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In 2016, my wife and I decided to fly to Bali and stay for 2 months as digital nomads. The opportunity would allow us to explore the country, as well as live as locals and stay in a location long enough to embrace the culture and the lifestyle. It was an interesting experience. And what was more surprising was the cost to do it.

I’m an Australian citizen. And prices to travel from Australia to Bali vary depending on where you travel from. It can cost less than $100 if you travel from Darwin, however you can pay upwards of $400+ if you travel from other Australian airports. In our case, we travelled from Brisbane.

The cost of living was much cheaper than I expected if you travelled with the Australian dollar. If you travelled with currencies such as the British Pound or the American Dollar, your purchasing power in the country would be much stronger.

How did we plan our stay in Bali?

We’d arranged to stay in 2 places. The first was in Ubud in Bali. (I’ve previously written a post about living as a digital nomad in Ubud) The second place was in Denpasar, the capital city of Bali.

The two cities offered two different types of experiences.

Ubud

We actually stayed a 30-minute motorbike journey outside of Ubud. It was in Gianyar, which is quiet and we were surrounded by several rice fields. We were able to get studio accommodation, which cost approximately $900AUD/month at the time. This was inclusive of bills.

In Australia, unfurnished accommodation will cost at least $300 a week in Brisbane and more in the other major cities. When you factor in the other lifestyle costs, you will easily spend more than $2000 each month to cover the basic living costs in the country.

Below are pictures of the Villa that we stayed at and a map of the distance from central Ubud.

Here is a video of us during our stay.

The owner of the villa installed a pool and now serves breakfast as a part of the deal. I found one deal for two people staying in one villa costs $1104 AUD.

You can click here to calculate the rough cost of a booking.

Pros

Where we stayed was quiet and tranquil. At the time, it had a pond and an oasis garden. The villa now has a pool. It was also very safe. Food in the local area was very, very inexpensive. However, we did notice that it was difficult to get fresh fruits and vegetables, which did affect our energy levels.

Cons

Unfortunately, the internet connection at the property wasn’t that great. It was a common thing that we found in Bali. We actually had to travel to the gym, where we paid a monthly fee to access a quick and reliable internet connection.

This affected the productivity for working as a digital nomad. We did work around it, but in hindsight, it would have been better to find accommodation that was closer to the centre of town (such as closer to the Monkey Forest) and have an internet connection that was much more reliable.

A the time, I was doing more writing work; so I was fairly unaffected. However, if you require an internet connection to complete the work that you are doing, then the downtime will severely impact your productivity and you may need to consider being in a place where there is good internet accessibility or even considering a co-working space in Ubud.

Denpasar

Denpasar was an interesting place to be located. It is a major city with alot of traffic and alot of noise. It’s not until you are in the city that you will start to notice some of the things that may affect you as a digital nomad.

We stayed next to one of the main roads and as soon as it was early morning or late evening, the traffic would be atrocious. The pollution in the city and the lack of infrastructure was also frustrating. The hotel that we stayed at was very nice on the inside, but was undergoing construction work from 7am until 6pm, with constant banging throughout the day.

This type of thing could happen anywhere. But it’s less likely to happen in the built-up areas.

The internet connection was very poor as well. It was almost impossible to get a signal. In the end, we had to find a coworking space and we found two that were nearby. (We ended up settling for the Sara Residence, which was nice and quiet.) The only issue was the mosquitos in the evening and they had to fumigate the area. But if you stayed in their accommodation, you could easily go upstairs.

As for food, there was an open market 5 minutes away. We were eating vegetarian meals at the time and we could eat 2 full meals a day for less than $10AUD for 2 people. It was more than enough for us. The food at Sara was also affordable, but being a hotel they obviously charged a slight premium for their meals. But it was nice and a different experience as well. Additionally, the staff were all polite and it was a great experience being there. It definitely made our stay in Denpasar more enjoyable.

It was also interesting to see that they had accommodation options in other areas in Bali, such as Canggu.

Other options

Canggu

We actually visited Canggu and the thing that stood out to us was the balance between the countryside and the beach, whilst being fairly close to the city. Canggu is surrounded by several rice fields and there are many villas, cafes and restaurants that are catered for foreigners visiting the area.

The internet connection is more stable in the area. There are also coworking spaces nearby if people want to access the internet. (Although, you should expect to pay a premium fee for the service).

Some of the great things that were appealing about Canggu included:

Access to the beach

You can head down to the beach and surf (or learn to surf). There’s also a bar that sits on the beach and street food vendors.

Drive through the rice fields

There are endless rice fields. You can jump on a bicycle or a scooter and enjoy the surroundings of the rice fields.

There is an expat community in the area.

