The levy. Every foreign visitor pays Rp 150,000, once per trip, under the province’s 2025 regulation. Pay it before you fly on lovebali.baliprov.go.id or the Love Bali app, by card, bank transfer or QR; the voucher arrives by email as a QR code. Keep it on the phone, because officers can ask for it at temple gates. It is separate from the visa.
The visa. Most passports get a 30-day visa on arrival for Rp 500,000, extendable once. Buy it online as an e-VOA and skip the counter. Immigration proposed Rp 750,000 for the e-VOA and Rp 1,000,000 at the counter in August 2026; as of October 2026 it had not taken effect, so check before you pay.
Scooters. Rent one only if you ride at home. The law wants a license with a motorcycle class plus an International Driving Permit, and checkpoints in Canggu, Seminyak and Ubud ask for both; fines run from about Rp 250,000 for no helmet to Rp 1,000,000 for no permit, and insurers refuse claims without them. A driver for the day costs Rp 600,000 to Rp 900,000 per car.
Grab and Gojek. Legal and cheap, but local cooperatives block app pick-ups around Ubud’s palace and Monkey Forest, on most of the Bukit and along Echo Beach in Canggu. You can be dropped inside a zone; to leave, walk ten minutes out of it and call a car. Bluebird taxis are metered and honest.
Temples. A sarong and a sash for everyone, shoulders covered; the big temples lend them with the ticket, and your own saves time at the small ones. Many temples ask women who are menstruating not to enter. The province’s 2025 circular for foreign visitors says the same and adds: no inner courtyards unless you are praying in Balinese dress, no climbing on shrines or sacred trees, no photographs in less than temple dress, no single-use plastics, and respect for ceremonies. At Tanah Lot and Uluwatu the inner temple is for Hindus only.
Nyepi. Nyepi, the day of silence, falls on Monday, March 8, 2027, 6 to 6 a.m. Flights stop, the streets empty and hotels keep guests inside with the lights low. The ogoh-ogoh parades the evening before are the part to see.
Cash and tap water. Temple gates, beach entrances, warungs and the Jimbaran grills take cash or the local QRIS. Use ATMs attached to a bank in Ubud or Seminyak; the Bukit has few. Tap water is not for drinking, so refill from the hotel’s gallon; restaurant ice comes from factories and is fine.
On the day. Save the levy QR and the e-VOA in Waystop’s Documents so they open without signal. Carry a sarong and small bills, and agree the driver’s hours and route the night before.