35 Things to Do in Bali
Bali is one of the world's most popular travel destinations, and for good reason — it offers something for every type of traveler, whether you're chasing waves, chasing stillness, or just chasing a really good rice terrace view for the 'gram. This guide covers a wide variety of experiences for first-time and returning visitors, and I'm layering in my own observations, practical tips, and recommendations from actually living these places — not just visiting them.
I first went to Bali in 2013 and just kept extending. I landed in a small town called Canggu, which is now a full-blown metropolis, but back then surfing every day with 10-15 people max was heaven. Then pulling up to one of the five local cafes for a coffee after — it was inspiring, in the way that only being somewhere before it "blows up" can be. Today the island is busier, more developed, and honestly a little more chaotic — but there's a familiarity and an awesomeness underneath it all that you can't ever fully take away. From Canggu to Uluwatu — where everyone's moved now — this guide will walk you through a real variety of experiences, not just the same 10 Instagram spots everyone reposts.
Bali offers an incredible variety of activities across the island — surf breaks and spiritual retreats, beach clubs and rice fields, world-class restaurants and completely free sunset spots. This guide includes the famous attractions everyone already knows about, alongside the worthwhile hidden gems that took me years — and a lot of local friends — to find.
35 Things to Do in Bali
Where Is Bali?
Bali is part of the Indonesian archipelago — a chain of over 17,000 islands, which is a wild number to sit with. What makes Bali unique is that it's the only Hindu-majority island in a predominantly Muslim country. That's not a trivia fact — it's something worth actually keeping in mind as you travel. You'll hear the call to prayer echo from local mosques a few times a day, generally around early morning, midday, and sunset. It's part of the rhythm of the island, and it's a good reminder that you're a guest in someone else's daily life and someone else's faith, not just a backdrop for your trip.
*Also important if you value a slow silent morning :)
Bali's location — a short flight from Australia, Singapore, and the rest of Southeast Asia — is exactly why it became the international magnet it is today. It's close enough to feel accessible, far enough to feel like an escape. From the US, you're looking at a long haul no matter how you slice it — usually through Los Angeles, Tokyo, or Seoul, then down into Denpasar — so this isn't a long-weekend destination for most Americans. It's a trip you plan around, which honestly works in its favor. You arrive already committed to slowing down.
The island itself is small enough to drive across in a few hours, but don't let the size fool you — the terrain shifts dramatically depending on where you are. The south is beach towns and surf breaks. The center, around Ubud, is jungle, rice terraces, and mountain air. The east has black sand beaches and a quieter, more traditional pace. That range is part of why people keep coming back — you can genuinely have three different trips within one island.
Is Bali Worth Visiting?
Yes — but not for the reasons everyone assumes, and not without a few honest caveats.
Bali is genuinely suited for almost everyone: couples looking for romance and a little luxury, solo travelers who want a place where it's easy to meet people, families who need both activities and downtime, surfers chasing world-class breaks, wellness travelers who want to actually reset instead of performing self-care, digital nomads who need good wifi and better coffee, and adventurers who want volcanoes, waterfalls, and open ocean.
The highlights: the food, the light, the ease of the lifestyle, the sheer density of things to see and do within a small radius, and a spiritual undercurrent — Balinese culture — that runs through everything from architecture to daily offerings on the sidewalk.
The realistic drawbacks: traffic in Canggu and Seminyak can eat your whole afternoon, tourist inflation has changed the pricing in certain areas, and some of the "hidden gem" spots from a decade ago are now anything but hidden. There's also a version of Bali — mostly concentrated in a few over-marketed pockets — that feels more like a content set than an actual place. You can avoid almost all of it if you're willing to go two streets over from wherever the crowd is standing.
Go in with the right expectations and it's still one of the best trips you can take. I've watched this island absorb an enormous amount of change over more than a decade and somehow still hold onto its center. That's not nothing.
What Is Bali Known For…
Healing and wellness — yoga, sound baths, retreats, energy work
Surfing — from beginner-friendly breaks to genuinely intimidating ones
Interior design — the whole island has an aesthetic that's influenced global design trends
Clothing design and shopping — small-batch, independent labels everywhere
Traditional Balinese temples and ceremony
Rice fields and rice terrace views that look almost too perfect to be real
A genuinely strong expat surf & creative community
What To Do In Bali Indonesia?
Here's the breakdown — organized by category so you can build your trip around what actually matters to you, instead of trying to do all 35 in one visit (please don't).
Best Things To Do In Bali
Watch sunrise at Mount Batur. This is a hike, not a stroll — you're up at 2am to summit before sunrise — but standing above the clouds watching the light hit an active volcano is one of those things that recalibrates you.
