As part of my goal to visit somewhere new every year (if you’ve not seen that blog post, be sure to take a look!), I booked a trip to join the many many digital nomads in Bali. Well, it was less of a trip and more of a one way ticket – but nonetheless a trip.
Since I was travelling alone, and I’d never been to Bali before, I started doing some research into coworking spaces to join. This was when I stumbled across the absolute GEM that is Dojo Bali.
Dojo gave me the best of both worlds, a coworking space and the option of a coliving space – as well as many other benefits that made it an easy transition into Bali life.
Dojo is primarily a coworking space in Canggu, Bali. The space itself is a 5 minute walk from the beach, they have super speedy wifi, lots of seats and a lot of other members. So, not only is it a great place to work, it’s also a great place to meet new people and collaborate.
The coliving aspect is optional, it’s a 5 minute scooter ride (20ish minute walk) from the workspace and has about 10 rooms. If you want to book the coliving though, book quick and book somewhat early because rooms go quick.
They offer a lot of other helpful things as part of the coliving ‘package’ like airport pick-up, Balinese sim-card, all the useful stuff like that.
It’s the kind of space I couldn’t recommend anymore to any fellow digital nomads in Bali (although I’m pretty sure most of them in Canggu are already signed up haha). Especially, if you’re travelling alone, because it immediately introduces you to all sorts of interesting people.
So that’s my first tip.
Now for some more!
Tips for Digital Nomads in Bali, or Going to Bali
Some of these tips will be biased towards Canggu, since that’s where I have been staying.
VISA
If you’re not planning to stay for more than 30 days, you’re fine. Anyone (I think) visiting Bali is able to stay in the country for 30 days with no visa. If you overstay, without a visa, you will be charged 1,000,000 IDR for EVERY DAY that you overstay. (E.g. if you overstay by 1 day, you pay 1,000,000 IDR – if you overstay by a week, you pay 7,000,000 IDR).
If you’re staying for over 30 days, you can get a visa on arrival, but you need to buy it BEFORE you get to the immigration desks. They won’t let you get one there. Between getting off the plane and the immigration desks there should be ANOTHER desk where you can get an extendable 30 day visa. Getting this type of visa will just mean you have to then go and extend the visa to 60 days within your first 30 days.
Hopefully that makes sense.
CASH
I always travel with my Revolut card which I rely on heavily. To the point at which I’ll never normally get currency before a trip. I was wrong.
Always have cash in Bali, and make sure you land with enough to keep you going for a day or two.
Of course, places will take card, but there can be an additional charge of up to about 3% or something I think if you use a card. So just be aware.
CASH POINTS
An extension of my tip above. There are a number of cashpoints and ATMs in Bali, however, not all are safe. So be careful, make sure nothing is loose or has been tampered with on the machine. Or if you have a Revolut card (or something similar), just upload the amount you’re taking out onto the card so that no extra money can be taken.
La Brisa in Canggu has an ATM which is a pretty safe bet.
SCOOTERS
Everyone uses a scooter in Bali. Everyone.
Lucky for me, the guys at Dojo Coliving helped to organise me with a scooter. So I can’t give you tips on where to get them from, however, I paid about 850,000 IDR for a month for context.
Be prepared for little rules, traffic lights are only on the big roads. And, obviously, wear a helmet. As well, horns are used a lot but less angrily than the UK, people are just letting you know they’re there essentially.
I was pretty overwhelmed with the scooter situation, so a friend at my villa told me about a scooter lesson company she used. It was 350,000 IDR for a 2 hour session, going over the basics, explaining how the roads work etc. I would 1000% recommend doing them if you’re slightly unsure. I’m pretty sure I used a company called Canggu Scooter Lessons.
GOJEK
If you don’t want to get a scooter, Gojek will be your friend. Your best friend.
It’s basically the Uber equivalent, you can order scooters, cars, food etc. It’s really handy to have, just in case – just download the app and you’re good to go.
Be aware though, in Canggu at least, there is there is local transport and taxis operating in certain areas (mainly near the beach). Therefore, there are places you won’t be able to get a Gojek to pick you up from. In this case, you may need to wander up a bit so that they can pick you up.
SIM CARDS
Something else I would definitely recommend getting. There’s probably more blogs that can give you better advice on this. However, I think the most commonly used tends to be Telkom.
I would say those would be my basic tips for getting started in Bali at least, if you have any more that you think we should add – let me know!!
I’ve got some more fun trips planned for Bali too, so I’ll be sharing them soon!
Thanks for having a read today – I hope you have an epic day!!
(P.S. We have a freebie for you! If you would like to take a look at the Digital Business System that we use, click here)