How to reach (Bali)

This post is all about how to reach the island of Bali from India. We have also covered in detail the Visa types to obtain before reaching Bali and the process of getting those Visa. We will also describe in detail the Indonesian currency, its exchange rates and how to get best exchange rates.

There are two modes in which you can travel to Bali from India. One is by air and the other by road. Both routes are shown in the map below. However, as you can see, the road route should be taken only if you are really a road trip enthusiast. It is not convenient because you need to cover approximately 7500 Km taking about 145 hours and cross several countries’ borders.

Flights

Flights are the best mode of how to reach Bali. There are no direct flights to I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport, Denpasar, Bali from India. Bali is about 3700 km from Kolkata and 5400 km from Mumbai. No matter the airline you choose; it is bound to have a layover at any one of the cities in between. Major layover cities include Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Bangkok (depending upon the airlines). This mode will offer you one of the best views you will ever encounter specially once you enter Indonesian archipelago.

Air Asia offers the most economical flights to Bali starting from ₹12,500 to ₹20,000 (one way). These flights do not have check-in luggage.

We did a lot of brain wracking while our planning and observed the following:

1. There are no direct flights
2. The longer the layover the lesser the price. Minimum layover of three and a half hours.
3. For example, Air Aisa flights had an average layover of about five hours and the ticket price was around ₹14,000 (without check-in luggage). Malindo Air had flights with luggage at the price of around ₹16,000 but the layover was upwards of 12 hours! As we always point out, you would always have to trade-off between price and time.
4. Transit Visa issues. The transit visa rules for the layover city vary from country to country. This is the most important point we have discussed later in the article.

We chose Air Asia flight with layover at Kuala Lumpur (all Air Aisa flight have same layover) of 3 hours and 45 minutes. The return trip cost approximately ₹32,000 per person in the peak season of August for tickets booked in June. For ticket booking tips please read our post research.

Transit Visa

A transit Visa is a type of Visa required by a country if you are to stop in that country before transit to another country. Transit Visa is a must in the following cases:

1. You leave the airport premises/ change the airports.
2. You are required to go through immigration either to collect the luggage or check-in to another flight.

You do not need a transit Visa if:

1. Tickets are under single PNR.
2. Tickets under separate PNR and not changing airport/no baggage claim (no checked luggage)/ no customs/ no check-in for onward flight.
3. Only changing terminals in the same airport.

N.B: If you are travelling with check-in luggage, ensure to book the same airlines for both legs of the journey under a single PNR. In this case you do not need to collect the luggage and hence, no transit Visa is required.

You need a transit visa only if your bookings are under different PNR with different airlines and you have check-in luggage also. This usually happens when you are using flight aggregators for booking cheap flights. They generate combination of flights to reduce prices and you might end up booking those tickets. It is fine till you do not have check-in luggage as then you do not need to leave the boarding area of the airport or go through immigration to collect your luggage.

VISA

While discussing about how to reach Bali, we have covered the flights in the above paragraphs. Now we get to the Visa part. Bali offers both e-visa as well as visa on arrival for Indian tourists. The duration for a tourist visa is 30 days.

E-Visa

You may apply for e-Visa through the official immigration website of Indonesia as under:

https://molina.imigrasi.go.id

Documents required for e-Visa are:

1. Scanned image of Passport
2. Passport size photograph
3. Return tickets
4. A VISA or Mastercard debit/credit card for payment.

The cost of e-Visa is 5,00,000 IDR (Indonesian Rupiah). Applying for an e-Visa will additionally cost you conversion rate of the issuing bank, mark-up charges and GST.

Visa on arrival

Indonesia offers visa on arrival for Indian tourists and it is the easiest way to obtain visa. Visa on Arrival can be obtained at the airport in Bali. Just before immigration, there are counters servicing visa on arrival. All you need is a passport to get this visa. Charges are 500,000 IDR or $35. If you pay in USD, they return the change in IDR on prevailing conversion rates.

Currency