Pros & Cons of Living in Bali from an Expat
For the past two years, I’ve been living in Bali when I’m not traveling to the outer Indonesian islands and other countries in SE Asia. Back before I started traveling, living in Bali was something I couldn’t even imagine being my reality – It seemed too amazing to be real.
I’m sure you’ve seen the same YouTube videos of Bali I did back when I was a consultant living in NYC – “Move to Bali” says happy, smiling, tan young people with seemingly no concerns beyond smoothie bowls and surfing.
Well, while Bali can be what’s portrayed in those videos – What’s missing is the traffic, visa headaches, scams, and unceasing construction noises.
So, why Bali?
Well… I can’t lie to you, even considering the problems I listed above, it’s still a fantastic island full of happy, kind people and beautiful scenery. From visa headaches to how much things really cost, here’s a breakdown of all the pros and cons I’ve experienced while living in Bali as an expat!
1. ✅ Pro: EVERYTHING is Better in Bali!
I swear, literally everything – from the cafes to the home decor, spas, beach clubs, and activities is just better in Bali. On my most recent weekend trip to Kintamani, the STARBUCKS had a view of a VOLCANO. Of course, this Starbucks charged the same price for a coffee as a Starbucks anywhere else in the world – So, would you rather sip a frappe with a view of a volcano in Bali, or a Target checkout aisle? Everything is better in Bali.
2. ❌ Con: Mafia Tourism
This is the biggest “con” I can think of when it comes to living in Bali, or even just for travelers coming on a holiday. It’s hard for me to be transparent with pricing in my articles for activities in Bali because as things get more popular the prices skyrocket – Sometimes doubling or tripling in price for the same thing in a single year!
Occasionally, activities like waterfalls, volcanoes, or traditional villages will also start being run by an “association”, which is Bali-slang for “Mafia”.
Mafia tourism is a big problem in Bali and Indonesia. To simplify the issue it up, it’s usually when the locals from an area with a popular tourism activity get together and decide that everyone needs a guide to visit (even if there’s no reason they need to have a private guide for the activity). The price for the guide will go well above and beyond the entrance fees set by the local gov, and in practice can make prices for activities go from 50K for entrance to 300K for a “guide” (by force).
I believe locals should get a bigger cut of the tourism industry profits, but it would be better to just increase the entrance fees for activities rather than go about enforcing mafia-tourism. It’s just one of those things you need to keep in mind while traveling in Indonesia!
3. ❌ Con: Healthcare Scams
In Bali, healthcare scams are common – Mostly targeting foreigners.
🚩 Here are some healthcare scams in Bali I’ve noticed:
- Medical Clinics say they’re open 24 hours, but they’re not. It’s just titled “24-hour clinic” to compete with other clinics that are 24 hours in the area. Imagine showing up at 2 AM, sick, at a lying hospital?
- Many traveler’s clinics sell pills like antibiotics at 500-100x markup – You can buy lots of medicines over the counter in Bali, travelers don’t know this and pay the clinic’s rate.
- Sales associates wear white coats in pharmacies and sell scammy $30-50 supplements to tourists. No matter what you’re sick with, they’ll push the supplements over real medicine.
- The foreigner-oriented hospitals keep pushing for more testing, and these tests are outrageously expensive, think hundreds and hundreds of dollars, even if you don’t fit the symptoms.
4. ✅ Pro: Delicious Indonesian Food
I’ve had fried rice before but you simply haven’t lived until you have a proper Nasi Goreng. I would eat it every day if I could, (and I did, for a long time after I started traveling in Bali until my bloodwork suggested I should maybe eat something not fried for a change). Not just the tourist’s favorite Nasi Goreng, Mie Goreng, and Chicken Satay, Indonesian and Balinese food are diverse to the point that you could travel around Indo for years and still have plenty of dishes to try.
👉 Here are some Indonesian foods you should try on your trip:
- Pisang Goreng – Deep-fried bananas (Pisang = Banana, Goreng = fried), sometimes covered in condensed milk and cheese 🤤.
- Sweet Cheese – Something you’ll see over and over in Indonesia is cheese used as a dessert flavor, it’s interesting!
