BootsnAll Travel Community

Hi! I'm pretty new to this, but hope someone can help me. I'm flying to Bali for a month in May, and I'll be travelling alone for the first time in my life, so although I'm excited I'm pretty nervous about it too. I have a ton of questions, and any recommendations at all would be fantastic, but I guess the most important things I want to know are:

1) how careful do i need to be/how unsafe is it for a 23yo blonde girl alone?

2) where should i stay in Kuta? i am only planning on spending 2-3 nights there, and i want it to be fairly cheap, but not so basic that I have to worry about things like cockroaches or mosquitos (i know its lame and stupid, but insects still scare me a little!)

3) is it better to book somewhere online before I go for the first night, or wait until i get there?

4) are people friendly? i'm scared i'll spend the whole month too shy to talk to anyone what should i do that first night in Kuta?

5) what is the best way for a girl travelling alone to get around? I want to go to ubud, the gilis, and possibly lombok, among other places. are buses ok, or are taxis/hiring a driver safer? I'm not on a particularly tight budget, so I'd rather be safe and comfortable if i could - without compromising on the experience, or on meeting nice people!

Thank you! Any advice at all gratefully appreciated....

Laurie xx

Hi laurie,

I just got back from a 4 week trip over there a couple weeks back. I have been going there every 2 to 3 months now and staying from 4 to 6 weeks each trip.
I am looking at heading back maybe just after May or at the end of it and this trip I am staying 4 months and sneaking off to Thailand in the middle for a few weeks from there and then head back to Bali for the rest of the time.

1) You will be safe, even walking about late at night as long as you are in the city you can feel safe from attack. Away from the public areas it best not to just to be sure but I would say you still would be safe. But you will find it is not worth walking any where at night just rent a scooter or use a scooter taxi. You can hire a taxi but only use blue taxi's and insist on them turning on there meter to charge you. If they say it is broke say ok and hop out and then they will say ohh wow its fixed. I dont use taxi's much as cars are slow transport in trafic there. I rent a bike or use a taxi scooter. These guys are every where with coasts with numbers on them. Lots them around teh clubs at night and they drive safe so do not be scared and its part of teh excitement of bali ridding on scooters. Most scooters 10 000 RP is enough to go any where in your town. That is about $1.50 AU.

2) There are so many places to stay in Kuta and from super cheap to expensive. I have a personal Bali mate that manages a very nice hotel that I stay at a lot calle NUSA INDAH. It is on the street just behind the kuta street shops. So the shops are on one side teh block and on teh opposite side his hotel is. IT is great and hiden away as in at the front you see a castle door and inside is a hiden paradise with pool and massage building and fish ponds all over and lush trees and plant. The rooms are excellent with nice big bathrooms. Downstairs rooms are the best as they have a walk in shower and a seperate two person big bath. Then bathrooms are teh size of a bedroom. Plus pay TV included and aircon and double or two single beds. The staff are 100% safe against theft as I have stayed there so much and at first my mate the manager said it was safe but I still thought they might steel. Anyways I would have my laptop in there plus cammera and money and all sorts stuff and never had a problem. The price there is 250 000 RP a night and that is $35.00AU a night. There is lots places less as last trip I also stayed in another new place that was $17 Au a night but I forget its name. Was right near the clubs so at night if you never went out you could hear the bass in teh music still lol
If you want to go with nusa indah let me know and I will help you organise a booking, you dont have to pay you just book and he will hold a room and I will make sure you get the downstairs.
3)Online I find the prices are more expensive to stay in bali as only the high end hotel more so list on there. When we ride around going to them asking prices you find some nice places and real cheap. Youo are best with the first 2 days at least online booked so the first night you can rest easy. Also depends on what time your flight gets there. If you get there at lunch then book one night and that day look about for places. Poppies two has tones places and all prices. The bounty hotel is a common place for your age and there will be many western people there and also at the end of poppies lane all the clubs are there.

4)I find personally the people are super nice to teh western people. The bali people depend on the money from the tourists so they are over nice but in the same time watch out as this is there life they will try and get the most cash out of you they can some times. You will have no problem if you are shy in the clubs, just go into bounty night club and buy a drink and sit back. I go there with mates to relaxe and have a laugh and girls like yourself alone or in a small group sit there and you will have a hundred boys one at a time ask you to dance so you wount have to ask anyone trust me. The kuta boys (bali boys) are gods at entertaining girls as thats all most do. They surf all day and go out at night dancing with toursists who in turn normally buy teh boys a drink as they are poor. Many western guys will ask you to dance and you will meet many girls to as bali is a very relaxed place and you can go out and very easy people will start having achat with you local or tourists. Everyone is there relaxing so most are keen to meet people.

5) I like renting a bike but you need to get a feel for the traffic there for a few days first before you jump straight in. OTherwise if going to monkey forrest or ubud or places I still use a driver and there are 100's around on the road. People will hit you up all the time if you need a driver. They are safe and once you organise a price that includes petrol just so you know. I buy my driver food and drink but that is my choice they do not expect it. Driver to ubud last trip we paid him 200 000 rp $28au for the day and also he drove us a few other places around there I wanted to go. YOu can get cheaper of course but before you agree with price get them to show you the car but most have nice cars. Get aircon car for sure and tinted windows for teh long trip. Big 4x4 cars are teh best and that way a solid car if you ever did crash.

Well thats my input for the forum for a while lol size of a book. I been meening to write some more since last trip but just getting back into work so have not had a chance.
Any other questions let me know I will keep an eye out here.


ps. I have not done spell check lol

Hi Azz! Thank you so much for replying to my post, everything you said was really helpful. I'm very relieved to hear that it's relatively safe at night. Are you sure its OK for a single girl to get on the back of a random scooter though? It sounds a little incautious to me! Thanks for your advice about cabs though.

