Bali is definitely one of those places where you can travel for super cheap but also go full on luxury. So I fully understand if you’re wondering how much money do I need for 3 weeks in Bali? Keep reading to find out what a comfortable, but not excessive holiday budget could look like 🙂
GENERAL COMMENTS
Costs are per person
The costs I have listed below are the cost per person (aka, what I personally paid for my part of the trip). However, it is important to mention that I was travelling with two other people. There are some costs, e.g., hiring a private driver, that usually end up being a lot cheaper if you are not travelling alone. Hence, if you are travelling solo or in a group larger than 3, some of the costs I mention below might differ for you.
Travel style
I would describe this trip as “comfortable but not excessive”. What does this mean exactly? For example, for our accommodation we usually chose a 3 or 4 star hotel. However, we rather stayed at local boutique hotels and not well-known hotel chains. We ate out for all meals, but never chose the most expensive restaurants or dishes. In the evenings we had some drinks, but rarely more than 1 cocktail or 2 beers. We didn’t skip out on any activities because of the price, but we also never went for the most expensive tour options…
All in all, though, I’d say this was definitely more of a “vacation” kind of trip, and not a “travel” kind of trip.
HERE’S THE COST BREAKDOWN
Overall, for 3 weeks (actually 20D/19N to be precise) in Bali I paid 1’305 CHF. This averages out to approx. 69 CHF per person per day.
This estimate excludes the international flights to Denpasar, since this is of course highly origin and season dependent.
Here’s a detailed view of how these costs are split between different categories:
| CATEGORY | TOTAL COST | AVERAGE COST |
|---|---|---|
| Activities | 146 | 8 |
| Food | 396 | 21 |
| Hotel | 509 | 27 |
| Transport | 197 | 10 |
| Other | 57 | 3 |
| TOTAL | 1’305 | 69 |
I’d like to mention at this point, that the Swiss franc (CHF) is roughly on par with the Euro and the USD. Hence, if you’re looking for a rough estimate in either EUR or USD, just take the mentioned costs as is and you’ll be very close to the true value.
Transportation
First and foremost, it needs to be said that Bali and Nusa Penida are not walkable at all. For any kind of movement, you will need some sort of transport. Many people opt for scooter rentals. However, we did not feel comfortable driving, which is why we mostly hired private drivers to take us on trips or just used Uber/Grab. Here’s a more detailed cost split of our biggest transportation costs:
- Private driver for one day in Ubud and Nusa Penida: 15 CHF per person (total for the day was approx. 45, we split it three ways). We did this 4 times, so overall we spent 60 CHF per person on private drivers. We booked our drivers through Klook or directly via our hotel.
- Longer Grab/Taxi rides between places (e.g. Ubud to Sanur, Seminyak to Uluwatu, etc…): 3-5 CHF per person per ride. In total we spent 33 CHF per person for approx. 10 rides.
- Ferry to Nusa Penida: 20 CHF per person for a return ticket. We booked our tickets through 12Go, and our operators were Axe Stone Fast Cruise & Angel Billabong.
- Ferry to Gili Trawangan: 77 CHF per person for a return ticket. This was definitely the most expensive transport we paid for, and looking back I’m sure you can get a better deal if you shop around a little. We went with Golden Queen and we did not have a good experience, so maybe avoid them.
Accommodation
Since we wanted to see as much of the island(s) as possible we changed hotels every couple of days. As mentioned, we usually tried to stay quite central, in 3-4 star hotels where this was possible. Overall, our average nightly rate was 26 CHF per person per night.
If you’re wondering what hotels we stayed at, here’s the list:
- Honeymoon Guesthouse in Ubud: This hotel is absolutely stunning! It’s very calm and peaceful, very close to the center yet far enough from the busy main road that you don’t notice the hustle and bustle. 10/10 would recommend! We paid 30 CHF per person per night incl. breakfast.
- Parigata Resorts and Spa in Sanur: Only stayed here for 1 night because our ferry to Nusa Penida was departing from here. The hotel is nice but we didn’t really spend much time there. Had no complaints tho 🙂 We spent 20 CHF per person per night, without breakfast.
- La Colina Bungalow in Nusa Penida: The bungalows are very basic and somewhat up the hill. If you don’t have scooters, I wouldn’t recommend it. The hosts are super nice though and the view is amazing. We spent 17 CHF per person per night incl. breakfast.
