Discovering Bali, Indonesia: Island

 
First Impressions: A Tropical Dream
From the moment you land at Ngurah Rai International Airport, Bali greets you with warm air, welcoming smiles, and the scent of incense drifting from nearby temples. The island instantly feels alive — not just with people and nature, but with something deeper and spiritual.

Roads & Traffic

Bali has narrow roads, heavy traffic, and a mixture of cars and motorbikes competing for the right of way, making it a difficult place to drive.

Motorbike accidents are one of the biggest safety risks in Bali, and it seems like there are new stories every day of foreign tourists getting killed or seriously hurt on bikes. Usually they’re riding without helmets.

I wouldn’t recommend riding a motorbike in Bali unless you have plenty of experience and know-how, and you should absolutely wear a high quality helmet as well.

Even then, you’re much safer in a car in this kind of environment. Yes, it costs more, but it’s nowhere near as expensive as ending up in the hospital.

 Food Safety (‘Bali Belly’)

After many years of visiting Bali, trying all the food, and generally eating like a pig, I’ve never gotten any kind of sickness from food. And I eat everything, including fresh fruit, salad, spicy food, and street food.
In my opinion, ‘Bali belly’ is overhyped. I don’t personally know anyone who has ever had it, including any of my other expat or tourist friends.
I think part of the ‘Bali belly’ reputation came from 20+ years ago, when food safety in Bali was more of an issue than it is now.

Fruit smoothie bowl. Yum. 

There’s also the possibility that some people think they’re experiencing ‘Bali belly’ 

when it’s actually something else entirely.

I’m sure there’s seasonal sickness that gets carried into Bali from ‘snowbird’ travelers escaping their home countries in the winter, and some people probably mistake these normal viruses for ‘Bali belly’ because the symptoms are similar.

In any case, everyone’s stomach is different, so if you tend to be sensitive to new foods then you may want to start out slowly and avoid spicy food when you first get to Bali.

Floating breakfast at Maha Hills Resor  

One exception is the tap water in Bali, which isn’t recommended to drink because it might give you traveler’s diarrhea.

It’s also not recommended to use tap water for brushing your teeth, although I know some locals and expats who do it with no issues.

Bottled water is cheap and widely available, so you can use that instead.

I love Bali

 Volcanoes

Bali is home to two active volcanoes: Mount Agung and Mount Batur.
It’s possible for either of these to erupt at any time, and Mount Agung did have a major eruption in 2017-2019, when it exploded with a 4 kilometer tall ash cloud.
That’s not the first time it’s happened. In 1963, a catastrophic eruption from Agung wiped out the nearby villages and killed 2,000 local people.
However, eruptions are still rare, and you have to keep in mind these volcanoes are located far from the main tourist areas in Bali, so they pose almost no risk to the average person when they do erupt.

The volcanoes are also monitored for seismic activity nowadays, and some people even hike them. I’ve hiked to the top of both Batur and Agung multiple times.

Mount Agung eruption in 2017 (© Shutterstock)

Another view of the eruption (© Shutterstock)

• Earthquakes

One of the unnerving realities of life in Indonesia is that the whole country, including Bali, sits directly on the Pacific Ring of Fire, a tectonic belt of volcanoes and earthquakes. Around 90% of the world’s earthquakes happen in this zone.

I was in Bali when the 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Lombok in 2018, and it was a scary experience. It rattled our hotel, spun our ceiling fan a few times, and even made waves in the pool.

On the nearby island of Lombok, the quake did a lot more damage and killed almost 600 people. And that’s nothing compared to the 2004 earthquake and tsunami in Sumatra, Indonesia, which killed almost 230,000 people.

What’s keeping the same tragedy (or worse) from happening in Bali someday? Nothing, really. But the truth about earthquakes is that it’s impossible to predict when the next big one might happen. It could be tomorrow, or it could be 1,000 years from now.

If you’re ever caught in a strong earthquake that lasts a long time, you should try to get away from buildings and the beach, and seek higher ground in case the earthquake triggers a tsunami.

f that’s not possible, you should at least take cover in bed and protect your head and neck with a pillow. Avoid windows and glass.

In Bali, there’s a handy app you can download from BMKG for real-time alerts and info about any nearby quake activity.

Famous lake temple in Bali — Ulun Danu Beratan

A drone pic of the coastline in Nusa Penida

What About Animals?

• Dogs

It’s common to see stray dogs in Bali, and they generally won’t bother you, but if you happen to be bitten by one you should go get a rabies vaccine immediately.

There was a serious outbreak of rabies in Bali from 2008-2011 where more than 130 local people died.

In recent years, Bali has gotten better vaccination and sterilization programs, but they’re still not perfect. There were a few deaths in 2023 and 2024.

Dogs are the main vector for the rabies virus, and rabies has a 100% fatality rate in humans if you delay treatment long enough to become symptomatic.

Don’t take a chance with this. Any dog bite in Bali should be treated with a rabies shot as soon as possible.

On the other hand, it’s not something that should scare you away from visiting Bali. As a tourist you probably won’t ever get bitten, and it’s pretty easy to get a rabies shot if that does happen.