Since I have just returned from a trip to Indonesia, in deep high season, and following a touristic itinerary (Bali was part of it), I thought some of you might be interested in some tips on how to survive the experience if you are, like me, mostly interested in: A. avoid being surrounded by tourists fighting for the best instagrammable spot. B. getting to know the real country instead of the one that is set up for you to discover.
First of all, it’s important to understand that 90-95% travellers move following some pre-determined paths, which are usually very limited and localized. And I’m not only talking about people on tours, I’m also talking about independent travellers, which end up usually doing just what everyone else does. Sometimes even a single street can make the difference.
In Bali, this 90-95% basically lives in Ubud or South from it. You see? They have the whole island for themselves, but people just keeps choosing to be based down there, all together, cozy and warm, breathing traffic jams all day long. Ubud and Denpasar are totally congested! They can’t handle the amount of people and vehicles there… And the rest of the island? Well, that’s there for you!
To be honest, there’s a reason why people keep basing themselves down there: it’s close to the international airport, has lots of services, and most operators and drivers will be based in this area. So, for most people it’s all about flying to Bali, staying in that area, and do the day trips with a driver to visit temples, rice terraces, volcanoes and beaches all around the island.
And this means that everyone departs early in the morning, gets a healthy dose of traffic jam to exit the area, saturates specific monuments and natural highlights more or less at the same time, and goes back in time for the return traffic jam after having lunch in a rather touristy and expensive restaurant. Cool!
As in any other place, in order to beat the crowds we should: visit alternative places. visit touristic places but at different times. I haven’t rediscovered the wheel here… But it’s critical to stick to it!
Applying these rules to Bali, my first and most important recommendation is: do not base yourself in Ubud or below. Instead, choose an itinerary across the island and stay between 1 and 3 nights at each of the relevant places, so that you can do your smaller and far less congested side trips from there, including to Ubud if necessary. In our case, we did Candidasa, Batur, Lovina, Munduk and Balian, but obviously that’s very personal and depends on your interests and how much you want to escape from it all. As a rule of thumb, northeast and west are almost empty of travellers.
By doing this, you gain the freedom to visit stuff at the time you want, so that you can still visit the touristic places but at a time when nobody is there, which can be early morning or in the afternoon. Plus, given that you will be based in different areas and your side trips will be a lot shorter, you will also have more time to visit alternative places, not just the common ones. As a bonus, you will also be able to visit stuff on the way to your next base location, limiting the number of side trips you need to do once there.
Ideally you might want to rent a motorbike or car in order to do that with maximum freedom. It’s not that I love the bumpy roads and crazy drivers out there which makes it all feel like a videogame, but being the absolute owner of your time avoids waiting times, renegotiation of prices if you get delayed or want to improvise unplanned stops, etc.
Don’t have driving license? Afraid of driving in Balinese roads? In my opinion, the same solution can apply, but you will need to use something like Gojek (an Uber for Indonesia) to get drivers to bring you along your itinerary. And at all accommodations they do know a local driver who can take you for the side trips you want to do. It will be more expensive than renting? Yes, of course, but not more than being based in Ubud and doing the same thing, and probably more safe!
Another little advice is to choose wisely your accommodation location and style. There’s no need to be based somewhere super centric, where you will for sure encounter all tourists and touristic infrastructure. Just give yourself the chance to be little bit further or in a smaller village close by, and you will probably enjoy the opportunity to see a little bit more authentic area, perhaps even getting in touch with local people who might be genuinely interested in your adventures.
Doing this will also help you get away from the most touristic resorts and get instead into more local accommodation, such as guesthouses / homestays or even resorts that are mainly intended for Indonesians, where your experience will be far more authentic and you will have the opportunity to avoid being called “Sir” all day long.
Finally, I would suggest to let things flow, improvise and travel slowly. Having kids helped me to relax and avoid being too much concerned about the number of highlights I visit at each place. In fact we no longer plan for it at all. In my personal experience, just going out of your place and walk around might just bring you the most interesting experiences of the whole trip. But that’s not gonna happen in Ubud, I can promise.
Travelling like this you’re not only going to beat the crowds and have a more interesting experience, but it is also kinder with the environment (less distance travelled) and will distribute your money to alternative areas of the island, reaching places that do not see that much of it, as unfortunately most property in the touristic areas of Bali is in the hands of powerful western investors.
I didn’t want to dive deep into details about specific places in this post, there’s plenty of info out there…