- Babi Guling – Suckling Pig. The majority of Indonesia is Muslim, while Bali is Hindu. Because of this, Bali is one of the few places in Indo that eat pork.
- Nasi Goreng – Fried Rice (Nasi = Rice), usually with a protein of choice like chicken and topped with a fried egg.
- Chicken Satay – Skewers in peanut sauce, (foreigner favorite!)
- Masakan Padang – Choose-what-you-want eatery that usually features Beef Rendang (slow-cooked beef dish) with a variety of side dishes.
- Street Food – The night market and street food scene isn’t as touristy in Bali as it is in some other locations like Thailand, but you should still try visiting a night market in Bali at least once!
Katie’s Tips ✶
You don’t NEED to love spicy food if you’re traveling in Bali and Indonesia, but if you do, it will be a culinary paradise 🌶 (so why not give the spice a chance!)
👉 Note! They don’t use knives in Indonesia! Unless you’re eating at a Western-style place, expect to be given a spoon and a fork, regardless of the dish.
5. ❌ Con: The Island is Always Changing
If you talk to someone who first settled in Canggu a few years ago (before the pandemic especially) they will all say the same thing: it’s completely different now!
Tourism in Bali is ever-expanding and was exacerbated by the rise in remote work in 2020. Now there are more tourists and expats than ever before in Bali – and you can feel it in how crowded the island’s hot spots have gotten! Many people who thought they had found their dream home in Canggu pre-2020 now are passionate about Perenenan (north of Canggu) or Uluwatu (south). I’m sure in a few years Perenenan and Uluwatu will be considered two crowded as well, and the hype will be turned towards some yet undeveloped and undiscovered paradise.
The constant construction and expansion in Bali means that if you buy a place, which you can’t really even do as a foreigner (more on that later), you just have no idea what the environment will look like in 5, 10+ years.
6. ✅ Pro: The Kindness of the Balinese People
When I crashed my scooter in Bali there were three local people who immediately stopped their day, picked both me and my scooter off the road, and ferried me off to a clinic – There’s nowhere else like Bali when it comes to having a culture with kindness built in. You don’t need to be in need of help to experience this, pretty much every person you interact with will be, notably, smiling. The kindness and joy of the Balinese people are inspiring and make living in Bali a much brighter experience.
7. ❌ Con: There is Little to No Oversight
This is a pro or a con depending on where you stand on the issue, but coming from the USA where you can be sued for just about anything, there just isn’t a litigious culture like that in Indonesia. This sounds great, but what it means is there are far fewer consumer protections. I found this out when my apartment was furnished with extremely aesthetic wooden coffee mugs and bowls, but when I used them for my morning coffee or other hot liquids like soups, I noticed a bitter taste. Wood stain was leeching into my food because the wooden coffee mugs weren’t food-safe! Locals don’t use these wooden coffee mugs, but tourists seem to like the way they look, so they make them and sell them.
Another time I was taking the Backpacker’s Komodo Boat Tour from Lombok to Flores, and someone asked if there were any life jackets. The tour operator pointed to a lump in the boat the size of a bucket and said “…yeah… they’re in there” – And left it at that. Needless to say, there were no life jackets (at least, not enough for the 40 or so cabin and crew passengers), in that small compartment.
This can be a good and a bad thing, the “Nanny State” back in the USA certainly has its drawbacks, but it’s just something to remember and consider – especially if you have kids!
8. ✅ Pro: Excellent Value for Money
Yes, Bali has a reputation for being expensive compared to other SE Asian travel destinations, but you can rent a cute little villa in Bali with a pool and a great view, on a monthly rental basis, for less than 1,500 USD per month! Where else in the world can you still do that?
9. ❌ Con: The Internet is Censored (You Need a VPN!)
The internet in Bali and Indonesia is censored to block out any sites that contain p*rn, because it’s illegal in Indonesia. The thing is, sites that also might have p*rn on them are also censored, which is pretty annoying! Sites that are censored in Indonesia include Vimeo and Reddit, so if you want to access them you will need to use a VPN that can set your digital location to another country. There’s a persistent internet rumor that HBO is also blocked in Indonesia because of the…erm… *racy* scenes HBO is known for, but this isn’t true. Rather, streaming services like HBO and Hulu just aren’t available in Indonesia, so if you want to watch them you will also need a VPN.
