Bali Transportation - rent a car and a motorcycle, what to use to get around

Overview of ways to navigate

Unfortunately, public transport in Bali is poorly developed. Attempts are periodically made to launch a public transport system on the island, but, apparently, local residents do not really want to use it, and therefore such projects are being closed. The next bus system closed in early 2025.

If you come to Bali for a vacation on a ticket, then by and large you should not worry about transport. Bali Airport will pick you up and take you to the hotel, and at the end of the rest will pick you up and take you back. And during the rest you can take a taxi, buy excursions or hire a car with a driver for a day trip to the sights.

If you come on your own to travel and get acquainted with interesting places in Bali and neighboring islands, then you can rent a motorcycle or moped (scooter), a car; travel by tourist buses and minivans in the form of a transfer; on local minibuses bemo; use taxis or private car rides at a negotiated price. Learn more about all the methods:

Bali Taxi

Taxi in Bali is not such a simple topic as in other popular resorts and Southeast Asian countries. There is a confrontation between the local "taxi mafia" and taxi applications, and this directly concerns tourists. Let's tell you about everything in order:

The cheapest and most convenient way to use a taxi in Bali is to order through apps. Grab (the pan-Asian equivalent of Uber), GoJek (a purely Indonesian application), Maxim and InDrive work here (these applications work in the Russian Federation and in many countries). They allow you to order cars and motorbikes and offer favorable prices that you can see immediately before ordering. In general, everything is like in Uber or Yandex, which do not work here at all. Therefore, put these applications on the links, preferably at home, register in them, and use:

• Grab in Google Play and in App Store
• GoJek in Google Play and in App Store
• InDrive in Google Play and in App Store
• Maxim in Google Play and in App Store

All of them can be registered on a Russian SIM card or Google account, verified personally. However, sometimes the confirmation SMS does not arrive. In this case, you can either wait a few days, sometimes this problem disappears by itself. If it does not disappear, then you can choose the country of Kazakhstan when registering (the code is the same as that of the Russian Federation + 7), this solves the problem.

You can link a bank card in apps, but Russian ones, including Unionpay, don't work. If there is no foreign card, you can pay in cash rupees at the end of the trip. The minimum price of the trip starts from 20,000 rupees (1.11 USD), motorcycle taxi from 8000 rupees (0.44 USD). But the price changes a lot during the day, there is a surcharge for trips from the airport, so you shouldn't really count on such minimum prices. There are also a lot of one-way roads, and sometimes it's faster to walk a kilometer or two than to wait for a car and drive through traffic jams for several kilometers.

But there is a really big problem with applications – this is the confrontation between the local "taxi mafia" and applications. Now it doesn't reach open conflicts, but taxi drivers are simply not allowed to enter some zones. For example, you can come from Kuta to the popular Melasti beach by taxi through applications for 100,000 rupees, but you will not be able to leave back, as they are not allowed to enter the territory. You will have to hire a taxi in the parking lot of the beach already from 200,000 rupees. They do not even launch them in entire villages, for example, in the resort area of Changu.

Finally, if you are not ready to buy a local SIM card with the Internet and use applications, then you can easily order a taxi through the hotel reception or just catch it on the street. The most popular taxi with a good reputation is BlueBird. These are blue cars with a bird on the logo. White taxis are best avoided – they have a bad reputation. In any case, it is best to go by the meter, for which, before starting the trip, tell the driver "Taxi-meter", and if he says that the meter does not work, then it is better to find another taxi or immediately agree on the cost at a fixed price.

Local regular and city buses

It cannot be said that public transport in Bali is developed, but, nevertheless, it is here:

• Kura Kura buses run through aeport, Kuta, Sanur, Denpasar, Ubud. All flight information and ticket reservations are available on the official website https://kura2bus.com/ubud-shuttles/route-map.
• Trans Metro Dewata Bus System buses. This is another attempt to organize a public transport network in Bali, but since few people use it, it is not a fact that this system will live for a long time. However, now buses are running and allow you to get from the airport to many places in the southern part of the island, including Ubud. There are 9 routes. The fare costs 4,400 rupees, but to pay, you must first buy an electronic card for 20,000 rupees and top it up. Unfortunately, there is no complete information about the routes in the form of an official website on the web.

