Bali/Phuket

[whufc]

What do people do for money in Bali, presuming i can't just use my commonwealth bank card everywhere.

[Booney]

What do people do for money in Bali, presuming i can't just use my commonwealth bank card everywhere.

We took $1500 cash with us and just exchanged $500 at a time at money exchangers as needed. Lock it in the safe with passports etc while you're out.

For day to day shopping, use cash. For tours etc, use EFTPOS but check with your bank the fees, some are as much as 5% per transaction.

How many of you, how many days?

[Booney]

Advice given to me was only use money exchangers who have a glass door and air con.... not the ones you walk down an alley to see.

[whufc]

What do people do for money in Bali, presuming i can't just use my commonwealth bank card everywhere.

We took $1500 cash with us and just exchanged $500 at a time at money exchangers as needed. Lock it in the safe with passports etc while you're out.

For day to day shopping, use cash. For tours etc, use EFTPOS but check with your bank the fees, some are as much as 5% per transaction.

How many of you, how many days?

Sounds easy enough.

5 of us for 8 days, planning on doing tours on at least 4-5 days and then hanging out the other days.

[Booney]

Work on $200 a day for cash and you should be fine.

You need $54 each upon arrival for your VIsa. My suggestion is to take $100 cash per person and use that, you'll then get the $46 in IDR and have some splash cash before you walk out.

[heater31]

Advice given to me was only use money exchangers who have a glass door and air con.... not the ones you walk down an alley to see. [emoji38]

Given the media articles yesterday one way to stop them ripping you off is to not count the money to be exchanged in front of them.....that's when they skim off a few notes whilst you're counting the AUD.

[Jim05]

I never take any cash with me.
Pay for meals, hotels etc on the CC and withdraw money at ATM’s

[whufc]

Work on $200 a day for cash and you should be fine.

You need $54 each upon arrival for your VIsa. My suggestion is to take $100 cash per person and use that, you'll then get the $46 in IDR and have some splash cash before you walk out.

Im guess $200 a day is for the entire family....?

Any real good cheap proper Indo food restaurants anyone recommends.

[Rams52]

What do people do for money in Bali, presuming i can't just use my commonwealth bank card everywhere.

Commbank do a ‘travel’ card, which you can use.
Can transfer $ to it from you CBA account, and if someone gets the details of it they can only access what’s on that card. Speak to the CBA about it. We’ve used successfully for a few OS trips

[Jim05]

Work on $200 a day for cash and you should be fine.

You need $54 each upon arrival for your VIsa. My suggestion is to take $100 cash per person and use that, you'll then get the $46 in IDR and have some splash cash before you walk out.

I would definitely recommend doing the visa online. Far too many stories of people taking 3-4hrs to get through currently.

[Jim05]

Work on $200 a day for cash and you should be fine.

You need $54 each upon arrival for your VIsa. My suggestion is to take $100 cash per person and use that, you'll then get the $46 in IDR and have some splash cash before you walk out.

Im guess $200 a day is for the entire family....?

Any real good cheap proper Indo food restaurants anyone recommends.

Many restaurants are geared towards tourists so if you want good Indonesian food steer clear of the big restaurants, shopping and tourist strips. Plenty of authentic street food and look for Warung’s. They settings are fairly basic with just a few tables and chairs but food can be superb and costs only $1-2 for a massive plate or bowl.

[Booney]

Work on $200 a day for cash and you should be fine.

You need $54 each upon arrival for your VIsa. My suggestion is to take $100 cash per person and use that, you'll then get the $46 in IDR and have some splash cash before you walk out.

I would definitely recommend doing the visa online. Far too many stories of people taking 3-4hrs to get through currently.

Customs clearances, yes. Visa, no. That part was quick, the slowest part for us was getting through immigration, massive lines with probably 4-5000 people in the hall.

[Booney]

Work on $200 a day for cash and you should be fine.

You need $54 each upon arrival for your VIsa. My suggestion is to take $100 cash per person and use that, you'll then get the $46 in IDR and have some splash cash before you walk out.

Im guess $200 a day is for the entire family....?

Any real good cheap proper Indo food restaurants anyone recommends.

Yes, for the family.

As Jim notes, find a Warong on the beach and knock yourself out. Satays and Nasi or Mie Goreng is the staple but they know how to do ribs, wings and seafood, in particular at Jimbaran Bay.

[Jim05]

Work on $200 a day for cash and you should be fine.

You need $54 each upon arrival for your VIsa. My suggestion is to take $100 cash per person and use that, you'll then get the $46 in IDR and have some splash cash before you walk out.

I would definitely recommend doing the visa online. Far too many stories of people taking 3-4hrs to get through currently.

Customs clearances, yes. Visa, no. That part was quick, the slowest part for us was getting through immigration, massive lines with probably 4-5000 people in the hall.

The visa on arrivals line was taking up to 1.5hrs at times and obviously by time you get to customs you could be behind the crowd. It’s all in the timing as the Adelaide flights are sandwiched between some large flights such as Emirates, Qatar, Korean and various Chinese airlines so if you get the timing right you avoid them but any delays or those flights get in early you gets stuck at the back of the queue. We managed to beat a couple of the larger airlines by a few minutes this time so we were off the plane and out with our driver in 45 minutes and that included a baggage delay. Friends came over the following night and took close to 3hrs to exit the airport

[whufc]

If doing the visa's online potentially saves me time im happy to spend the 30 minutes it will take to get it done before we leave....

Does the below link look like the legit website where you can obtain the 30 day visas.

https://molina.imigrasi.go.id/

[Jim05]

If doing the visa's online potentially saves me time im happy to spend the 30 minutes it will take to get it done before we leave....

Does the below link look like the legit website where you can obtain the 30 day visas.

https://molina.imigrasi.go.id/

Yes, that is the official government website.
Make sure you do the online customs form before you leave too. It’s free and can’t be done until 3 days before you leave. On completion you will get a QR code which you need to show customs. We saw dozens and dozens turned away at customs and they had to go to the side of the room and do it.

[whufc]

Can I do the online visas 5 weeks out from the holiday or do they need to be done within the 30 days

[Jim05]

Can I do the online visas 5 weeks out from the holiday or do they need to be done within the 30 days

Can be done up to 90 days in advance so 5 weeks out is fine

[whufc]

Got the 5 visas done and paid this morning. Took no more than 20 minutes to do them all. Hopefully saves me some time over there.

[whufc]

How strict is Bali on kids being Covid vaccinated?