10. ✅ Pro: Perfect Weather
Some tropical places are just too hot, sunny, and tropical to be comfortable – Bali is not one of those places! My favorite weather back home in NY is early/mid-September, it’s not too hot and humid, but still warm and sunny. This is what Bali is like EVERY DAY. Yes, there’s a rainy season, but the vast majority of the time the weather in Bali is just perfect 🤌 😘.
11. ❌ Con: It’s Hard to Make Friends
It’s both extremely difficult AND easy to make friends living in Bali – I probably made 5x more friends in my one year living in Bali than 5 in NYC. That being said, meaningful friendships, now that is almost impossible!
This is because everyone is always coming and going, both within Bali and internationally. Travelers are known for being itinerant, so sometimes you’ll meet a cool person while living in Ubud (for example) and spend a few months with your new bestie going adventuring all over Bali. Well, after three months if one of you goes back home, to Thailand, Australia, or even just moves on to Canggu or Uluwatu, now you need to find a new travel buddy!
This happens all. the. time.
I’ve made so many new friends since I started living the Bali ex-pat life. Bali is an incredibly social island where it’s easy to meet people, and yet I always find myself in need of a new travel buddy as my friends or myself move on to other islands and new adventures.
12. ❌ Con: The TRAFFIC!!!
The traffic in Bali is on everyone’s mind and can be quite shocking to tourists who come to the island expecting a laid-back tropical paradise. In truth, the traffic is the #1 biggest negative in Bali. The areas that became popular with tourists for being untouched and quaint towns, like Ubud and Canggu, didn’t have roads built to sustain the mass tourism they’re now receiving.
It’s so bad. There’s a famous street in Canggu called the “Canggu Shortcut” that is just not big enough for cars and scooters, and frequently has hour-long traffic jams, even though it’s not a very long street at all!
13. ❌ Con: The Visa Runs are Exhausting
If you actually want to LIVE in Bali with few restrictions the process is expensive and lengthy to get the appropriate visas and permanent stay permission. Instead, what most people do is they come on a VOA (Visa on Arrival), for 30 days, pay the fee to extend 30 days, and then they have to leave the country for a “visa run”. After you do a visa run, you are free to get another 30-day VOA + 30-day extension and repeat the process indefinitely – and shockingly enough, many people do!
I met people who lived in Bali for YEARS doing every 60-day visa runs to nearby countries like Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, etc. The visa situation is why many people (including myself) say they are “based in Bali” rather than they “live in Bali”. It’s just a lot easier to come here a few months out of the year, than to really figure out how to set down roots or do the endless visa-run thing.
14. ✅ Pro: Ultra-Luxury Experiences
You could have a 6-course Michelin Star meal in Bali for like, 1/5 the price of the same experience in NYC! And I recommend you do. The ultra-luxury economy is thriving in Bali – With tourists able to enjoy things like infinity pools and bathtubs full of flower petals organized to spell their name, on the regular. This is due to the currency exchange rate being favorable for most Western countries to the Indonesian Rupiah, which has allowed the luxury tourism sector in Bali to simply explode, with every 5-star or boutique hotel trying to one-up the one next door.
Katie’s Tips ✶
While I’m not saying you should feel guilty enjoying luxuries in Bali, after all, it’s boosting the economy by creating jobs, It’s important to not take these luxuries for granted, and remember while something is “cheap” to you in your currency, it’s expensive for locals who are paid in Rupiah rather than Dollars.
15. ❌ Con: High Flight Prices
Bali isn’t really located close to anything, besides other Indonesian islands, so if you want to travel somewhere, visit home, or even just go to another island like Lombok or Sulawesi, expect to shell out massive $$$ (relative to your cost of living in Bali).
Katie’s Tips ✶
The cheapest place to fly to from Bali is Singapore, and it’s a great layover spot to visit the famous Changi Airport.
Because Singapore is the easiest country to fly to from Bali, it’s typically where travelers go to do an Indonesian “visa-run” to reset their traveler visas.
