Many people see Bali as the ideal destination for a holiday and many more have the island included on their bucket list, but is it still the perfect place for a relaxing vacation or should you consider going somewhere else?
We’ve put together the best reasons for visiting Bali, an honest examination of the most quoted (in the press) drawbacks and what the reality is, and a brief guide as to how you can help ensure that Bali is worth visiting during your stay in Bali.
The 20 Best Reasons To Visit The Indonesian Island Of Bali
Let’s start with the most compelling reasons to spend some time in Bali. These should help you decide whether or not the island is worth visiting before you book a Bali holiday.
Its Rich Cultural Heritage
Indonesia is a Muslim-majority nation, however, Islam is a relatively recent arrival to these shores and before there was Islam, most Indonesians were Hindus (with a strong Buddhist influence).
The only place where the old ways are still the majority is Bali. 87% of the locals are Hindu and the culture here is completely unique when compared to the rest of the archipelago.
The Balinese culture is warm, welcoming and hospitable and it can trace its traditions and festivals back for hundreds of years.
The Stunning Waterfalls
There are a lot of waterfalls in Bali and you’ll need to take more than one day trip to enjoy them all.
The good news is that each one offers a unique view of the heart of the island.
Watching water cascade over the clifftops as the light gently refracts in rainbows through the spray is an amazing spiritual experience.
You can even swim in many of the pools below the waterfalls here and enjoy an authentic slice of life in paradise.
Meeting The Friendly Locals
The one thing all travellers to Bali comment on is just how friendly the Balinese people are to visitors.
There’s nowhere on the planet that does hospitality as well as they do in Bali and that’s because it’s ingrained in the culture to welcome folks from foreign lands and to share the best things about this paradise island with them.
The Monkey Forests (Not Just Ubud Monkey Forest)
Not everybody likes monkeys, but for those who do there are several monkey forests where you can go and watch monkeys in the wild.
You can also encounter them at some of the temple sites, including Uluwatu Temple which has some of the world’s most unique monkeys.
Affordable Prices
While Bali is becoming more expensive, there’s no doubt that when compared to most Western nations, the island is very affordable.
Whether you take a room in a guest house in Nusa Penida, a hotel in Canggu or opt for a luxury villa near Batu Bolong Beach, you will find that the costs are far lower than they would be for the equivalent place to stay back home.
Delicious Cuisine
It would be remiss of us to make this list without talking about the delicious food that you can enjoy here in Bali.
It’s Indonesian food but with a local twist. You can’t find Babi Guling, roasted suckling pig, in much of the rest of the nation because Muslims don’t eat pig, but in Bali, people love pork.
Then there’s mie goreng, sate (or satay, of all varieties), and so much more and it’s all super tasty.
Amazing Dive Sites Like Menjangan Island
If you take a few hours out of your day, you can enjoy some amazing dive sites in Bali including those that other travellers rarely see.
Menjangan Island which is part of the West Bali National Park offers some incredible places to dive and it’s also home to some of Bali’s only native deer species!
The Extraordinary Rice Fields
Nobody should visit Bali without checking out some of the rice terraces (Tegallalang and Jatiluwih, in particular) and the UNESCO award-winning, Subak System.
Bali has, for hundreds of years, had one of the world’s most advanced irrigation systems proving that mankind and the environment can live in perfect harmony with a little forethought and planning.
The Chance To Practice Yoga In Ubud, Seminyak, Sidemen or Canggu
Yoga’s not everyone’s cup of tea but there’s no doubt that Bali is home to some of the world’s finest yoga shalas and yoga instructors.
Whether you want to do yoga to an ocean backdrop, a rainforest backdrop or something completely different, you can find it in Bali.
Swimming With Manta Rays
If you head out to the Nusa Islands (which are part of Bali’s administrative region) you can swim with manta rays, one of the only places on Earth to enjoy the company of these gentle giants of the sea.
You can also dive with the giant sunfish (the mola-mola fish) if you’re an experienced diver with one of the PADI schools on the islands.
Coworking Galore
Digital nomads will be pleased to learn that Bali is very friendly towards digital nomads and you can find coworking spaces in nearly every town on the island.
There are also co-living spaces in many areas (usually as part of a hostel arrangement) and the visa regime makes it easy to stay in Bali for up to 6 months at a time without leaving.
That means you could spend an entire month in six different areas of the island in just one visit!
The Extraordinarily Diverse Landscapes
One thing that makes Bali worth visiting is the extraordinary diversity of its landscapes from rice fields, to beautiful white sand beaches, to mountains, to rainforests, there’s something for everyone here in Bali.
The Potential For An Interesting Day Trip (or Two)
This corner of Southeast Asia is connected by short flights or boat journeys to plenty of other interesting places and you can enjoy trips to Lombok, the Gili Islands, Komodo, the Nusa Islands, and many other destinations from Bali.
