Part of: Paying in Indonesia
I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport, DPS on the boarding pass, sits on the narrow neck of southern Bali, with Kuta just north of the runway and Jimbaran and the Bukit just south. Bali is a province rather than a city, and the airport is the one fixed point in it: every base you might pick is a drive from here, and traffic, not distance, decides how long the drive takes. Most of the first hour is decided before you board, by three bits of paperwork that forums love to confuse and one ride you should book before you reach the doors.
Treat the paperwork as three separate jobs, and do all three at home, on wifi, with your passport in hand.
Before you board, and the ride out
File the All Indonesia arrival card
Air arrivals now file one digital form that combines immigration, customs, health and quarantine. File it at allindonesia.imigrasi.go.id in the days before the flight, and save the QR code offline. Customs scans the code in the terminal. The card is free, and fee-charging lookalike sites exist, so type the address rather than searching for it.
Pay the Bali levy, separately
Bali charges foreign visitors a provincial levy, in force since February 2024, and it is not part of your visa or the arrival card. It's cashless: pay on the province's Love Bali site, lovebali.baliprov.go.id, or its app, or at counters at the airport and port and at registered hotels, agents and attractions. A QR voucher comes by email, the name must match your passport exactly, and it's paid once per trip. Screenshot it; attractions may ask to see it.
Check your entry on the official portal
Entry permission is the third task, and the only place to check it is Indonesia's official e-visa portal, evisa.imigrasi.go.id, against your own passport. Do it well before the flight, and trust the portal over any forum thread.
Have data before the doors open
Install an international data eSIM before you fly and switch it on at the gate, so the voucher, the arrival QR and a ride app all work in the hall. A local SIM can wait: Telkomsel has the widest coverage, IM3 supports eSIM, and XLSMART is the third network, all registered with a passport. Check the current IMEI rule with Indonesian customs before you buy one.
Book the ride before you reach the curb
Taxis wait in the arrivals area, metered or at a fixed fare, and Bluebird has a desk outside arrivals. Grab and Gojek work through the app or designated counters and lounges; book before you walk out. Check the car and the driver against the booking before the bags go in, because fake drivers work airports. A driver your villa sends is the easy choice for a late landing with a lot of luggage.
Once you’re out, the rules are short. Walk past anyone offering a ride who isn’t behind a counter or matched to you in an app. If you want rupiah in hand, use an ATM inside the terminal or, later, one inside a bank branch or a minimart, and skip any money changer that doesn’t display its license, because unlicensed changers in Bali short-count visitors. With light bags and a daytime landing, the Trans Metro Dewata bus runs from a stop at domestic arrivals to Terminal Ubung, handy for Denpasar or Kuta and no help for Canggu, Ubud or the Bukit.
Give the driver an area and a landmark, not just a villa name: Batu Bolong near Old Man’s, Ubud on Monkey Forest Road, Uluwatu at Suluban. Villa addresses are often a gang, a narrow lane off the main road, so send a map pin before you set off. Then leave the first evening empty. The airport is at its most crowded in the late afternoon and evening, the island’s worst traffic window, and a dinner booking across Canggu on day one is how a first night gets spent in a car.
File the card, pay the levy, book the ride. Then land.
Within the hour you’ll be paying for something, usually a coffee or a snack. Indonesia’s national QR standard is QRIS, and the app says it plainly: “Verify to scan and pay QRIS codes with Pro Pay.” So verify in the app before you need it. After that you scan the QRIS code at the counter, check the rupiah amount in the app and confirm; a licensed local partner pays the merchant in rupiah, while your stablecoins stay in a wallet you control until that moment. Keep small rupiah notes for stalls without a code. How to pay in Indonesia covers the counter in detail.
The risks in the first week are small and specific. The UK’s travel advice warns that methanol poisoning has followed drinks bought in licensed bars, shops and hotels, and that even small amounts can kill; arak, the local palm or rice spirit, is the usual culprit, so be careful with arak and with cocktails made from spirits you can’t identify. It also warns about drink spiking. Bags get snatched from passing scooters, so carry yours on the side away from the road and keep the phone in a pocket at the roadside. Tap water isn’t safe to drink. Any bite or scratch from a street dog or a temple monkey needs medical care immediately, because rabies is present on the island. Many beaches are unpatrolled and the rip currents are strong, so check the conditions before you swim.
The calendar matters more than the weather. The dry season runs May to September and the wet season roughly October to April, heaviest from December to March, but the worst flooding in years hit in September 2025, at the tail of the dry months. Nyepi, the day of silence, falls in March in 2027: the island stops, the airport closes for the day, and in 2025 the province also restricted transport and switched off mobile data. Ogoh-ogoh parades fill the streets the night before. The next Galungan falls in January 2027, when tall bamboo penjor line the village streets.
Mistakes to avoid
Paying a lookalike site for the arrival card
The All Indonesia arrival card is free. Sites that charge for it exist, so type allindonesia.imigrasi.go.id yourself and ignore any email that asks for a payment.
Assuming the levy came with the visa
It didn't. The levy is a separate provincial payment with its own voucher, made on lovebali.baliprov.go.id or at the official counters, and the name on it has to match your passport exactly.
Getting into a car before checking it
Fake drivers work airports. Match the car and the driver to the booking in your app before your bags leave your hands.
Changing money at the first open window
Unlicensed changers short-count visitors. Use an ATM inside a bank branch or a shop, or a changer that displays its license and gives a receipt, and count the notes before you walk away.
Common questions
How do I pay the Bali tourist levy?
It's cashless only. Pay on the province's Love Bali site or its app before you fly (type lovebali.baliprov.go.id yourself rather than following a link), or at the counters at Bali's airport and seaport, or through registered hotels, agents and attractions. A QR voucher arrives by email, the name on it has to match your passport exactly, and it covers one trip. It's separate from your visa and from the arrival card. Screenshot the voucher, because attractions may ask to see it. The official site lists the current amount and who is exempt.
What is the All Indonesia arrival card?
One digital form for air arrivals that combines immigration, customs, health and quarantine. You file it online at allindonesia.imigrasi.go.id in the days before you fly and get a QR code, which customs scans in the terminal. It's free. Lookalike sites that charge for it exist, so type the address yourself and ignore any email asking for payment.
Grab, Gojek or the taxi counter from the airport?
Any of them, as long as you sort it before the curb. Taxis wait in the arrivals area, metered or at a fixed fare, and Bluebird has a desk outside arrivals. Grab and Gojek book in the app or at designated counters and lounges. Whichever you pick, check the car and the driver against the booking before the bags go in, and skip anyone offering a ride who isn't behind a counter or matched to you in an app.
Should I get a SIM or an eSIM for Bali?
Land on an international data eSIM installed before the flight, so the levy voucher, the arrival card and a ride app all work in the hall. The local networks are Telkomsel, IM3 from Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, and XLSMART, and foreigners register a local SIM with a passport. Check the current IMEI rule with Indonesian customs before you buy a local SIM.
When is the best time to land in Bali?
The dry season runs May to September, and May to August is the surest bet for dry weather. The wet season runs roughly October to April, heaviest from December to March, and Indonesia's weather agency expects the 2026-27 rains to reach most of Bali in December and peak in February. Don't book an arrival or a departure on Nyepi, the Balinese day of silence in March, when the island goes quiet and the airport closes for the day. Idulfitri follows soon after it in 2027, so expect domestic travel crowds that week too.
