How2: Travel Guides. #4 Bali

We’re back with the forth instalment in our Travel Guide series! We’ve given you New York, Lisbon and Australia, now it’s time to head to Southeast Asia to a country that I’m sure is on everyone’s list! In 2018 I was lucky enough to travel to Bali with my boyfriend and it was nothing short of amazing. The scenery was beautiful, the people were nice & the food was good too! All in all the holiday was great vibes, but I didn’t expect any less!

We spent 10 days travelling around Bali, including leaving the mainland and visiting some of the other islands Indonesia has to offer! If you do visit Bali, you have to island hop; don’t go to Asia if travelling during your holiday isn’t for you because you’ll miss out on so many amazing places that are right at your fingertips. We started our trip in Ubud, this is inland and pretty much smack bang in the middle of Bali. It is surrounded by beautiful jungle and waterfalls, even a Monkey forest! Ubud is the place for excursions and activities, we definitely jumped straight in with a few solid days of exploring. We then set off to the Gili’s! Now the Gili Islands are part of Lombok (another Indonesian Island) and is a collection of 3 islands: Gili Meno, Gili Air & Gili Trawangan - Gili T being the largest island of the 3 and the one we chose to stay on for a few days! We did visit the other island on day trips but can happily say we made the right decision with Gili T. Finally we finished our trip in Seminyak/Kuta, my boyfriend called this the boujie part of our holiday. The Seminyak area is popping; it’s the place to be for nightlife! There are an abundance of beach clubs you can spend the day and night at, serving great food, great entertainment and strong cocktails (our favs will be in the top 10 of course!).

We visited in June which is their dry season; we still had a few days of rain but mostly sunny. It did tend to get cloudy in the late afternoon though. All in all the weather was great!

Now, let’s get into my top 10 things you must do when visiting Bali!

10. See the waterfalls in Ubud

Ubud is surrounded by jungle and beautiful scenery, including waterfalls! We visited Tegenungan waterfall as part of our day trip and it was a nice visit. There’s a small entry fee to get into the park where there are small stalls selling local goods and produce (we had a juicy coconut while here) and then you walk down towards the waterfall where there are plenty of photo opps on the way. Once down there you can swim in then water surrounding the waterfall but can’t swim directly under in. If swimming isn’t for you, you can still get a great view and picture standing on the rocks around a the waterfall. Warning though, very slippery!

9. Monkey Forest in Ubud

I can’t lie Ubud was really the place for excursions! We visited the famous Monkey Forest which was an absolute blast: I love monkeys! They were literally everywhere, if you’re lucky one might even jump on you. Some would question whether that’s lucky though lol. Be very careful with your valuables here, there are pick pocketers everywhere and it’s not the humans for once! Monkeys LOVE to steal peoples things, so keep your sunglasses close and your phone even closer! Again there’s a small entrance fee to the attraction but it’s worth it; despite the monkeys the forest is beautiful and has some great picture spots!

8. Waterbom Waterpark

This was one of my favourite things we done simply because I love the water! Now I’m not much of an adrenaline junkie, I don’t like rollercoasters (I go on them because of FOMO but I’m hating it the whole time) but anything to do with water I’m there. Waterbom is Asia’s largest Waterpark and has so many slides for all levels - I’m a big kid at heart so the slides were the reason I was there! We of course headed to the big slides that looked most interesting first. I went on a slide that done a semi-upside down loop and to go down the slide you’re in a capsule while the floor drops from beneath you. First time my heart was racing, by the 3rd time my heart was still racing but I was loving it lol. There were so many slides but we managed to get through them all - slides with rubber rings, twin slides where you go down together and the classic Kamikaze style slide which is super steep and fast! We also managed to find some sunbeds so occasionally we’d take a break from the slides and laze in the sun. There was of course food and drink facilities too!

7. Snap a classic Bali pic on a swing in the ocean

Scattered all around Bali you will find photo opp spots - it’s like the locals just know what we’re here for! An absolute must is of course a picture on a swing in the ocean. Luckily the hotel we stayed at on Gili T (Pandawa Hotel) had their own swing on the beach out the front - perfect! As soon as I spotted it I knew I had to get a picture there one way or another. We didn’t plan a time or day to take the picture, we actually just got really lucky with time. We were chilling on the bean bags on the beach (that’s a super common thing in Bali, bean bags everywhere!) and noticed a couple at the swing. Me being me dragged by boyfriend over there instantly and I asked the Indonesian man super nicely if he’d take our picture. Lowe and behold, the sun was also setting, so we were about to get the perfect picture. I thank this man every single time I look at the picture he took for us. To this day I think it’s my favourite picture ever. So make sure you get a memorable swing picture when you visit - preferably at sunset!

