[ GUIDE · THE DISPATCH ]

How to Get Around Bali Without a Scooter (And Still See Everything)

Every Bali guide assumes you'll rent a motorbike. I didn't — and I still made it to the rice terraces, the temples, and the beaches. Here's exactly how.

For the full day-by-day version of everything below, read the our full Bali itinerary, with maps.

Let me tell you the thing no Bali travel blog says out loud: the scooter is optional.

I know, I know. Every guide, every Instagram caption, every hostel common room conversation eventually arrives at the same conclusion — you have to rent a motorbike. That if you don’t, you’ll be stranded, overcharged, and miss the real Bali.

I didn’t rent one. Ten days, Seminyak to Ubud to Amed and back, without once throwing a leg over a 125cc Honda. I saw everything I came for. I spent less than most people I met who were riding. And I didn’t spend a single evening in a Balinese clinic getting gravel picked out of my knees.

Here’s the honest breakdown of how you actually get around.

Download both. Seriously, both. Grab tends to have more drivers in the south (Seminyak, Kuta, Canggu, Nusa Dua), while Gojek sometimes wins in Ubud and the east. Prices are capped and transparent before you confirm — you’ll see the full fare upfront, no negotiation, no drama.

Typical fares in the south: Seminyak to Canggu is around 25,000–35,000 IDR (roughly $1.50–$2.20). Seminyak to Uluwatu runs 70,000–90,000 IDR depending on traffic. Ubud is generally similar within town.

The catch: drivers sometimes can’t pick you up right in front of certain tourist spots because of local ojek (motorbike taxi) territory agreements. Seminyak’s restaurant strip is notorious for this. The workaround is simple — just walk one block off the main drag and book from there. The app shows drivers nearby in real time; if you get a “no drivers available” message, move a street over and try again.

One practical note on timing: traffic in Canggu between 4–7pm can turn a 15-minute ride into 45 minutes. Factor that in if you have a sunset spot in mind.

For anything that requires hitting multiple spots in a day — Tanah Lot, Uluwatu, and GWK in one swing, or the full Ubud circuit of Tegallalang, Tirta Empul, and Gunung Kawi — a private driver is genuinely the right tool for the job.

I paid $45 for a full day (8 hours, around 6 stops) with a driver named Wayan out of Ubud. He waited at each spot, gave me as much or as little time as I wanted, suggested a warung for lunch where I spent $3 on the best nasi campur of my life, and dropped me back at my guesthouse. Versus cobbling together six Grab rides and trying to coordinate timing and waiting around, it was both cheaper and less stressful.

Rates to know: $35–45 for a half-day (4–5 hours), $45–65 for a full day. Book through your accommodation — the guesthouses and villas all have drivers they work with regularly, and the price is usually fair. You can also book via Klook or GetYourGuide if you want something confirmed in advance; rates are slightly higher but the logistics are handled.

If you’re planning your time in Bali and want a sense of what a full day can realistically cover, this complete Bali itinerary is genuinely useful for sequencing things.

Metered taxis exist and they’re fine — but only take Blue Bird (the ones with the bird logo and the blue paint). Every taxi driver who approaches you on foot at a tourist site is going to try to negotiate a fixed price that’s two to three times the metered rate. Politely decline. Call or hail a Blue Bird directly, confirm the meter is running, and you’re good.

That said, Grab and Gojek have largely replaced street taxis for most trips. The only time I used a metered cab was arriving at Ngurah Rai airport, where the licensed taxi booth is inside the arrivals hall — around 150,000 IDR to Seminyak, fixed and official.

Inter-region trips — Seminyak to Ubud, Ubud to Amed, anywhere to the Gili Islands — are where things get more structured.

Kura-Kura Bus runs a tourist shuttle network covering the south (Kuta, Seminyak, Nusa Dua, Sanur). It’s cheap (around $2–4 per route), air-conditioned, and on a fixed schedule. Good if you’re in no hurry and traveling between those hubs.

Perama Tours and Eka Jaya run shuttle minibuses between the main tourist areas. Seminyak to Ubud is about $8–12, takes 2–3 hours (traffic dependent), and drops you centrally. Book a day ahead through your hotel or directly at their offices — or online.

For Ubud to Amed (the quiet east coast dive spot), the shuttle is around $15–20 and takes about 3 hours through some genuinely beautiful mountain road. Worth it.

I linked up with a few other solo travelers going the same direction and we split a private transfer, which ended up being the same price as individual shuttle tickets and left on our schedule. Ask at your guesthouse — this happens organically more often than you’d think.

Okay, let me be honest here too, because I’m not going to tell you it’s all seamless.

The main thing you lose is spontaneity. When you’re on a scooter and you spot an unmarked lane winding off into the rice paddies, you can just turn down it. When you’re in a Grab, you can’t really ask the driver to take a scenic detour without it getting awkward and potentially costing more.

You also lose easy access to a handful of spots that are genuinely off the beaten path — the kind of places where a driver won’t want to wait and Grab doesn’t serve. For those, the honest answer is: hire a driver for the day and make them part of the plan.

The other thing worth knowing: carrying a lot with you gets heavier without a scooter basket. I leaned hard on my packable day pack for this exact reason — light enough to not notice, big enough for sunscreen, a sarong, a water bottle, and a rain jacket, which you will need in Ubud in the afternoon, fullstop.

This is the part I want to say clearly: Bali is manageable and genuinely welcoming for solo women, and not having a scooter does not make you more vulnerable — if anything, being in a car with a vetted driver is safer than riding solo on unfamiliar roads at dusk.

The Grab/Gojek driver rating system matters. Check it. I never took a driver below 4.7 stars and had zero issues. Share your ride in the app before getting in (the button is right there). Tell someone where you’re going.

The energy in Ubud in particular is calm and community-oriented. I did a 5am sunrise walk to the Campuhan Ridge without a guide or a scooter and it was one of the best hours of the whole trip.

If you’re someone who explores cities by walking neighborhoods and figuring out local transit — the kind of traveler who crossed Istanbul’s Asian side on foot just to see what was there — Bali rewards that approach too. You just need to adjust for the distances.

If you’re newer to that style of solo travel and building your confidence, the Asia-Pacific itinerary guides have a lot of practical groundwork beyond just Bali.

You don’t need a scooter to see Bali. You need Grab, one good driver’s WhatsApp number, and the willingness to plan your day trips slightly more deliberately than you would if you could just pop onto a bike and go.

The scooter is a tool, not a rite of passage — and Bali is too good to skip because the tool makes you nervous.

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