Bali – Is It Still Worth Visiting?

I came to Bali with images of beautiful beaches and luxury resorts geared towards honeymooners and those looking for a luxury vacation. I was excited about the digital nomad culture that had formed over the last few years and the resurgence of backpackers heading this way for a cheap beach destination. What I found was the ‘Eat, Love Pray’ curse. Locals will tell you that the movie was great for the economy but destroyed the soul of the island. Imposters posing as Gurus and fake spiritual knock offs everywhere. The beaches aren’t nearly world class. I don’t think they would make anyone’s top 10 list. I would find it hard to even put them on a top 10 list for Asia. What really blew my mind was to find out that Australians come here like Americans go to Mexico since it’s the cheapest ticket to Asia for them and close enough for a weekend getaway. I didn’t see anything in Bali that could come close to the world class beaches I saw down under. The beaches are dirty to the point where the tourism industry promotes “clean the beach vacation tours”, encouraging tourists to shell out money in return for the privilege of cleaning up garbage off the beaches. That said, they continue to dump garbage into the rivers that lead to the sea and pollute the beaches. The garbage doesn’t stop on the beaches either. The streets are filthy. The sidewalks are narrow, broken and even non existent in some places. Public transportation is another issue here. There are no buses or trains for tourists and the taxis overcharge. There is Grab, Uber, Lift and Bluebird but these aren’t allowed to pick up from most hotels and usually have to drop off 100 meters away. The food scene here has no identity and falls far short of much cheaper destinations like Thailand and Vietnam. Even Ubud, the cultural center of Bali serves as much pizza and tacos as it’s national dish Nasi Goreng. Every country has it’s “Instagram” spot, but here it seems they just create them to grab tourist dollars. I’d much rather take a picture in front of Ayers Rock or the 12 Apostles then on one of a dozen swings placed in front of random rice fields. A swing on the shore makes for a nice shot but has no identity. The swing could be on any beach anywhere. The people of Bali seem indifferent to tourists, where as in places like Thailand they seem to want your business and take pride in their service. Crime here is another issue. I never felt in any danger, but I was warned several times that if you are accused of anything here, as a foreigner you were guilty automatically and punishments were severe. The hawkers here will try to take advantage of you right away overcharging you by as much as four times the going rate. So it pays to know what the prices should be in advance. The other thing to look out for is debit card skimming. It is very common in Indonesia.

That all probably sounds pretty negative so lets talk about the positive. The first misconception I hear is that Bali is a country. It’s not! It’s an island belonging to Indonesia. It is the only Indonesian island that is almost 100% Hindu making it unique as most of Indonesia is Muslim. There are plenty of Hindu temples to keep you busy if that’s your thing. Bali is a pretty big island making it easy to escape the crowds, hype and pollution of the beach towns such as Seminyak, Changgu and Kuta. Instead you can head to Nusa Dua if your looking for luxury hotels, western food and a cleaner tourist geared area. Or I would suggest Ubud. It’s located in the center of Bali and is a great place to take day trips from. You can head to the mountains for some spectacular hiking and waterfalls far enough away from the crowds but still easily reachable by scooter or private car. You can head to any of the beaches for the day from Ubud or you can escape far enough from town to see authentic rice fields without Instagram swings. Instead you will drive through small villages and be chased by children excited to see foreigners yelling Hello and waving at you. Ubud offers a variety of lodging from monthly rentals with decent Wi-Fi for digital nomads to private villas for luxury and privacy as well as budget hostels for the backpackers.

So to answer the question is Bali still worth seeing. It’s definitely not for everyone but my answer is Yes. However don’t come for the beaches. Look for the real Bali. I wouldn’t recommend it for a long term destination or for digital nomads. We would have been much better off planning less time here. One month is too much. 2 weeks would have been plenty of time to do Bali. Use the other 2 weeks exploring the less seen parts of Indonesia. The Wakatobi Islands with their world class diving or the jungles and Orangutan Sanctuaries of Borneo.