- Horison Ultima in Seminyak: We loved Seminyak! If I ever return to Bali, I’d choose Seminyak over Legian and Kuta anytime. The hotel was ok, but nothing special. We spent 20 CHF per person per night, without breakfast.
- Dreamland View in Uluwatu: We didn’t really love this hotel. It’s very basic and kind of far away from everything. If you don’t rent scooters, I wouldn’t recommend it. We spent 29 CHF per person per night, without breakfast.
- Rama Residence Padma in Legian: The hotel was really nice. We loved their breakfast and the rooftop pool! Would definitely go again 🙂 We spent 42 CHF per person per night incl. breakfast (lol looking back seems kinda expensive, but the hotel was really nice so I guess it’s ok)
- Villa Almarik Resort in Gili Trawangan: This is an amazing hotel RIGHT by the beach and still within walking distance of the ferry pier. I’d definitely recommend it! We spent 38 CHF per person per night incl. breakfast. Again, seems kind of on the pricier side looking back, but it was worth it!
- Harper Kuta in Kuta: I really didn’t enjoy Kuta that much. The hotel is very central though, close to a lot of nightclubs. If you’re into that, the hotel might be right for you. It was also suuuper crowded when we were there, which made breakfast honestly a little unpleasant. We spent 18 CHF per person per night incl breakfast.
We were visiting in late August until mid-September. I’d say this is outside of the main summer holiday weeks, but still in the dry, busy season.
Activities
There is sooo much to do in Bali! While there are a lot of things that you can do for free (e.g. visit the beach), there are also definitely a lot of activities worth paying for!
First and foremost, you definitely should visit some typically Balinese temples and enjoy the natural beauty of the island(s). Most entrances to these cultural and natural sites will run you between 1-5 CHF per person.
Besides that, there’s also some other fun activities you might want to add to your list.
Here’s some other things we spent money on:
- Cretya Day Club in Ubud: Approx. 40 CHF per person for the whole day incl. the entrance fee, the daybed and all drinks / food which we split three ways.
- Sundays Beach Club: Approx. 30 CHF incl. entrance fee and food.
- Surf board rental: Starts at 5 CHF per hour, you can get a better deal if you rent for longer! There are tons of shops along the beach in Kuta / Legian /Seminyak. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people that will try to rip you off, so do make sure to haggle a little or shop around and see where you can get a good deal…
- Massages: 10 CHF for a 30–60 minute massage!! A steal! We did our massages in the Honeymoon Guesthouse in Ubud (we were staying there) and at Ambiente Spa in Legian. We had such a relaxing experience at both places 🙂
- Gili T Bike rental: 10 CHF per person per day. Renting bikes is a must on Gili T!!!
- Gili T Snorkeling Tour: 10 CHF for a 3–4 hour tour. The snorkeling equipment was included, lunch however wasn’t. It was still fun and worth it! I think we got quite a good deal because we booked it last minute on the spot…
Overall, we spent 146 CHF on activities. If you don’t visit any day clubs you can definitely save some money. The day clubs are mostly visited by foreigners, so if you’re looking for an authentic experience, they are not for you. However, I do have to say my friends and I personally HAD A BLAST and I would highly recommend it!! Especially Cretya in Ubud, it was amazing!
Food
On average, we spent around 21 CHF per person per day on food. Check out the table below for more details:
| CATEGORY | TOTAL COST | AVERAGE COST | COST / MEAL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | 32 | 2 | 6 | |
| Dinner | 169 | 9 | 9 | |
| Drinks / Snacks | 80 | 4 | 6 | |
| Lunch | 115 | 6 | 8 | |
| TOTAL | 396 | 21 | 29 | |
I do need to mention though, that in 90% of our accommodations we had breakfast included. Hence, the average breakfast cost of 2 CHF per person per day is not representative. In this case the cost per meal of 6 CHF is a lot more representative.
For lunch and dinner, we always ate out at different kinds of restaurants. We tried everything from local Warungs, to fancy rooftop restaurants, beachfront dining, to international cuisines – hence, I’d say the cost is really an average over a lot of different kinds of restaurants.
The drinks and snacks category is in fact mostly drinks haha. This includes the occasional beer or cocktail during the day or after dinner. However, we definitely didn’t go out every night and none of us are big drinkers. The 6 CHF per drink per day I’d say is the reflection of either 2 beers or one cocktail…
Overall, I’d say we didn’t splurge on food but we also didn’t miss out on anything. If we liked a restaurant we went into it, without really worrying too much about the prices 🙂
Other costs
Usually I’d skip this “random” category over, but honestly in this case I believe the costs are all still worth mentioning.