If you would like to meet other like-minded people, then you will find them in Canggu.

Easy access to the tourist destinations.

If you do want to visit the tourist areas such as Kuta or Seminyak, it isn’t too far away. You can head into the bar and club areas and dance the night away.

There’s a more thorough guide that you can read on Goats on the road.

Thinking about heading to Bali? Start planning.

I’d recommend that you purchase the Bali Lonely Planet guide so you can experience everything that Bali has to offer. Another site that you should bookmark is TripCanvas, with its guides and activity suggestions written by locals. Then budget for $2000-$3000 a month for your stay so you can experience Bali without missing out on anything.

We stayed in Ubud for 30 days as a digital nomad and it was an interesting experience. If you are the kind of person that wants to take in the warmth and sunshine, while living in a tranquil place surrounded by numerous rice fields; then living as a digital nomad in Ubud is probably the lifestyle for you.

In this post, I will give you some insights into the digital nomad lifestyle that can help you decide whether or not you should base yourself in Ubud as a digital nomad.

I financed this stay by getting freelance writing gigs. I share how I did it exactly in my digital nomad ebook.

How is the Wi-Fi connection in Ubud?

It varies from place to place, but you want to find a location that has good connectivity and that provides a fast internet connection. Most places will offer internet connectivity of 2-10 mbps. This is ok for doing basic things like browsing web pages and sending emails, but you will have trouble watching videos and doing Skype calls. It’s not the connection that I would recommend for digital nomads.

The bare minimum that I would go for is 20 mbps, although 30-50 mbps is preferred. The only place that I went to in Ubud that had this internet connection speed was ‘Ubud Fitness Centre’. I am sure there are other places like co-working spaces that provide quick internet speeds, but this one was the best one that I experienced while I was in Ubud and it makes a tremendous difference to your productivity.

It is cheap to have a fun and productive lifestyle in Ubud as a digital nomad?

The average salary of a person in Ubud is $180 USD per month. So the cost of living is very low compared to western countries. For digital nomads, they can take advantage of the low living cost to enjoy a lifestyle where they can eat out, drink and have errands such as clothes washing done by locals. This will free up your time to focus on being productive on your digital nomad venture, while still being able to enjoy the fun things in life.

What can you expect with the daily cost of living?

- Local meals can cost approximately $2 USD or less a meal. Assuming that you will eat at least 3 times a day, you will spend about $6 USD a day on food.
- Accommodation starts from $5 USD a day for hostels and around $20 USD a day for private accommodation. If you are planning to stay in Bali for more than 30 days, then I’d recommend taking advantage of long-stay deals that can save you up to 30%. You can click here to search on AirBnb.You can also see a list of cheap accommodations from Agoda here. Or you can search for accommodation using the box below.

Washing is charged per item, so the final figure will depend on how many items you decide to wash. You can budget for $10 USD/ week or less for washing.
Transportation depends on where you live and if you will rent a bicycle, scooter or motor vehicle.

A more thorough list can be seen on Never Ending Voyage’s article ‘Cost of living in Ubud, Bali.’

Is it better to work from home, in a co-working space or in a cafe?

I think this will be down to your personal preference, but I personally preferred to work in a quiet space within the home. For me, working in a cafe or an open coworking space exposed me to more distractions. I’d recommend learning what your ideal space is and then organising your lifestyle around it so you can be as productive as possible.

Is there a big digital nomad community in Ubud?

It isn’t as big as say the community in Chiang Mai, but there are several nomads that are based their working on their ventures and enjoying the Balinese lifestyle. You will typically come across them in the local cafes, bars and gym in central Ubud.

How is it like getting around in Ubud?

If you are based in central Ubud, you can easily get around by walking or cycling, although the most common method is hiring a scooter. The prices for renting a scooter daily, weekly or monthly varies among the local shop merchants. But filling up a tank of petrol will never cost more than $5 USD. There isn’t any formal taxi or Uber service, although you can hire private transfers.

It isn’t recommended to travel in a car due to the high amount of traffic on the roads. If you choose to travel by car, expect to arrive at your final destination in twice the time.

Safety questions about Ubud.

Will your belongings be safe in Ubud?

The area that we stayed in was about a 30-minute drive from central Ubud on the scooter. Because we were so secluded, it felt quite safe for us to stay there and we didn’t have any issues when we left our things in the villa that we were staying in. You should always err on the side of caution, but when it came to the safety and security of our belongings, it was quite good during our stay.

Driving safety.

You do have to be more aware when you are driving as a foreigner in Ubud. The street lighting doesn’t illuminate as well as in most western countries and it can be difficult to navigate in the dark. Beware of random potholes in the road.