Fixed-route taxi Bemo

A minibus or Public bemo is an analogue of our gazelles. Traveling on them is very cheap. The cost of the trip depends on the duration of the route, and within the city ranges from 5,000 (0.28 USD) up to 15,000 rupees (0.83 USD). Fixed-route taxis also run between cities, and by combining routes you can get them to any corner of the island, but for long-distance travel it is better to use a tourist shuttle bus.

Bemo drivers are always trying to extort money from tourists. Often they perceive the question of the route of movement as the fact that you hire them as a taxi, and will take you where you need. Naturally, you will have to pay for a taxi. So if you have already started talking to the driver about the route, then be sure to specify the price of the trip.

Tourist buses

For guests of the island, transportation between the main tourist centers is organized by air-conditioned buses or mini buses (tourist shuttle bus). For traveling between airports, this is the most convenient and inexpensive mode of transport compared to a taxi. There are transfers not only by land, but also complex bus + ferry transfers at least to the neighboring islands of Lombok, Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, Gili Islands, Java. It often comes out more expensive than if you take a local bus along the pier and buy ferry tickets there, but it's more convenient in the transfer if you go to the first and don't navigate the route.

Routes and prices are fixed, and it is better to purchase tickets in advance a day or at least a few hours in advance. You can get detailed information about routes and costs, book a trip at travel agencies on the street, which are usually marked with "Tourist information" signs, or at the hotel reception.

Rent a car or motorcycle

Important! Traffic in Bali is left-handed. The roads in many places are very narrow, winding, a lot of traffic jams. If you have little driving experience, we advise you not to rent a vehicle immediately upon arrival, but at least first take a closer look at the traffic and the situation on the roads.

• What rights are needed

  

  Both to drive a car and a motorcycle, you must have an international driving license (IDP). They are made in the form of a book, and are issued in addition to the rights you have without passing exams and a medical certificate. They are issued to the traffic police or MFC, it is most convenient to submit an application through the website of the State Service. The fee for issuing 1600 rubles, the validity period of the rights is three years.

  You can rent a motorbike without a license, but you must have them on the road. And they are really checked, we have had such an experience more than once. They especially like to stop violators of the rules and especially when driving without a helmet. Of course, you can read in the reviews that someone has been living in Bali for a long time and never got to check the documents, and if they did, then everything was solved on the spot with a bribe of $ 10-30. Officially, a fine of about $ 65 has been imposed, prison for up to 4 months is possible and removal from management on the spot with evacuation of the vehicle to a parking lot.

• Main penalties

  Frankly speaking, there is chaos on the roads of Bali, and it seems that no one knows or wants to follow the rules. The police don't react much to violations either, that's the way it is. However, tourists pay special attention. Therefore, you can be sure that if you drive past the police on a motorcycle without a helmet, they will almost certainly stop you. They can also just stop to check the documents to make sure that you have the rights and the right category. Just in case, here are the penalties for major violations:

  • Crossing a stop line or running a red light – 500 000-1 000 000 rupees / 27.68-55.36 USD
  • Driving on a scooter/motorcycle without a helmet, including for a passenger – 250 000-500 000 / 13.84-27.68 USD
  • Driving on a scooter/motorcycle without a license or category A – 4 months in prison and/or a fine of up to 1,000,000 / 55.36 USD

  

• Rent a car in Bali

  If you decide to rent a car, carefully check and note at the conclusion of the contract all the existing damage to the car. Do not rent a car without insurance. The cost of renting a modest old car is from 30 to 40 US dollars. An alternative to renting can be to rent a car with a driver for a day to go sightseeing. However, in this case you will have to pay about one and a half to two times.

  Here are some tips for renting a car:

  • Check the availability of STNK (those passport) and the year before which it is valid.
  • Check the availability and conditions of insurance.
  • Check for spare parts, jack and tools.
  • Inspect the car from the outside, make a video recording, mark all problem areas and damages on the video and mark them in the contract.
  • Take a test drive of the car, i.e. drive at least a little to make sure everything works.
  • Upload maps to your smartphone in advance for navigation, Google maps and Organic maps apps work great here, or Maps.me even without the Internet.

