What happens when you land at Bali airport?

Ngurah Rai International, airport code DPS, sits between Kuta and Jimbaran in the south. Everything you have heard about the arrivals hall being chaotic was true a few years ago and is much less true now. The place that still costs people money is the twenty metres past the exit doors.

The order of events

1. Entry formalities. Have your documents and the customs declaration ready. Queues at 1am, when the European and Middle Eastern flights land together, can run to an hour.

2. Baggage reclaim. Belt numbers are on screens. Porters in uniform will offer to take your bags and will expect a tip, which is fine if you want the help and easy to decline if you do not.

3. Customs. Indonesia uses an electronic customs declaration form with a QR code. Fill it in before landing if you can; the airport wifi at peak is slow and the form is the last thing between you and the door.

4. The exit. This is where the trip either starts calmly or does not.

The transport decision, made before you land

There are three sensible options and one bad one.

Book a private transfer in advance. The most predictable, and what I would do with luggage, children, or a 2am landing. Your driver waits with a name board in the arrivals hall. Expect roughly 250,000 to 600,000 rupiah to most of the south depending on distance.

Use the airport's official taxi counter. Inside the terminal, fixed price by destination, paid at the counter. Unglamorous and entirely fine.

Use a ride app. Grab and Gojek both operate, and pickup at DPS is handled through a designated area rather than the main kerb. The price is usually the lowest of the three. The catch is that the walk to the pickup point is real and app pickups have historically been a friction point with the airport taxi cooperative, so it is the least frictionless option at 3am with three bags.

The bad option is agreeing a price with whoever approaches you first in the crowd outside the doors. That is where the two-to-three-times fares live.

Money on arrival

Do not change money in the terminal beyond what you need for the first hour. Airport rates are poor. Use a bank ATM once you are in town, and use ATMs attached to actual bank branches rather than free-standing machines in convenience stores, which is the single best anti-skimming habit here.

Most decent restaurants, hotels and shops take cards. Warungs, markets, parking attendants, temple entry and drivers often do not. Carry cash.

SIM cards

There are official counters after customs for the main networks. They cost more than town but they work, they are set up for you on the spot, and you walk out connected. Registering an Indonesian SIM requires passport details, which is why the counters exist. An eSIM bought before you fly is the other clean option and saves the queue.

The things that surprise people

• It is hot. The walk from the aircraft can be outdoors and humid at any hour.
• Nyepi closes the airport completely for 24 hours, usually in March. No arrivals, no departures, no exceptions.
• The domestic and international terminals are separate buildings and connected by a short walk. Allow properly for a connection to Labuan Bajo, Lombok or Java.
• Traffic from the airport is unpredictable. Seminyak is 9 kilometres and can take 25 minutes or 75. See real travel times from the airport.
• Departure security is strict on the second screening at the gate area. Liquids and power banks get pulled out.

Leaving Bali

For departures, allow three hours for an international flight in peak season. The check-in hall queues for the budget carriers to Australia are long, and the terminal has a habit of being at its busiest at exactly the times everybody flies.