Bali in 3 Days: Cheap and Local
Three days in Bali is still one region, not a lap of the island. This plan keeps the same Ubud-and-Uluwatu spine as the 2-day version - free walks, warungs, one big temple day - then adds a third day: a driver-led loop north to Ulun Danu Beratan, a cheap-entry waterfall, and Tanah Lot at sunset. Want more days? The 6-day version extends south to the coast and works in an overnight on Nusa Penida rather than a rushed day trip.
Bali is a province of Indonesia, not a country of its own, and every visitor here owes two fixed costs before a single meal: a paid Rp 500,000 Visa on Arrival and a separate Rp 150,000 tourist levy. The Bali guide covers both, plus the seasonal calendar, in more depth than a day-by-day plan has room for.
Book these before you go:
- A Bedugul and Tanah Lot temple tour if you’d rather not spend the whole of Day 3 behind the wheel
- A budget guesthouse or hostel in Ubud , close enough to walk to Campuhan and the market
| Day | Focus | Rough daily spend (IDR) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Free Campuhan Ridge walk, warung lunch, Tegallalang rice terraces, a village dance evening | Rp 150,000-300,000 |
| 2 | Uluwatu Temple, a cliff beach, the Kecak sunset, dinner in Jimbaran or back in Ubud | Rp 250,000-450,000 |
| 3 | Driver-led loop to Ulun Danu Beratan, a waterfall stop, Tanah Lot at sunset | Rp 300,000-500,000 |
None of these rows include the one-time Rp 150,000 tourist levy or the Rp 500,000 visa fee. Both are paid once for the whole trip rather than per day, but they land before Day 1 even starts, so budget for them separately.
Day 1: Ubud, cheap and on foot
Start early at the Campuhan Ridge Walk, the free grassy-hill trail on Ubud’s edge, best walked before the heat and with no ticket booth at either end. Back in town, eat where locals eat: a plate of nasi campur or mie goreng at a plain warung costs a fraction of the same dish on a cafe menu built for tourists.
In the afternoon, walk or scooter out to the Tegallalang rice terraces. There’s a small path fee paid straight to the farmers who maintain the paddies, and the view is worth the stop, but get the fact most itineraries skip: Tegallalang is not Bali’s UNESCO-listed rice landscape. That designation, the Subak System, temple-governed irrigation cooperatives inscribed in 2012 as the Cultural Landscape of Bali Province , belongs to Jatiluwih, further west. Tegallalang runs the same subak tradition and photographs the same way; it just isn’t the site UNESCO actually named.
For the evening, catch a village-style Kecak or Legong performance in Ubud itself, a cheap walk-up ticket with no advance booking needed. It’s a smaller, quieter show than the clifftop version on Day 2, and worth doing first for the contrast. If you’re getting around on a scooter rather than on foot, treat it as a real legal and safety question, not just a budget one: an International Driving Permit with a motorcycle endorsement is legally required, checkpoints do check, and riding without one can void travel insurance regardless of experience. Wear a helmet every time.
Day 2: Uluwatu’s cliff temple and the Kecak sunset
Uluwatu sits at Bali’s southern tip, roughly 1.5 to 2 hours from Ubud once you allow for traffic, which on Bali’s roads is most of the day. Hire a driver for this one and split the fixed rate with anyone you’re travelling with; it’s the cheaper and safer local move for a drive this long, not a splurge, and a scooter only really makes sense here if you’re already carrying the right permit and don’t mind riding back after dark.
At the temple gate, a sarong and sash are required and usually free to borrow. Uluwatu’s resident macaques are practiced at grabbing sunglasses and hats, so keep loose items zipped away; rabies is present in Bali’s stray dogs and monkeys, and a bite or scratch from any animal needs medical attention straightaway, not a wait-and-see. Spend the afternoon at a nearby cliff beach, Padang Padang or Balangan both work on a budget, before the Kecak dance starts at sunset on the temple grounds. For dinner, pick a plain warung stall in Jimbaran over the pricier tables set up right on the sand, or head back toward Ubud and eat there instead. Skip the homemade arak either way: cheap and counterfeit spirits have caused real methanol poisoning deaths in Indonesia, and it can’t be tasted or smelled once it’s mixed into a cocktail.
Day 3: Bedugul’s lake temple, a waterfall, and Tanah Lot at sunset
Day 3 is the one committed day trip in this plan, and it’s worth hiring a driver for the whole loop rather than doing it by scooter: Ulun Danu Beratan, the lake temple at Bedugul in the central highlands, sits roughly two hours north of Ubud, and Tanah Lot on the southwest coast is a further one to two hours back down, depending on where the traffic sits that day. Splitting a fixed driver rate across the day, rather than three separate scooter or Grab trips, is the cheaper and less stressful version of this route.
Ulun Danu Beratan charges a small entrance fee at the gate and photographs best in the cool morning air off the lake, before the tour buses arrive. On the way back south, stop at a waterfall with an easy, cheap-entry path rather than one that demands a long hike down and back up on a day that’s already mostly driving. Tegenungan, close to Ubud, is the easy version: a short walk from the car park to the falls, a small entrance fee, and no scramble required.
Time the last leg for Tanah Lot at sunset, the offshore rock temple that’s genuinely worth the crowds it draws. Entry is a modest ticket price, and the temple itself is closed to non-Hindu visitors past the outer courtyard, so budget for the view and the sunset rather than the inner sanctum. Grab dinner at one of the warung-style stalls near the temple complex rather than the sit-down restaurants angled toward the car park, and confirm your driver’s return time before you walk down to the rocks; the whole area empties out fast once the sun is down.
What is the Bali tourist levy?
It’s a one-time Rp 150,000 fee charged to every foreign visitor, in force since February 2024 and entirely separate from your visa. Pay it online in advance through the official Love Bali portal or at a counter on arrival; the payment produces a QR-code voucher that’s your proof of payment, so keep it saved on your phone rather than relying on an inbox search at the airport.
Do you need a visa for Bali?
Yes, for most Western nationalities; Bali does not offer visa-free entry the way some older guides still claim. You’ll need a paid Visa on Arrival, Rp 500,000 for 30 days and extendable once for another Rp 500,000, applied for on arrival or in advance as an e-VOA through the official evisa.imigrasi.go.id portal. Stick to that domain only; copycat sites charging extra “service fees” are a known problem.
When should you go, and what about Nyepi?
Dry season, roughly April through October, is the reliable window for a driving-heavy day like Day 3, with July and August the busiest and priciest months. Wet season runs November through March, usually short, heavy downpours rather than all-day washouts. If any part of a trip lands on 19 March 2026, that’s Nyepi, the Balinese Day of Silence: the entire island shuts down for 24 hours, the airport included, with no flights in or out and everyone required to stay indoors. Don’t book a flight for that day, and build in a buffer if you’re travelling anywhere near it.
Check the current UK FCDO advice for Indonesia before you go rather than assuming a fixed risk level; at the time of writing there’s no Bali-specific warning beyond the general national picture, and any elevated call-outs tend to sit around volcanic exclusion zones elsewhere in Indonesia, not Bali itself.
Carry small IDR notes for the whole trip, not just Day 3: path fees, temple donation boxes and warung meals all want change, and a big-note ATM withdrawal just means struggling to break a Rp 100,000 note at a Rp 20,000 lunch stall.