Bali for nomads

From Canggu's cafe scene to Ubud's jungle calm and the cliffs of Uluwatu, Bali remains one of the world's classic nomad bases. The island mixes a huge remote-work community with surf, ceremony, and rice-field views, and in 2026 it also comes with real crowds, rising rents, and a tourist levy at the door.

This guide covers where to live and work, what it actually costs now, the entry rules including the levy, and the visa that lets you stay a full year.

🌱 Travel health insurance for Bali

🎯 At a glance

🇮🇩 Entry requirements for Bali

• Visa on arrival: Most Western nationalities get a 30-day visa on arrival for IDR 500,000 (about €24), extendable once by another 30 days for the same fee, for a maximum of 60 days. You can pay at the airport or, better yet, buy the e-VoA in advance on the official portal evisa.imigrasi.go.id. Apply for the extension at least a week before your first 30 days expire.
• Bali tourist levy: Since February 2024, every foreign visitor pays a one-time levy of IDR 150,000 (about €7) per entry, children included. Pay before you land at the official portal lovebali.baliprov.go.id and save the QR code. Officers spot-check it at major sights like Tanah Lot and Uluwatu. Only use the .go.id site, lookalike .com sites charge double.
• Arrival documents: A passport valid for at least 6 months, a return or onward ticket, and the All Indonesia electronic arrival declaration QR code, filled in online before you fly.

✈️ How to get to Bali

• Plane: Bali's airport is I Gusti Ngurah Rai International (DPS) in Denpasar. Many long-haul routes connect through Jakarta, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, or Doha, and there are direct flights from across Asia and Australia.
• Airport to Canggu: about 19 km, 45 to 75 minutes depending on traffic. A Grab or Gojek ride costs roughly €8 to €12, a fixed-price airport taxi more.
• Airport to Ubud: about 36 km, 1 to 1.5 hours. Expect roughly €15 to €20 by app or negotiated taxi.

🗺 Where to base yourself

Canggu and Pererenan is still the center of gravity of Bali's nomad scene: the most coworking spaces, gyms, cafes and social events on the island, surrounded by surf beaches and the last remaining rice fields. The flip side is real: heavy traffic, construction noise, and rents that climbed sharply in the last year. Berawa and Batu Bolong are the busy, walkable, priciest heart. Pererenan, one beach north, is the smart pick in 2026: Canggu's infrastructure ten minutes away with a calmer pace, and where much of the community has quietly moved. Outsite's flagship coliving is here.

Ubud is the island's cultural and wellness center, jungle instead of surf. It draws a slightly older, quieter crowd: yoga studios, ceremony culture, and cafes full of laptops. Noticeably cheaper than Canggu and cooler at night. Penestanan is a walkable artist village above the center and the favorite base for longer stays, home to Outpost. The center and Monkey Forest area is convenient but touristy, better for short stays. Side villages like Sayan and Junjungan are quieter rice-field living within a scooter ride.

Uluwatu, on the Bukit peninsula in the far south, grew from a surf outpost into a real nomad base: clifftop ocean views, world-class waves, and a quieter, more spread-out life than Canggu. You need a scooter for everything here. Uluwatu and Bingin are close to the famous breaks and cliff cafes; Ungasan is more residential with better-value villas.

Seminyak is beach clubs, shopping and restaurants, more holiday resort than nomad base these days. If you stay, Biliq is a flexible pay-per-minute coworking space with coliving attached. Sanur is calm, flat and family-friendly on the east coast, with sunrise beaches and a growing quiet community. A good base if Canggu sounds exhausting.

