Solo Female Travelling to Bali

AussieDolphin on 16/02/2017 - 10:39

Hi,

I haven't been to Bali before and would like some advice, please. A friend was joining me but this has now changed.

We were going to stay in Kuta. I need a safe place to stay there or in Seminyak? Do you have ideas for things to do? I don't want to visit any zoos or ride an elephant either. I was thinking about a visiting a spa for the day. Please share your recommendations. Agoda and Booking.com have so many choices! I also noticed that most places don't offer airport transfers. What are taxis like and what is the going rate either location?

Travel

Comments

  • Heracles26 on 16/02/2017 - 10:45
    +8

    Bali is easy. I avoid Kuta/Seminyak and like to spend most of my time in Ubud further inland where you can take part in yoga, visit the monkey forest, climg Mt. Batur etc

    PM me and I can give you the name of a driver if you like to arrange aiport pick up, day trips etc.

    • AussieDolphin on 16/02/2017 - 11:02

      Hi, I sent you a PM. Forgot to ask about places to stay in Ubud.

  • SirFlibbled on 16/02/2017 - 10:51
    +4

    I would recommend Seminyak rather than Kuta. It's a little safer with less drunk knobheads. Kuta these days is so westernised, you may as well go to the Gold Coast.

    Spas and massages are everywhere so I wouldn't worry about that.

    Taxis are cheap but try to get Blue Bird taxies. All the other cabs pretend to be Blue Bird but they aren't and have similar names like "Blue Taxi Group" or "Blue Biro Group". Blue Bird taxis only use the meter and a trip from Seminyak to Kuta will cost between 30,000 - 70,000 depending on traffic. Other taxi drivers are a big rougish and wont use their meter (but generally would take 50,000 to drive me between the two). If you want to feel a little safer though, use Blue Bird as they have a good rep.

    Also available is Uber although the drivers wont enter certain areas. I tried to get an Uber from Legian one day a couple of weeks ago and no driver would accept it because I was in the 'danger zone' (I found out later it's because in certain areas cabs would take photos of uber drivers cars and regos and post them on closed groups for reprisals).

    Ubud is worth visiting and has a lot of relaxation things like spas and yoga classes. You can do some sight seeing if you'd like but you don't sound too interested in that stuff.

    • Hellfire on 16/02/2017 - 14:37
      +2

      It's the aussie drunk knobheads in (primarily) Kuta that are the real danger in Bali. Avoid them and your going to be pretty safe.

    • kryptoz on 16/02/2017 - 21:53
      +1

      "you may as well go to the Gold Coast" — true, however Bali is usually cheaper accommodation/food/etc than the Gold Coast, and promo Airfares can be cheaper to, depending on what part of Oz you are coming from.

    • lainey13 on 16/02/2017 - 22:07

      Blue birds will still try and rip you off. Had one insist he had 'no change' … after a day of driving? Really? Bullshit!

  • brownbag on 16/02/2017 - 10:51
    +2

    Great food in Seminyak and great beach if you avoid the wet season, but other than that, avoid the area. If you have to stay there, you're right in leaning towards Seminyak over Kuta.

    We've been to Amed a few times - small traditional villages with very few tourists and really great atmosphere. Amazing snorkelling there right on the beach. No spruikers at all, which is a welcome relief.

    Uluwatu is also an amazing place - Padang Beach, Bingin beach. There's some amazing beaches here and it is mostly unspoilt.

    Bayu Cottages are great.

  • Foxtail on 16/02/2017 - 11:11
    +1

    We just booked a week here in Seminyak at Amadea resort.

    https://tinyurl.com/jnnvqfe

    They also arranged a driver to come collect us at airport.

    Going to do some day tours.

    • dazweeja on 16/02/2017 - 13:33
      +1

      Stayed there last year and it was great.

  • cloudy on 16/02/2017 - 12:27
    +2

    We just returned from Bali.

    Sorry my story turned out long, so the TLDR is: all transport offered is safe, and taking a Über if you have net is soooo much cheaper, if not always bargain for around 50% off whatever is first offered.

    My tip with taxis is this, they are all safe, everyone there is just trying to earn a living and they all know tourism is their main source of income so it's frowned upon internally to do harm to tourist. But ripping them off $$$ wise is not harm, it's just the tourist lack of knowledge.