I like to go to Singapore to shop at their Jewel Mall when I need electronics like Apple products or DJI Drones because it’s practically tax-free.
16. ❌ Con: “Foreigner Price”
Bali has a competitive pricing market for most things, but it’s frustrating to always have to do a ton of research to make sure you’re not wildly overpaying. For example, I recently did a white water rafting and ATV tour in Ubud, and the first tour company I reached out to said it would be $100 per person. Tour companies are intermediaries, so then I tried to reach out to the rafting company itself and they said it would be $250 per person (!!!) Afterward, I put a query in the Digital Nomads in Bali Whatsapp group and got some tour company recs that priced it at $50 per person. Keep in mind that these three prices were all for the same exact tour.
17. ✅ Pro: Beautiful Architecture
The moss growing on tiled roofs on a Balinese temple… It’s so beautiful and specific to Bali alone.
18. ✅ Pro: Easy to Travel Around
Bali is actually a pretty small island, you can drive from the south to the north tip in around 5 hours, and a popular fitness challenge is to walk the whole thing! This makes it super easy to get around, all you need is your own scooter if you know how to drive, or a Bali private driver if not, and you’re set!
19. ❌ Con: High Taxes / Need to Bring Things from Home!
There’s a hefty (I think 40% but don’t quote me on it!) import tax fee in Indonesia, so if you NEED a specific brand of something, you have to bring it from home! This is most notable with sunscreen, because the foreign brands are limited options and EXPENSIVE (like $30-50 per bottle), and the local sunscreens are terrible. Also, any electronics, they don’t have a single Apple Store in Indonesia, so if you want a new camera, phone, drone, etc, you gotta buy it somewhere else (or go with a dodgy reseller).
Katie’s Tips ✶
I’m pretty sure (again, don’t quote me on it!) that clothes are exempt from this hefty import tax because if you go to the malls in Kuta and visit H&M, Zara, and other foreign clothes shops the prices are pretty much the same as back home!
20. ✅ Pro: Amazing International Restaurants
I lived in MANHATTAN before coming to Bali and from the bottom of my heart… The food is so much better here in Bali 😭.
I grew up in the NYC suburbs and lived my whole life in an international community where you could get the best of any type of food you wanted, any day of the week. “What do you want for dinner? Chinese, Indian, Sushi, Pizza??” was an absolutely normal question – and it was all good! This is NOT TRUE in other parts of the world. Not everywhere has every type of cuisine you could possibly ever want!
I found this out the hard way living in Italy – Around 4 months in, I needed something different. I could no longer do the pizza/carbs/pasta/soup-y Italian thing. So we went for Indian food. The Indian restaurant in Rome used Olive Oil. Weird!
Bali, like NYC, is an international community – Expats and travelers from all over the world come here, and there are restaurants to suit pretty much every nationality. The food is actually a reason I would pick living in Bali over anywhere else, any day of the week. You want sushi? Greek? Indian? real wood-fired pizza? a real AMERICAN BAGEL????? (always) – You can actually get all these things in Bali, and they’re all done pretty well!
Katie’s Tips ✶
There’s a lot of “stunt food” in Bali – i.e. food that looks amazing… but doesn’t taste amazing. I think the best food in Bali that actually tastes as good as it looks is in Ubud, where the Ubud cafes are a tourist attraction in their own right!
21. ❌ Con: Poor Healthcare
Poor healthcare, and poor insurance options, unfortunately. I had some health problems this summer, after being extremely lucky and not really getting sick for two years on the road. At one point, I had either viral tonsilitis or Strep Throat, but since they couldn’t test for Strep (the test had to be shipped to another country or something, it would have taken 8 days), they just gave me antibiotics. It wound up being viral, not bacterial, tonsilitis, so I took a round of antibiotics for no reason, which is pretty hard on the body. This was at the fancy ex-pat hospital in Bali, they just didn’t have the facilities to treat me in the way I was used to back home – If you have kids, the poorer quality healthcare in Bali is definitely something to consider.
