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General
 

Arrangements

 

Pack your bags

 

How to get to Bali

 

Required documents to enter Bali

 

Money
 

Your arrival & departure.

 

Customs

 

Transport in Bali

 

Hotels

Travelling around Bali

 

Balinese day life

 

Tourist night life
 

Food and drinks
 

Health care
 

Mini language course

Money

 

 

 

The Indonesian Rupiah

 

The currency in Bali, Indonesia is called the Rupiah (Indonesian Rupiah = IDR). The value of the Rupiah is subject to fluctuations. The value can change up to 3 times a day. Therefor, it is recommended to check the latest value on "The Universal Currency Convertor" page.

 

It is not recommended to buy Rupiahs in your home country, as the value is more likely to be worse than in Bali itself. Moreover, it is prohibited to leave or enter the customs with Rupiah banknotes. 

 

Currently, the following Rupiah banknotes circulate:

(click the picture to zoom the bank note)

 

  • 1,000 Rupiah

1000 Rupiah

 

1000 Rupiah

 

  •  5,000 Rupiah

5,000 Rupiah

 

  • 10,000 Rupiah

10,000 Rupiah

 

  • 20,000 Rupiah

 

20,000 Rupiah

 

  • 50,000 Rupiah

50,000 Rupiah

 

50,000 Rupiah

 

  • 100,000 Rupiah

100,000 Rupiah

 

 

There coins currently circulating are 50, 100 and 500 IDR coins. 

 

Exchanging money

 

It is recommended to take US dollar , Australia dollars, Singapore dollars or Euro notes with you. Most tourists enter the country with 300 US dollar in notes of 100 US dollar value. The higher the value of the notes, the better will be the exchange rates. 

As mentioned above, it is not recommeded to exchange to Rupiahs in your own country. There are plenty of money exchange facilities in Bali, especially in the tourist areas. 

You can get good exchange rates almost everywhere. Even shops offer good rates, but BE CAREFUL! Some of the money exchangers might have better rates but they charge supplemental costs for no reason. There is no reason to charge supplemental costs anyway. Discuss this on forehand. 

Also recalculate the exchange rate, even when the money exchanger is using a calculator. Some of these calculators are rigged!

Another issue is the value of the notes. Some of the exchangers will try to exchange in small notes of 5.000, 10.000 or 20.000 IDR. Do not accept the small notes, as you'll be fed up with a big wallet and no value. Using small notes is also a way of trying to rip the tourists off! They discourage the tourists to (re)count the money.

When receiving the money, recalculate the amount of money received. Double or tripple checking is recommended!

 

Note the exchange rate are slightly worse at the airport.

 

 

Credit cards.

 

 

All credit cards are widely accepted in hotels, restaurants, stores etc. However, when leaving the tourist area's, carry some cash money with you.

DO NOT show your credit card and DO NOT allow a suspicious person take your credit card where you cannot see what is happening.

 

Always keep the phone number of your bank. Whenever your credit card is stolen, you'll be happy to have the phone number on you!

 

 

 

ATM

 

Most tourist areas have ATM: Kuta, Lovina, Denpasar, Tabanan, etc. However, non tourist area's do not have any ATM's.

DO NOT use the ATM after business hours. Some ATM machines swallow the card if the bank is closed or the machine is empty. In case your card is swallowed, enter the bank building and reclaim your card immediately.

There is also an ATM at the airport.

 

Other cards

 

For European people, Cirrus is accepted by the ATM machines. Note that the exchange rates are worse as you will be charged per transaction.

 

 

Traveller's cheques

 

Traveller's cheques are widely accepted!.