    So when you arrive at airport walk past the first 2-4 spruikers offering taxi services, you can engage them for pricing, but whatever they say, expect to pay 75-50% less than offered. Ie: we were offer 300k for a trip to legian, later we were offered 150k, a little further walk down towards the car park we took a "transport" service for 100k. and I'm sure I could have done better, but I don't wanna go so low that I feel bad.

    If you can, take an Über, we went to ubud from legian to ubud, most drivers quote 300k one way, or 500k for a day to go anywhere. But with an Über it costed us 100k. We ordered a uber when I was waiting in my hotel lobby and went outside when it was close.

    I later continued to use my uber driver to drive around, though I paid him normal "tourist" rates,but I found him very friendly and felt bad after taking the ubud trip ( it was over an hours ride to ubud and he returns with no fare, so for $10 my wife scorned me for not tipping him, so I said I will just give him more business later).

  • CyberMurning on 16/02/2017 - 12:29
    +1

    hmm is bali safe now? i still think it is dangerous to travelling alone especially if you are girl.

    • AussieDolphin on 16/02/2017 - 12:45

      I'm a girl.

      • CyberMurning on 16/02/2017 - 12:54
        +2

        You better ask gender of people who gave advises above. Guy or girl travelling alone in countries like Indonesia can lead to different situations

      • Malarkey on 16/02/2017 - 14:47
        +1

        Apparently you're a dolphin

    • cloudy on 16/02/2017 - 14:06
      +1

      My wife, then gf travelled to bali twice with just another girl. She was so comfortable she was going to go to our last bali trip by herself. She's normally scared of everything (I hope she doesn't read this lol)

      • CyberMurning on 16/02/2017 - 14:40
        +1

        ok so two girls.
        still, different with just 1 girl alone.
        sorry not meant to scaring you but hey, extra careful is always better than regret.

        • cloudy on 16/02/2017 - 18:07
          +1

          its a fair comment. I'm just saying my wife wouldn't walk in the city of Melb at night by herself but was willing to go to Ubud, Bali, by herself. But each to their own.

  • kolorijo on 16/02/2017 - 12:47
    +3

    be in the water far from the shore, you will be safe there, stay away from sea world, ocean world, and the zoo (just in case they have ocean mammal section).

    • [Deactivated] on 17/02/2017 - 13:16

      Had to read that twice. LOL.

  • thedoozy on 16/02/2017 - 12:51
    +3

    Just came back from a recent trip, loved Seminyak and Ubud, but I agree with other posters, Kuta is the source of Bali's bad reputation. Some really nice hotel bars in Seminyak (Potato Head, WooBar @W etc.) as well as some great places to eat. Uber was definitely the cheaper and most convenient option, but the drivers don't like to linger and want you in and out to avoid issues with cab drivers.

    Scoopon has some decent deals on accommodation, and often include airport transfers. We stayed at Villa Kayu Raja in Seminyak, which was like self-contained apartments with private pool etc. Would definitely recommend, but not the cheapest option. Went to a spa centre there called Sundari Day Spa, which was truly one of the best experiences both my partner and I have ever had at a spa. Well priced, incredible staff, and felt truly amazing afterwards.

    One thing that helped us a lot was to download the tripadvisor app for Bali, and you can download the map offline. The offline map includes navigation and reviews for bars, restaurant etc. which really helped avoid dodgy places, as well as locate some hidden gems when we didn't have data or wifi.

    • cloudy on 16/02/2017 - 14:07
      +2

      Also, it seems like EVERY restaurant has wifi if you ask for the password. There wasn't one, from memory that didn't offer it if u ask.

      so no troubles getting data for me.

  • Nitafart on 16/02/2017 - 12:52
    +1

    hi, join bali bogans on facebook. Its a group and they are really helpful with advice. You can even post the dates of when you are going and ask whose going and join them :) I've been to bali twice before and I felt pretty safe. To get a cheap taxi at the airport you go up to arrivals and catch a blue bird that is dropping someone off. They are metered taxi and you tell them where you would like to go or show them the address. To seminyak is was under 50k.

  • marcusv on 16/02/2017 - 12:54
    +1

    As others have recommended I would head to Ubud if you are looking forward to spas or even yoga. It is much more suited to solo travelers compared to Kuta & Seminyak.

    Bali Botanica and Karsa spa are both amazing, a full day experience is around $AU90-100

    The Campuhan ridge walk is also a really nice thing to do first thing in the morning. A bike tour or the Mt Batur sunrise trek would also be suitable for a solo traveler as you will meet other people.

