Bali holiday guide: where to stay, things to do & best time to go

T By Thomas · Updated 20 October 2026 · 3 min read

Airports

Bali Ngurah Rai, Denpasar (DPS)

Best time to go

April-October

Type

Island

Bali has been a favourite with British travellers for decades, and it keeps winning people over. It is a Hindu island in a mostly Muslim country, and daily offerings, temple ceremonies and processions are part of everyday life. Add surf beaches, jungle valleys, rice terraces and excellent-value villas and spas, and it is easy to see why so many people return. For the bigger picture, see our Indonesia guide.

Where to stay

• Seminyak – stylish beach clubs, boutiques and restaurants on a long sunset beach. Popular with couples.
• Canggu – cafés, co-working spaces, surf breaks and a younger crowd. Busy, with heavy traffic.
• Ubud – the cultural centre, among rice fields and river gorges, with yoga retreats, galleries and jungle villas. No beach.
• Uluwatu and the Bukit Peninsula – clifftop hotels, famous surf and small beaches reached by steps.
• Sanur and Nusa Dua – calm, family-friendly beaches with reef-protected water. Nusa Dua is a gated resort enclave with big international hotels.

Most first-timers split a trip between Ubud and one coastal base.

Things to do

1. Uluwatu Temple – a sea temple on a 70-metre cliff, with a kecak fire dance at sunset. Watch out for the monkeys, which snatch sunglasses and phones.
2. Tegallalang and Jatiluwih rice terraces – Tegallalang, near Ubud, is the most visited, while Jatiluwih, part of a UNESCO-listed landscape, is larger and quieter.
3. Tanah Lot – a temple on a rock in the sea, best at sunset.
4. Mount Batur sunrise trek – a pre-dawn climb of about two hours up an active volcano, with views over the crater lake.
5. Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, Ubud – temples among the trees, home to hundreds of long-tailed macaques.
6. Nusa Penida and Nusa Lembongan – cliffs, snorkelling with manta rays and the much-photographed Kelingking Beach, by fast boat from Sanur.
7. Day trip to Java – with an extra few days, fly to Yogyakarta to see Borobudur.

Getting there and around

There are no direct flights from the UK. One-stop routes via Singapore, Doha, Dubai or Kuala Lumpur reach Denpasar (DPS) in about 17-19 hours from London. Remember the visa on arrival and the IDR 150,000 Bali tourist levy, which you can pay in advance through the official Love Bali website or app.

Bali has almost no useful public transport and traffic in the south is heavy. Hiring a car with a driver for the day costs from around IDR 600,000-800,000 (2026) and is the best way to explore. Grab and Gojek work in many areas, though some villages restrict pick-ups. Scooter hire is common, but you need a valid licence for the class of bike and many insurance policies exclude it.

When to go

April to October is the dry season, with sunshine and lower humidity; July, August and Christmas are the busiest and most expensive. May, June and September are ideal. From November to March, expect heavy downpours, often in the afternoon, and more litter washing onto west-coast beaches, but greener countryside and lower prices. Nyepi, the Balinese Day of Silence in March or April, closes the whole island, including the airport, for 24 hours.

Top attractions in Bali

Historic site

Borobudur

The world's largest Buddhist monument, a 9th-century stone mandala rising above the jungle and volcanoes of central…

Bali on the map

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