- Don’t be scared. If you’re scared (truly, genuinely terrified)… do us all a favor and don’t drive.
Being intimidated is different than being scared. If you’re intimidated it’ll just make you a more cautious and observant driver – in other words you won’t be a danger to everyone else around you, and you’ll probably pick up on all the quirks and mannerisms of bali driving pretty quickly.
But if you’re scared, you’re just going to be skittish and will likely end up harming yourself and others as a result. If that’s you, then pull up GoJek on your phone and pay the 20k ($1.50) to make sure you make it back from your vacation in one piece. - Be warned: EVERY night you could be on the road with MULTIPLE drunk idiots, especially in/around canggu and seminyak (this isn’t the case in Ubud, because it’s MUCH less of a party town).
I’ve been driving a scooter for over 2 years now and I not only feel comfortable and confident on a scooter, but it’s one of my favorite places to be. That being said, since moving to Berawa (right next to Canggu) I avoid driving at night – especially as it gets later in the evening – like the plague.
I don’t mind night driving. But I don’t trust the idiot 18-22 year old men who get drunk and think they’re invincible or that the rules of mortality don’t apply when you’re on vacation. I’ve seen too many men (I’m sure there are girls who drive drunk, too but in my experience it’s almost always the guys here) barely walk away with their lives and heard stories about people NOT walking away from a single drunken mistake. So yeah, drive at night at your own risk in super touristy areas. - If you’re driving in/around Canggu, especially if you’re not getting on the main road (jalan raya canggu) you technically don’t HAVE to drive with a helmet on if you don’t want to (which just means you won’t get pulled over, not that it’s safe).
However, if you’re going into Ubud or Semiyak you should ABSOLUTELY wear a helmet if you don’t want to get pulled over by the cops and have to bribe them to not write you a ticket for driving without a helmet (obviously you should be wearing one ALL the time for safety, but I’m just keeping it real on here). *the Helmet policy is SUPER strict in Ubud and Seminyak! It’s not like Canggu, you can’t get away with not wearing a helmet unless you know the area VERY well and know where the cops hang out! - That being said, if you’re driving into Seminyak/Kuta especially, you could wear a helmet and STILL get pulled over simply because the police have set up what, back home, I would call a “speed trap”. But in Bali they really don’t care about your speed. Seriously, I’ve never heard of anyone getting pulled over for speeding. They’re just pulling you over to try to extort money in any way they can. No helmet. Perfect, that’s an easy one. But even if you have a helmet, they’ll ask for your license and the bike’s registration papers. If you don’t have an international license, they’ll use that to “write you a ticket”. They don’t actually want to write you a ticket (and you don’t want them to write you one because that means a WHOLE LOT of Indonesian beaureacracy and that is NOT fun), they want you to pull out your wallet and bribe them not to write you a ticket. *If you want ALL of my suggestions for what to do in this situation, read more here.
- And now for the most important information…. You ready? Here’s all the driving tips, quirks, suggestions, rules, and oddities you should know about to drive in Bali:
- the most obvious first: they drive on the left side of the road here. That being said, switching from driving on the right to driving on the left is WAAAYY easier on a scooter than in a car because the actual driving set-up is still the same, the only thing that’s different is which lane you’re in. Seriously, after about a day or two you’ll be completely used to it. So if you’re worried about that, don’t be.
- When there’s traffic, more experienced drivers move to the sidewalks. This is good to know not only if you’re driving around in Bali, but also if you’re walking anywhere. There’s no “right of way” in bali. If you’re on a sidewalk, the motorbike has just as much right to be there as someone who is walking. Move out of the way as soon as its safe because if they’re driving on the sidewalk in traffic, that means they really don’t have much patience. This is important to know if you’re driving though because if you’re all the way on the far left of the road (the slow lane), you’d only be expecting people to pass you on the right.
So if it’s traffick-y and you’re on the left don’t get freaked out when people start passing you on the left. And if you want to join them, just wait for a slight lull in the flow of passing bikes and then stake your claim and move up onto the sidewalk. If you wait for someone to kindly let you in, you’ll be waiting forever. You have to just put yourself into the fray (safely, but assertively). - The only “rule of the road” in bali is don’t cause an accident. Seriously, cars/bikes can and will do literally anything they want on the road. As long as you don’t cause an accident you won’t get in any legal trouble (you’ll just have people yell at you if you piss anyone off, but that’s a regular occurrence on the streets in bali so just brush it off). People WILL pass you on the left (even though technically they should only be passing you on the right) unless you’re so far left that they physically can’t. So, if you’re not comfortable having drivers pass you on every side, I recommend staying as FAR left as the road allows to make it impossible for impatient locals to pass you dangerously on your left.
