Bali Cost of Living 2021
How affordable is Bali?
Here is a full breakdown of our expenses for a month in Bali, in 2021. Get all of this info in video form from our YouTube video here.
Accommodation:
We stayed at a guesthouse in Canggu, called Omorich Bali Guesthouse. We had a private room with a private bathroom, a workspace, air conditioning, hot water, and very fast wifi. The following things were shared with other guests: a fully equipped kitchen, a swimming pool, working areas and tables, and parking. Some things included in the rental: water and electricity, room cleaning everyday (or whenever you want), hot and cold drinking water, coffee, creamer, sugar, towels and linen changes.
$350 USD per month | 5 000 000 IDR | € 295.45 | R 5 056
Transportation:
We hired a Yamaha NMAX scooter through a company called My Bike Rental Bali. It’s one of the best and biggest bikes you can find in Bali. If you’re not very good at riding a bike, we suggest hiring a smaller bike like a Scoopy or a Vario for around $45 USD or 650k IDR per month. The bigger bike, Yamaha NMAX, is better for comfort and long road trips and it totaled:
$63 USD per month | 900 000 IDR | € 53.78 | R 942
You obviously have to pay for petrol as well. It’s super cheap in Bali at around 8k IDR per litre. We didn’t do too much driving in the month, Bali is a small island and if you’re living in Canggu, everything is within a 5-15 minute drive.
$ 7 USD | 100 000 IDR | € 5.98 | R 104
We also use the occasional Grab or Gojek App to get around., they work the exact same as Uber. We generally order a car if we want to travel when it’s raining, if we need to buy big items or go grocery shopping, or if we want air conditioning on a hot day. They’re both super affordable Apps.
$ 17.50 USD | 250 000 IDR | € 14.94 | R 260
TOTAL for Transportation:
$87 USD | 1 236 705 IDR | € 75.27 | R 1 293
Cellphone plan + Data
We bought a Telkomsel simcard at a local Telkomsel store in Jakarta after we got out of quarantine. Indonesia has a new rule that will prevent your simcard from working straight away, if your phone was bought outside of Indonesia (and SE Asia). If this applies to you, you have to go to a local Telkomsel store and ask them to register your IMEI number (they charge a small fee). For the simcard and around 4 gigs data, initially we paid around $14 USD or 200 000 IDR to get the simcard sorted. You’re then free to use the simcard and load data on it and it’ll work anywhere in Indonesia. Data is super affordable and easy to load through the Telkomsel App. For around 30 gigs per month, we paid:
$ 7 USD | 100 000 IDR | € 5.98 | R 104
Gym + supplements
There are various options for gyms and fitness centers. Some are outdoor with no air conditioning, some are cross-fit style garages, some are indoor and air conditioned, and some are semi-indoor. We signed up at De Gym in Kerobokan. It’s a fully indoor and air conditioned gym with extra yoga, dance and cross-fit classes.
$45.60 | 650 000 IDR | € 38.84 | R 680
This may not apply to you but Rhett makes protein powder smoothies at home all the time and therefore buys protein powder from a gym supplement store. It’s a relatively large expense and worth noting. If you’re vegan, or on an eating plan, you may find it useful. There are many health cafes that make protein smoothies for you as well though so it’s not necessary to make your own at home, but it definitely works out cheaper.
$ 35 | 500 000 IDR | € 29.88 | R 504
TOTAL for gym and supplements per month:
$ 76 | 1 080 340 IDR | € 65.76 | R 1 129
Entertainment
This is completely objective and depends on what you do for the month. We often play tennis at Liga Tennis Center, we then went to a waterpark called Waterbom, Claire did some pottery lessons. Of course, you may choose to go to beach bars and nightclubs, do some fun outdoor Bali activities etc. Really, the options are endless. For this particular month, we spent:
$ 93 | 1 321 995 IDR | € 80.46 | R 1 382
Insurance
All of our personal belongings and camera gear are insured with an insurance broker in South Africa. We then have travel insurance that’ll cover us in an emergency or if any of our valuables get lost or stolen. We never travel without our travel insurance SafetyWing. They’ve covered two huge expenses for us during the pandemic: in March 2020 for our expatriate flights home, and in 2021 for our quarantine in Indonesia. If you’re looking for a good travel insurance, we highly recommend signing up for SatefyWing.
$ 167 | 2 373 905 IDR | € 144.49 | R 2 482.58
Miscellaneous
Random things that don’t fall into the above categories like pharmacy visits for medication and toiletries. These types of things are really affordable in Bali in big chain stores like Guardian Pharmacies:
$ 35.60 | 500 000 IDR | € 29.44 | R 523
We also include laundry under miscellaneous, and it’s super cheap. You can expect to pay around 10k IDR per kilogram:
$ 7 | 100 000 IDR | € 5.98 | R 104
Hair salon visits every month for hair cuts and hair treatments:
$ 7 | 100 000 IDR | € 5.98 | R 104
TOTAL for Miscellaneous:
$ 49 | 696 535 IDR | € 42.39 | R 728.42
Food
This will probably be your biggest category as well if you’re a westerner that enjoys Western/ European food like we do. If you eat local Indonesian food all the time, you’ll save a lot more than us. We’ve separated our food costs into three categories: groceries, ordering in and eating out. Because we didn’t want to cook often, our grocery bill was very low. Groceries totaled:
$ 70 | 1 000 000 IDR | € 59.80 | R 1 040
We often ordered takeout through the Grab and Gojek food delivery apps. Our bill for ordering in was insanely high at a total of:
$ 454 | 6 400 000 IDR | € 386.72 | R 6 774
We then spent a further amount for eating out at the many cafes and restaurants on the island. That totaled:
$ 175 | 2 500 000 IDR | € 149 | R 2 611
TOTAL for food:
$ 699 | 9 936 285 IDR | € 604.77 | R 10 391.14
If you shop at the local marts and eat at local warungs (restaurants), you’ll spend A LOT less than that.
VISAS
Unfortunately since the start of the pandemic, this is a big expense that you can’t escape. You have to have either a B211 business visa or a Kitas work permit to stay in Bali long-term now. We use a company called Peak Solutions for our visa applications and extensions. Excluding the initial amount that we paid for the visa before we even arrived in Indonesia (5.5 million IDR), we paid an extension fee of 850k IDR per person every month and that totaled:
$ 118 | 1 677 370 IDR | € 102.09 | R 1 754.15
COST OF LIVING TOTAL:
$1646 | 23 397 890 IDR | € 1 424.12 | R 24 468.97
This total reflects a very comfortable lifestyle for 2 people in Bali, Indonesia. You can DEFINITELY live for way cheaper, and way more expensive. You’re looking at spending anywhere between $1000 - $2500 USD a month, it’s totally up to you and your lifestyle!
If you have any further questions, feel free to email us at hello@rhettandclaire.com, and don’t forget to check out our ‘Bali Cost of Living’ Vlog on YouTube.