Another factor is medical insurance. The hospitals in Bali charge an arm and a leg for the (in my opinion, so/so services they offer), so you absolutely need insurance, but I have not been able to find insurance provided for Americans abroad that covers preventative, women’s health, or family care.
I recently did a visa run to Malaysia and took the opportunity to get a complete ex-pat health checkup at their Prince Court Medical Center. For around $250, I was able to get a full physical including blood work, eye test, ear test, and ultrasounds, it ran the whole gamut. They don’t have anything like this in Bali, and if you attempted something like it, you would probably have to go to like 3 different doctors/hospitals and pay well over $1,000!
22. ✅ Pro: Something for Everyone
Are you a 5-star luxury-jet-set-type? Bali has that. Probably on par with other peak travel spots like the French Riviera.
Club rat? Bali has Savaya, which hosts premier DJs like Diplo and Skrillex on the regular.
Adventurous hiker? Bali and Indonesia have some of the most beautiful volcano mountain hikes, I recommend Mt. Batur in Bali, as well as Bromo and Kawah Ijen if you can take a trip to East Java.
Cultural Backpacker? Every island in Indonesia has its own heritage, and you can visit traditional villages like the one I went to in Wae Rebo to experience them.
Surfer? …Well, this one goes without saying, haha.
Maybe this is due to the fact it is an island nation, but I have never experienced a more diverse travel destination than Bali and Indonesia. Indonesia is the most versatile travel destination in the world. There’s no one set vibe, it has EVERYTHING you could ever want.
23. ✅ Pro: Great Surfing
Bali started getting hyped in the 20th century as a surfer’s paradise for vacationing Australians. The best places right now to live and surf in Bali are Canggu, Perenenan, and Uluwatu.
Katie’s Tips ✶
Try out Kuta Lombok if you want to live and surf in a more chilled and beachy location than Bali.
24. ❌ Con: Annoying Taxi Drivers
Ever tried walking on a street in Bali? All you’ll hear is “Taxi???” “Uber???” “Gojek???”, even if you’re in remote areas, scooters will pull over to the side and pressure you to take a lift with them -> The more touristy the place you’re in, the worse this harassment is!
Walking isn’t really a “thing” in Bali – There are no sidewalks in most places, and when there are they’re usually covered by parked scooters. Taxi drivers capitalize on this by harassing every foreigner who walks by to take a lift. This is the worst at the airport, where dozens of taxi drivers stick their phones in front of your face to stop you – Even if you’re walking with your driver or planning on hiring a Grab Car, Bali’s version of Uber, from the airport!
25. ✅ Pro: You Can Pretty Much Live on Any Budget
Okay, I’m not an ultra-budget travel girl (but I know plenty of people in Bali who are!), and while Bali has a reputation for being a bit of an expensive destination by SE Asian standards, it’s still very possible to live here on an extreme budget with a bit of planning.
Homestay room monthly rentals go as low as 3 million IDR (around $200) per month and include everything. Scooter rentals can be as low as 800K IDR ($50) – Just keep in mind you need to look around a little bit for these ultra-low prices, as most owners would rather rent out their scooter for 150k ($10) per day, than $50 per month.
26. ❌ Con: You Can’t Buy a House as a Foreigner
When people say they “bought a house” in Bali, they are mostly referring to long-term leaseholds, as it is illegal for a sole foreigner to own a house (as far as I am aware). A Bali long-term leasehold runs from 5-30 years, and one day I will probably do one – But buying a house in Bali? Well, that’s a different story.
If you do wish to buy a house in Bali or Indonesia as a foreigner, you need to go into it with an Indonesian partner, whose name will also be on the deed. Or, you need to start a business in Indonesia, which costs a ton of money, to the point that it’s likely an unrealistic option for an individual person. There are horror stories online from foreigners who did the “Indonesian Co-Owner” route and their local partner borrowed against the value of their property secretly. But, I have also heard of foreigners who are married to Indonesians being able to make their spouse the property co-owner, and then it all works out well.
Regardless of which option you choose, actually owning a house in Bali is an extremely confusing process that goes way beyond just saving for a downpayment.
