Top 10 Things to do in Bali
It can be a bit overwhelming to figure out what to see and explore in Bali, Indonesia - Especially for first time travelers! I’m hoping that with this guide it will make it easier for you to navigate through the popular travel destination, and decide what fits your needs the best. I’m going to show you my top 10 things to do and see in Bali, Indonesia! After spending over a month there, I of course fell in love with this place. I honestly wasn’t too excited to visit Bali, compared to other places I had visited in Asia. Simply just because everyone goes there, and I figured it was overrated…. But wow, I was wrong, I totally understand the hype now. Incredible food, the sweetest locals, and breathtaking nature. But okay, without further ado, let’s jump into the guide!
10. EXPLORE SEMINYAK
Seminyak is located south of Canggu, and you will probably stop by here at some point of your trip. It’s a cute little beach, hotel, restaurant area, but also has one of the main shopping streets, where you can find cute boutiques, but also some familiar brands. It’s where I did most my shopping in Bali. This is also where Double Six Beach is, where you can do some beginner surfing. I ate at a lot of the cute vegan restaurants here, New Zula Bali had great food, but my favorite place to go in Seminyak for dinner, or breakfast or any meal was Kynd Community. I ate here so many times, and the food and staff is some of the best I’ve experienced! I could honestly make a whole video about Kynd.
You can read my full blog post “Bali Food Guide - Top 15 Places” here.
9. ENJOY THE SPA & MASSAGES
Make sure you take advantage of the large massage and spa scene here in Bali. This could easily be number 1 on my list too, because the massages I’ve received here were just out of this world! My best friend Tora and I went to a few different places, but our favorite for massage was Therapy Canggu, Goldust Beauty Lounge, where you put on a gold dress and sit back and relax.
Our favorite for nails and eyelash extension was Think Pink Nails. We had so much fun there, and they were so efficient. You would literally get eyelash extensions and mani and pedi all at the same time. And the prices here are great!
8. RENT A MOTORBIKE
Number 8 on the list is renting a scooter so you can explore and get around on your own! I do highly recommend you have some sort of experience from before, because traffic in Bali is like something I have never seen before! I literally saw several scooter accidents when I was there so you have to be super careful. I’m not a pro, but we had experience from driving in Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.
The cost for renting scooters can vary a lot, from place to place. Like if you rent it for only a day it can cost between $4 to $8, but the more days you rent, the cheaper it gets. Monthly price will also vary, but I paid 700.000 rupiah or $47 for 1 month. I did go to a few different places before I found a price I liked. There are plenty of places that sells gas along the way, and it’s usually 9-10.000 ($0.60) rupiah pr liter.
7. BALI BEACH CLUBS
There are so many cool parties to check out, but you can also just relax and day drink if that is your thing. If you are only going to one, it has to be Potato Head! Such a stunning place, great atmosphere, drinks and food! And if you want to be a little away from the load crowds, you can use the beach area, they also serve food and drinks there.
Two other places that is definitely worth a visit is Finns Beach Club, and Mrs Sippy. The fun part about Mrs Sippy is that it has a 5 meter tall diving board in the middle of the space, so you can watch all these people doing fun jumps etc, it’s pretty entertaining. We of course did it as well :)
6. EXPLORE THE BALI FOOD SCENE
Bali is home to some of the most delicious food on the planet, so make sure to explore all the great food Bali has to offer. Now, I’m a vegan and I’ve never been somewhere where they offer as much good vegan food as this! I’m still daydreaming about all the amazing food we had. Luckily, Tora is a foodie and vegetarian as well, so we always agreed on where to go. And let me tell you, did we have some crazy food experiences.
You can read the full “Bali Food Guide” blog post here and watch the YouTube video here. But some of our favorite places were Kynd, La Baracca, Peloton Supershop and Give Cafe. But wether you are a vegan or not, you will love the fresh and inexpensive food Bali has to offer.
5. VISIT ULUWATU
Moving on to number 5, the most magical place in Bali in my opinion - Uluwatu. Located all the way south of the island, around a 1 hour drive from Canggu. You probably seen a million pictures from here, it’s most famous for it’s majestic cliffs, beach sunsets, and temple views. Uluwatu is definitely one of my favorite places to visit in Bali, it’s not overrun by tourists, and it’s just incredibly breathtaking. We made sure to visit Uluwatu Temple, and it was great, except the fact that a monkey stole my microphone lol.
