GETTING AROUND IN BALI

*) This was during my last stay in May – July 2022. Prices can fluctuate per season, the age of the bike and through whom you may rent your motorbike.

So as you can see, a Scoopy or Honda Vario will cost you around 70k-90k IDR per day, and an NMax around 150k IDR per day. Renting them for a week, and even better if for a month, will get the day price down quite a lot. Renting a Scoopy or Honda Vario for a month costs around 1.2M IDR per month (40k IDR per day), and an NMax around 2.4M IDR per month (80k IDR per day).

A Scoopy is fine to get you around most popular places. Alone or with a +1 on the back. At least if both of you aren’t too big. Like what might happen with 2 large Dutch people for example.

A Honda Vario will offer a little bit more power. It is the motorbike that I would normally rent. Pricewise it is way more competitive then renting an Nmax. Especially if you are travelling alone.

But if you do want some more power and torque (which definitely is useful if you are traveling together with a bit of luggage on you, and are planning to go up the mountains), then I would recommend you to get an Nmax. It has some more luggage space under the seat, but it doesn’t have any space between the legs. It is also a bit larger and bulkier to drive then a Vario. But it should get you up the hills fairly easily.

The funny thing is, I am talking here about being alone or with someone else on the motorbike. Or going up hills together. But if you are driving around Bali, it will not be uncommon to see a family of 4 driving along on one motorbike.

I got my Motorbike the last time near my accommodation in Canggu. At Family rental. The owner Decho Vials is a great guy. You can contact him through this number +628179736394 if you would like to rent a motorbike. He really offered some excellent service:

• If you are staying around the popular places like Canggu, Kuta, or Sanur, they offer a free drop off or pick-up service. For example: on my last day in Bali, he got a pick-up arranged to come and get my scooter at my hotel near the airport in Kuta. If you are staying further away (like in Ubud for example), they also do it. But for a small additional fee.
• I initially rented my motorbike for a month, but decided to extend it for a second month. He got a pick-up arranged to get the extension payment picked up at my hotel in Jimbaran.
  
• He also really helped me out when my helmet got stolen at the Sanur harbor. He arranged a nearby contact of his to bring me a helmet. Within 15 minutes even. So I was quickly on my way again.

A few little tips for when renting a scooter:

Tip 1: Get your international drivers license arranged before you leave for Bali. You will need this license to be officially allowed to drive a motorbike in Bali. Most tourists don’t have one. But you can get in trouble if you don’t have one when you do cause an accident.

Tip 2: Be sure you are allowed do drive a motorcycle with your license. For example: with a Dutch drivers license, you area allowed to drive a scooter in the Netherlands if you have a car drivers license. But the motorbikes in Bali are considered a class above it. The so called A category in the Netherlands. So be sure you have an actual motorcycle drivers license. Otherwise your insurance will not cover you if you have an accident.

Tip 3: Be aware of corrupt police officers. I will always encourage you to have all the right paperwork in order, and to have it on you at all times. But I know there will be a lot of you who will probably not do that. And the Balinese Police also knows this. So you can come across a so called police “checkpoint” (especially in the popular tourist area’s), where corrupt police officers will only stop foreigners on their motorbikes. Hoping they do not have their paperwork in order. And then will wait for you to give them a small bribe of something like 20k or 50k IDR. Before they will let you go on your way again.

Tip 4: Stow away your helmet if you have a new or more popular looking one. Helmets do get stolen in Bali. It is not super often, but it does happen. And it can be very annoying. But it is mostly if you have a very new or good looking helmet. So don’t just put your helmet on your steering handle, or just clip it to the strap underneath the seat. As they can just simply take it, or cut the chord /break open the seat if you strapped it in. So just stow it away. So it is not visible. Especially if you leave your motorbike unattended for a very long time. That is why you often are given an older helmet when renting a motorbike. Those are less likely to get stolen and are very cheap. A new helmet is not that expensive. Around 150k-300k IDR. But it is a nuisance if it does get stolen.

