How do you get around Bali as a visitor?

There is no metro, no useful train, and one motorway that goes to Nusa Dua. Everything else is roads. Here is how people actually move.

Scooter

Best for: short hops within an area, confident riders, beating traffic.

A scooter turns Canggu from a 25-minute crawl into a 7-minute ride, and that difference is why almost every resident rides one. Rentals run around 70,000 to 100,000 rupiah a day, less by the month.

Three things matter before you rent one.

Licence. To ride legally you need a motorcycle licence valid for the machine, which for most visitors means an international driving permit with the motorcycle category obtained at home before travel. Police check, and a licence you do not hold is also the line most travel insurance policies use to refuse a claim.

Helmet. Non-negotiable, legally and practically. Wear the one they give you and do up the strap.

Your own ability. Bali's roads are busy, wet half the year, sandy at the edges, and full of drivers doing unexpected things. If you have never ridden, Bali is a bad place to learn. Scooter injuries are the single most common way a trip here ends badly, and the tourist term for the resulting wound is a "Bali tattoo" because it is so routine.

More detail on the rental process, deposits and what to check on the bike: renting a scooter in Bali.

Private driver

Best for: day trips, groups, rain, anything over 45 minutes, anyone who wants to look at the view.

The standard arrangement is a car and driver for a day, typically eight to ten hours, at roughly 600,000 to 900,000 rupiah plus fuel, more for a larger vehicle or a long route. Your driver waits while you are at the waterfall, knows where to park, and will tell you honestly which temple is worth the detour.

This is the best value in Bali tourism and almost nobody books it for enough of their trip. See how hiring a driver works.

Ride apps

Best for: short trips in the south, solo travellers, late nights.

Grab and Gojek both run cars and motorbike taxis. Fares are metered by the app, cheap, and cashless if you top up the wallet.

The complication is territorial. In several areas — parts of Ubud, Uluwatu, some beach car parks and around some markets — local transport cooperatives object to app drivers picking up, and drivers will ask you to walk to a corner or will decline the job. This is not a scam; it is a long-running local dispute. Walk the fifty metres, or use a local driver in those areas.

Taxis

Bluebird is the metered operator with a reliable reputation and its own app. Outside of Bluebird, agree the price before you get in, because meters are often "broken".

What about the public bus?

Trans Metro Dewata runs cheap fixed routes around the south and to Ubud. It is slow, limited and not built for luggage, but it exists and it costs almost nothing.

The honest matrix

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One thing to fix before you ride anything

Check what your travel insurance says about motorcycles. Most policies require a valid licence for the engine size and exclude claims without one, which converts a 400-dollar scraped leg into a 40,000-dollar hospital bill in the bad cases. This is the most expensive small print in Bali.