Anyone been to Bali?

Be prepared parts of Sanur can be very lovely with beaches, resorts however the heat can be unbelievable. Safety should be most important espec in Sanur area. Ubud is peaceful and laid back until torrential rains can cause flash floods quickly. Take a guided tour .to the surrounding temples , shrines etc. English is not widely spoken once u leave major towns. The temples , rice terraces etc are beautiful and worth exploration imo and explanation. Carry plenty of bottled water. Enjoy, Bali is a beautiful country.
I hope to return someday with a fully guided tour grp this time.

you might want to check the trip advisor forum as I am sure there would be plenty of info from Australian tourists. we must be the only Australians that haven't been there. a huge number of Australians go there.

Thank you both, I will try tripadvisor as well. JS when you were there, did you hire a driver? Any favourite places?

All of Bali is beautiful. That said, personally I would avoid Kuta, which is the most touristy corner of the island (I'd make the analogy that it's "the Cancun of Bali", with admittedly nice beaches, but with too many foreign tourists who are walled off and isolated from the rest of the country behind resort walls). Ubud is lovely and peaceful. By all means, do get to the north coast - we found the north coast (as far away from Kuta we could get) our favorite places. It's beautiful everywhere - two weeks is OK (and better than most do) but you will wish you had more time.

Some of the best scuba diving I've ever done was on the far NW corner of Bali and just off nearby Nusa Penida. Wonderful stuff there.

Prepare for some heat and humidity!

Bali is beautiful, we stopped there for two days while on a cruise in 2013. We had a bad taste in our mouth about Bali after the local authorities keep the ship from disembarking for three hours before the cruise line forked over a little under the table.

Spent 5 days on Bali a couple of years ago. Personally, I didn’t care for the place. Too much garbage on the beaches. We stayed in a villa in Seminyak. I did like Ubud. Watch out for those monkey’s though. I would head away from the tourist areas.
We went river rafting on the Ayung river-that was a blast!
Any taxi driver will be happy to drive you around. Just be sure to negotiate rate beforehand. Don’t even think of driving yourself, that would be suicidal!

You can get plenty suggestions on the itinerary from this forum and trip adviser. Bali is pretty famous for surfing, it's cheap to get board and lessons on any popular beaches. I heard diving is good, but i didn't have time to go. I went snorkeling, it was just ok, they give you bread to attract fish. There is definitely garbage issue in some places but it's not too bad, get up in the early morning the beaches are beautiful. I went in April it was very hot, so I spent a lot of time by the pool instead of moving around. Taxi is inexpensive, as long as you book ahead you can get around easily.

Hi Lisa,

Bali is great place if you know where to go. If you get lost, it can be really annoying :D So if you don't have much time, I suggest to get a driver or guide, depending on what you want to do. I've been surfing in Indonesia for while and can only say if you want to learn to surf or improve you beginner skills, you should hang out with a local. They know where to go and are fairly cheap, compared to let's say a european surf guide. Kuta is a good beginner beach but if you have a good guide, they take you around the island for best and less crowded surf session. Just tell them you don't want crowds ;)

I found the surf schools in Bali from this site very helpful. They do guiding and also offer accomodation if you need it. Definitely recommend trying SUP with the Priority SUP School Bali. They are simply the best (I think also the only ones) and do great tours through the mangrooves.

Snorkelling is best on Nusa Lembogan, you can take a ferry or fast boat from Sanur for a fair price. There are plenty of places to sleep along the beach and they organise you a boat driver for snorkelling. This is almost a must, if you want to do snorkeling in and around Bali. If you check accomodation on booking.com you'll find plenty. I personally like the Song Bintang Villas.

Hope this helps and enjoy your trip!