- If you’re on a 2-way road and you need to make a right turn onto a minor street or into a driveway/parking area… do NOT stay safely on the far left and turn your right blinker on and slowly inch into the middle of the lane. Doing that will just piss everyone off, and it’ll more likely end up with someone getting in an accident.
(You would think this would go without saying but you’d be amazed how many people I see doing EXACTLY this… and I can tell it’s because they’re timid and unsure about what to do, but their lack of knowledge is dangerous for themselves and everyone else on the road).
Instead, as soon as you put your right blinker on (about 100 m before your turn-ish), get over all the way to the right of the lane (so that people can pass you on the left… so BE SURE TO HAVE YOUR TURN SIGNAL ON). If you can’t safely execute the turn right away because traffic is coming the opposite direction, you simply have to come to a complete stop with your blinker on ALL THE WAY TO THE RIGHT of your line (and even slightly in the other lane) and wait there for traffic to ease enough for you to safely turn.
It can feel very vulnerable being on a scooter in the middle of a road in bali with bikes whizzing by on either side, but this is what people are expecting you to do if you need to turn so it’s the safest because everyone knows what to do in this situation. It’s much more dangerous for you to be hanging out all the way to the left of the lane with your right signal on driving slowly and waiting for the moment to make your move as quickly as possible… that’s more likely to end in an accident. - There are TONS of poorly paved short cuts in/around Seminyak, Canggu, and Ubud that you can take to get to your destination faster. I do not recommend taking ANY of these shortcuts at night if you aren’t familiar with them – where the pot holes are, where they narrow, if there are any bumps and where those are, etc. You’re much more likely to end up in a rice terrace at night on one of these uniquely Bali “roads”.
Even during the day, if you’re not used to driving on poorly paved roads if you don’t go at a pace you’re comfortable maintaining balance at you can end up in the rice terraces. So just be smart and exercise caution. Sure, someone may be annoyed at having to drive slowly behind you until they can safely pass you, but I’d personally rather some rando person I don’t know be annoyed at me then wind up with a bike on top of my body in the mud of a rice terrace. - If you don’t see a bike’s turn signal on, but you see either the driver or the passenger hang their arm down by their side and wave it lazily back and forth, then whichever hand they’re waving (the right or the left) is the turn they’re about to execute.
Not everyone’s bikes (especially the locals) have turn blinkers, and even if they do they might not be working. So these are the the makeshift “bali” blinkers to be on the lookout for. If someone is moving to the right of the lane and waving their right arm lazily down by their side do NOT pass them on the right, they’re about to execute a turn. Pass them on the left. - Women in traditional Balinese dresses will ride on the backs of scooters side saddle. If you’ve never done this before and it’s something you want to try, take it from someone who’s done it: it’s definitely DO-ABLE, but it feels soo dangerous. If you’ve never done it before, the entire time you’ll feel as if you’re about to fall off the bike at any moment, and centering your body when half of it is all to one side is no easy feat. But if you like a challenge and an adrenaline rush (I like both, that’s why I’ve done it a handful of times) then I recommend putting on a skirt or dress and jumping on the back of scooter of someone you REALLY trust (a GoJek driver, for example). I don’t care how much you love your boyfriend, if his first time driving a scooter was a week ago, don’t try this with him driving. Don’t be that idiot.
- You really can drive as fast or as slow as you like. There’s no speed restrictions or even signs in Bali, so go at whatever speed you feel most comfortable at. You’ll see people whipping down the street going impossibly fast, and you’ll see local women driving at what seems like 5km/hr down the same road. It’s really up to you how fast you drive and how safely you drive. Everyone just has to follow the same rule: Don’t cause an accident. It really is a free-for-all. Do whatever you want, as long as you don’t cause an accident or harm yourself/anyone else.If you want ALL of my suggestions for what to do in this situation, read more hereDon’t be scared. If you’re scared (truly, genuinely terrified)… do us all a favor and don’t drive.
Being intimidated is different than being scared. If you’re intimidated it’ll just make you a more cautious and observant driver – in other words you won’t be a danger to everyone else around you, and you’ll probably pick up on all the quirks and mannerisms of bali driving pretty quickly.
But if you’re scared, you’re just going to be skittish and will likely end up harming yourself and others as a result. If that’s you, then pull up GoJek on your phone and pay the 20k ($1.50) to make sure you make it back from your vacation in one piece.
- the most obvious first: they drive on the left side of the road here. That being said, switching from driving on the right to driving on the left is WAAAYY easier on a scooter than in a car because the actual driving set-up is still the same, the only thing that’s different is which lane you’re in. Seriously, after about a day or two you’ll be completely used to it. So if you’re worried about that, don’t be.
acaligirlinbali.travel.blog 
You should get an international drivers licence 😊 they’re made of card so really cheap to get one and it means you don’t need to bribe anyone 😊
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