    If you are into coffee check out Seniman coffee in ubud. I sat at their coffee bar for a few hours by myself trying all sorts of coffee.

    • brownbag on 16/02/2017 - 13:09
      +1

      If you are a walker, and you stay in Ubud, I'd recommend to stay in Campuhan or Penestenan. Lili and Lallas is a beautiful place with a small pool (albeit very cold as it gets a lot of shade). there's other wonderful places around there.

      Or in town in Ubud, check out Honeymoon guest house. Not too far away from, but in a quiet street just away from the centre of town. Beautiful rooms in a restored temple with a great pool and great service.

    • marcusv on 16/02/2017 - 13:23
      +2

      I forgot to add Yellow Flower Cafe (up the Penestenan steps) is a personal favourite as well

  • brownbag on 16/02/2017 - 13:06
    +1

    My sons used go-jek and grabcab to get cars for long distances. I can't say much about it, but it worked well for them.

    • SirFlibbled on 16/02/2017 - 14:20
      +1

      Go Jek is an awesome app everyone going to Bali should down load. Not just for cars but they deliver almost anything. Which can be handy when it's crapping down with rain or your just too lazy to do it yourself (at a cost of 9,000r)

  • inherentchoice on 16/02/2017 - 13:29
    +1

    You can book on an organised tour and they will take care of everything with a very good itinerary and usually a western guide. I did the Balintro which I thought was really good.

    Have a look here:

    https://peterpans.com/asia/bali/

  • jzdhgkd on 16/02/2017 - 15:29
    +1

    +1 for Ubud

    The last time I went to Bali there were girls and ladies of all ages walking around by themselves both in the day and night. It felt really safe!

  • lainey13 on 16/02/2017 - 22:09
    +1

    Plenty of solo travellers! Go to Yoga Barn, take plenty of tours (lots of different tours), hell even try a discover scuba dive for a day if you wanted to coz its cheap! Bike tours, cooking classes, shopping, SPA FOR THE WHOLE DAY… so much fun. I'd go again sometime… it would make it number 4 :) PM if you want to know anything else!

    • AussieDolphin on 17/02/2017 - 00:03

      Thank you. Please can you share where you stayed?

  • Adz81 on 17/02/2017 - 00:37
    +2

    Here's where I stayed last time:

    https://www.homeaway.com.au/holiday-rental/p414848vb

    It was absolutely incredible… Fair warning, I was travelling with friends so this place is probably overkill for a solo traveller, but the staff were amazing. My friends arrived a few days before me, and gave Nanga (spelling?) 500k for food, and she cooked all of our evening meals for us (breakfast was included), her partner, Kutut was a brilliant driver who took us everywhere we needed to go at very reasonable rates… If you want to shirk the while bogan tourist thing and just want a place to relax within walking distance to some OK bars, this place is incredible… If I ever go there again, I'll stay here just for the cooking… It's more a "home" to make your own in Seminyak than a resort experience, but it was simply brilliant.

    • Adz81 on 17/02/2017 - 00:40
      +1

      Airport transfers were 150k, and a day driving in the car was 50k, a day on the scooter with Kutut was free of charge (we tipped them at the end of the trip, I cannot speak highly enough of the staff there)… And the food… Holy shit, I need to go again…

  • born2reign on 17/02/2017 - 08:52
    +1

    Have a driver arranged at the airport for pick up / drop off at the end of your trip..

    My wife and I went October last year and we had a driver lined up but couldn't find him among the swarm of people so ended up walking around / waiting for about an hour… clearly plan where / what time you will meet and if possible get a photo of him ahead of time so you know what you are looking for.

    We got mobbed by taxi drivers trying to take us, and a few of them were quite persistent and in my face about it despite me telling them over 5 times no I'm not interested, along with all the usual hand gestures in case they didn't understand what I was saying. At one point I kinda feared for my safety too, such was the tenacity/persistence.

    Besides that, just understand that everything outside the main shopping malls in Kuta are basically all fakes/rip offs and they will barter you down to ridiculously cheap prices as a result, despite what the price tag is displayed as.. I'm usually a size 12-13 shoe, but these 'Adidas' ones I purchased wouldn't fit me until size 15 lol

    I also know a driver who was highly recommended by a friend (who frequently goes to Bali) and he was a delight, worked around our schedule and waited in the car for hours until we were ready to go to next place before dropping us back to hotel etc.

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