🏡 How to find a place

• Airbnb: Fine for the first weeks. Expect roughly €800 to €1,200 per month for an apartment or a private room, depending on the area and season. Prices drop when you book monthly.
• Facebook groups: The classic way to find mid-term villa rooms and apartments. Try BALI LONG TERM Yearly/Monthly Rentals, BALI CHEAP HOUSE RENT, and Bali House Apartment Villa for Rent. Never transfer a deposit before seeing a place or doing a video tour.
• On the ground: The best deals still come from booking a week somewhere central and scooter hunting for "For Rent" signs, especially in Pererenan, Ubud's side streets, and Uluwatu.
• Coliving: Outsite Bali in Pererenan runs one of the strongest nomad communities on the island, walking distance to cafes and the beach. Outsite also has an Ubud location. For something special for a weekend, look at jungle eco stays like Munduk Cabins, Bambu Indah, and Sumberkima Hill.

💶 How much does it cost?

🧑🏻‍💻 Where to work from

Canggu and Pererenan

Coworking:

• BWork: a big cafe plus coworking space in Berawa. The coworking area is open 24/7, the cafe 8am to 9pm. Hot desk packages from roughly €80 for 50 hours.
• Tropical Nomad: a dedicated 24-hour coworking space near Batu Bolong with call booths, a cafe and a strong community calendar.
• ZIN@Work: an open-air bamboo coworking, cafe and hotel in one, with no membership fee for the cafe workspace.

Cafes:

• ZIN Cafe: a large open-air space in modern tropical design, plugs everywhere, fast internet, different work zones.
• Milu by Nook: open-air with high ceilings and rice field views in the heart of Canggu. Few power plugs, so come charged.

Ubud

Coworking:

• Outpost Ubud: the established nomad coworking in Penestanan, open around the clock, with a pool, events and coliving attached. Memberships from roughly €130 a month.

Cafes:

• Clear Cafe: a favorite among remote workers, huge and airy, with some of the fastest cafe wifi in town.
• Alchemy: a plant-based cafe close to Outpost with comfortable chairs and proper work spots.

Uluwatu

• BWork Uluwatu: the second BWork location brings a proper coworking setup to the Bukit.
• Cliff cafes: scenic, but wifi varies, so test before you commit to a call. Many villas come with fiber, which is the more reliable setup here.

👥 Finding the community

Bali has the biggest and most organized nomad community in Asia, and Canggu is its heart. Getting in is genuinely easy, which is a large part of why people come.

The coworking spaces are the fastest route. Tropical Nomad and BWork both run packed event calendars, from breathwork and business meetups to Friday socials, and a hot desk membership is really a membership to the community around it. Beyond that, the island runs on WhatsApp and Facebook groups: Canggu Community and Canggu Nomad Girls are the big ones, and most coworking spaces and colivings have their own. Run clubs, sound baths, ecstatic dance, surf meetups and language exchanges fill the calendar, and colivings like Outsite in Pererenan and Outpost in Ubud build a ready-made group around you from day one.

Ubud's scene is smaller, calmer and more wellness-focused; Uluwatu's is spread out and surf-centered. Wherever you land, our guide to making friends as a nomad applies here as much as anywhere.

🛜 Internet and SIM cards

Bali's internet is good where nomads cluster and unreliable elsewhere, so this is worth getting right before you book a villa.

In Canggu, Ubud and Uluwatu, fiber is widely available and coworking spaces are reliable for calls, often 50 Mbps or more. Starlink has become common in villas and cafes, which has transformed the more remote corners of the island. But power cuts happen, especially in the wet season, and a villa advertised as having "fast wifi" can mean anything, so always ask for a recent speed test and check whether there is a backup plan before committing to a month.

Telkomsel has the widest and most reliable coverage and is the safe default; XL Axiata and Indosat are cheaper alternatives that work fine in the hubs. A tourist SIM with generous data costs a few euros from any phone shop, and you will need your passport to register it. eSIMs are supported and are the easiest option on arrival. Keep mobile data as a backup for when the villa wifi drops, which it will.

🌤 When to come

Bali has just two seasons, and they apply across the whole island. The dry season, April to October, is peak nomad time: reliable sun, the best surf on the west coast, and the busiest, priciest months of July and August. The wet season, November to March, brings warm afternoon downpours rather than all-day rain, thinner crowds and lower rents, and is far from a write-off. March and October are the sweet spots: good weather, fewer people.