6. Potato Head Beach Club

I really wish we got to spend more time in Seminyak/Kuta, I feel like we would’ve discovered some amazing gems and beach clubs! Nonetheless, Potato Head was recommended to me by a work colleague who had recently visited, she said it was amazing and I trusted her judgement so it was automatically added to the itinerary. Now, exterior = amazing, interior = amazing, the food = to die for. All of a sudden we felt like we were in a weird Mayfair but Bali style place and I remember just wanting to keep ordering more food and more cocktails! We went in the evening so it was more restaurant vibes than beach club, I actually had real clothes on & not a bikini. Service was amazing - obviously a bit more on the expensive side if you’re going to compare it to Bali street food. But if you’re from London, you’re probably used to expensive food bills! When we were done with dinner we managed to bag yourselves a beach bed by the pool overlooking the ocean just so we could close out the night drinking cocktails in comfort - 10/10. I left the restaurant bare foot with my boyfriend basically carrying me because I messed up my foot really bad on Gili T and forced myself to wear heels to dinner just so I could look extra cute - rookie mistake Sof, stick to the flip flops.

5. Bali Swing/Zip-lining over the rice fields

The first excursion we done in Bali was visiting the Tegalalang Rice Fields near Ubud. Also to note - the hotel we stayed in while we were in Ubud organised all of our excursions for us! They even provided us with a mobile phone throughout our stay so we could contact them or our driver if we ever needed to. It’s called Pajar House Ubud Suite & Villas - we got our own private villa and it was amazing. So the first place they recommended was here and of course they mentioned that we have to go on the swing - another photo opp that I’d seen all over Instagram, so you know I was there! So this isn’t the actual ‘Bali Swing’, there’s another a bit further out from Ubud but our hotel recommended this one because it was closer and made more sense for our full day of activities. So we done a tour of the rice fields and even got to do coffee tasting - I was all for that! While there we went on the individual and couples swing as well as a zip line which takes you above and across the whole rice field. There were some really cute picture spots here too!

4. Finns Beach Club

When I go back to Bali, this is going to be the first place I go! Finn’s was unmatched, amazing & just a whole vibe. Now this beach club I was certainly going to turn up wearing a bikini! There were people everywhere, dancing, drinking, doing shisha and just having the best time. We managed to get a beach bed close to the edge so we had a good view of the ocean and as soon as we sat down the first thing I did was order a cocktail! We got here during the day and literally stayed until it was almost closing time. We ate good food, drank really good frozen cocktails, enjoyed a shisha pipe and just took in all the scenery and all the vibes. We came here on our last night so it was sort of like a send off to Bali and honestly I’m so glad we done it here. Everyone was in the best mood (alcohol and sun will do that to you) and the music was the best I’d heard all holiday aside from my own playlist. It was the summer that Wild Thoughts was everywhere in the UK & I remember hearing the intro beating through the speakers & what did I do? Got out my phone, opened Snapchat and started singing along instantly having the best time hahaha.

3. Snorkel at Gili Meno

I’ve said this already but I am a water baby. Like I love to swim, love being in the water, pool, ocean, I ain’t got no type. So as you can imagine, snorkelling is always one of my favourite activities on holiday! We set off from Gili T and headed towards Gili Meno, the sun was trying to break through the clouds but all I kept thinking about was whether I was going to see turtles or not. We get to our destination somewhere off the shore of Gili Meno, flippers on, snorkel check and waterproof phone case at the ready. It was time for me to jump off the boat into the middle of the ocean - my favourite thing to do. Most of us on the boat got into the water and what we saw beneath us was amazing. Sadly no turtles but the wildlife was amazing, so many fish and coral everywhere. As we swam around we even came across these amazing underwater sculptures which were of people standing in a circle and laying on the sea floor, really big statues and quite a lot of them. It literally looked like something out of the lost city of Atlantis. We spent ages in the water just swimming around trying to find cool fish and still praying I’d see a turtle. The current was quite weak on the day we went and super easy to swim in. Obviously for those who can’t swim or are less confident swimmers - have no fear, they provide life jackets! Even if you’re an experienced swimmer they make you wear one, so you won’t feel like you’re the odd one out.

