Your first week in Bali

Book only 3–5 nights of accommodation before you arrive. Areas feel completely different in person, and a month-long booking made from home is the most common expensive mistake.

Get data before you leave the airport only if you have no eSIM: airport booths charge IDR 150k–300k for what a town Telkomsel shop sells for IDR 50k–150k.

Withdraw cash from a bank-branded ATM (BCA, Mandiri, BNI) inside the terminal or a bank lobby, not a standalone machine in a shopfront. Max IDR 2.5–3 million per withdrawal.

Save the emergency numbers now: ambulance 118/119, police 110, and your nearest 24-hour hospital.

Jet lag plus Bali heat is brutal. Do one thing, drink 3+ litres of water and go to bed early.

Walk the streets around your accommodation at 8am and again at 9pm. Noise, dogs, roadworks and construction only show themselves at those hours.

Find your warung, your laundry (IDR 8k–15k/kg) and your closest minimart. These three fix half of daily life.

Set up an Indonesian e-wallet (GoPay, OVO or DANA) — many warungs, laundries and drivers take QRIS but not cards.

A local bank account needs a KITAS, so on a tourist visa run cash plus your home card. Use a card with no foreign transaction fees; Indonesian ATMs charge IDR 25k–50k per withdrawal on top.

Change large notes at an authorised money changer with a fixed shopfront and a printed receipt — never a booth advertising a rate far above the others.

If you don't hold an International Driving Permit with a motorcycle endorsement, do not rent a scooter. Your travel insurance is void in an accident and hospital bills run into thousands of USD.

Cheaper and safer for week one: Grab/Gojek for short hops, and a private driver (IDR 600k–900k for 8–10 hours) for anything out of town.

If you do ride: monthly rental IDR 1m–1.5m, always a proper helmet, never at night in the rain, never in flip-flops.

See at least four places in person before you commit. Photos hide damp, road noise, water pressure and neighbours' roosters.

Ask: is electricity included or metered (token/PLN)? Who pays for the pool clean? What is the internet speed — test it on your phone while standing there?

Monthly rents vary hugely: a simple Canggu studio IDR 5m–9m, a one-bed villa IDR 12m–25m, Ubud typically 20–30% cheaper.

Never pay a deposit before seeing the property and never transfer to a personal account without a signed agreement.

Check your travel or expat policy actually covers scooter riding, and know whether it pays the hospital directly or reimburses you later — Bali hospitals ask for payment or a guarantee letter up front.

Do a dry run: know which 24-hour hospital you would go to at 3am, and how long it takes from your bed.

Register with a GP clinic near you for the non-emergencies — stomach bugs, ear infections and staph skin infections are the standard newcomer trio.

Diarise your visa expiry with a 14-day reminder. Extensions must be started before you're in the last week, and overstay is IDR 1,000,000 per day.

If you're staying long-term, register your address with the local banjar (neighbourhood) — your landlord normally handles this, and hosts are legally required to report foreign guests.

Join the local WhatsApp/Facebook groups for your area. That's where the working plumber, the honest mechanic and the real rental listings live.