitamins
Ridiculous. Local bottled water is perfectly fine.
If you MUST go and want practical advice, my best one is to take heaps of bottled water with you. Don't touch their "drinking" water and be careful if you order any greens, they could have been washed in water unfit to drink. Even use your own bottled water to brush your teeth! Also, if you can't take enough Australian water, drink soft drink for thirst, or don't buy it from a street Vendor. If your drink is alcoholic, make sure water isn't added. The alternative is horrific and you'll bless me for this advice.
Don't be a dick, and don't treat Balinese as your slaves. I've seen some Australians at their worst in Bali. Stay at smaller hotels where you can get to know locals rather than the huge resorts
how does everyone get around ice cubes in cold drinks? Happy to go to extremes of brushing my teeth with bottled water but even if i'm getting a fruit juice at the very Aussie-fied cafes in Seminyank I'm presuming it'll come with ice cubes?
If other tourists are at the cafe, you can assume that they are using safe water. Most cafes and restaurants on Bali cater to westerners, and therefore they make sure that they are using good water. Also, check out reviews on Trip Advisor; if people mention getting sick, take it seriously; but heaps of good reviews from westerners would mean that it's safe.
check the hands and look for an adams apple. Oh wait thats not bali..
Arrange before going one of the Express/VIP services. For a small fee, when you arrive you simply hand over your papers/passport/etc to them (they stand there with a card with your name on it). You then walk past the queue of possibly hundreds waiting to be processed. On the way you identify your luggage from the carousel as you pass by to get to your waiting car. Yes it is perhaps not in the ozbargain spirit, but I have never ever left an international airport faster. Our plane was actually delayed in arriving, and landed at the same time as maybe two others and the queue we passed was huge so for us was worth every cent.
How do you organise this? And what would you consider a small fee? haha.
I think it was maybe $25 or $30 per person… something like that. Actually arranged it via the place we were staying at, but a quick google search finds quite a few out there. Now, it might not save you much time if everything works out fine re other flights. Just saying that because we arrived with two other planes and it was maybe 2am so we just wanted to get out of there asap it was well worth it. I'd consider it insurance - might not save you much time, but (as with us) it might be worth it.
This isn't available or needed anymore in the new airport. With just about everyone except for us Aussies having visa free entry, the VOA queue is very quick. I had to wait longer for my luggage than getting my VOA and going thru immigration.
Try and go off the beaten track if possible, the countryside is really beautiful and stunning and some of the smaller beaches and hidden gems. Otherwise I always recommend Gili islands if possible to those travelling to Bali (a boat ride, closer to Lombok but incredibly beautiful and a more relaxed).
It really depends on which of the Gili islands you are on too.
I was visited Nusa Lembongan last month and it was a great place to relax. If only you could teach people to not throw trash in to the sea..
Most useful tips are already mentioned above, so my tip is don't forget to visit Rock Bar
don't forget to get yourself a bintang singlet like every other idiot there
use the search function would be my tip…..
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/177429
etc