Visas
Most travellers will require visas to enter Bali.
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The Visa most people will require is the B1 visa also known as Visitor-on-Arrival. Some high level information about the visa is as follows:
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Length of stay: Up to 30 days (extendable for another 30 days).
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You will be allowed to:
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Conduct activities related to tourism, and visiting friends or family.
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Participate in meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions as an attendee.
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You will NOT be allowed to:​
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Perform PAID work.
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Exit and re-enter Indonesia.
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Stay in Indonesia after your visa expires.
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​This visa must be used within 90 days from the date of issue.
There are certain passports that qualify for visa-free entry, for the sake of completion we will list all the information below.
Visa-free entry
​List of visa free passports:
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Brunei Darussalam
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Cambodia
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Laos
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Malaysia
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Myanmar
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Philippines
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Singapore
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Thailand
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Timor Leste
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Vietnam
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Colombia
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Hong Kong (SAR)
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Suriname
B1- Visitor Visa
This visa is also known as Visitor-on-arrival (VOA) visa. You can apply online for this visa in advance or as the name suggest, do it on arrival. We've personally applied for it at the airport which takes roughly 15 minutes.
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If you choose to apply online, you can try https://www.balivisas.com.
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1 business day processing time
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Price: 750,000 IDR (roughly 45 USD at the time of writing)
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This visa must be used within 90 days from the date of issue. Cannot future date application so it should be done within 90 days of traveling.
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Applying on arrival
When you reach the airport customs, you can either do it yourself via your mobile device (you will most likely need to connect to the airport wifi) or queue up at the visa counters.
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If you're queueing, the lines move pretty fast​
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If you're applying yourself via mobile, there will be large LED screens throughout the customs where you can scan a QR code to go to the online application
Navigating the Bali Airport
Applying for Visa-on-Arrival, Getting a phone card and finding a Grab to your hotel
Applying for Visa-on-Arrival
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Head towards immigration
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Go find the Visa-on-Arrival counters and queue up. They move pretty quick.
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Once you're at the counter, they they will ask you to enter your email and passport info on an Ipad. Pay for it. Your passport will be registered on their system.
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Head towards the electronic immigration gates. If you have your passport registered with your visa, they will automatically open after you scan your passport and have your photo taken. If you have any issues here, go to the immigration counter.
Custom Declarations
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Fill out a declarations form OR scan the QR code you will see towards the customs gate
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Present the QR code from your electronic declaration or your declarations sheet to the customs officer
Getting a phonecard at the airport
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There will be MANY phone network providers at the airport as you as soon as you exit the customs declaration zone. The further you walk, the cheaper they get. The 3 main network providers are Telkomsel, XL Axiata, and Indosat. We have only tried XL Axiata but I wouldn't try anything outside of those because in Bali we are quite reliant on Grab for travelling.
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At the counters, as they service you they will take your phone and passport away from you. After they place a sim card in your phone, they will call a few numbers to activate your data. They will also take it to register the mobile device, I believe they are required by law to register any electronic device with an internet connection. Keep an eye on them if you don't feel safe with this.
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Test your internet connection before you leave, make sure they have returned your old physical sim card.
Getting a Grabcar to your hotel
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Follow the airport signs for Airport Ground Transportation until you pass the pickup area. There will be many people holding up signs for picking up and delivering to hotels.
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Walk straight past them until you see signs for Go-jek and Grab.
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Keep walking past them and you'll eventually reach the Grab car area which I think has a better UX and reputation.
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At this point the Grab employees there will help you install the Grab app from the App store and get you set up. They will even help you punch in your hotel address on the App.
Domestic Travelling
Traveling domestically in Bali is quite affordable. We haven't tried taxis but we've had pretty good experiences with Grab. The two main ride apps are Grab and Gojek.
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From the airport after you've left the arrival zone, you can follow the signs towards the ride sharing area of the airport. There are Grab employees there that can help you install the application and register an account and they can also help you order your ride to your hotel/resort destination.
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We're staying in Uluwatu and from our experience most places in Uluwatu are reachable within 30 minutes. Our longest ride which was 2 hours where we decided to go from Uluwatu to Seminyak (2 hour ride) costed 260,000 IDR (roughly 15 USD). You'll find that traveling within Uluwatu should cost you anywhere from 50,000 IDR (3 USD) - 120,000 IDR (7 USD).