The Amazing Nightlife
A lot of people come to Bali to let their hair down after a year of hard work and the party scene won’t disappoint you.
There are bars, pubs and clubs galore with everything from international DJs to live music.
The World’s Best Beach Club
You can’t really say that you’ve visited Bali at all, if you haven’t paid a visit to FINNS, the world’s best beach club, in Canggu.
If you love cold drinks, exceptional food, infinity pools, great music and spectacular sunsets, you’re sure to enjoy spending some time at FINNS.
FINNS is now so popular that 1 in 8 visitors to Bali spends, at least, one day of their trip on their comfortable loungers by the sea.
Incredible, Beautiful Beaches
Nusa Dua, Uluwatu, Lovina, Nusa Penida, Canggu, etc. There are so many places with lovely beaches for you to explore in Bali.
In fact, it’s one of the few places left where you can find a “secret beach” and have it all to yourself for the day.
Some Of The Best Surf On Earth
Bali features on the pro-surfing circuit and experienced surfers will love the chance to hit the beaches in Uluwatu and prove their mettle.
Beginner surfers can find surf schools in Canggu and Kuta that will help them gain the skills to tackle the more advanced surf destinations here.
Temples That Will Blow Your Mind
Besakih Temple, Tanah Lot, Ulun Danu Beratan, and so many more!
Bali is said to have over twenty thousand temples and while you can’t visit them all, the ones you can visit will give you a whole new perspective on Balinese life.
Active Volcanoes You Can Climb
Mount Batur is an amazing volcano hike, particularly if you aim to enjoy breakfast (you can cook the eggs in volcanic steam vents!) at the summit at sunrise.
Mount Agung, the island’s tallest mountain and volcano, is a serious challenge for experienced hikers but the view from the top is worth the effort of the climb.
The Best Sunsets On Earth
There are sunsets and there are Bali sunsets. We’re not sure why the light breaks over the horizon at the close of each day here so delightfully, but it does.
If you’ve always wanted to see the perfect sunset, you’re most likely to see it in Bali. Sunrise is pretty amazing too, but many people don’t want to get up that early on their holidays to see it.
The 12 Often Quoted “Downsides” Of Bali And The Reality
No place is without any flaws, however, there’s sometimes a tendency for media and influencers to exaggerate flaws as “clickbait”.
We take a look at 12 of the most commonly quoted “issues” with Bali and see what truth really lies beneath the surface.
Bali Has Too Many Tourists
It’s simply not true that Bali has too many tourists. It is fair to say, however, that at the busiest times of the year, the most popular places on the island can feel very busy and crowded.
This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. You will find that although the island is fairly large and there are a huge number of places to see and so many things to do, many people come to Bali for the nightlife and that’s concentrated around Kuta, Legian, Canggu and Seminyak.
So, if you visit these towns and also the popular tourist destination of Ubud during your time in Bali and it’s peak season, you should be prepared for some queues at attractions and to share your space with a few passersby.
However, there’s an entire island to choose from when you visit Bali and you will find North Bali, East Bali and Central Bali offer plenty of places with natural beauty, deserted beaches and verdant rice paddies where you might be the only tourists in sight.
Bail Has Been Overhyped
We’re not sure what this means, to be honest. In recent months the media has been trying to push the answer “no” to the question “Is Bali worth visiting?” in every other article.
Whether Bali is overhyped usually boils down to the media that you consume and the circles that you move in.
We certainly don’t believe that visiting Bali is overrated. There are so many amazing things to see and do on this island and it has a unique vibe that you can’t find anywhere else on Earth.
One easy way to see that this Indonesian Island is worth visiting is through the ever-growing number of international visitors and the number of people, who having visited Bali in the past, return again and again.
You Have To Pay For Every Single Thing
Yes, it’s true when you visit Bali, you’ll be expected to pay an entrance fee at most attractions on the island.
Some of these fees make sense, it’s not unreasonable for temple sites, for example, to charge visitors a maintenance fee – the locals who come to pray will leave donations, whereas tourists rarely do.
If you’d like the stunning waterfalls to remain stunning examples of natural beauty, then an entrance fee that helps pay to keep the site clean is fair enough.
But we can understand how you might be irked to be asked to cough up 50,000 IDR (that’s about $3 USD and $5 AUD) to take a photo of the entry gate to a golf course (the Handara Gate is a very popular destination for Instagrammers) but nobody’s obliged to go these places.
These instances are the exception, not the rule, though and most entrance fees in Bali are fairly low (around $1 USD or $1.50 AUD) and very reasonable.
