Last updated on September 3rd, 2026 at 11:02 am
Bali is presented as a dream honeymoon destination, a surfer’s heaven, and a tropical paradise. But over the years, with the escalation of mass tourism, the island’s popularity has been damaging.
You may be wondering if it’s still worth visiting Bali, and how edited the Instagram version of Bali really is, so here is the truth as I see it…
Is Bali still worth visiting?
The Facts About Bali
- Bali is in Indonesia and is only one of the 17,500 islands that make up this Southeast Asian nation.
- 16 million tourists visit Bali every year; that’s three times more than the entire population of Bali.
- Almost 50% of all foreign tourists visiting Indonesia go to Bali
The Pros and Cons of Travelling to Bali
PROS
- Parties (if that’s your thing)
- Awesome clothing and jewellery boutiques
- Beautifully designed buildings & exquisite resorts
- Thriving artist communities
- Pretty landscape
- Balinese people are lovely
- Lots of options for surfing (including world-class surfing)
- Plenty of great eateries
- Budget-friendly (relative to Australia, UK, etc)
Okay, so let’s get this straight. There is obviously a reason why so many people come to Bali. The island is beautiful, Balinese hospitality is flawless, and the standards for accommodation are super high. Even the most budget-friendly places feel boutiquey and bespoke.
Outside of the extremely popular areas of Canggu, Legian, Seminyak, and Kuta, you can still catch glimpses of the enchanting Balinese culture, with quiet scenes of rice paddies and forests, with plenty of hikes and waterfalls to discover.
There is no shortage of things to do – and you can get almost any kind of ‘home comfort’, things you may have been missing elsewhere on your travels in Asia. The finest Buffalo Mozzarella? Yep. A skilled barber? Loads. A specialist graffiti paint supply shop – why not?
And even though prices have gone up in recent years, everything is still less than half the price of what you would pay in the UK. It’s still £5 to rent a moped for a day, £2 for a beer, and £15 a night for a beautiful hotel room, maybe with a private pool.
I know what you’re thinking: this all sounds great, so Bali is still worth visiting, right?…
Not sure what to pack for a backpacking trip around Asia? Check out my article:
The Only Female Backpacking Packing List You’ll Ever Need
So What’s Not to Like About Bali?
Well, here comes the part of my blog which I think makes me unique as a travel writer. I don’t gloss over the negative stuff. I am not here to slam Bali, but I am not going to sugarcoat it either. This is me being honest about what you can expect if you decide to travel to Bali.
CONS
- Parties (if it’s not your thing)
- Sharing the island with herds of other tourists
- EXTREME traffic
- Noise pollution from traffic and beach clubs
- A lot of litter, which is a problem in much of Indonesia, and Bali is no exception. Recently, Bali is being called ‘trash island’ because it can’t keep up with waste disposal from 16 million tourists
- Cliquey… do you fit in with the cool kids?
- Crap beaches, harsh but definitely true!
- Manky sea – brown water that’s full of rubbish
I have been to Bali 4 times. In 2013, 2016, 2019 & 2023.
Each time feels busier than the last. It’s hard to feel the charm of Bali when you’re trapped in a sea of mopeds, exhaust smoke and car horns. The traffic is worse in Canggu than in any major Indian city, if that offers you any perspective.
The areas of Canggu, Legian, Seminyak and Kuta have swelled beyond their capacity, and I can’t help but feel that the Balinese people deserve better.
Businesses have even started moving away from the swell, spreading east towards Tanah Lot, craving that scenic rice paddy vista that Canggu offered way back in 2015.
Yes, the boutique shops are cute, and there are many great restaurants, but with no exaggeration, the flumes of traffic all day and well into the night make getting around challenging and unpleasant.
Oh, and the beaches are crap. There’s no way around it. If anyone says Bali has the best beaches in Asia, they are lying. If you see a photo of a beautiful beach, it’s either part of a private resort or it’s been edited.
This is especially true in Seminyak, where the sand is strewn with so much plastic it’s depressing to be there. This comes from not only the swarms of tourists, but it gets washed up on the beaches with the surf and fills the sea with debris.
Normally whilst travelling we would always head towards the beach for a beer at sunset, hello Thailand you gorgeous beast. But with Bali, I always stayed a few streets back to stay away from the rank beachfront.
If you wanna pay a huge cover charge (up to £800) for a lounger at a beach club, surrounded by narcissists, life coaches, and influencers, cool. But I sure as hell don’t.
If you want to surf the beginner breaks, you’ll be sharing the water with 200+ other beginner surfers and loads of rubbish. Hate to break it to ya!
A friend of mine once referred to Bali as Australia’s toilet – which I thought was a little harsh, but if you go to Kuta on a Saturday night it would be hard to disagree…
So the question still remains…
Is Bali Worth Visiting?
First, you need to ask yourself…
Do you like shopping and clubbing?
&
Are you a young solo traveller looking to mingle with 7 million other foreign tourists?
If the answer to these questions is yes…
Then YES, Bali is still worth visiting.
If the answer is no…
Then with the utmost respect to Bali and Balinese people, NO, I don’t think it’s worth it, which is a real shame.
This article got removed from Facebook twice for being offensive to Bali – which I really don’t think is fair.
There are so many other places in Indonesia (Sumatra, Raja Ampat, Flores, Lombok) that are equally cheap and dreamy and haven’t been abused by mass tourism.
If you really want to go to Bali because of all the positive things I have mentioned in this post, I would recommend avoiding the areas of Kuta/Legian/Seminyak/Canggu/Ubud, and you will hopefully still have an authentic experience.
In the age of the influencer, it’s hard to know what is real and what is being packaged up and sold to you.
In Bali’s case, unless the images are coming from within a resort, I guarantee the photos have been edited, and the videos have been carefully angled.
As of January 2023, there is an initiative to cap the number of tourists who can visit Bali’s mountains, considered sacred to some Balinese, and there is a cap on new hotels being built too. I couldn’t tell you how that’s going, as I have no plans to go back to Bali.
Let’s face it, not only mass tourism, but any type of travel can be very damaging. (I’m learning too!)
To read more about how you can travel more ethically, check out this article from Lonely Planet on Ethical Travel Post-Covid, or Bucketlist Bri’s 23 tips to travel more ethically.
Thank you for reading my article: Is Bali still worth visiting?
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Happy Travels
xx
Disclosure:
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