2. White Water Rafting

I can’t lie, it was so tight between this and number 1 but honestly this was my favourite excursion that I done in Bali. I’d never done white water rafting before but like I’ve said, I’m up for anything that involves water. When in Ubud, you have to do this. We started our day relatively early and went to our destination in the classic tourist vans they pick you up in. It was hot, the sun was blazing and I had a thick life jacket on and was carrying an oar. On top of that, we had to get down to the river where we would be rafting. We walked for a while, I kid you not we practically climbed down a mountain to get to the river but it was worth it. We paired up with a group of people from India and spoke English - I overheard them saying they’d done this before so I wasn’t passing up the opportunity of going with some pros. We also had an actual pro with us who worked for the company! We were in the raft for probably about an hour in total. We rafted through the jungle, stopped off for a swim at a waterfall and even managed a break in between where we were served noodles, drinks and beer (Bintang is the beer in Bali, if you’re like me and beer isn’t for you, they have Bintang Radler which is a shandy and is actually really refreshing). I loved the fact that there was a stop off for food, Asian food is my all time favourite so eating noodles in the jungle was a dream for me. Thankfully we didn’t capsize but one of the other teams did right ahead of us - I definitely wasn’t envious of that.

1. Island Hop to the Gili’s

Finally, you cannot visit Bali without going to the Gili’s. I repeat, you cannot go to Bali without visiting the Gili’s. What an amazing collection of islands! We had the pleasure of visiting all 3 but only stayed on Gili Trawangan which is the main island. Ahead of my stay I didn’t really know what to expect from the island, I’d been told there’s no cars, the taps and toilets spit out salt water and basically that it’s paradise. None of that was wrong, but one thing I didn’t expect it to be was a party island! Gili T is the biggest of the 3 islands but is still small. You can get from one side of the island to the other in probably about 10/15 minutes on a horse & cart (their main form of transport) or you can hire a bike. We stayed on the “sunset side” of the island because that sounded the best to me when I was booking, what we didn’t know is that the parties happen on the other side of the island! Amongst the beautiful beaches and random wildlife that wander the island, were an abundance of bars and restaurants which at night turned into a street party affair. On our first night we were sat at a beautiful Indian restaurant eating curry, drinking cocktails & doing shisha, we thought we’d call it a night. We walked no more than 5 minutes down the beach, past the outdoor cinema (of course with bean bags) and all of a sudden I heard Cardi B’s voice. Now you knowwww I ran towards wherever that was coming from. Next thing I knew we had drinks in our hands, my bum was shaking and were dancing in a crowd full of people at a bar! Big fat warning though, if you are staying on the other side of the island and need a horse & cart to get back, get one before 11pm. We had no idea they stopped running at a certain time and we thought we could walk around the whole circumference of the island to get back to our hotel. Wrong. We ended up on the north end of the island on a pitch black beach and this is the day that I messed up my foot really bad. At this point I thought we were stranded, I think we maybe walked for 2 hours up and down this island with no idea where to go, it was our first night after all. We asked people and they told us it would take us ages to walk. Then just as I was about to give up hope and start praying, I heard the sound of horse feet in the distance and a guy and his horse appeared. His name was Eyal - I’d just finished watching Love Island and it was the series with Eyal so I thought this was a sign loool. I begged him to take us back to the hotel and thankfully he did. It took no longer than 10 minutes in the opposite direction that we’d come from, so really we weren’t far or stranded at all, we just went the wrong way around the island! Aside from my crazy first night, the Gili’s was just literal paradise. Beautiful beaches with clear waters and so many bars and restaurants to choose from - we even managed to catch a World Cup game! It’s the perfect stop off point on your trip to have a relaxing day and the option to have a turn up night if you wanted to. We spent a day on Gili Air which wasn’t as popping as Gili T but still beautiful nonetheless. There are loads of excursions to the other islands from Gili T once you’re there. We caught a boat from Padangbai in mainland Bali which took us all the way to the Gili’s - this took about an hour and a half but if the weather is nice you can sit on the top deck and catch a tan. On our way back to Bali I caught the best tan on the roof and even managed to see dolphins in the wild!!

In terms of pricing of my holiday, I think because of the time of year we went we managed to get it for pretty cheap! The flight was about £500 give or take which was inclusive of a 32kg suitcase. The accommodation was cheap! Considering we stayed in 3 separate villas across Bali, we spent just over £600 for the 2 of us on all of our stays. Bali for 10 days for less than £900 each? Yes please. If you want to be even more on a budget, you can get hostels for super cheap and some of them are really nice! That just not really my style when it comes to travelling. Excursions are also well priced here, white water rafting was the most expensive thing we done! I think overall we had about £500 spending money each with us and we were able to live our best lives with that! Again, it can definitely be done for cheaper, this is just how we done it.

So that’s it! Another top 10 done. Honestly it’s been so much fun looking back at this holiday, Bali was a dream and is to this day one of my favourite holidays I’ve ever been on (it might actually be my favourite!). I can’t wait until we can get back to travelling the world, experiencing other cultures, trying new foods and just making memories.