What should I watch out for?

Short answer: some of what you have read is real, some is exaggerated, and one thing people ignore is genuinely dangerous. Here is each worry with an honest likelihood and exactly how to avoid it.

The honest summary

Definitely real: tap water is not drinkable, money changer tricks, scooter damage claims, bag-snatching from scooters, and Bali belly.
Real but overblown: ATM skimming, fake police, pickpocketing, drink spiking.
Genuinely dangerous and under-rated: methanol in cheap spirits, dengue, and rip currents at unpatrolled beaches.
Mostly myth: that you cannot eat street food, that everyone is trying to cheat you, or that Bali is unsafe to walk around.

Drinking water

The one everyone asks about first.

Do not drink the tap water — this is real

Yes, this one is completely real. Bali's tap water is not safe to drink — not because Bali is dirty, but because the mains supply is old and cross-contaminated in places. Locals boil or buy water too.

Drink bottled or refill-station water only. A 19L galon delivered to a villa costs about IDR 20k–25k; refill stations (Guzzle, Refill Bali) are cheaper and cut plastic.
Brushing your teeth with tap water is fine for most people, but use bottled if your stomach is sensitive or you have a cut in your mouth.
Ice in restaurants, cafés and beach clubs is factory-made with a hole through the middle — that ice is safe. Cloudy, crushed, irregular ice at a roadside cart is the one to skip.
Salads and cut fruit are washed in tap water. At established places this is fine; at a very cheap roadside warung, order cooked food instead for the first week.
Keep your mouth closed in the shower and don't swallow pool water after heavy rain.

Bali belly & food poisoning

Very real, and most visitors who get it were unlucky rather than reckless. It usually lasts 24–72 hours.

Cutting the odds

Prevention

Eat where it is busy. High turnover means food has not sat out — a packed warung is safer than an empty tourist restaurant.
Choose food cooked to order and served hot over buffets and things sitting in a bain-marie.
Be careful with reheated rice, seafood in the heat of the day, raw egg sauces and unpasteurised smoothies from unknown carts.
Wash or sanitise your hands — a lot of 'food poisoning' is actually hand-to-mouth transmission.
Go easy for the first few days. Chilli, oil and different bacteria at once is a lot for a new stomach.

If it hits you

Treatment

Rehydrate first: oral rehydration salts (Pharolit or Oralit, IDR 3k at any apotek) beat water alone. Coconut water helps too.
Loperamide (Imodium) stops the symptom, not the cause — useful for a flight, not for a fever.
Norit (activated charcoal) is what locals take and it takes the edge off mild cases.
See a doctor if you have blood in the stool, a fever over 38.5°C, vomiting that stops you keeping fluids down, or symptoms past 48 hours. IV rehydration at a clinic costs roughly IDR 700k–1.5m and you will feel human within the hour.
Dengue can start exactly like a stomach bug. Fever plus severe headache and body aches means get a blood test the same day.

Warungs are not the enemy — see the restaurants guide for places that are busy, clean and cheap.

Scams, one by one

Each with how likely it actually is, and the specific habit that defeats it.

Money changer short-count

Common

The classic Bali scam and still very much alive around Kuta, Legian and Seminyak. A 'no commission, best rate' booth in a small shopfront offers a rate well above everyone else, then folds notes away, distracts you, or recounts while palming notes back.

Use authorised changers only: PT Central Kuta, BMC, Dirgahayu — proper offices with a company logo, CCTV, a printed receipt and a counting machine.
Rule of thumb: if the rate is noticeably better than the banks, it is being made back on you.
Never hand your money over first. Count their cash yourself, twice, then hand over yours.
Do the maths on your phone before you walk in, and refuse calculators handed to you.
Rupiah has confusing zeros — IDR 100,000 vs IDR 10,000 look similar. Count in bundles of ten.

ATM skimming & card cloning

Occasional

Real, but concentrated in freestanding street ATMs in tourist strips. Cloned cards typically get used weeks later.

