Itinerary & Budget (Bali)

This article is focused on the most important aspect of travel planning which is Itinerary and budget for Bali. Since, we plan our own trips and recommend you do the same, we have provided an in depth detail on how to plan your trip, which places to cover in the days available and what will be an approximate budget for the same. Read on to explore our detailed itinerary and our budget for Bali trip.

As we have mentioned earlier, even a month’s itinerary is not enough to explore this beautiful Indonesian island. A minimum itinerary of 10 days is required to cover only the major attractions of Bali. If planning a shorter trip do check out this post to discover the main tourist attractions. Ours was an 8-day trip including departure and return. Therefore, we had to shortlist where we wanted to go. Hence, we were not able to cover most of the popular places.

Must know

• There are two things you need to remember while in Bali: first, start as early as possible in the morning and second, return before nightfall to avoid traffic.
• Almost every spot you visit takes a minimum of 1-2 hours. For most places even 2 hours are not enough. At most you may cover 4 spots in a day, maybe 5 if you rush a lot.
• Central Bali being a hilly region, the roads are winding and narrow. Although it may seem on the map that the places are nearby, they may lie on a separate route.
• Most of the time is spent in travelling. A 30 km distance is covered in approximately 1 hour.
• If you try to cover many places in a single day you will not be able to enjoy it fully. Bali is to be enjoyed at leisure.

For more tips and suggestions visit our Bali suggestions post.

Itinerary

We are providing a 9-days itinerary and the corresponding budget as a sample for Bali which may be extended/adapted to as many days as you want.

Kuta-Day 1:

• Arrive at Denpasar Airport. Since, most of the flights from India land post noon, it will be around 4-4:30 by the time you reach the hotel in Kuta.
• Explore Kuta beach. Market places and nightlife of Kuta.

South Bali- Day 2:

• Set out for a day trip to South Bali starting with Nusa Dua peninsula.
• Next visit the GWK park.
• Go to Melasti beach.
• Take your next stop at Suluban beach.
• Do watch the sunset at Uluwatu temple and/or attend the Kecak dance.
• Return to your hotel in Kuta

Nusa Penida- Day 3:

• Take an early morning ferry to Nusa Penida. Check in to your hotel and arrange a scooter.
• Go to Paluang Cliff, Car Temple, Kelingkling viewpoint and beach, Angel Billabong, broken beach.
• Watch sunset at Crystal Bay beach.
• This will cover major attractions of the western part of the island.

Nusa Penida- Day 4:

• Go to eastern part of the island.
• Stop at Diamond beach. Visit Atuh beach on the other side of the cliff to Diamond beach.
• Next go to Thousand Islands View point.
• Catch the ferry back to Bali. Enjoy for some time at Sanur beach. Take a cab to Ubud.

East Bali & Ubud- Day 5:

• Start early in the morning by 7 AM for east Bali. Start by 4-5, if you plan to visit Lempuyang temple (it is 2 hours ride from Ubud).
• You may cover Candidasa beach and lotus lagoon which are on the way to Lempuyang.
• Go to Tirta Gangga, Besakih temple, Tukad Cepung waterfall.
• Visit Ubud Palace and Lotus temple in the evening.

Central Bali- Day 6:

• Visit Monkey Forest (we skipped it).
• Go to Tegalalang Ceking Rice Terrace. Take time exploring the fields. Ride on all the swings.
• Your next stop will be Mount Batur view point in Kintamani. Enjoy the orange orchards on the way to the hill.
• Go to Kanto Lampo and Teganungun waterfall.
• Visit Goa Gajah, the cave temple.
• Spend your evening in Ubud.

West Ubud- Day 7:

• Go to Nung Nung waterfall.
• Next stop is Jatiluwih Rice terrace.
• Watch sunset at Tanah Lot temple.

North Bali- Day 8:

• Start your day with visit to Ulun Danu Beratan temple
• Stop at Handara Gate if you like.
• Go to Banyumala waterfalls, Git-git waterfalls and Aling-aling waterfalls.

(Day 7 and 8 may be clubbed by starting early, skipping Git-git and Aling-aling waterfalls)

Day 9:

• Take a cab directly from Ubud to Denpasar airport for your return flight.

Above is just a sample itinerary. You may customize it as per your preference. Spend as many days as possible in Ubud discovering waterfalls, volcano trekking, cycling through rice fields and learning yoga. We suggest you include staying at Uluwatu for 2 days and Lovina for 2 days if you have a longer trip. You can also spend a day or two on some of the other islands like Gili T, or Nusa Lembongan.

There are many stunning waterfalls, each different form the other. Waterfalls take time in getting down and climbing up all those steps. Temples’ campuses are huge and need to be explored in detail. Getting down to the beaches from cliffs takes 1-2 hours of time and uncountable calories. All in all, Bali needs time.

Budget

Let us now cover the second part of itinerary and budget for Bali which is- the budget. It is very important to note that the currency exchange values do not imply that a place is cheaper than your country. Each country follows a different currency exchange policy. Also, each country has its own guidelines on the use of currency. Although, Indonesian Rupiah has a lesser exchange value than Indian Rupee, it does not mean that Bali is cheap. Most of the travel influencers forget to mention this important point.

Exchange Rates

INR to IDR currency exchange is poor in India (poorer in Bali). We were getting a rate of 1 INR ~ 161 IDR in India. In Bali, it was ~140. We took the USD route to get IDR. It provided us an indirect exchange rate of 1 INR ~ 177 IDR.

Expenses

Following is a descending list of expenses we incurred on our trip to Bali:

Flights > Conveyance (Taxi+Ferry+local) > Hotel~ Entry Tickets > Food ~ Visa > Shopping > Water

As you can see from above the most was spent on flight tickets that too without check in luggage. Conveyance is not cheap whether you choose scooter, taxi or car rental. Buses do not take you everywhere. The lodging in Bali is very affordable as of now. This greatly varies from area to area and the type of stay you choose.

One stand-out expense that no one talks about Bali is that of entry tickets. Every tourist spot has an entry ticket of minimum 10.000 IDR. Food in Bali is also inexpensive considering you stick to local food. Foreign cuisine is more expensive than they are in India. Even Visa is not cheap by any means (although considering the visa validity, it might come off cheaper than most South Asian countries). We had local cuisine and almost spent as much on food as on our Visa. Yes, shopping is optional but water is not. Be smart about your choices. We have provided many suggestions and tips for Bali in this post.

Our expenditure break up (rounded figures) for an 8-day trip to Bali for two persons is laid out as under:

This was the most budget we could have travelled. We could have replaced the car rental with scooter rental but that would have caused a deduction of at most 6000 but with other difficulties.