There are three things that fall into the other costs category, namely:
- The Bali entry visa: Bali has a visa on arrival program for most countries. When we were visiting in 2022 the cost of this was 33 CHF per person. It might have changed since then, I’m not sure…
- Laundry: I don’t know about you but I don’t have enough clothes to travel for 3 weeks straight haha. Fortunately, there are a ton of laundry services, either in your hotel or at a laundromat. We paid approx. 5 CHF per person for a full load, which is really ok…
- Sunscreen & mosquito spray: If you can, I’d highly recommend to bring both with you since they are quite expensive to buy in Bali! However, I was traveling with hand luggage so this was not an option. I ended up spending approx. 18 CHF on different sunscreens and mosquito sprays 🙁
HIGHEST INDIVIDUAL COSTS
Just because I think it’s fun to do these stats, here’s a breakdown of my top 3 highest expenses on this 3 week trip.
- Ferry to Gili Trawangan: As already mentioned before, we paid 77 CHF per person for a return trip to the Gili Islands. We honestly had a terrible experience with our provider, even though we booked them through our 4 star hotel. Hence, I’d definitely say this was a rip off and I wouldn’t book with our provider again. But even though I was so sea sick, I’d go back to the Gilis in a heartbeat again! So so so worth it!
- Cretya Day Club: Overall we spent approx. 40 CHF per person here. Maybe I can elaborate a little more on the concept here. Basically, you pay an upfront fee of approx. 100-200 CHF for the whole group depending on what kind of seating arrangement you want. The nice thing, however, is that all of this money will be converted into food and beverage credit. Hence, your credit card burns once at the beginning of the day, and then you can pretty much order drinks and food as much as you want (well until your credit runs out). We had the day bed and it was amazing, worth every penny. Lol I think I mentioned that enough now, right?
- Entry Visa for Bali: Finally in third place we have the essential cost without which this trip would not be possible. Those 33 CHF are definitely worth it!
I’ve obviously excluded the hotels here, because I think it goes without saying that accommodation otherwise would take all three places haha…
Can I visit for cheaper?
Yes, of course!! If you’re really on a budget you can save a lot of money in all the different areas that I listed above. Overall, on my trip I spent around 70 CHF per person per day. I’d say you could easily cut down to 50 CHF per person per day, if you want to go lower I think you’d be going more into backpacker mode and less “vacation” mode.
Food wise, if you want to save money you could really focus more on local Warungs, which are generally cheaper than more “international” cuisine restaurants.
You’ll definitely save a lot of money in transportation if you 1) don’t hire private drivers but rent scooters instead and 2) jump around less than we did. If you stay more focused in one area you’ll definitely spend less money on transportation 🙂
Accommodation wise there is also definitely a lot more room in both ways. You can find plenty of hotels/hostels for under 20 CHF per person per night, but you can also find hotels for 200+ CHF per person per night. So just keep looking, you’re sure to find something for any kind of budget…
As for activities, I already mentioned that you could skip the day clubs. But other than that I really think you’d be compromising your experience if you don’t visit temples, forests, try surfing, do massages, etc… I’m a huge believer of memories > material things, so this is the last area I would cut back on 🙂
Lastly, snacks and drinks… well you could of course omit this whole category, but what fun would that be? Haha
Do I need cash?
Bali is still one of those countries where you DEFINITELY need cash! There are plenty of places that will still only accept cash as a payment method, e.g. for parking at famous attractions, some entrance fees at temples or waterfalls, for surfboard rentals, … There’s also not a ton of ATM’s available, and there’s usually a limit to how much money you can withdraw. I’d recommend to ask in your respective accommodation which ATMs are safe to use and what the limits are etc.
Personally, I really like to use Revolut to withdraw money abroad because they have 0 transaction fees, and only super low foreign transaction fees!
So, circling back to how much money do I need for 3 weeks in Bali? For a comfortable holiday with lots of eating out, moving around and doing all kinds of activities in my experience you’ll need approx. 1’300 CHF (excluding flights). This equals out to approx. 70 CHF per person per day 🙂
If you’re looking for more Bali inspo, check out my other posts here.