Bali on a Budget: 13 Cheap and Free Things to Do
Bali is an island and a province of Indonesia, not a country of its own, and two of its costs apply to every visitor regardless of budget: the IDR 150,000 tourist levy, paid to the province through the Love Bali portal, and a paid Visa on Arrival or e-VoA running roughly IDR 500,000. Neither is a free entry stamp, and neither is the same fee as the other. Past that floor, Bali is genuinely cheap to explore day to day. Below are 13 things to do that cost little or nothing on top of the levy and the visa: free ridge walks and beach sunsets, temples priced as a small entrance fee, a warung meal, and one real safety warning about the cheapest way to get around.
| Essential | Detail |
|---|---|
| Days needed | 2-3 days covers one base (south coast or Ubud); the itineraries linked below stretch this to 6 |
| Daily budget (budget traveler) | Roughly IDR 400,000-700,000 a day covers a hostel bed, warung meals, and a scooter or shared driver |
| Best months for value | November-March (wet season) is cheaper and quieter; April-October is dry but pricier, especially July-August |
| Tourist levy | IDR 150,000 once, everyone pays it, via the Love Bali portal before or on arrival |
| Visa | A paid Visa on Arrival or e-VoA, roughly IDR 500,000 for 30 days, not free entry for most nationalities |
| Booking warning | Nyepi, 19 March 2026, shuts the whole island and the airport for 24 hours; don’t book a flight that day |
Budget beds in Ubud and Canggu are still the cheapest way to anchor a Bali trip: a hostel or basic guesthouse room runs a fraction of a beachfront resort and puts you within scooter or Grab distance of most of the list below. Check Ubud and Canggu budget stays on Booking.com before the July-August peak fills the cheap rooms first.
13 cheap and free things to do in Bali on a budget
1. Walk the Campuhan Ridge for free
Ubud’s Campuhan Ridge Walk costs nothing: a paved path along a grassy ridge, roughly an hour there and back, no ticket booth at either end. Start by 7am, both to beat the heat and to get the ridge close to empty before tour groups arrive later in the morning. There’s no shade for most of it, so bring water; this is the cheapest genuinely good view in Ubud.
2. Catch a free sunset at Kuta or Seminyak
Kuta and Seminyak’s beaches don’t charge admission, and it’s the same sunset the clifftop bars in Uluwatu sell for the price of a drink. Walk down 30-40 minutes before sunset, bring your own drink if you want to keep the cost at zero, and skip the beach clubs’ sunbed minimums entirely.
3. Temple-hop Tanah Lot and Uluwatu, then stay for the Kecak dance
Tanah Lot’s offshore rock temple and Uluwatu’s cliff-edge temple both charge a small entrance fee, cheap enough that it won’t dent a modest daily budget, and both provide or rent the sarong and sash you need to enter. Time Uluwatu for late afternoon and stay past the temple visit for the nightly Kecak fire dance on the cliffs at sunset, a low-cost ticket for an hour of chanting and firelight.
4. Visit Tirta Empul’s purification pools
Tirta Empul, near Tampaksiring, is a working Hindu spring temple where Balinese visitors bathe in the purification pools as a real spiritual practice, not a photo backdrop. A small entrance fee gets you in, and a sarong is required. Bring a change of clothes if you plan to join the pools rather than just watch, and follow the posted order of the spouts.
5. See the macaques at the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary
Ubud’s Monkey Forest charges a modest entrance fee for a shaded walk among temple ruins and several hundred long-tailed macaques. Keep bags, glasses and food out of reach and don’t feed or provoke the monkeys; rabies is present in Bali’s monkey and stray-dog population, and any bite or scratch needs medical attention immediately, not a wait-and-see approach.
6. Walk the UNESCO rice terraces at Jatiluwih
Jatiluwih, not the more-photographed Tegallalang, is the rice terrace landscape that actually carries Bali’s only UNESCO World Heritage listing , the Subak irrigation system inscribed in 2012. A small entrance donation covers walking trails through the terraces, and the crowds are a fraction of Ubud’s. If you only have budget and time for one rice-terrace stop, this is the one with the real designation behind it.
7. Walk Tegallalang anyway, just don’t call it UNESCO
Tegallalang, closer to Ubud, is still worth a small entrance fee for the swing-and-terrace photos it’s known for; it’s simply not the UNESCO site (Jatiluwih is, above). Expect a string of small donation points along the paths down into the terraces; carrying loose small notes keeps this genuinely cheap rather than an awkward negotiation each time.
8. Hike down to Tegenungan or Tibumana waterfall
Tegenungan, minutes from Ubud, and Tibumana, quieter and less built-up, both charge a small entrance or parking fee for a short walk down to the falls. Tegenungan gets busy by mid-morning; arriving early, or picking Tibumana instead, keeps both the crowd and the price down.