Use ATMs inside a bank branch, mall or hotel lobby, ideally in daylight.
Tug the card slot, cover the keypad, and skip any machine with a loose or bulky fascia.
Choose 'without conversion' / decline the machine's exchange rate (DCC) — it always costs more.
Turn on transaction alerts, and set a low daily limit while you travel.
Most machines charge IDR 25k–50k per withdrawal, so take a larger amount less often — but not more cash than you can safely carry.

Scooter rental damage claim

Common

You return the bike and are shown a scratch you did not make, or told the whole panel needs replacing. Some operators also hold your passport — never legal and never necessary.

Video the entire bike, close up, before you ride away, with the renter in frame. Photograph the odometer and fuel gauge.
Never surrender your passport. A photocopy, or a cash deposit with a written receipt, is standard.
Check brakes, tyres and both mirrors before you leave — police fine for missing mirrors.
Rent through your villa, hotel or an established shop with Google reviews rather than a roadside stack of bikes.
Agree the price per day and the damage terms in writing on WhatsApp so there is a record.

Fake or unofficial 'police' fines

Occasional

Real police stops are routine, especially for helmets, licences and mirrors. The scam variant is an inflated on-the-spot 'fine' in cash. Genuine tourist-area stops often do settle informally, but the number should be modest.

Carry an International Driving Permit with the motorcycle category plus your home licence. Without it you are uninsured and an easy target.
Always wear the helmet, keep both mirrors, headlight on.
Stay polite and smiling. Ask for the official ticket (tilang) and say you will pay at the police station — this often ends the conversation.
Carry a small amount of separate cash and don't open a wallet full of notes at the roadside.

Taxi meter, 'closed' destinations & tours

Common

Unmetered taxis, drivers claiming your temple/restaurant is 'closed today' and offering an alternative (where they earn commission), and 'free' transport that ends at a jewellery shop.

Use Grab or Gojek for a fixed in-app price, or the real Bluebird — order via the My Bluebird app; look for the official logo and a working meter.
Agree a fare before getting in if there is no meter, and have small notes; 'no change' is a common last-minute squeeze.
If a driver says somewhere is closed, check it yourself. It almost never is.
Some areas (Canggu lanes, Ubud centre, parts of Uluwatu) have local transport 'mafias' that block ride-hailing pickups — walk a block out and meet the driver there.

Temple donations & sarong charges

Occasional

Real temples have a fixed printed entrance fee. The scam is a 'compulsory donation' book showing IDR 500k entries from other tourists, or a sarong 'rental' at several times the going rate.

Pay only the posted ticket price at the official counter and keep the ticket.
Donations are voluntary; IDR 10k–20k is generous. Ignore the book of large amounts.
Bring your own sarong (IDR 50k–100k at any market) — you will use it constantly.
Beware unofficial 'guides' who attach themselves at the gate then demand a fee.

Pickpockets & bag snatching

Common

Pickpocketing in the European sense is uncommon. Bag-snatching from a passing scooter is the real problem — Kuta, Legian, Seminyak and Canggu, often at night, often targeting people walking with a phone out or a bag on the road side.

Wear bags cross-body, on the side away from traffic, strap under your arm.
Never put a bag in a scooter's front basket or hang it on the hook — that is the classic grab.
Don't walk and scroll on dark, narrow lanes. Step into a shop to check your phone.
Leave the passport, spare card and most cash in the hotel safe. Carry one card and enough cash for the day.
If someone grabs the bag, let go. A dragged fall on the road is far worse than a lost bag.
Villa break-ins are usually opportunistic — lock ground-floor doors and pool doors at night even when you are home.

Drink spiking

Rare but serious

Deliberate spiking is uncommon and reported far less often than in many Western nightlife cities — but it does happen, most often in busy Kuta and Canggu clubs and usually aimed at theft rather than assault.

Watch your drink being poured and keep a hand over the top of it. Never leave it unattended.
Refuse drinks from strangers, and be wary of 'free shot' rounds pushed by promoters.
Go out with people who will notice if you go quiet. Agree on how you get home before you start.
Sudden extreme drunkenness after one or two drinks is the warning sign — tell staff and get to a hospital, not back to a hotel alone.

