Bali & its 8 Islands

⚠️ Entry rules and local regulations change without notice. Before booking, check entry requirements and local rules — visas, access, nature reserves, visitor quotas — with the official authorities.

Bali is the island of the gods — the terraced rice fields of Tegallalang, the sea temples of Tanah Lot and Uluwatu, the monkey forest at Ubud, and the surf that made Kuta and Seminyak famous. But Bali is really the gateway to a small archipelago. Nusa Penida drops sheer cliffs into the Indian Ocean; Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan are joined by a narrow suspension bridge; the three Gili islands — Trawangan, Air and Meno — offer white sand and turtles within snorkelling distance. Further east, Lombok is wilder still, with the Rinjani volcano rising to 3,726 m and the empty beaches of Kuta Lombok. Eight islands, eight moods, one trip.

A Hindu island in the world's largest Muslim country

This is the key to making sense of Bali. Indonesia is close to 90 % Muslim, yet Bali has remained Hindu — and not quite the Hinduism of India, but a local form braided together with animism and ancestor worship. It explains the small palm-leaf offerings laid at every doorway each morning, the thousands of family temples, and a ceremonial calendar that shapes daily life far more than the working week does. Visitors are welcome at temples, provided they wear a sarong and sash — almost always lent at the entrance — and stay outside the inner courtyard during a ceremony.

That religious life is not staged for tourism. A procession may close a road for an hour; a village may be entirely occupied by a cremation. Treating those moments as an inconvenience is the surest way to misunderstand the island.

The dry season — and the day the island stops

The dry season runs from April to October, with July and August the driest and busiest months. The wet season, November to March, brings heavy afternoon downpours rather than all-day rain; prices fall, the rice fields are at their greenest, and mornings are often clear.

One date deserves planning around: Nyepi, the Balinese day of silence, in March. For twenty-four hours the entire island shuts down — no traffic, no shops, no lights, and the airport itself closes. Visitors must stay inside their accommodation. Arriving that day is impossible; arriving the day before, and watching the ogoh-ogoh effigies paraded and burned, is one of the most striking things Bali offers.

Time, the scooter and the driver

Distances on the map are misleading. Bali is small, but the roads are narrow and congested: Denpasar to Ubud is under 30 km and takes well over an hour. Anyone planning three areas in a week will spend most of it in traffic. Two bases — south for the beaches, Ubud for the interior — work far better.

Scooters are how most people get around, and how most people get hurt. An international driving permit with the motorcycle category is legally required, police checks are routine, and travel insurance will not pay out without one. Hiring a car with a driver for the day costs little more than renting one alone, removes the parking problem entirely, and comes with someone who knows which temple is closed that morning.

Essentials & your questions