Indonesia · Lesser Sunda Islands
Plan your Bali trip
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01Your itinerary
02Where to stay
Ubud
Best for first-timers, culture and wellnessThe cultural and spiritual heart, up in the cooler hills — temples, terraces, yoga, and art markets, ringed by jungle valleys. The centre is busy and traffic-clogged, but the outskirts among the rice fields are magical.
A valley-view retreat on the Ubud fringe
Stay just outside the centre toward Penestanan or the Sayan ridge for jungle views and birdsong without the downtown scooter crush.
€€€Goutama Homestay
Central Ubud's traditional compound homestays put you steps from the market and dance performances for a fraction of resort prices.
€Ubud Nature Escape Bungalow Ricefield View
Edge north out of town and you trade walkability for paddy-field silence and a pool that looks straight onto the terraces.
€€Canggu
Best for surfers, nomads and long staysThe surf-and-startup coast — black-sand beach breaks, warehouse cafés, co-working, and a young international crowd. Loud, caffeinated, and fun, with the island's best casual dining and worst traffic.
Berawa Dini Guesthouse
Berawa is Canggu's most walkable pocket, dense with cafés and beach clubs, so you can leave the scooter parked more often.
€€A quiet villa in the Canggu rice fields
A few hundred metres inland toward the shortcut lanes and rates drop while the roosters, not the DJs, wake you.
€€Seminyak
Best for dining, comfort and shorter tripsThe grown-up, moneyed coastal option — boutiques, beach clubs, and Bali's best concentration of serious restaurants. More polished and less scruffy than Canggu, closer to the airport, and priced accordingly.
Ibis Styles Bali Petitenget
The northern Petitenget end is the sweet spot — top restaurants and a calmer beach without the Kuta-adjacent chaos further south.
€€€The Seminyak Suites Private Villas
Seminyak's villa lanes hide walled compounds with their own pools, an easy walk from the beach clubs but sealed off from the noise.
€€€€Uluwatu & the Bukit
Best for surfers, couples and clifftop viewsDramatic clifftop coastline on the arid southern peninsula — world-class reef surf, hidden coves, and sunset bars carved into the limestone. Spread out and reliant on wheels, but the island's most cinematic scenery.
Luxurious 6BR Clifftop Villa, 5 Minutes to Bingin
The Bingin and Uluwatu cliffs deliver the sea views the region is famous for, with the best breaks a scramble down the steps below.
€€€The Surf Lodge
Simpler stays cluster near the beach access points, putting you first in the water before the day-trippers arrive from the north.
€€Sidemen
Best for quiet, nature and slowing right downThe quiet east — a terraced valley under Mount Agung that feels like Ubud twenty years ago, almost untouched by mass tourism. Little nightlife, few restaurants, and all the better for it if you want stillness.
LeLangit Eco Cabin
Sidemen's small lodges perch above the paddies with Agung filling the horizon; wake for the sunrise and you understand why people come.
€€Mantra Guesthouse
Family-run guesthouses here cost little and put walking trails through the rice fields right outside the door.
€Affiliate notePostcardRoute is reader-supported. Some links to Booking.com (stays, flights, car hire, tickets and tours, airport transfers) are affiliate links, tracked through CJ Affiliate: if you book through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend places we would send a friend.
03Tickets & tours
Tegallalang Rice Terraces
The most photographed terraces on the island, a steep amphitheatre of hand-carved paddies just north of Ubud, worked by the ancient subak irrigation…
Tip Come at first light before the tour buses and the swing-photo queues; by nine it is a scrum, by seven it is yours.
Uluwatu Temple & kecak dance
A sea temple perched on a sheer cliff at the island's southern tip, best at dusk when the daily kecak fire dance is performed on the clifftop as the…
Tip Hold your bag and hat tight — the resident macaques are practised thieves who swap stolen sunglasses back for food.
Tirta Empul
A thousand-year-old water temple near Tampaksiring where Balinese Hindus come to perform melukat, ritual purification under a row of stone spouts fed…
Tip You can bathe too, but do it respectfully behind the worshippers, rent the proper sarong, and go early before the crowds thicken the pools.
Sidemen Valley
A serene sweep of terraced rice beneath Mount Agung, an hour east of Ubud and a world away from the crowds, laced with walking trails between…
Tip Skip the tour and just walk out from your guesthouse at sunrise; the valley paths need no ticket and no guide.
Sekumpul Waterfall
A cluster of tall falls in the jungle-clad north, widely reckoned the island's most spectacular, reached by a steep trek down and back up through the…
Tip Wear proper shoes and go with the flow of the local guides at the top; the climb back is the real workout, so bring water.
Sacred Monkey Forest, Ubud
A cool, mossy temple sanctuary in the heart of Ubud, threaded with stone stairways and banyan roots, home to several hundred long-tailed macaques…
Tip Keep food and loose items zipped away entirely; these monkeys are bold, and eye contact reads as a challenge, so look away.
Munduk & the highland lakes
The misty, cloud-forest interior around Munduk, where twin crater lakes, coffee plantations and cooler air offer a completely different Bali from the…
Tip Base a night up here rather than day-tripping; the highland mornings, before the cloud rolls in, are the reward.
Padang Padang & the Bukit beaches
The string of white-sand coves tucked beneath the Uluwatu cliffs, reached through cracks in the limestone, with some of the island's cleanest water…
Tip Padang Padang is famous but tiny and gets packed; walk or ride to Bingin or Nyang Nyang nearby for more room.
Tanah Lot
The sea temple on its own rock outcrop, cut off from the shore at high tide, and the single image most people already have of Bali before they arrive…
Tip Go for sunset but arrive by mid-afternoon to walk the tide pools and claim a spot before the coach tours pile in; the car park crowds are relentless right up until the…
Day trips from Bali
Mount Batur sunrise trek
A pre-dawn climb up an active volcano to watch the sun rise over the caldera and Lake Batur, breakfast cooked in volcanic steam at the summit.
Day tripNusa Penida
A rugged island off the southeast coast, reached by fast boat, with cliff-framed beaches like Kelingking and superb snorkelling with manta rays.
Day tripThe north coast & Munduk
Trade the beaches for cloud forest, crater lakes, waterfalls and coffee plantations in the cooler highlands.
Day tripBrowse tickets, tours and activities
Skip-the-line tickets, guided tours and day trips, all in one place on Booking.com.
04Getting there & around
Getting around: the scooter question
There is no meaningful public transport, and the roads were built for a fraction of the traffic they now carry, so how you get around defines the trip. The default local answer is a scooter, and for good reason — a rented automatic bike costs a few dollars a day, slips past the jams that trap cars, and is genuinely the only way…
Flights
Compare fares into Bali and pick dates that suit the days you planned.
Airport transfers
Book a private or shared ride from the airport so the first evening starts at your door, not at a ticket queue.
Car hire
Only worth it for day trips beyond the city — in town, the plan above works on foot and public transport.
Affiliate notePostcardRoute is reader-supported. Some links to Booking.com (stays, flights, car hire, tickets and tours, airport transfers) are affiliate links, tracked through CJ Affiliate: if you book through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend places we would send a friend.