27. ❌ Con: Indonesia Isn’t an Easy Country to Stay in Long-Term (Unless You Have LOTS of $$$)
While Bali and Indonesia probably have the most vocal population of Expats out of anywhere in the world, it’s not easy to actually live here. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere in this article, the easiest way to be in Bali long-term is by doing a “Visa Run” and leaving the country every 60 days, and then coming back. Since Indonesia is an island nation, this means you need to fly to leave the country, this process gets old fast! This is why so many people say they’re “based in Bali” rather than live here. Living in Bali and getting the necessary permanent residency visas cost a ton of money and quite a bit of hassle.
28. ✅ Pro: Large Expat Community
Bali has the largest international expat community I’ve ever encountered, even beating Mexico. While there aren’t a ton of North Americans, due to the distance and time zone (12 hours time difference from Bali to NYC 😬), you can meet thousands of Europeans, and Australians, as well as plenty of expats and Digital Nomads from Hong Kong and Singapore.
If you’re coming to live in Bali and want to meet people, I recommend the resource Nomio.io. Nomio has ex-pat group chats on WhatsApp for every area of Bali, as well as communities like “Bali CoWorking”, “Bali Influencers”, and “Bali Fitness”, so you can attend tailored meetups.
Every Sunday there’s an Expat movie night in Canggu (which I keep meaning to go to…), and there’s a WhatsApp group chat for it. In addition to the WhatsApp group chats, there are Facebook Groups for people living and traveling in Bali, which I highly recommend joining as they’re great for advice on how to book things and getting recommendations for drivers, landlords, and places to eat. All of these resources are 100% free, and have been immensely helpful during my time in Bali!
29. ❌ Con: There is a LOT of “Instagram vs. Reality”
I will admit, that some “Instagram vs. Reality” I’ve experienced in Bali is due to my own idea of a fun day out. For example, when visiting Tanah Lot temple I was disappointed that it was just a photo opportunity, and you couldn’t actually go to the temple – Same with the iconic Gates of Heaven spot. But then, thousands and thousands of people every day seem more than happy enough to just go for the photo, so what do I know 🤷♀️. Other times, the Instagram vs. Reality disappointment is due to influencers receiving free things in exchange for glowing reviews, and hyping up locations that actually… aren’t that great.
30. ✅ Pro: ENDLESS Amazing Things to Do!!!
I say it all the time, I could travel in Bali and Indonesia for the rest of my life and not run out of things to do! There are so many islands; each with its own culture, landscape, cuisine, and unique activities. Every time I go to a new island in Indonesia it’s like visiting a completely different country, and while Bali gets lots of hype and travel coverage, many of these fantastical places in Indonesia at large are yet mostly undiscovered. In the Togean Islands, which are located off of Sulawesi, my friends and I were able to have a lake full of stringless jellyfish all to ourselves (!!!)
31. ✅ Pro: Fast Wifi
10 years ago working remotely from Bali would have been almost unheard of, now just about every small town has a CoWorking Cafe or advertises a CoWork at their hotel or hostel. Even since I’ve been coming here in 2019, the Wi-Fi speeds have been getting better and better, and power outages are more infrequent. It’s starting to spread to outer islands with small satellite islands like Gili T, Air, Nusa Penida, and Lembongan also advertising fast wifi speeds to attract a Digital Nomad crowd.
32. ✅ Pro: Bali is an Extremely Convenient Place to Live
When I got into a crash while driving scooters in Bali and I was bed-bound for a week I realized the full extent of just how easy it is to live in Bali. I was able to get everything I needed delivered to me, including medications and healthy hot meals, through the Grab App, which is a “Super App” you have to download if you’re coming to Bali! I was also able to extend my lease by a month by just texting my landlord – Something that NEVER ever would have been a possibility with the rental market back home in the USA!
33. ✅ Pro: Bali is Special
I’ve been full-time traveling for almost three years now. I’ve lived long-term in North, Central, and South America, Africa, Europe, and now Asia. From the bottom of my heart, Bali is special. There’s something about it, from the kindness of the local people, the perfect weather (like New York in September, not too hot – just right), the gorgeous Balinese architecture, frequent ceremonies, fantastic food, and rich culture.
It’s all come together in Bali to be a perfect place.