Only Some Of The Beaches Are Lovely
We find this an odd criticism of any Indonesian island. Sure, some beaches are prettier than others and when you visit Bali, you need to understand that Kuta Beach, for example, is not the only beach on the island.
But nobody who has ever set foot on the beaches of Nusa Dua, for example, or the beaches of the Bukit Peninsula has ever complained that the golden sands and turquoise waters were unappealing.
And while the Black sand beaches are sometimes considered less attractive by some visitors, we’d note that if you see them as the tide rolls out at sunset, they are spectacularly beautiful places.
The light reflects off the sands in these circumstances in a way that it never can on a white sand beach.
Bali Is Too Polluted
It’s hard to disagree with the sentiment here, though we have to say that if we were to start being honest about pollution, almost everywhere in the world in 2024 is too polluted.
Having said that, there is a plastic problem in Bali and it’s something we’ve acknowledged elsewhere on the site too.
This problem is well recognized by the government, the local community and local businesses and there’s a lot of work being done to ensure that this magical island remains clean and beautiful for visitors.
That doesn’t mean that these efforts are always immediately successful, for example, during the rainy season it’s not unknown for large amounts of waste to wash up on the beaches here from the ocean – it takes time to clean the beaches up after that but they always are cleaned up.
Things are getting better with respect to pollution and the new tourist tax is expected to help raise revenue for further waste management efforts on the island.
Bali Has Too Much Traffic
No, some parts of Bali at peak hours of the day have heavy traffic. You may find that when you visit Bali that you end up in the occasional traffic jam.
It’s important to realize, however, that those traffic jams occur because everyone is opting to travel at the same time of day.
Get up a bit earlier in the morning, or leave a little later in the evening and you’ll find that the roads are much easier to navigate.
Most people who have visited Bali will have encountered a traffic jam or two but it’s not the sort of thing that is going to ruin your holiday.
Balinese Infrastructure Isn’t Good Enough
This seems like an odd thing to worry about as a tourist. Sure, you may find that in busy locations the internet is a bit slower than it is back home, but that shouldn’t be a major issue.
Power cuts are rare and can happen at home too.
There is a definite need for investing in infrastructure in Bali but the majority of those investments will only be noticed by expats and locals when they are made.
The infrastructure of Bali is more than good enough to support an amazing holiday experience.
There Are Too Many Scams
It’s fair to say that scammers do exist in Bali though it’s worth remembering that this is true in any popular location on Earth but scams in Bali are relatively rare.
The most common and easily avoided are:
Taxi scams are avoided by using the Grab or Gojek ride-share applications
Money-changing scams are avoided by using an official money changer rather than one offering a rate that’s “too good to be true
Ngurah Rai International Airport (Denpasar Airport)
Yes, Ngurah Rai is one of the busiest airports, per capita, on Earth and yes, that means you get the occasional flight delay or the queues for immigration are a little longer than you’d like.
However, the service at the airport is first rate and the amenities are world-class. If you do have to wait for a flight, it’s a nice place to spend some time.
There is a new airport, potentially, being built in North Bali and when that comes online, it’s likely to help relieve some of the pressure on Ngurah Rai but overall, the airport here in Bali is pretty good already.
Kuta Is Awful
No, it’s not. Sure, we can appreciate that not every holidaymaker is looking for what Kuta has to offer, but it’s one of the island’s most popular resort towns for good reason.
Kuta Beach is pleasant enough, it’s good for surfing or a surf lesson or two, the area has excellent shopping malls, great restaurants and bars, and some of the most popular (and best value) nightlife on the island.
Bali Is Overrun With Influencers
No, it’s not. Sure, there are influencers in Bali (all of them tackling the question “Is Bali worth visiting?” in their own way but while you may spot some at the most popular tourist destinations, it’s also possible to go months in Bali without seeing a single influencer.
Influencers are often behind many people’s urge to visit Bali in the first place and while we wouldn’t be overjoyed if all the rice paddies were filled with folks clutching Go-Pros and microphones, they’re not.
It’s No Longer “Authentic”
Yes, it is. In fact, Bali will always be authentically Balinese. It’s just not the same Bali that you would have seen 20 years ago.
All over the world, places change and they do so all of the time. That’s because this beautiful island and the amazing people on it aren’t museum exhibits, they are changing, growing and learning as everyone around the world does.
Sure, you can’t rent a villa for $5 a week any more and enjoy a local’s homecooked Nasi Goreng for another $1 on top, but the villa you do rent will have electricity, glass windows and internet thanks to progress.
The Balinese culture will always remain hospitable, kind and generous to outsiders, but this corner of Southeast Asia has to change as everywhere else does too.
How You Can Play Your Part To Ensure That It’s Worth Visiting Bali
Keep It Respectful For The Balinese People
Balinese culture is warm and welcoming and generally speaking tolerant of visitors and their unusual ways.