Tip 5: Leave your bike at a local for a small fee. If you are for example at Sanur harbor and you are leaving your bike unattended for a few days, it is best to stow your bike at a locals place for a small fee. The company I was renting my motorbike from told me this. Apparently it is not uncommon, and you don’t risk your helmet being stolen. Like what unfortunately happened to me when I parked my car for 4 days at Sanur harbor.

Taxi: Blue Bird Group

If you want to get around in Bali, but you do not want to drive a motorbike. You will almost surely get a taxi to get you from A to B.

Now I did notice a steep drop in the amount of taxis on the streets post Pandemic. My gut feeling would say that maybe 10% of the total amount of taxis were left. Before you couldn’t walk 10 feet on the streets without a cab honking its horn at you. Offering you a ride. But Post Pandemic, there were a lot less taxis on the streets. Especially a lot less of the less reliable ones. Because there are many different taxi companies driving around in Bali. And they all seem to look alike. But if you do hail a cab on the streets. Try looking for the Blue Bird Group taxis. They are the most reliable company.

Blue Bird Group cabs look blue. But so do most of the other taxi companies. Because they tried to copy Blue Bird Group. However, this is what their logo looks like. And it should say the name Blue Bird on the side of the cab.

Now there are a few tips to be mentioned here:

Tip 1: Taxi “mafia” might prevent you from hailing a Blue Bird in some area’s. Blue Bird cabs are refrained from being allowed to pick up people directly from the airport or at other area’s where the local taxi “mafia” roams (basically locals not allowing regular taxi’s to pick up people in area’s, to enforce tourists to use their locally operated taxi’s). You can recognize these areas. As they hang up sings with logos of taxi companies with crosses through them. But a Blue Bird taxi is allowed to drop people off. So if you are lucky and there is a Blue Bird dropping a person of, you can quickly take this cab for a regular fee.

Tip 2: If you do hail a Blue Bird taxi on the street, ask to ride on the meter. Don’t try to do a fixed price. For example: the taxi I hailed near the airport to get me to my Canggu accommodation, tried to make a price deal for 150k IDR. But I asked for the meter. And in the end my trip cost me only 90k IDR.

Tip 3: FYI, the blue bird group also has an app: They have an app for Apple and Android. You can use it to hail a cab. Of course this only works at the more populated areas. Not in the middle of nowhere. But the app works really nice. You can see on a map how many cabs are around you, who is picking you up, and how far the person exactly is from you. And besides that, when you book a ride you can also see a price estimate and the different car type options available (4 seater, 6 seater, etc.)

Taxi: Gojek or Grab

Besides the Blue Bird Group, there are also other types of companies providing a very reliable taxi service in Bali. And those companies are Grab and Gojek:

or

Both of these are transport services in the most general sense. You can use them to get food delivered, or basically any other thing that can be transported. So you can also order a taxi. You do all of this through their apps. Which you can find here:

Grab: Apple and Android.

Gojek: Apple and Android.

It works very much similar to the Blue Bird app. And often it is also a bit cheaper. And with regards to taxis they do offer one additional service over Blue Bird. And that is motorbike taxis. So if you are travelling alone, and you want to save a little money, you can also ask for a motorbike taxi. Which is cheaper then a car.

Driver for a day

If you would like a little more privacy and flexibility. And want to avoid the hassle of finding a taxi. Then get a driver for a day.

These drivers are normally offering their services in front of the larger hotels and accommodations. Renting one will cost you somewhere around 500k-600k IDR. Depending a bit on if you want your driver for 8 or more like 12 hours of the day.

They will then offer you to pick around 4 to 5 tourist destinations from their list. Which you can then visit in a day. They will pick you up early in the morning, probably somewhere between 7:00-8:00, and drop you off back at your accommodation around 17:00 or 18:00 or so. Just in time for dinner. You will be able to spend at least an hour or maybe more at each destination. A great way to see many sights in one day and not have to worry about transport and timing.

But if you just want your driver for some other flexible spending of your day. Then that is of course also possible.

One thing I do want to mention, is that your driver often recommends a place to go for lunch. Or something similar like that. This isn’t necessarily because the place is good. But more because their friend is the owner, or works there. You don’t need to go to these places. You can just kindly decline, and recommend to go somewhere else.