Bali Travel Forum

I'm a muslim going to Bali twice this year, 1st with my wife & 3 kids (3,7&9) from 30th April-5th May & 2nd from 3rd-9th June for a Bali-Jakarta road/rail trips with my wife only for our 10th anniversary.

The 1st trip would like to stay 3 nites in Ubud & 2 nites in Sanur (or any suggestion?). Is it ok to rent a self-drive vehicle for the whole time in Bali or better still get chaffeured one? Can we know if the food supplied at the hotel halal certified?

As for the 2nd trip where should i stay to be nearer to the crossing to Java coz the train from Banyuwangi leaves at 9am and i was told the crossing takes an hour. Is it safe to travel on the train coz a number of Indonesian in Malaysia told me otherwise. My plan will be 1 nite each in Bali, Surabaya, Yogya, overnite in train from Yogya to Bandung, Bandung & Jakarta.

Many thanx in advance for the advice..

Hello and welcome to Bali for April.
First of all about renting a car for self driving. It is up to you really which way you want to do it, coming from Malaysia, you will be reasonably confident with the chaotic traffic conditions over here, so that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

You should have an International Driving License to hire a car from a reputable company, it is not necessary to have one if you take one from some of the operators on the street, but then it is unlikely that the car will be insured (even if they claim it is)so then that is up to you if you want to take the risk of driving around UNINSURED

If you do not have an International Driving License and you are stopped by the police there is one of two things can happen;

1/ They will impose an immediate fine on you (which wil probably end up in thier pocket)

2/ They will stop you driving, confiscate the car and give you a notice to appear in court the following day.

The number 2 option is beginning to happen more and more these days, because the new Govenor and chief of police are trying very hard to stop the corruption, and also to make visitors to Bali follow the rules.

Getting to Ubud isn't a big problem, the roads are fairly good, and some of the more reputable companies also have GPS Navigation systems available for rent, so that you can now easily find your way around, and visit all of the usual interesting places. (some of the better ones also include hotel/restaurant locations on the system.

So you can easily rent a self drive car now, without the worry of getting lost.Costs are around 185,000rp per day (from reputable operator, which includes insurance) the GPS Navigation system runs at about 105,000rp per day

Your other option as you say is to rent a car with driver for a period of time during the day/night as and when you need one. This option is more expensive than self driving, on a daily basis around 400,000 to 450,000rp per day. Renting a car with driver is an easier option and is less pressure on you for your holiday, you might not want to have one everyday, so it could still work out at the same money as self driving.

Unfortunately there isn't any guarentee (not knowing where you are staying) about Halal certified food, there are some places mostly in the Kuta/Denpasar area (which is where most Muslim visitors stay)but I am not aware of any in the Ubud/Sanur area that have Halal certification. Some places may claim to be Halal but are not really.

For the second visit to Bali, a little bit more information is required please

1/ When and what time are you arriving in Bali

2/What meathod of transport are you thinking of using to get you to the ferry (Gillimanuk)then from there to the train station.

The train station you need to take you to Surabaya isn't far from the ferry teminal at Ketapang but it isn't so easy to get to using public transport.

The journey will take around 5 hours from Kuta to the train station (maybe less depending on traffic) including the ferry crossing.

Java is 1 hour behind in time than Bali so 9:00am in Java is 10:00am in Bali.

If you stayed in the South on your arrival and you used a car with driver to take you all of the way to the train station you would have to leave at around 4:00am the following morning in order to arrive at the train station on time. The cost is going to be more expensive than hiring a car with driver for a normal day because thay will make an additional charge for going over the water to Java, perhaps the price would be around 500,000rp (going to Java prices) plus Ferry crossing X 2 = 180,000rp, plus meals/drink for the driver around 40,000rp.

If you tried to get further out on your arrival how are you planning to do that?
If you used a car with driver to take you to somewhere closer to the ferry crossing then take you to the train station in Jave, you would have to pay for his accommodation overnight at wherever you decided to stop.

There are some hotels in Gillimanuk, which you could stay in, but you would find it difficult to get transportation to take you to the train station, you could get on the ferry as foot passengers, cross over then try to find a taxi to take you to the train station, that is probably the best option.

There is regular public transport from Denpasar that will take you to Ketapang, from there you would get a taxi to the train station. This way is cheaper than hiring a car with driver for a day, but the buses are uncomfortable, unreliable and often overcrowded (especially in the season you are planning on doing your trip, you would have to plan the journey very carefully in order to arrive at the train station on time.

As for the safety of travelling on the train, it is usually ok, and there are many visitors that do the journey one way or the other every year without problems however there is the dangers of pick pockets that operate on all trains,amd other crimminal type elements that may be around, so the usual advice is to be aware of your surroundings and take care.

If you would like we could meet somewhere during your first trip to Bali, and I could help you look at all of your options for the second trip, especially getting to the ferry.

Anyway whatever you do and decide, I hope you have a great time in Bali.

Thanx kabillion Besarahsia on the complete info. We'll contact u on our 1st visit. As for the Bali/Jakarta trip we're thinking of avoiding nite train so we'll do 2 nites Bali, 1 nite Surabaya, 2 nites Yogya dan final nite Jakarta. We'll skip Bandung since we're going there in March & August. But its not final yet since we really like strolling around Bandung. Btw what can i bring for u from Malaysia as a token of frindship. Tq

Hi,
I just found this website I had put in my favourites that might be very useful for you.
http://www.balihalal.com/masakan-indonesia/index.php
Pamela