Methanol in cheap spirits

Rare but serious

This is the genuinely dangerous one and it is not a myth. Counterfeit or badly home-distilled arak and cheap 'branded' vodka/gin have caused deaths in Indonesia. It is a manufacturing problem, not someone targeting you.

Drink at established venues. Avoid free-pour cocktail buckets, unbranded bottles and impossibly cheap spirits deals.
Beer (Bintang, Prost) and wine are effectively never affected; the risk sits in spirits and arak.
Buy arak only in sealed, branded, government-taxed bottles (Iwak Arak, Dewi Sri) — never from a plastic jerrycan.
Symptoms hours later: blurred vision, severe stomach pain, breathlessness, confusion. Go straight to BIMC or Siloam and say the word methanol — treatment is time-critical.

The 'Bali dog will bite you' worry

Mostly myth

Most Bali dogs ignore you. The realistic risk is a territorial pack on a quiet lane at night, and monkeys at Ubud and Uluwatu who genuinely will grab your things.

Don't run, stare or reach out. Walk on calmly; slow down on a scooter rather than accelerating.
Rabies is present in Bali, so any bite or scratch is a same-day hospital visit.
Full detail and first-aid steps are on the safety and wildlife page.

Money: the safest way to handle it

Cash habits that stop most problems

Use bank ATMs for most cash and authorised changers only for leftover foreign notes. Rates are close; the safety difference is huge.
Bring clean, unmarked, post-2013 USD notes if you plan to change cash — torn or old notes get a worse rate or get refused.
Cards are widely accepted in Seminyak, Canggu, Ubud and malls; warungs, markets, temples and parking are cash only.
Split your money: one card and a day's cash on you, everything else in the safe.
Check every bill before paying — a quietly added 'tax and service' of 15–21% is legitimate and printed, anything else is not.
Never let your card leave your sight at a restaurant.

Small street hustles

Not dangerous, just annoying and easy to sidestep.

Say no early, smile, keep walking

'Where are you from?' followed by a long walk to a shop — friendly, harmless, but it ends with pressure to buy.
Massage, braid or bracelet started on you without asking on Kuta beach, then a price demanded. A firm 'tidak, terima kasih' before contact ends it.
Beach chair 'free with a drink' that turns into a per-chair charge. Ask the price first, always.
Cash paid by card machine with a 3% 'tax' added on quietly — ask before tapping.
Rounding up in a taxi or shop because there is 'no change'. Keep IDR 5k, 10k, 20k and 50k notes on you.
Fake Grab drivers hanging around pickup points. Check the plate and the driver's face against the app.

Nights out

Bali nightlife is generally relaxed and safe — the risks are alcohol quality and getting home.

The methanol rule matters more than the spiking rule

Stick to beer, wine or spirits poured from sealed branded bottles at a proper bar.
Book your ride home in the app before you leave the venue; unmetered 'taxis' outside clubs at 3am are where prices triple.
Do not ride a scooter after drinking — this is the single biggest cause of visitor injury in Bali, ahead of every scam combined.
Keep your phone charged and share your location with someone in your group.
If a friend becomes unresponsive or has vision problems after drinking, go to hospital immediately and mention methanol.

Keeping perspective

Cautious, not paranoid

Bali is, statistically, a low-violent-crime place. Almost everything on this page costs money or a bad day, not your safety.
The vast majority of Balinese people are genuinely helpful. Scepticism about a transaction is not scepticism about a culture.
Nearly every scam here needs you to be rushed, distracted or embarrassed to say no. Slowing down defeats most of them.
Get travel insurance that covers scooters and check it names 'motorcycle' explicitly — most policies exclude it without a licence.
Photograph your passport, visa, insurance and licence and store them offline on your phone.
If something goes wrong, the tourist police (Polisi Pariwisata) in Kuta handle visitor incidents and speak English.