Living in Indonesia as a Digital Nomad

Most nomads rent a room in a shared villa, a private one-bedroom villa with a pool, or an apartment.

• Find it on the ground. Facebook groups for each area, local agents and riding around looking for signs give far better monthly prices than booking sites. Book a week or two first.
• Payment. Monthly rents are usually paid up front, and longer leases of six or twelve months are often paid in one go, which brings the price down sharply. A security deposit is common.
• Check what’s included. Cleaning, pool care, Wi-Fi, electricity and water are sometimes included and sometimes not. Electricity can be expensive if you run air-conditioning all day.
• Check the internet. Ask for a speed test video in the room you’ll work in, and whether there is a backup line or Starlink.
• Registration. Your host must report foreign guests to immigration. Villas and hotels usually do it.

• SIM cards: Telkomsel has the best coverage, with XL and Indosat cheaper. Tourist SIMs work in foreign phones for 90 days. A normal Indonesian SIM only works in phones registered with customs (IMEI registration), which costs import duty on expensive phones. eSIMs avoid the issue.
• Home internet: villas use Biznet, IndiHome or MyRepublic fibre, often with Starlink as backup. Speeds and reliability vary a lot.
• Apps worth having: Gojek and Grab (rides, food and deliveries), WhatsApp (used by landlords and businesses), Google Translate with the Indonesian offline pack, and a QRIS-capable payment app if you can get one.

Scooters are the way to get around Bali for most people. You legally need an International Driving Permit with a motorcycle category, or an Indonesian licence, plus a helmet. Police checkpoints fine foreigners regularly, and insurers often refuse claims without a valid licence. Traffic in south Bali is heavy and chaotic; ride slowly, never ride drunk, and avoid unfamiliar roads at night.

Gojek and Grab motorbike taxis and cars are cheap and everywhere, though some local taxi groups block app pickups in certain spots. Fast boats run to Nusa Penida, the Gilis and Lombok; check safety records and avoid crossings in rough weather.

Bali has good private hospitals and clinics, including BIMC in Kuta and Nusa Dua and Siloam in Denpasar and Kuta, plus many international clinics around Canggu, Ubud and Sanur. A private GP visit costs about IDR 500,000 to 1.2 million. Serious cases are often evacuated to Singapore or Jakarta, so get nomad health insurance with evacuation cover.

Common problems are stomach bugs, scooter injuries, infected surf cuts, ear infections and dengue. Rabies is present in Bali: avoid stray dogs and monkeys, and get treatment immediately after any bite or scratch. Ask a travel clinic about pre-exposure vaccination.

For emergencies, call 112 or 118.

In Canggu and Ubud you can’t avoid meeting people: coworking events, coliving dinners, surf lessons, run clubs, ice-bath and sauna socials, yoga classes, padel, and endless founder meetups. The harder part is meeting Balinese and Indonesians beyond the people who serve you. Learning some Bahasa Indonesia, which is easy to start, makes a real difference.

• Ceremonies happen almost daily. Give way to processions on the road, and don’t step over or on the small offerings (canang sari) on pavements.
• Temples: wear a sarong and sash, cover shoulders, and don’t enter if you are menstruating or bleeding, as local custom asks. Never climb shrines or sacred trees.
• Nyepi, the Day of Silence in March, closes the whole island for 24 hours, including the airport. Stay indoors with lights low.
• Dress properly away from the beach. Riding without a shirt or in swimwear annoys locals and can bring fines.
• Bali’s visitor rules list these and other dos and don’ts, and foreigners have been deported for breaking them.

• The 2026 criminal code makes sex outside marriage and unmarried cohabitation crimes, prosecuted only on a complaint from a spouse, parent or child.
• Drugs carry extremely severe penalties, including death for trafficking.
• Work: visit visas don’t allow any work in Indonesia, and immigration in Bali actively deports people working illegally.
• Drones need permits, and many temple and tourist sites ban them.
• Insulting the state or religion is a crime under the new code.

Violent crime against foreigners is rare. The main risks are scooter accidents, phone snatching by passing riders, villa break-ins, rip currents, fast-boat accidents, drink spiking and methanol in fake spirits. Drink in reputable places, keep your phone away from the road, use the villa safe, and swim between the flags.