Tips in Bali
 

Hi All,

It's my first time in Bali. I'm very lost and would need some advice on the following..It will be great if you can help me out. Thanks!

1. Getting around Bali:
Do we engage a tour guide or a local driver to get around in Bali? What's the average cost per guide or driver? Any recommendations?
If I decide to travel on my own, does GPS device work in Bali?

2. Activities in Bali:
Water rafting: Which river is better?
Surfing: Will you recommend those begineer course in Kuta beach?

3. Money exchange
Where can I safely exchange my currency?

Cheers,
Joey

To get around generally you can use taxis. You can also book a day trip or simply engage one of the dozens of guys offering you transport. Your GPS device works everywhere, but there are no accurate maps of Bali AFAIK.

Rafting on the Agung river just outside of Ubud. Sobek Bali is the operator I can highly recommend.

Exchange money anywhere except at the airport. Rates are very close, but vary slightly. Note that US bills have to be "new".

I'd recommend that you hire a car and driver to get around Bali if you want a day of touring. Driving yourself on twisty, narrow roads where the rules of the road are different than what you know is not my idea of a safe and relaxing vacation. A car and driver might cost you $45 a day.

We find that with a licensed professional guide except from "Bali Holidays" you can pay $50-85 dollars for a guide/driver including gas for 8-9 hours day including their gas cost. I have a firm in Central Java that is excellent that coordinates with a firm in Bali (I do not know the Bali's firms name) but you can contact them and they can give you the contact info. If they are as good as our Java guide you will be exceptionally pleased but may pay an extra $20 for the day but with the total cost of the trip a guide for 3 days might cost you $250USD but you will get behind the tourist traps and see the "real" Bali. the contact is: [email protected] You can use my name since I used them this past March.

Is Rph$500,000 per day for a driver with tour guide experience costly?

The few places that I want to see are mainly Tanah Lot, Mount Batur, Uluwatu, Jimbaran..Are there anywhere other places that are near and are worth going? I don't wish to spend too much time travelling on the road.

Are Bedugul and coffee/seaweed plantations worth a trip?

Has anyone tried the following..
- Climbing Mount Batur
- Attending a cooking class

Dewa Marco [email protected] is an excellent driver and I recommend him highly. He charges 500,000 Indonesia Rupias/day for his time, car, gas and his lunch. We thought this was a pretty good deal. If you e-mail him, he responds right away. We used him in Ubud earlier this month with full satisfaction. Check out his web site at http://discoverbalitour.com/. See my other comments here under message 44: http://preview.tinyurl.com/26whnny


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Vic's travels: http://my.flightmemory.com/vogilvie