After our time at the temple, we headed to Yoga Searcher to get some vegan food. This retreat is so beautiful and I wish I could stay there a few days. - After that we headed to one of the beaches in Uluwatu, Padang Padang Beach. It’s a bit of a walk down the cliffside, but totally worth it. The beach was not crowded at all and we were able to enjoy it to the fullest.
4. VISIT CANGGU
Nobody goes to Bali without visiting Canggu! This is 100% one of the most popular places in Bali, for tourists, but also for expats setting up their small businesses etc. This is a backpacker and surfer hotspot and it’s tons of great things to do here. The vibe here is very cool and chill. We stayed in Canggu at Anginsepoi, right next to Ecco beach for the last part of our vacation, and we loved it. A 10 minute walk away from our hotel was La Brisa Beach Club, on of the coolest beach clubs I’ve seen.
I also went to Luigi’s Hot Pizza one night for a little party, not 100% my things, but it was fun. But yeah, Canggu is home to some cool party places as well, as more amazing restaurants, like some of my other favorites, Give Cafe, and La Baracca. Oh, and Therapy Canggu is of course located here too, literally right next door to La Brisa Beach Club. I do suggest to book an appointment because they were usually fully booked.
3. VISIT UBUD
Number 3, the bronze medal goes to Ubud! Rice fields, temples, monkey forrest, waterfalls, and yoga retreats! Ubud has it all. I love this place so much. It’s located in the center of the island, surrounded by rainforests and picturesque rice fields. It’s around a 1 hour drive away from Canggu, without traffic, but it can be way longer with traffic. I highly recommend hiring a driver for this trip.
We hired this driver for 2 days, to show us around in Ubud. We even visited the Instagram famous Lempunyang Temple gate, which is located 2 hours away from Ubud. We didn’t know it was that far, but it was fun, but I guess a bit overrated. It was super crowded, you had to wait in line for a long time to get your picture, and it was a lot of “construction” on the site.
The next day, we did a lot! We first went to the Tukad Cepung waterfall, located 1 hour away from Ubud. Then after that we went to a local village: Then after that we headed to the Tegallalang rice fields and Bali swing, but first had some food at Devi Cafe. After a long day of exploring, we headed to Yoga Barn for some sound healing, and did a gong session. And we ended the night with some amazing food at Atman Cafe. So yeah, as you can see, there is so much to do here.
2. VISIT NUSA PENIDA
The silver medal goes to Nusa Penida. It’s actually not 100% part of Bali, but it’s an island located Southeast of Bali. So this used to be a hidden gem, but not anymore, there are tons of tourists that come to visit every year now to check out this amazing landscape! Penida Island is not 100% up to date for tourists yet, the roads are really dodgy and dangerous and I highly recommend renting a driver to take you around to the different beaches here. We only had a few hours on the island, and we spent all our time at famous Kelingking beach.
We really wanted to go all the way down to the beach, but since we were there during rays season, it was incredibly hard, and slippery so we were honestly too scared. It’s a bit of a journey to get to Kelingking Beach, and the roads are extremely bumpy and the boat ride to Penida Island can be pretty rough too. With all that being said though, there are so many beautiful places to visit here, so I totally recommend going here!
NUSA LEMBONGAN
The gold medal goes to Nusa Lembongan. A lot of people might disagree with me on this, but I loved it here! Almost no tourists, and you really felt like you were living with the locals, and it’s incredibly beautiful here. Endless views of palm trees, and beautiful beaches. We spent two nights here, and did a lot exploring on our scooter, and felt really safe the whole time
The main thing I loved about Nusa Lembongan was the diving experience tough! I’ve dived and snorkeled a lot of places in the world, but the reef and marine life here was just insane, so vibrant and colorful! We saw so many different type of fish, snakes etc. We were mainly there to see manta Rays, but unfortunately we didn’t see any. The guys from the diving company were super cool, and we had a great experience.
Nusa Lembongan also had a few cute vegan places, and even great places for a massage. We went to Kemilau Spa and Wellness, and I wanted to stay there for the rest of my life. Beautiful women working there and great service and massage.
But yeah guys, there you have it, that sums up my top 10 things to do in Bali. I can’t wait to go back to Bali and explore more of this beautiful place. I know the locals are suffering a lot now because of the low tourism, so if you want to support and feed the locals you can visit either GiveCafe or Crisis kitchen Bali on Instagram to see how you can help donate food now. Everything helps! But okay guys, I’m curios to hear what you have to say in the comments, do you agree, have you done any of these activities? Or did I miss any places, let me know!
xo C
