What should I avoid in Bali?

The taxi mafia at Ngurah Rai Airport is real. Unofficial drivers crowd the arrivals hall offering 'fixed price' rides to Seminyak for 350,000 IDR (about $20) when the Grab fare runs 80,000-120,000 IDR. Walk past the scrum to the official Blue Bird taxi stand on the ground floor, or order a Grab from the pickup zone in the parking structure. Kuta Beach pulls first-timers because it's the closest sand to the airport, about 15 minutes south. The water is murky brown near the drainage outlets along Pantai Kuta, and the hawkers selling knockoff sunglasses won't leave you alone for 90 seconds. Seminyak's Petitenget Beach, 20 minutes north, has cleaner surf and far fewer touts. At night, Kuta's Jalan Legian turns into a strip of loud bars pushing 25,000 IDR cocktails mixed with locally distilled arak. That arak has killed tourists. Methanol contamination in cheap spirits is not a scare story; the Indonesian Ministry of Health recorded multiple fatalities in Bali between 2013 and 2023. Stick to Bintang beer or wine you watch poured from a sealed bottle.

Tanah Lot draws enormous weekend crowds. The temple sits on a rock formation off the southwest coast, and the walk from the parking lot funnels you through 500 meters of souvenir stalls selling identical sarongs and wooden cat statues. Go on a Tuesday or Wednesday morning before 9am, when the incense smoke still hangs in the sea air and you can hear the waves instead of tour-group megaphones. Self-appointed 'guides' outside Goa Gajah, the 9th-century cave temple near Ubud, will offer to show you the bathing fountains for a 'donation' of 100,000-200,000 IDR. The official entry ticket is 50,000 IDR, and the site is small enough to walk in 30 minutes without help. The same pattern repeats at Tirta Empul and Uluwatu. At Uluwatu's clifftop Kecak dance, the long-tailed macaques will grab your sunglasses, phone, or hat; locals then offer to 'retrieve' your item for a fee. Keep everything in a zipped bag during the 6pm performance.

The money-changers on Jalan Legian and around Kuta Square are the oldest con in Bali. They advertise a rate close to the bank rate of roughly 17,660 IDR per dollar, then short-count the bills with a quick-fingered fold that skims 10-20%. Some use a rigged calculator to shave another 50,000-100,000 IDR off the stack. Change money at a BCA or BNI bank branch instead, or withdraw from ATMs inside Circle K or Indomaret stores, which tend to have newer machines with lower skimming risk. For food, avoid the Jimbaran Bay 'seafood BBQ' restaurants that quote per-100-gram pricing without telling you the total until the bill arrives. A single grilled snapper can hit 400,000-600,000 IDR when you expected 80,000. Ask your server at any Jimbaran stall for the total price before the fish hits the charcoal. Warung Mak Beng in Sanur has served crisp fried fish with sambal matah and steamed rice since the 1940s for about 50,000 IDR. The sambal at Mak Beng is searingly hot, and the fish still crackles when it lands on the banana leaf.

Bali's wet season runs from November through March. December and January bring the heaviest rains, and flooding sometimes closes roads around Denpasar's Tukad Badung river. The Kintamani caldera road gets landslide warnings that can strand you for 3-4 hours. During the dry season from April to September, the Campuhan Ridge Walk in Ubud is best at 7am, when the air still feels cool around 23°C and the tall grass smells like wet earth from overnight dew. Bali belly tends to hit about half of first-time visitors. The tubular factory ice with a hole through the center, sold at Indomaret and Alfamart, is filtered and safe; the crushed stuff from roadside blocks is not. Lines of motorbikes outside a warung in Canggu or Sanur mean fresh food and fast turnover.

Bali is Hindu in a majority-Muslim country, and temple etiquette matters more here than most visitors expect. Sarongs and sashes are mandatory at every temple entrance; rental sarongs at Tirta Empul cost 10,000-20,000 IDR, but they're damp and smell like the 50 people who wore them before you. Buy a clean sarong at Ubud Market for 35,000 IDR and carry it with you. Women who are menstruating are asked not to enter Balinese temple grounds, and signs at most entrances state this directly. For LGBTQ+ travelers, Bali scores 4.5/10 for friendliness (sourced from TTDI's editorial rubric). Seminyak has a visible scene around Jalan Camplung Tanduk, but public displays of affection draw stares outside that strip, and Indonesian law offers no anti-discrimination protections. Keep this in mind when booking outside the Seminyak-Kuta-Legian corridor.