haha. welcome.

I will be going solo to Bali on 26/5 - 1/6. Anyone going there at that time?

If I reach Bali at evening using AA, shud I prebook driver to send me to hotel or just look for a driver at the airport? Prebook driver book half day so like not worth it

Is Kuta and Denpasar easy to walk around to those travel sites? I want to save up my travel cost.

It better prebook driver for better price.u can order the driver for pick up only n.dinner. it cheaper absolutely.

try to read 1st page 1st. Prebook driver can be expensive compare to getting driver outside the hotel. Well I might be wrong bcos I rented the car and drive myself..

Denspasar is not tourist town..more like true Indon city. kuta is tourist town for sure

Prebook Actually not expensive. If u get a blue bird Taxi which use meter, the massive traffic jam in kuta will not cheap

Recommended buy simcard xl bebas with free Facebook, wechat. Whatapp. Only 15k for a microchip

Yup my driver help us protection from.monkey
We save a lot in promo set at jimbaran dinner only 350k per couple including all types of seafood, two bintang n fruit.

Place use xl bebas free internet

Do a lil research like how much roughly to your hotel from airport. No need to pre book. Just walk out like a superstar thru the arrival hall. Your fans will flock u. Ask u where u going and where u staying.

From there u bargain with them. Which one fits ur budget. If u lazy to one by one haggle. Then just stand one spot and say u offer this much and who willing to take.

That after its better to pre book ur driver for the rest of your holiday.

I dunno how u guys can freaking drive. It's super jam almost all the time regardless u skip Denpasar or not.

I sit in the car also felt frustrated imagine the driver. I pity my driver. I actually decided not to tip him but really I felt he should be rewarded. It's really not an easy task to drive around in bali.

will be going early July..here's our trip program:-

Day 1 : The Arrival
Arrive, airport transfer, check in hotel, free & easy

Day 2 : Beach Day
Tg Benoa, Garuda Wisnu Kencana, Padang Padang, Dreamland, Uluwatu for sunset, Jimbaran for seafood dinner

Day 3 : The Amazing Three/The Impossible
Kintamani/Batur, Bedugul/Ulun Danu, Tanah Lot
(we customize the trip & asking around for drivers - most hesitate, few willing after thorough discussion & skipped some boring stops)

Day 4 : Shopping Day
check out, Sukawati, airport

The Impossible

http://www.tasbali.com/kintamani-dan-bedug...i-duh-indahnya/

Most travel agents wont do Kintamani and Bedugul in a day, but we still insist as we wish to skip those boring stops like house of silver, luwak coffee, tagalalang paddyfield etc.

Based on GoogleMap, there's a road connecting Kintamani and Bedugul and I believe it's a winding up and down road a la KKB-Fraser's Hill road or Tapah-Cameron.

Proposed schedule:

0830 - hotel pickup
1100 - arrive Kintamani, sightseeing & photo around Lake Batur etc, skip the not-so-nice lunch
1200 - depart for bedugul
1330 - Arrive Bedugul, lunch
1430 - Pura Ulun Danu, sightseeing & camwhoring
1530 - Kebun Raya Eka Karya
1600 - depart for Tanah Lot
1800 - arrive Tanah Lot for sunset
2000 - return to hotel

Now still checking with travel agents/drivers whether they are willing to do this and what's the rate like.

Possible.. Mine was

Kintamani - 7:30 depart
Luwak farm
Tegalalang
Ubud
Bedugul
Tanah lot - 5:00am

My driver charged me 450k. But I gave 500k. Coz really tiring. He drove 8hrs with just 1 stop.

just got back from Bali
a very very awesome + money sucking holiday
stayed in Akmani Legian Hotel in Kuta.a very good & peaceful hotel.
but,once get out from the hotel at night,boom ! you can hear those techno,trance song everywhere as the clubs are nearby to the hotel
prebooked a driver, his name is Siswanto.a very good & chit-chatty guy.he even tell us the do's & don't whilst in Bali
even recommended us a nice place to eat & so on.total for 3 days would be 940k++ but i gave him 1 million as i can see his effort in making us enjoy & he drove almost 6-7 hours a day non stop.

