I'd ask the Taman Sari to send someone to pick you up at the airport. The drive is about 4 hours.

It would have been better to negotiate the transfer cost with the resort when you made your reservation, but even in retrospect it's worth a try. Same for your onward transportation to Ubud.

Wine is heavily taxed expensive in Bali so I can empathize, but I sure wouldn't suggest trying to smuggle in a case. You might be able to negotiate an "informal" settlement with the Customs inspector, but it's a fairly public area and you may not be successful, especially if you don't have Indonesian language skills. In the best case they'd confiscate all of it, in the worst. . .?

There is no way for a tourist to bring a case of wine into Indonesia legally, even if you're willing to pay duty. I believe that each traveler can bring in 2 bottles. (You should check this though). You could also ask your driver to make a stop at a liquor store on the way north. There are several in the Seminyak area. Drinkable starts at around IDR120,000.

The good news is that the Rupiah has been weakening.

If you land at 2 pm, chances are you will get out of airport around 3, and you will have about 3 hours of sunlight to enjoy the trip. The trip up is really interesting and scenic, lots of places to stop, but presumably when you come back down to Ubud you will have the time then to do all that.

I would also opt for the hotel to send you a car, which will run probably about 600,000 or so..but its a pretty long drive and up the mountains and down, so cost is fair.

I wouldn't ever recommend that someone try to sneak alcohol past your legal limit into Indonesia. It gives them a reason to detain you, give you a hard time, and you just never know how long it could take or how unpleasant it could be at the start of what should be a lovely holiday. Do stop at the Hatton Wines taste testing center, they have some new wines made with Australian grapes that are not too bad. (free samples) I just happened to have visited it last week and have their address: the Cellardoor, Komplex Duwa Ruci 3 Jalan By Pass Nugurah Rai, www.hattenwines.com It's on the right hand side of the road when you are coming back from the airport, right before the giant simpang siur (roundabout) or about ten minutes from the airport. Your driver will probably be able to find it easily.
There are also duty free shops around the airport which you can check out.
Have a great trip!

We stayed at the Taman Sari a few years ago and really enjoyed our time there (the diving was pretty good too). When organising your pick up it would be advisable to arrange the return trip to Ubud in advance. We didn't and ended up paying around 3 times the fare for the return trip! lots of competition for taxis at teh airport and Ubud but precious little in Permuteran hence the price hike.

www.scubaresortsbali.com/taman%20sari%20pemuteran/taman

usually bargain for driver/guide from DPS

works best cheaper than Hotel xport might price it both ways.

Or arrange hotel xfer if money no object.

I have never seen illegal fine wine or meat EVER make it

past customs in any country I have been to.

Thanks for the tips everyone, especially about the wine shop near the airport. If anyone has a driver to recommend for our trip out to Pemuteran, I'm all ears..

So instead of 24 hours of flying followed by two or three hours of taxi to the the north coast, I've changed plans to first four night at Sanur (Griya Santrian) and then going to Pemuteran for six nights at Taman Sari. Last three nights at Komaneka Monkey Forest in Ubud.

I'd still like to know if I can declare extra wine bottles upon arrival and pay duty or if 1L is the absolute maximum??

If not, are there decent selections of Aussie wines in stores that I can take to restaurants? Thanx!

good move

You cannot legally declare and pay for extra bottles. You may be able to do so illegally, but the risk is high and it's not recommended.

There are a couple of very good wine stores in Kerobokan (which is near Seminyak and far from Sanur). There may be a retail outlet in Sanur, but I'm not familar with that area.

You can buy relatively inexpensive "New World" wines in Bali (from Australia, Chile, California, South Africa) but costs are still considerably more expensive than at the source. The Hatten labels that Kuluk recommended is the lowest cost. The white is tolerable (barely). Last time I was there (July) the Chilean options were the best bets.

Most restaurants will allow you to bring your own. You should check first though. Corkage fees are variable.

Thanks marmot, that's just the info I needed.

I realise you are back from Bali but for future information, I faced the same conundrum going to China last year. China has very expensive French wine or inexpensive Aussie (lousy ) and I got all the same dire warnings. I took a case of Pinot ,since you asked, took no attempt to conceal it, swathed in FRAGILE,nobody even glanced at it. No resturants charged me corkage. Plan on doing the same on our trip to Bali next month..

When we landed in Bali just last week, they X rayed the cases on the way OUT of the airport, then asked if we had any alcohol ( we obviously look the type) so they are clearly looking for this type of "import" as Marmot said it's not worth it.

I would NOT try to bring in wine. Each person is allowed, essentially, one bottle of alcohol (wine or otherwise). You can bring in a bottle of vodka, and have mixed drinks all week if you'd like. But I think you would be foolish to try to bring in more. It's just part of the cost of being here -- you will pay a lot of money for often marginal wine -- that's the way it is.