Day per Day itinerary of 2 weeks in Bali, Gili Air, Lombok & Nusa Penida 🇮🇩
Quick overview to important things to know:
- Language: everyone speaks English
- Currency: Indonesian Roupie. You can easily pay everything by card (there is most of the time 2-3% fees)
- Main airport in the region: Denpasar international airport (DPS)
- Safety: 58% based on travelsafe abroad website. This region is generally considered safe for tourists.
- LGBTQIA+ index in Indonesia: 15/100. Bali is predominantly Hindu and has always been more liberal and accepting of the LGBTQIA+ community. There are quite a few LGBTQIA+ friendly bars, restaurants and resorts in Bali, and also an (unofficial) gay strip on Jalan Camplung Tanduk Road in Seminyak at the southern end of the island. This is for Bali, since Lombok is mostly Muslin region, I recommend doing some research on your own before going :)
✅ To prepare before the trip:
- Budget: around 2000$/person without flight
- You can do your e-visa, customs paper and pay the environmental tax on line before your trip to avoid the wait line at the airport.
My experience and advice:
- if your flight arrive early enough in the morning there will be no queue for the visa, it’s super quick (it can change during peak season July and August) this is what we did because the website kept bugging.
- for the custom you can do it online 3 days before prior to your arrival, it’s super fast and you will be avoiding doing it on a computer at the airport; here’s the link:
- the environmental tax, super easy and fast to do online also:
- for the sim card don’t do it online! It’s way cheaper at airport, just after the customs and ATM there will be plenty of shops selling virtual sim card for data.
- There is no need to rent a car since taxi are cheap, just download Grab and Gojek Apps. We used only that to move around. We only rent scooters on Nusa Penida. And to move In Canggu the gojek or grab scooters are your best options because traffic is crazy.
- Book hotels
- Check the best time to go (we went in June), to avoid too much people and bad weather.
- Take into consideration that there is a lot of traffic (it sometimes took us 2h for 30km 🤡)
The itinerary:
(more restaurants and café in my map at the end)
First night in Canggu
We didn’t want to hit the road so we just enjoyed a day at the hotel pool and a nice sunset on the beach.
We also had very good and cheap food on the beach:
The road between Canggu and Ubud is very busy, it took us 3 hours in total. On the way we stopped at a coffee plantation where you can try the famous (but controversial) coffee Luwak. They explain to you how Balinese coffee is made and you can try the Balinese and Luwak coffee, and buy some.
Ubud: 3 nights
We stayed in a very nice Airbnb for 4 people:
Https://www.airbnb.com/slink/vyl00wNg
On the next day we did:
1. Ceiling rice uma + tellagaland, the 2 rices ceiling met so you can start at Uma and end up at Tellagaland. It took us 2 hours to do the walk.
2. Gunung temple, where there is also a very beautiful rice ceking and it’s way less touristic!
We end up the day at a coffee you CANNOT miss, with a view on Mount Batur and very very good coffee and food! 👇🏼
Second day:
1. Besakih
2 . Tirta empul
3. Ubud art market: you will find everything here but it’s actually way more expensive than the things you can find at some of the place you visit.
On the day we left to Munduk we did:
In between our driver stopped us there to eat, it was very good a the view is just breathtaking.
Munduk: 2 nights
The day after we did a stunning waterfall:
And we stop at this restaurant with a super nice view and very good food and coffee.
Then we hit the road for Padangbai harbor to take the speed boat to Gili air (1h30 cross)
Gili Air: 3 nights
There is not much to do apart from snorkeling, diving and rest.
We stayed at this cute hotel:
On the next day we went snorkeling by ourself at Turtle point. It’s really beautiful, a lot of corals and different kind of fishes and of course turtles.
🍛Good restaurant we went to:
We dived on the day after at:
We took a boat from Gili Air to Lombok
Tips: ask for the public boat, it leaves when its full and cost only 18000 (1euro), it’s a 15min boat to trip to Lombok.
There we took a taxi (grab and gojeck are not working on Lombok) to go to Kuta beach, south Lombok. The surf spot.
Juts for you to know everything is a bit more expensive on Lombok from the taxi to the food.
Kuta, Lombok: 2 nights
We stayed at Marta’s window, not the best hotel we did actually but super close to all the restaurant.
To go to the different surf beach you will have to take a taxi.
There are good restaurants all in the same street and nearby the hotel:
Sekoton, Lombok: 2 nights
We stayed there only to go to the other Gili (gede, asahan etc) but otherwise there is not much to do.
This is the hotel we went to 👇🏼The villa was very nice but the staff not super nice and the restaurant of the hotel not that good and too small portion.
To eat I recommend going to the hotel next to it, you can walk there by the beach (3min walking distance). Staff very nice and good food. They also helped us with the boat to Nusa Penida! You can choose this hotel to stay, it’s cheap.
We found a nice guy when we walked on the beach next to the hotel who organized day trip on different islands. He arranges for us the day after: a trip on 4 different islands for snorkeling, It was fantastic! 500000 IDR total for 4 people on a private boat from 9am to 4 pm with a stop on an island to eat. I really recommend for what you're going to see when snorkeling, the submarine life there is impressive!
This is his WhatsApp: Elli +62 812-3932-4337
Nusa Penida: 2 nights
We stayed in a very cute Airbnb, owned by a nice family:
Https://www.airbnb.com/slink/VKny6gN4
They arrange scooter for us and taxi from and to the harbor.
They offer breakfast, food and drinks if needed.
The day after we dived to see the Manta ray! You can also go if you snorkel only.
Canggu, Bali: 2 nights
Back to Bali to enjoy the last 2 days relaxing, shopping and have good food.
Google Map:
I put many restaurants and bars on my google maps, either to eat, drink or work. Check it out:
Bali · Marine
https://maps.app.goo.gl/TPgpXVT1zsb78reD7?g_st=i
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