9. Eat at a warung instead of a beach club
A plate of nasi campur or nasi goreng at a local warung costs a fraction of the same dish at a Seminyak beach club, and it’s usually better. Look for warungs busy with locals at lunchtime rather than ones with an English-language sign angled at the road.
10. Trek Mount Batur for sunrise
The Mount Batur sunrise trek is the priciest thing on this list, worth flagging as such: a licensed guide is effectively mandatory for the pre-dawn, roughly two-hour climb, so budget more than a free walk costs. It’s still inexpensive by Western hiking-tour standards, and a Mount Batur sunrise trek through GetYourGuide is easier to book ahead than arranging a guide at the trailhead at 3am.
11. Day-trip to Nusa Penida
Nusa Penida, home to the Kelingking cliff and Angel’s Billabong, is a fast-boat day trip from Sanur, well under an hour each way. A shared day tour costs less than hiring a private boat and driver, and checking Nusa Penida day trip options on Viator beats turning up at the harbour hoping for a seat.
12. Rent a scooter for a day, carefully
A scooter is the cheapest way to cover ground in Bali, and also its biggest real risk: tourists are injured or killed riding here often enough that it’s worth planning around, not romanticising. Riding legally requires an International Driving Permit with a motorcycle endorsement; without one, you’re both breaking the law and voiding any travel insurance claim if something goes wrong. Wear the helmet, every time.
13. Browse the Ubud Art Market
Ubud’s covered art market costs nothing to walk through, and the asking price on sarongs, baskets and wood carvings is a starting offer, not the price; haggling down by a third or more is normal and expected. Go in the morning before the tour buses arrive for more room to browse and less pressure to buy fast.
Do you need a visa for Bali if you’re on a budget?
Yes, and there’s no free version for most Western nationalities. A paid Visa on Arrival or e-VoA costs roughly IDR 500,000, covers 30 days, and can be extended once for another 30 days for a further IDR 500,000. Apply only through the official evisa.imigrasi.go.id portal; copycat sites charging extra fees are a known problem.
Your passport needs six months’ validity and two blank pages. A short list of nationalities, mostly ASEAN, get visa-free entry instead, so check the portal against your own passport rather than assuming either way; don’t plan around old “visa-free 30 days” claims, since for most travelers landing in Bali it’s a paid document.
What is the Bali tourist levy, and can you avoid it?
No, it applies to every foreign visitor and there’s no budget exemption. The Bali Tourist Levy is a one-time IDR 150,000 charge, in force since February 2024, paid through the official Love Bali portal before or on arrival by card, bank transfer or QRIS. It funds environmental and cultural upkeep, and it’s separate from your visa fee.
Diplomats, KITAS/KITAP residency holders and crew are exempt; everyone else pays once per trip regardless of how many times they enter. Payment produces an emailed voucher with a QR code, worth having ready rather than arriving to queue at an airport counter.
When is Bali cheapest to visit?
November through March, Bali’s wet season, is the cheaper and quieter stretch: rain arrives as short, intense downpours rather than all-day washouts, and both flights and rooms drop in price. April through October is the dry season, better weather, and higher prices, with July and August the busiest and most expensive weeks of the year.
One date overrides all of that: 19 March 2026 is Nyepi, the Balinese Day of Silence, when the entire island and Ngurah Rai airport shut for 24 hours, no flights, no one on the streets. If your dates land anywhere near it, build a buffer day either side rather than booking a flight that won’t fly.
Money, scams and safety notes for a budget trip
Everything here is priced in Indonesian rupiah (IDR); cards work at hotels and established restaurants, but warungs, markets and most drivers want cash, and QRIS covers the rest at places that take digital payment. Two scams to watch for: ATM skimming (use bank-branch machines from major banks like BCA or Mandiri rather than standalone street units) and dynamic currency conversion (always choose to be charged in IDR, not your home currency, when a card terminal asks).
One more real warning worth stating plainly rather than softening: methanol poisoning from counterfeit arak and mixed cocktails has caused genuine deaths in Indonesia, including drinks served at licensed bars, not just obviously dodgy roadside stalls, and it can’t be detected by taste or smell. Stick to sealed, brand-name bottles poured in front of you, and treat the cheapest arak shot on a bar menu as the one worth skipping. Indonesia’s official tourism site and the current UK FCDO advice for Indonesia are both worth a check before you go, since fees and guidance here can move.
For the day-by-day version once the levy, the visa and the season above are sorted, see the 2-day , 3-day and 6-day Bali budget itineraries. If you only take one piece of advice from this list, make it the scooter one: rent from a shop that actually asks for your International Driving Permit, not one that hands over the keys for a passport photo.