The Nusa Indah looks great, I looked it up on the web and it looks really nice. It has a spa attached to it, right? It looks beautiful. I was thinking about staying at the Bounty, but I thought it might be a little expensive/a little noisy - what do you think?
As long as I have a booking, I'm happy not to pay anything until I get there - that sounds awesome! I just want to make sure I actually have somewhere to stay that I can go straight to from the airport, as I'm flying from London so I'll be exhausted!

I'm so relieved by what you say about everyone being friendly! I have a boyfriend, so I'm not looking for flirtiness, just nice people to chat to, and maybe travel round with a bit - sounds like it should be relatively easy to make friends! About what you said re. renting a scooter though - I'd absolutely love to but I don't have a driving license (never got round to it!) - I guess that means I can't really hire one, right?

Thanks ever so much for all your help.

By the way, is anyone going to be in Bali at the same time as me (basically the whole of May)? If so, please give me a shout, and maybe we can catch up for a drink out there - always nice to know you've got some plans made already!

Laurie xx

I was all over Bali a few months ago. I'm a guy, but i would echo that it is very safe. Just use common sense, wandering alleys alone at 3 AM probably not a good idea anywhere for a young blonde female.

Don't hire a motorbike for yourself - there are tons of motorbike taxis on EVERY corner of Kuta. cheap. I even took motorbike taxis to other towns, like Ulawatu Temple.

The people are very friendly. But remember, everyone in Kuta is there to make money off tourism, i.e. you. So they are good at acting like your best friend. It's good to work on your bargaining skills if you can so that you don't pay too much. Bargain, bargain bargain. Don't be shy about it.

Oh, I would not stay at the Bounty unless you want to be in party central. in Kuta i splurged and stayed at Satriya Cottages, great location, super nice staff, and the fan room was fine for me.

You can check out my Indonesia adventures and pictures here.

http://chrissipe.com/wordpress/?cat=5

I also went to Ubud and Amed, and into Java by myself. Java is a bit more tricky.

good luck,
chris

Few more things.

Bahasa Indonesia, the language, is probably the easiest Asian language to learn for English speakers. I would suggest if you're spending your whole trip there, start learning basic words and phrases now and it will help you make friends with the locals.

There's a tourist bus company... i forget the name, but they are your best bet for trip to Lombok and further destinations. They cover the whole island and is fairly priced.

chris

1. Same as you would at home.
2. Plenty of okay places on Poppies I & II.
3. Better to wait till you get here, plenty of choice.
4. Some people are friendly, others are not. Indonesians are generally willing to talk to strangers. High density of younger travelers in the Kuta area. On your first night you should go dancing at the Hard Rock Cafe.
5. Perama bus, which has an office in Kuta on Jl. Legian (ask at your guest house for directions) can get you to Ubud, Lovina, Gili's. Once in those places you might hire a car with driver for the day.

You'll have a great time. Don't spend too long in Kuta.

Thanks Chris, that was really helpful - I looked up Satriya cottages and they looked lovely. Has anyone else heard of Nusa Indah or the Masa Inn in Kuta? Look really nice too, wondered if anyone had ever stayed there.

Nick - thanks for your advice. I was also wondering; how close-knit is the expat community out there? I will probably be spending some time with a friend of the family who lives out there (works for the world bank), was wondering if you all knew each other, and whether it would be a good thing to hang out more with people who live there, or whether I would have more fun striking out on my own...

Thank you!
Laurie x

Hi Lauriegirl,

The bounty is a good place from what I have heard as I met a lot that stayed there. Not sure if you will hear the clubs from there but I would guess you will a little as the clubs pump out some serious bass in there dance music.

As for renting a scooter you do need a licence in Bali to drive but in saying that you do not. I never had an international one all my trips untill the last trip there when I got one before I left. When I rent the bikes they say you have a licence I say yeh I left it at hotel and then even ask for passport and I always have it in a safe so I say no. They still give me the bikes and just take the payment of about 1 pound a day for the bike. If you wear a helmet all the time the cops leave youo alone but I do not a lot and if they pull you up you just say I lefts all my wallet and papers at hotel and I say my helmet was stolen and shake the cops hand with 20 000 RP in it. That is just over 1 pound for you. I have payed off so many cops i lost count sometimes 3 a day lol and I keep 20 000rp in a small pocket inmy ppants and my wallet in my back pocket. Sometimes they ask for more but I say no thats all i got and they tell you to move on. The cops do not get paid much so they all take cash this way to boost there pay.

Nusa Indah hotel is this link just to make sure you have teh right hotel...

http://baliwww.com/index/hotel_detail/overview/640.html

Let me know if you want me to call the manager as they are very good staff there and trusted 100%. Even for your 1st night or two it is a nice clean place to unwind from the flight and then hunt around by foot for cheaper rooms if needed.

Some great information here. I'm going to be in Bali this June so some of it will come in handy

-Robin

hi Laurie,

I'm Indonesian living in Jakarta. I'm going to Bali end of this month. Just me and my 6 yo son. I'm thinking of staying at Arthawan or AP Inn or Segara Sadhu. I havent decided but maybe I'd stay in different places during my 4 nights trip. Just to get a great comparison to share with others when I get back to Jakarta.
If you wish to take a full day tour, I can recommend my friend, Bli [means Mr in Bali Language] Komang.
He offers tour /guiding sevice with his own car. He is well known and trustable.
the rate is also cheap and reasonable. only Rp. 250.000 [+/-25 usd ]for 10 hours trip using his Blue Toyota Kijang.
You may send him an SMS at his mobile : +62817559712
http://balitraveltour.com