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Water, street food, rabies and vaccinations

The four health questions everyone asks before Bali. Short version: don't drink the tap water, do eat the street food carefully, take rabies seriously, and get hepatitis A and typhoid before you fly.

Water, street food, rabies and vaccinations

Drinking the local water

Bottled, boiled or filtered — never straight from the tap.

Tap water is not drinkable anywhere in Bali
  • Do not drink the tap water anywhere in Bali, including Ubud and the resorts. It is not treated to drinking standard and the pipe network is old.
  • Brushing teeth with tap water is fine for most people; if your stomach is sensitive or you are travelling with small children, use bottled.
  • Refill stations and 19-litre galon delivery cost IDR 20,000–25,000 and are far cheaper and greener than single bottles. Many villas include the dispenser.
  • Restaurant and café ice is factory-made — the cylinders with a hole through the middle are safe. Be more careful with crushed or irregular ice at very rough roadside stalls.
  • Salads and cut fruit are washed in tap water. In busy tourist cafés this is done with filtered water and is fine; at a quiet roadside stall, stick to cooked or peel-it-yourself.
  • Swallowing river or rice-terrace water is a leptospirosis risk, particularly after heavy rain and flooding. Cover open cuts before rafting or canyoning.

Eating street food

Worth doing. The trick is choosing the stall, not avoiding them.

Busy stall, cooked to order, eaten hot
  • Street food is one of the best parts of Bali and most visitors eat it without a problem. Choose by turnover, not by how clean the plastic chairs look.
  • Busy is safe: a stall with a queue of locals cooks and sells its food within the hour. Empty stalls with pre-cooked trays sitting in the sun are the risk.
  • Prefer food cooked to order in front of you — sate over the coals, nasi goreng from the wok, bakso soup at a rolling boil.
  • Babi guling and ayam betutu are usually served late morning to early afternoon; buy at the peak, not at 5pm from the last of the tray.
  • Watch the sambal and peanut sauce — they sit out uncovered all day. Ask for it on the side if you're unsure, or say "tidak pedas" for none.
  • Carry hand sanitiser. Most stalls have no handwashing, and you eat with your hands more than you expect.
  • Warung night markets (Gianyar, Sindhu) are excellent and busy from around 5pm — go early while everything is fresh.
  • If it does hit you: Pharolit or Oralit rehydration salts from any Alfamart, small sips, plain rice. See a doctor for blood in stool, fever above 38.5°C, or symptoms past 48 hours.

Rabies is real

Not a scare story — Bali has had continuous rabies transmission since 2008.

Bali is rabies-endemic

Since 2008

The 2008 outbreak killed well over 100 people and the virus has never been eliminated. Human deaths still occur every year, including in tourist districts. Mass dog vaccination has cut cases but coverage is patchy.

It is not just dogs

Monkeys, cats, bats

Stray and owned dogs are the main carrier, but monkeys at Ubud and Uluwatu, cats and bats all transmit it. A scratch or a lick on broken skin counts as an exposure — you do not need a deep bite.

Untreated rabies is fatal

Effectively 100%

Once symptoms start there is no cure. That is the whole reason this page exists. The upside: post-exposure treatment given promptly is close to fully effective.

Treatment is available here

Same day

BIMC, Siloam and Kasih Ibu carry rabies vaccine; immunoglobulin is scarcer and may mean a transfer to Sanglah in Denpasar. Do not wait until you fly home.

Bitten, scratched or licked on broken skin — act within hours
  • Wash the wound with soap under running water for a full 15 minutes — this alone removes most of the virus.
  • Apply iodine or alcohol antiseptic. Do not stitch or close the wound.
  • Go to a hospital the same day and say clearly "animal bite, I need rabies post-exposure prophylaxis".
  • Unvaccinated: you need the vaccine course plus rabies immunoglobulin around the wound. Pre-vaccinated: two booster doses, no immunoglobulin needed.
  • The course runs over roughly 28 days — you can continue the remaining doses at home or in another country, so it does not have to end your trip.
  • Keep every receipt and the vaccination card for your insurance claim. Rabies treatment in Bali typically runs IDR 2–8 million depending on immunoglobulin.

Recommended vaccinations

Nothing is legally required to enter Indonesia from most countries. These are what travel clinics actually advise for Bali.

Routine boosters

Everyone

Make sure tetanus/diphtheria, measles-mumps-rubella and polio are up to date. Tetanus matters here — scooter road rash and coral cuts are the classic Bali injuries.

Hepatitis A

Strongly advised

Spread through contaminated food and water, which is exactly the street-food and salad scenario. Two doses give roughly 20 years of protection. This is the single most useful travel vaccine for Bali.

Typhoid

Strongly advised

Also food and water borne, and a genuine risk in Indonesia. Given as an injection (about 3 years) or oral capsules. Recommended for almost all visitors, and definitely if you are staying a while or eating widely.

Rabies (pre-exposure)

Recommended

Two or three doses before travel. It does not remove the need for treatment after a bite, but it removes the need for immunoglobulin — the part that is hardest to find in Bali — and buys you time. Worth it for long stays, riders, families with small children, and anyone heading to remote areas.

Hepatitis B

Consider

Blood and body fluids: relevant if you might need medical or dental treatment, get a tattoo or piercing, or are staying long term. Many people already have it from childhood schedules.

Japanese encephalitis

Situational

Mosquito-borne and rare in tourists, but Bali has had locally acquired cases. Usually recommended for long stays, rural or rice-field living, or repeated trips.

Typhoid-adjacent: cholera

Rarely needed

Not routinely recommended for Bali. Only considered for aid workers or those in flood or outbreak conditions.

COVID-19 and influenza

Optional

No entry requirement, but flu circulates year round in the tropics and long flights are efficient transmitters. Keep boosters current if you are in a risk group.

What no vaccine protects you from

  • Dengue — no practical traveller vaccine, and it is the most common serious infection visitors catch. Repellent with DEET or picaridin, day and night, plus aircon or a net.
  • Malaria — Bali itself is considered malaria-free, so tablets are not normally recommended. Parts of eastern Indonesia (Papua, Flores, Sumba) are different: ask if you're island-hopping beyond Bali and Lombok.
  • Chikungunya and Zika — same mosquito, same defence. Pregnant travellers should discuss Zika with their doctor before booking.
  • Bali belly — no vaccine covers most travellers' diarrhoea. Hepatitis A and typhoid cover the dangerous ones, not the ordinary ones.

Timing, cost and paperwork

  • See a travel clinic or GP 6–8 weeks before you fly — rabies and hepatitis B need multiple doses spaced over weeks.
  • Last minute is still worth it: hepatitis A and typhoid give useful protection within about two weeks, and accelerated rabies schedules exist.
  • Indonesia requires yellow fever proof only if you arrive from or transit a yellow-fever country (parts of Africa and South America). Coming from Europe, Australia, the UK or the US, it does not apply.
  • Bring your vaccination record. Some KITAS and school applications ask for immunisation history.
  • Vaccines can be given in Bali too — BIMC and Siloam stock rabies, hepatitis A/B, typhoid and tetanus — but pre-travel at home is cheaper and better timed.
  • This is general information, not medical advice. Confirm your own schedule with a doctor who knows your history.