Bali has a very basic public bus system. It is hardly advertised and I doubt many tourists even know about it.
There are two companies currently operating regular, scheduled bus service on Bali island. Sarbagita bus is taken mostly by the locals. It uses a fleet of big and small buses and has a bus stop in both directions at the Bali airport terminal.
On my second trip to Bali, I intended to give this bus a try. The bus stop at the airport is however not signposted clearly, if at all, and I had to ask information for directions. After arrivals, I had to turn left and walk towards the end of the terminal building. That's where I saw the bus stand. Not too obvious as well. I was fortunate as I only waited for about 10 minutes before the bus arrives.
While waiting at the stop, some taxi drivers kept on verbally persuading me to take taxi, but I simply stood at the stop and wait for the bus. This is the quirk at Bali airport.
Bali is a resort island and a major tourist destination year-round. After arrivals, expect to see many taxi drivers and touts trying to get business. The taxi fares is inflated as well. It costs much more to depart than to get to the airport. This is probably my only negative experience in Bali.
Anyway, though there is no published bus timing, the bus fare is cheap. There is a bus conductor on board to collect the fare. In my case, a really young, friendly bus conductor. I took it to the Galleria Mall stop in ~15 minutes.
There are two companies currently operating regular, scheduled bus service on Bali island. Sarbagita bus is taken mostly by the locals. It uses a fleet of big and small buses and has a bus stop in both directions at the Bali airport terminal.
On my second trip to Bali, I intended to give this bus a try. The bus stop at the airport is however not signposted clearly, if at all, and I had to ask information for directions. After arrivals, I had to turn left and walk towards the end of the terminal building. That's where I saw the bus stand. Not too obvious as well. I was fortunate as I only waited for about 10 minutes before the bus arrives.
While waiting at the stop, some taxi drivers kept on verbally persuading me to take taxi, but I simply stood at the stop and wait for the bus. This is the quirk at Bali airport.
Bali is a resort island and a major tourist destination year-round. After arrivals, expect to see many taxi drivers and touts trying to get business. The taxi fares is inflated as well. It costs much more to depart than to get to the airport. This is probably my only negative experience in Bali.
Anyway, though there is no published bus timing, the bus fare is cheap. There is a bus conductor on board to collect the fare. In my case, a really young, friendly bus conductor. I took it to the Galleria Mall stop in ~15 minutes.
A typical sarbagita bus stop
There are two shopping malls in the vicinity. One beside the other. Mall Bali Galleria and the T Galleria.
The T Galleria is the bus terminal for the kura kura bus, the other bus company operating in Bali. It uses a fleet of mini-vans. Some slightly bigger than the others. Though advertised as a public bus, it is almost exclusively taken by tourists. The bus fare is more expensive, and there are day passes as well.
The kura kura bus service follows a published, scheduled bus timings. The buses are more or less on time. There are a few routes that travels around Kuta and also as far as to Ubud, a major tourist destination within Bali.
The stops are usually located near shopping malls, hotels and places of attractions. Convenient for tourists. Unfortunately, it doesn't go to the airport. Neither does it go to Tanah Lot, another major tourist attraction.
With the pass in hand, this service is basically hop-on-hop-off on all routes. The only route that requires advance reservation via the website, is the route serving Ubud. On my trip, the mini-van towards Ubud is actually full while the return trip is not. The great thing is that the mini-vans are equipped with free wifi, with the password available inside the van. The wifi connectivity varies from van to van, sometimes good and other times not as good. A great way to pass the traveling time, especially to Ubud.
There is a useful hop-on-hop-off map that shows all routes, stops, and timings.
Finally, at the end of my Bali tour, I went to the Bali Collection, an outdoor shopping area not too far from the airport.
The shopping area wasn't crowded at all in the day.
Sarbagita bus has a stop in this area. I attempted to wait for the bus, but gave up after some hours without a bus in sight. Not sure why.
I had a plane to catch out of Bali that night, so decided to just use the app instead. Grab gave a high quote while Bluebird app gave a range of price. In the end, I still had to haggle with the driver. Not sure what's the purpose of the app then.
At least the cab driver took the toll bridge towards the airport. And I took in this beautiful sunset view along the bridge.
Yup. So this is my experience with the two bus companies in Bali. Other than the Grab and bluebird apps which work well and are cheap for short distances, I do recommend the kura kura bus for their reliability.
For the independent and budget-conscious travelers, though Sarbagita bus has a stop at the airport, its timings are not really published so I'm not sure of the intervals between buses. Personally, I wouldn't take this bus again, at least from the airport.
I have been to Bali twice, the first time on New Year day in 2010. Since there are still so many places around the world I have yet to visit, I wouldn't be returning soon !
In my next post, I shall review my trip to Ubud, as well as two other great guesthouses that I stayed in Bali.