Visit Ulun Danu Beratan. The temple that sits on the lake, surrounded by mountains, is one of the most photographed spots in Bali for a reason. Go early to beat the tour buses — by mid-morning the parking lot alone tells you everyone else had the same idea.
Spend a day in the rice fields around Ubud or Jatiluwih. The rice terrace views here are the ones you've seen on every Bali Pinterest board, and they're worth it in person, in a way photos genuinely don't capture — the sound, the humidity, the scale of it. Jatiluwih is less crowded than the popular Tegalalang terraces and, in my opinion, more beautiful.
Climb Mount Batur for sunrise, then soak it off at natural hot springs nearby. Pair the pre-dawn hike with a soak afterward — your legs will thank you, and it turns one activity into a full, satisfying day.
Touristy Things To Do In Bali
Kelingking Beach on Nusa Penida. Yes, it's touristy. Yes, everyone takes the same photo from the same cliff. Go anyway — it's touristy because it's genuinely one of the most dramatic coastlines I've ever stood on.
Snorkel or dive with manta rays off Nusa Penida or Nusa Lembongan. Full-day trip, worth every hour.
Seminyak and Kuta for shopping and nightlife. It's crowded, it's commercial, and it's also exactly what some travelers want out of a trip — don't let anyone shame you for it.
Unique Things To Do In Bali
Crate in Pererenan — this is not your average cafe or night out. @bossladybali is a LEGEND. She put Canggu on the map with Crate and Pretty Poison. She has not moved into Pererenan and expanding into an awesome listening lounge, art gallery, and basketball court under one roof, and it captures the current Canggu energy better than almost anywhere else on the island.
Get a facial and body treatments from Muka Concepts. This gem brought buccal facials to Bali. The owner makes all the products on site, and has a clothing line that you will want to buy EVERYTHING. Do it.
Get a handmade sarong at Sinta Sinaya. Maya is a local legend with incredible style. She opened @Sintasinaya, Small shop, big personality, the kind of place you stumble into and leave with three things you didn't plan on buying.
Take a Balinese offering-making class with a local family — it's a small, quiet window into traditional Balinese daily practice that most tourists never see.
Muka Concepts is heaven.
From turmeric oils to coffee scrubs and clay masks- I need it all.
Romantic Things To Do In Bali
Sunset dinner at Suka in Uluwatu. Cliffside, unpretentious, genuinely good food — this is the spot I send every couple who asks me where to go.
Stay at Mu Bungalows. Private, romantic, tucked into Uluwatu in a way that still feels like the old version of the area.
Or book The Soko, also in Uluwatu, for a quieter boutique stay with the same cliffside romance and none of the resort crowd.
Watch a traditional Kecak fire dance at Uluwatu Temple at sunset. It sounds touristy on paper. It is not — it's genuinely moving.
Free Things To Do In Bali
Cemagi Beach for a chill, uncrowded afternoon — no entrance fee, no beach club markup, just sand and good waves if you catch it right.
Watch sunset from Uluwatu's cliffs before or after your Kecak dance — free, and arguably better than the show itself.
Walk the rice fields at golden hour. Half the beauty of Bali costs nothing but a decent pair of shoes.
Family Things To Do In Bali
Bali Safari and Marine Park for the kids who need animals, not architecture.
Waterbom Bali in Kuta — a legitimately excellent water park if you need a full day of built-in entertainment.
Beach days in Sanur, which is calmer and shallower than the surf towns, and much easier with young kids — the waves here are gentle enough that you can actually relax instead of watching the horizon the whole time.
Visit the Elephant Cave (Goa Gajah) near Ubud — short, easy, and genuinely interesting for kids old enough to ask questions about what they're looking at.
Spiritual Things To Do In Bali
Take a class at the Yoga Barn in Ubud. It's become an institution for a reason — the range of classes and the community around it is unmatched.
Get a traditional Balinese healing session — this is different from a spa day, it's rooted in generations of local practice, and it's worth approaching with genuine curiosity, not just a wellness-trip checkbox.
Visit Tirta Empul for the ritual purification bathing ceremony — go with a guide who can explain the meaning, not just point you to the water.
Adult Things To Do In Bali
Motel Mexicola in Seminyak — for a night out that's part restaurant, part club, all vibe.
Beach club hop through Uluwatu — this is a full-day sport in itself, and I fully endorse it once.
Adventurous Things To Do In Bali
Surf Uluwatu if you're intermediate to advanced — this is where the real waves live. If you're newer, Padang Padang is more mellow and forgiving.
White water rafting on the Ayung River near Ubud — genuinely fun, genuinely wet, genuinely worth the mud.
ATV through the jungle and rice fields outside Ubud for a completely different vantage point on the island.