  Just in case, here are reliable aggregator sites where you can compare prices and rent a car:

• Rent a motorcycle and scooter in Bali

  

  Renting a motorcycle will cost from 60,000 rupees/day (3.32 USD) for simple low-power scooters, and up to 800,000 rupees/day (44.29 USD) for big bikes. Discounts are given for rent for a week and a month. For example, when renting for a week, the price will already be from 55,000 per day, and for a month you can take from 1,200,000 rupees (66.44 USD). These are the real prices in 2026.

  There are a lot of rentals, especially in the tourist areas of Kuta, Legian, Seminyak, Changu, Sanur, Ubud. You can find rentals right on the street, there are really a lot of them if you pay attention to the signs, ads and motorcycle bikes standing in rows with an inconspicuous inscription about renting. But now more and more mottoes are rented out via the Internet. So you can rent a transport with delivery to the hotel or airport, and it's also free if you rent for a few days.

  Even small rentals now have their own business card sites with prices and contacts. For example, you can look at these: https://www.kutamotorrent.com/, https://balimotion.pro/ru. You can still set motorcycle for rent on the Google map, and you will see a bunch of rentals near your location, then contact the distributor and negotiate, or walk. And finally, you can use the rental aggregator https://bikesbooking.com/, there are also excellent prices from 50,000 rupees per day.

  Here's what you need to know:

  • When renting the right, you will not be asked, but they must be, and necessarily category "A". Categories "B" or "M" are not suitable!!!
  • They may not ask for anything as collateral, they will only take your photo and passport, or they may ask you to leave your passport. We highly do not recommend this, it is better to offer to leave an internal passport, and if they do not agree, look for another rental.
  • A written rental agreement may be, or maybe just a verbal agreement (you have money, you have keys), it depends on the rental location.
  • Not all rentals have motorcycle insurance, it is advisable to choose those where it is available. Usually this is insurance against damage and theft of a motorcycle, which is not at all superfluous in Bali. But such insurance does not cover damage caused by your fault, so be careful while driving.
  • Be sure to take and wear helmets, usually 2 helmets are included in the price.
  • Before you pick up the motorcycle, take a video and a photo with all the damage.

• Where and how to refuel

  

  What kind of gasoline you need to fill up a motorcycle or car, it's better to ask the rental company when renting. Recall that if you fill up with gasoline with a lower octane rating than it should, you can disable the engine, and then you will have to be responsible for repairs. But this. of course, extreme cases, but you still shouldn't ruin the technique.

  It is best to refuel vehicles in Bali at large network gas stations Petramina and SPBU, there are really a lot of them. There are fewer gas stations in the north of the island, and the distances are long, so if you go there, it's better to refuel to the fullest. In extreme cases, you can fill up at "home" gas stations along the road, but it is more expensive there and this is a dubious option for a car.

(Nyang-Nyang Beach on the map)

• Toll road

  There is a Mandara Toll Road in Bali. It connects the area of Nusa Dua (Benoa) and Kuta, its length is 12.7 kilometers. Where does this road go, see our interactive map of Bali. There is also a toll road project from Denpasar across the island to Gilimanuk, from where ferries to Java go, but the exact timing of implementation is still unknown.

  There are no gas stations on it, please note this. It is not necessary to use it, and in our opinion, if you have a one-time trip, but there is no reason to buy a card to travel on it. With the same success, drive along the old free road, which, by the way, was also repaired a few years ago. Spend 10-20 minutes more time.

  To pay for the fare on the "headscarf" you need to buy an electronic card, cash is not accepted. And in the future they also plan to cancel card payments. Cards can be purchased at banks and at the payment point at the entrance to the road. The cost of the card is 100,000 rupees (5.54 USD), of which 68,000 will be credited to the balance. A ride on a scooter or motorcycle costs 5,500 rupees, by car – 14,000.

  They say that you can drive through it for cash if you give the staff cash and ask them to pay with your card, but we haven't tried that.