funny/scariest things i've encountered in Kuta was, a guy stopped me & offered "mahu marijuana?"
i was so shocked and straight away left him there.
regarding telephone,didnt bothered to buy a simpack to use the internet as my hotel wifi signal & speed is quite good.(1.6Mbps download,300k+ upload)
my DiGi phone has been roamed with Indosat.so to call back Malaysia, would be 001/008<country code><phone number>

overall,a very good second honeymoon trip for us
this thread is really helpful.thanks for all the recommendations & tips.
would certainly going back to Bali next time

This post has been edited by buyoq: May 26 2013, 11:01 AM

Anyone can recommend some nice spa and massage? For those who have already tried.

Just came back from my 5D/4N Bali trip.
Can agree it's a blood sucking trip. 50% of people met are going to take advantage of you. When purchasing souvenirs, the price offered are sky price and some shows you sour face/ bad mouth you in their language if you low ball or refused to buy due to suspecting it's priced unreasonably. I don't particularly feel this bad attitude when visiting Phuket 2 years back.

In total, I used 4 times of taxi with only 2 uses meter. The other 2 refuse meter. I found that whatever price they offer you, it's going to cost 50% less if they are using meter. You can try to ask your hotel's front desk to call you a taxi. My case, I request my hotel front desk to call me a taxi and it was a metered taxi. Those waived down by the road were likely refuse to use meter.

Driver wise, used 2 days of driver service by 2 different drivers. My first driver is actually a taxi driver (metered taxi) which I used. He is doing part time driver. Second driver ffk me and din't turn up and not able to contact. Luckily, I still have my first driver contact and he recommended me his uncle (Pak Madir in his fifties which is a very honest and good guy)

First day is arrival to airport while second day is Kuta area shopping. Went Bamboo corner for lunch and dinner. Very cheaply priced!

Third day plan was to visit Sukawati (din't manage to go) --> Batuan Temple --> Kopi Luwak --> Mount Batur --> Tegalalang Rice Terrace --> Jimbaran (din't manage to go)
The problem I faced was that my first driver even though he shows me kindness and friendliness when I used his taxi service on day one, he is a guy with motive. He will only bring you to places he can earn commission and refusing to bring me to Sukawati saying it's dirty, bad place etc. End up he insisted of going to those high end outlets in Celuk. First stop was a gold/silver outlet. There, they were selling silver at the price of platinum (gauge this from the platinum necklace I bought for my gf) and gold by price/piece instead of price/gram. What a ripoff! Later, there were painting, wood outlets. Bought some souvenirs there and bargained. Got at 50% of the offered price but still found it can cost cheaper in Sukawati later. (quality wise, those outlets are better but price wise, there are very much different too)
Jimbaran was canceled too as it was raining and my driver again refuse to bring me to Made Bagus Cafe at Jimbaran Bay. Instead, he wanted me to go to a place he recommended which we think we will get slaughtered. He told me lobster itself cost IDR700K and that is cheap to him!

Fourth Day is Sukawati --> Eat Babi Guling --> Uluwatu --> Jimbaran
Driver is Pak Madir (+62 0821-4634-9550) which is a honest guy. Agreed fee was IDR300K but I end up paying him extra IDR100K tips with a babi guling lunch and a treat of sweet corn while he was waiting for me at Jimbaran. I was very pleased with his attitude. Throughout the journey, I overheard my first driver call him to ask him to not bring us to Made Bagus Cafe in Jimbaran. Pak Madir ultimately brought us there even though he was lost. At IDR300K, we got king prawn, lobster 500gm, fish, vege and 2 bintang beers

Another driver Isa Bali Tour (facebook https://www.facebook.com/ahmad.isaansori) is highly not recommended. Fly aeroplane and turn off his phone. Almost spoiled my fourth day. Luckily Pak Madir was there. However, we had to start our journey 2 hours late due to him.

This post has been edited by staind: May 26 2013, 07:21 PM

I only use my driver during Last two trip.I just back recently. No problem at all.

I'm planning to go Bali Ubud Town. Any nice accomodation to recommend? Any nice rice field trekking trip?