Cultural Things To Do In Bali
Visit a traditional Balinese temple ceremony if you happen to be there during one — ask locally, dress respectfully, and treat it as the privilege it is.
Explore the art villages around Ubud — Mas for woodcarving, Celuk for silver.
Learn about Balinese Hinduism and how it differs from Hinduism elsewhere — the daily offerings you'll see on every sidewalk are part of this, and understanding the "why" changes how you see the whole island. Once you understand what those small woven baskets actually mean, you stop stepping over them and start noticing them everywhere, which is exactly the shift in attention this island rewards.
Sit in on a traditional gamelan performance if you get the chance — the sound is unlike anything else, and it's woven into nearly every ceremony you'll witness while you're there.
Expensive Things To Do In Bali
Book a private boat day around Nusa Penida to skip the crowded group tours entirely.
Book a multi-day retreat built around actual healing work, not just yoga on a brochure.
Non-Tourist Things To Do In Bali
Get coffee at Baked Bali or Analog in Uluwatu — both are where the people who actually live here go, not where the tour buses stop.
Shop small labels like Miss Milne, Black Island Label, and Gooseberry instead of the big shopping streets — Gooseberry in particular for lingerie that actually fits well, which is rarer than it should be. Better product, direct support of local designers, none of the markup.
Eat at Mason in Canggu — no line, no hype cycle, just consistently good food.
Relaxing Things To Do In Bali
Spend a day at Lago in Nusa Lembongan — this is the reset the Nusa islands are actually built for, quieter and slower than the Nusa Penida day-trip circuit, with none of the boat-crossing scramble.
Get a traditional massage — not the resort spa version, the actual local version, which is stronger and better.
Base yourself at Ayok Stay and Surf in Canggu if you want a low-key home base with easy access to the water — good for resetting your nervous system between more active days. If you need a primer on what that actually means physiologically, I wrote about what helps reset your nervous system — worth a read before this trip, not after.
When Is The Best Time To Visit Bali?
Bali runs on two seasons: dry (April to October) and wet (November to March). Dry season is the most popular window, especially July and August, which means bigger crowds and higher prices — but also the most reliable weather for hiking, diving, and general sightseeing.
For surfing specifically, the dry season brings more consistent swell to the west coast breaks like Uluwatu and Canggu, while the east coast picks up in the wet season. If diving and clear water are the priority, April through June and September through October tend to offer the best visibility with fewer crowds than peak summer.
If you're trying to avoid the crush entirely, shoulder season — May, June, or September — gives you good weather without the July/August tourist surge. Wet season isn't a dealbreaker either; the rain tends to come in short, heavy bursts rather than ruining a full day, and everything is dramatically less crowded, restaurants are easier to get into, and prices soften across the board.
If hiking Mount Batur is on your list, aim for dry season — the trail turns to mud fast in the rain and the sunrise views are far less reliable when cloud cover moves in. And if Nusa Penida and its cliffs, manta rays, and Kelingking Beach are the priority, calmer seas in the dry months make the boat crossing a lot more pleasant. The crossing itself can be rough regardless of season, so if you're prone to motion sickness, plan accordingly and take something before you board, not after.
How To Plan A Trip To Bali Indonesia
Stay at least 10-14 days if you want to actually experience more than one region — Bali rewards slower travel
Base yourself in two or three areas rather than one — Canggu or Uluwatu for surf and social life, Ubud for culture and stillness, Nusa Penida as a separate excursion or overnight
Budget for traffic — distances that look short on a map can take an hour in Canggu or Seminyak traffic
Hire a private driver for day trips instead of renting a scooter unless you're genuinely comfortable on one — Bali traffic is not the place to learn
Pack light, breathable fabrics, a rain layer for wet season, reef-safe sunscreen, and good walking shoes for temple and rice field visits. I usually bring an extra bag for all my shopping purchases.
Build in unstructured time — some of the best days in Bali are the ones with no plan at all, which also happens to be one of the easiest ways to get more steps in a day without trying
Get local currency before you go & a local SIM or International data plan — cash still runs a lot of transactions outside the bigger restaurants and hotels, and having your own data makes navigating traffic and ride apps far less stressful
Book your Nusa Penida day separately from your main itinerary — it's technically a different island with its own crossing, its own weather considerations, and its own logistics, so don't try to squeeze it into a half day
Leave room to be told "no plan" by a local friend — some of my best days on this island happened because someone who actually lived there scrapped my itinerary and took me somewhere else entirely. That's the version of Bali worth chasing.
Bali has changed a lot since 2013, and it'll keep changing. But the version of it that pulled me in — the rice fields, the ceremony, the ocean, the people — is still there if you know whee to look. Hopefully this guide gets you a little closer to it, and gets you off the same five spots everyone else is standing in