🚌 Getting around

• Scooter: the default, and the thing that makes Bali work. A decent rental runs around €8 a day or €50 to €70 a month. An international driving permit is legally required, police checks happen, and helmets are mandatory. Check the brakes and tires before paying. Tip: choose the bicycle-route option in Google Maps for more scenic, less-trafficked rides.
• Gojek and Grab: the ride-hailing apps are how most nomads get around when they do not want to drive, for both scooter taxis and cars, usually about 30 percent cheaper than metered taxis. Airport to Seminyak is around €4 to €5, to Canggu €8 to €12. Note that some villages restrict app pickups; in those zones use the local drivers.
• Bluebird taxi: the reliable metered company. Insist on the meter for short rides and agree a fixed price for long ones.
• Teman Bus (Trans Metro Dewata): Bali's subsidized city bus network connects Denpasar with surrounding towns for a flat IDR 4,400 (about €0.20) a ride, paid cashless through the Teman Bus app. Useful for errands along its routes, not a substitute for a scooter.
• Private driver: for day trips and sightseeing beyond a few kilometers, hire a car with driver. A full day runs roughly €30 to €50 depending on route and hours.
• Car rental: all the major companies operate, day rates from about €20. Traffic drives on the left.

🚧 Safety and health

• Street money changers: Use proper exchange offices or ATMs at banks, street changers are a classic scam.
• Tourist scams: Check bills, change, and added fees in heavily touristic areas.
• Late-night valuables: Snatchers are most active after midnight in party zones like Kuta and parts of Canggu.
• Traffic accidents: Scooter accidents are the number one way nomads get hurt in Bali, and most involve no helmet or no experience. Wear the helmet, ride sober, and have insurance that covers scooter riding.
• Mosquito-borne illness: Dengue exists year-round. Use repellent, especially in the wet season. Bali itself is not a malaria risk area, eastern Indonesia is.
• Tap water: Don't drink it. Use bottled or filtered water, and be careful with ice and washed raw food in cheap warungs. Bali Belly is real but usually brief.
• Air quality in the dry season: Generally moderate, worse near heavy traffic. Nothing like the burning-season problems in northern Thailand.

🎖 Must see

• Tanah Lot Temple: The iconic offshore temple silhouette, best at sunset. Bring your tourist levy QR code, this is a spot where it gets checked.
• Mount Batur sunrise trek: The classic pre-dawn hike, breathtaking views and an endorphin rush.
• Nusa Penida: A 30-minute speedboat ride southeast, dramatic cliffs, beaches, and jungle hills. Doable as a day trip, better with a night.
• Garuda Wisnu Kencana: The cultural park around one of the tallest statues in the world, on the way to Uluwatu.
• Waterfalls and lakes: The island's interior hides dozens, ask locals for their current favorite and you won't be disappointed.

🪪 Long stay

• Tourist route: Visa on arrival gives 30 plus 30 days. For longer, the C1 tourist visa gives 60 days, extendable twice for a maximum of about 180 days.
• E33G Remote Worker Visa: Indonesia's digital nomad visa, launched April 2024. It gives you a 1-year stay permit (KITAS) with multiple entry, and family can join. The requirements: an employment contract with a company registered outside Indonesia, an annual foreign income of about €52,500 (officially USD 60,000), a bank statement showing about €1,750 (USD 2,000) for the last 3 months, and a passport valid for 6 months. Important: income from Indonesian sources disqualifies you, and self-employed applicants without an employment contract generally don't qualify. Apply at the official portal evisa.imigrasi.go.id.
• Health insurance: Get travel health insurance that covers the entire stay, such as Genki Traveler, or Genki Native if Bali is part of a longer-term nomad life without a home country system behind you.

❓ Frequently asked questions