How to get around Bali: Gojek and Grab, private drivers, scooters and the licence rule

Ride apps: Gojek and Grab

They are the local Ubers, with bikes and cars, and our guide calls them cheap and reliable. Install both before you fly and add a card, because coverage and prices vary by area and time of day and having two apps means one of them always has a driver. A motorbike ride is the fastest way through traffic for one person with a day bag; a car for two or more, or for the airport run with luggage.

GoFood delivery to the villa at 10pm is, in the guide's words, a rite of passage. Two cautions worth knowing: some areas and some hotel entrances have local transport arrangements that discourage app pickups (the driver will usually message to move the pin a street over), and Smartraveller's rule for any ride is to use rideshare apps that track your ride and have real contact details, or official metered taxis, and to check the driver is using a map or GPS.

The airport

Ride apps are official at Denpasar now: follow the e-hailing signs to the pickup zone, a short walk from arrivals. The guide's July 2026 ballparks are around IDR 100-150k to Seminyak and 150-250k to Canggu, plus a small airport surcharge. The official taxi counter costs more but is zero effort, and a pre-booked hotel or villa pickup is the soft landing after a red-eye, especially with kids and luggage.

Whichever you pick, have small rupiah notes from the airport ATM for the surcharge and the parking guys, and your accommodation's address in Bahasa or as a map pin, because 'the villa near the beach' is not an address in Canggu.

Private drivers: the day-trip answer

For Ubud's waterfalls, the rice terraces, the east coast, Uluwatu's temple at sunset, or anything that involves three stops and a mountain, a private driver is the guide's secret weapon: a full day, door to door, for roughly IDR 600-900k in the July 2026 ballparks, split between your group. Your villa host will have a guy, and the guy is usually great; they know the roads, the temple etiquette, the warung that is actually good, and when the tour buses arrive at Tegallalang so you can be there before them.

Agree the day's plan and the price before you leave, expect to pay for the driver's lunch or have them eat with you, and tip if the day was good. With kids, this is also the answer to the car seat question: ask when you book, and bring your own if a seat matters to you; we have no source on what is standard and say so in the dropped list.

Scooters: the law, the licence and the honest talk

Smartraveller's rule for driving anything in Indonesia:

To drive in Indonesia, you need an Indonesian licence or an International Driving Permit (IDP) in addition to your Australian driver's license.

It adds that the licence or permit has to be appropriate for the type of vehicle, including motorbikes and mopeds, that you should always wear a helmet, that helmets available locally may not meet Australian standards, and that you should check whether your insurance excludes you if you are not licensed to ride a motorcycle in Australia. Then there is this:

Australians have been seriously injured and died in motorcycle and moped accidents. This includes in tourist areas, particularly Bali, Lombok and the Gili Islands.

If you do ride

Our guide says the part that gets left out of the Instagram version:

Scooters are how Bali moves, and also how tourists get hurt. Legally you need a motorcycle licence at home PLUS an International Driving Permit with the motorcycle class. A car licence with an IDP doesn't cover scooters, police checkpoints in Canggu and Seminyak are routine, and riding unlicensed usually voids your travel insurance.

So the checklist is: a motorcycle licence at home, an International Driving Permit in the motorcycle class from your state auto club before you fly, a helmet that clips, no phone in hand, closed shoes, and the assumption that the traffic has its own physics. The guide's gotchas chapter adds the rental rule: video the bike and every scratch before you ride off, and use your own lock. Rental ballpark in the guide is 60-150k a day. If any of that sounds like a lot, that is what Gojek is for, and the packing list drops the scooter items entirely if you say you will not ride.

Taxis, and the scams to know

Smartraveller's advice is to always use official, licensed taxis with the meter running, or a rideshare app. Its scam list for Indonesia includes passengers forced to withdraw money at ATMs before being dropped off, overcharging, and drivers who are not who they claim; its fixes are the meter, the app's tracking, and checking the driver is following a map. Our guide's version is shorter: anything unpriced has a tourist price, and ride apps and a smile fix most of it.

Hire cars are legal with an IDP, and Smartraveller says to hire from legal companies and to consider a driver who knows local roads instead, because traffic is extremely congested and road users are often unpredictable. Most visitors who try self-driving once do not do it twice.

Boats to the islands

Fast boats run from Sanur to Nusa Penida and Lembongan, and from Padang Bai to the Gilis and Lombok. Smartraveller says travel by boat or ferry can be dangerous, that operators may not meet international safety standards or be licensed, and it lists recent incidents: a boat that sank travelling to Padang Bai from Gili Trawangan in March 2026 with 117 people rescued, a fast boat that capsized in Sanur Harbour in August 2025, and others.

Its rules: make sure the boat has life jackets, safety equipment and GPS and communication gear, check the sea and weather forecast before you go, and delay if conditions are not safe. Book the operator with the safety gear, not the cheapest ticket, and travel in the morning when the sea is usually calmer.

The traffic, and planning around it

Smartraveller's phrase is 'extremely congested', and it is right. Canggu has one road in and out, so ten minutes on the map is often forty in the car, and the Seminyak-to-Ubud run can take an hour and a half in the afternoon. Our where to stay page is built around this: pick a base where your days are, and split the stay rather than commuting across the island.

The rhythm that works: one big outing a day with a driver, mornings for the sights before the heat and the buses, afternoons for the pool, and ride apps for dinner. Bali punishes the over-scheduled.