Secondly, there are reports about police corruption. Even though we never experienced this, it isn’t uncommon for foreigners to be stopped on their scooter and then be asked to provide a bribe to the officer. Do your best to abide by the local rules.

Is it easy to get an Indonesian visa to stay in Ubud?

It depends on your country of residence, but there are a few options that I have listed below for getting a visa that will allow you to stay in the country.

Visa on arrival (30 Days – Non-extendable)

This visa is free, but cannot be extended beyond your 30-day stay. You should have an exit ticket that proves your onward travel.

Visa on arrival (30 days – Extendable by 30 days)

This visa costs $35 USD initially and can be extended for an additional 60 days, thus allowing you to stay in Indonesia for up to 2 months. You can arrive without an exit ticket (although airlines prefer that you have proof of your onward travel). You will receive the visa and you will need to extend it before the end of your 30-day visa. You have two options.

Do the visa extension yourself. (Slightly cheaper, but much more inconvenient)

You can go to the immigration office to get your visa extended. The closest office to Ubud is Denpasar, which is about a 40-minute journey depending on traffic. You can save the address and location using the Google Map provided below.

DENPASAR

DI PANJAITAN KOMP MANDALA RENON DENPASAR 80235

Telepon: (0361) 227828, 231149

Fax: (0361) 244340

You will also need to go to the office 3 times.

2. Extend your visa by using a visa agent.

We used Komang is a visa agent that operates out of Bali Buddha in Ubud. She has several recommendations and endorsements online. She is easy to trust, professional and has your best interests at heart.

Her fee is 600,000 IDR, however she will take care of the paperwork and the processing of your visa. She will advise you to go down to the immigration office in Denpasar where they will take your photo and fingerprint for the visa extension. (You should expect to wait a few hours at the immigration office for this to be processed)

After this is complete, she will advise you when you can pick up your passport from her. She also takes payment after the visa is processed.

The biggest benefit to using a visa agent is less hassle and fewer trips into Denpasar to get the visa process. I’d recommend going down this route and spending the extra money rather than trying to process the visa yourself.

I read a few horror stories about people that enlisted the services of dodgy visa agents, so I recommend using Komang’s trusted services.

Get a 60-day visa before entering Indonesia.

I actually recommend people to get the visa this way to avoid any hassle while you are in Indonesia.

If you aren’t in your home country, you can also get a 60-day visa in one of the neighbouring countries like Singapore, Malaysia or Thailand.

Apply for a Social-Cultural visa.

I was fortunate to meet a couple who had stayed in Indonesia on and off for 4 years with a social-cultural visa. Initially, you can get up to 60 days stay for free. Afterwards, the visa can be extended monthly for up to 6 months.

This visa can be used for participating in sports and cultural activities or visiting friends or family. You cannot be employed or partake in employment while in Indonesia. In order to receive this visa, you need to be sponsored by an Indonesian citizen.

To successfully get this visa, your Indonesian sponsor must supply a sponsorship letter, a photocopy of the sponsor’s identity card, a copy of the sponsor’s family register and a copy of the sponsor’s bank account statements.

The applicant will need to provide 2 passport photos and a copy of their passport.

Other things to be aware of before applying for a visa.

The validity of your passport must have a minimum of 6 months from the entry date into Indonesia.

The first day that you arrive in Indonesia counts as a day and you must leave by the last day of your visa (either the 30th or 60th day, depending on the type of visa you have.) If you overstay your visa, you will incur a fine which is calculated at a daily rate. An excess of 60 days stay could also result in a hefty fine or a jail sentence.

Can you get by just by using English in Ubud?

Balinese and Indonesian are the main languages on the island, but English is widely spoken in Ubud, which makes it convenient for getting around and getting things done.

Before you go, make sure that you take out a travel insurance policy that will completely cover you.

If you have a return ticket to your home country, then you should be able to get a travel insurance policy that will cover you. However, if you purchase a one-way ticket, most insurers will refuse to give you a policy.

World Nomads is the best insurer for providing a global insurance policy for digital nomads. You still need to read the fine print and check to see what will and won’t be covered, but I’ve found it to be the best solution for digital nomads. You can use the quote box below to generate a travel insurance quote.

Getting flights to Bali.

I use Skyscanner to book one-way flights. I tend to find that it is the best option, although there are other deals from other flight partners such as Virgin Australia and Air Asia that come through from time to time. I would personally recommend using Skyscanner as a starting point to compare flight options and then expand your search from there.

Click here to start researching flight options to Bali.

So now that you’ve reached the end of the post, do you think Ubud is the place for you? Let me know in the comments. Thanks for reading!

*Note – This post contains affiliate links. The experiences and recommendations are my own.

Should you be a digital nomad in Bali?