However, there has been a growing number of incidents where tourists have completely disrespected local temples and sacred sites.
Unsurprisingly, this isn’t conducive to good relationships between locals and their guests.
It’s not hard to read up on the local culture and then conduct yourself appropriately and when you do, you’re ensuring that when the next person comes to visit Bali that their welcome will be as warm as the one you received.
Think Sustainably When You Visit Bali
We can all help to make the traffic lighter and to reduce the amount of pollution that we create in Bali.
You can book an eco-resort, you can use a reusable water bottle rather than disposable plastic bottles, you can offset the carbon you use for your flights, you can take part in a beach clean-up exercise and so much more.
Bali is worth visiting now and if we all do our part, it will be worth visiting well into the future too.
Research Your Destinations
If you know you have preferences for your holiday destinations, it pays to cater to them when you book your holiday.
Stay in the areas of Bali that appeal to your likes and dislikes, if you want a beach, stay by one, if you want rice paddies and rice fields, head to Ubud and so on… digital nomads might even want to look at coworking spaces in advance.
You have a great deal of control over whether you have a pleasant time in Bali and there’s never been more information available to you to help you make your decision.
FAQs
Is Bali Worth Visiting For Tourists?
Yes! We think it’s worth visiting Bali. Of course, we wouldn’t be here if we didn’t think that Bali was one of the most amazing places on Earth.
Some highlights awaiting visitors include Bali’s waterfalls, rice paddies, international cuisine, rich culture (and a culture that is distinct from anywhere in Indonesia), amazing hotels, stunning temples, monkey forests and more.
Is Bali Worth Visiting Anymore?
Yes! Bali is worth visiting now. Bali is changing but that doesn’t mean that Bali has become a bad place for a holiday.
In actual fact, it means it’s easier to explore the island than ever before and that there are a great range of amenities for visitors to enjoy.
Is Bali Or Thailand Better?
This is a subjective choice but we think Bali is worth visiting and so is Thailand. However, Bali is a single island that forms part of the Indonesian archipelago and has a unique culture (not least because Bali is majority Hindu, the only part of Indonesia to sustain this traditional belief system) that cannot be found elsewhere.
In contrast, Thailand is an entire country and what kind of culture, etc. that you will find there very much depends on where in Thailand that you choose to visit.
What’s It Like To Go On Holiday In Bali?
Bali is the perfect place to leave your day-to-day life behind and enjoy restaurants, spas, sunbathing, gorgeous sunsets, exotic dances and much, much more.
Every holiday in Bali is unique but there’s no doubt that most people who stay in Bali are glad that they did.
Are Tourists Going Back To Bali?
Bali is seeing more tourists in a post-pandemic world than it saw before the pandemic. Not only are tourists coming back to Bali, but they’re doing so in their droves.
Is It Safe To Go To Bali Right Now?
Yes! Bali is a very safe place and while you do need to take some basic safety precautions in Bali, your biggest concerns will be with petty theft, nothing more serious.
Is Tourism Down In Bali?
No. In fact, despite some doom and gloom from certain areas of the press, Bali is currently welcoming .
What’s It Really Like In Bali?
It’s amazing in Bali. Seriously, that’s why we live and work in Bali, the tropical climate, vibrant culture and wide range of first-rate facilities make life on this island very pleasant indeed.
You will be hard-pressed to find a more genuinely welcoming people than the Balinese or a more beautiful island than Bali.
Is Kuta Beach Really That Bad?
No, it’s not. Kuta won’t appeal to everyone. The area is famous for its cheap nightlife and bar scene. But if you enjoy cheap nights out, you can have a great time in Kuta.
The area also has some excellent restaurants and cafes, lots of things to do and superb shopping complexes.
Is Bali Overrated?
Is Bali overrated? No, we don’t think it is. If you even took a single-day trip here from other parts of Indonesia, we think you’d have an amazing time in Bali.
Spend a few weeks here and you may not want to leave. Book your next trip here and see for yourself.
How To Book A Holiday In Bali?
We always recommend that you book through the Bali Res Centre, they can help ensure that your time in Bali is exactly as you had envisioned it.
They can arrange slow travel between destinations, day trips, short boat rides (and ferry and fast boat tickets), your accommodation, and your flights and they can do so at very competitive rates.
Final Thoughts On Visiting Bali
One of the best things about travelling the world is that there are many amazing places to go, but there’s no doubt in our minds that Bali is worth visiting and that it’s one of the best destinations on Earth to get away from it all.
FINNS Beach Club is here in Bali because of our deep love for this island, its people, its culture and its natural beauty.
Bali is exactly what you make of and for most people, it delivers one of the most amazing holiday experiences of their lives.
