Chapter Seven
Staying Well
Water, stomachs, sun, mosquitoes, animals and drink
Reviewed August 2026 · Fees, forms and fines change. Ask us to confirm before you fly.
Do not drink the tap water
Not in hotels, not in villas, not anywhere. Use sealed bottled water, and use it to brush your teeth for the first few days until you know how your stomach is settling. Bring a refillable bottle — most hotels and many cafés have filtered refill stations, which is cheaper and spares the island several plastic bottles a day.
Ice, salad and fruit
Ice at hotels, cafés and busy restaurants is factory-made and fine — it is the uniform cylindrical sort with a hole through it. Be more careful with crushed or irregular ice in remote spots. The same logic applies to salads and cut fruit: somewhere busy, washing in treated water, is a safe bet. Fruit you peel yourself always is.
Dogs and monkeys
Rabies is present in Bali. Do not touch, feed or crowd a dog or a macaque, however friendly it looks, and keep small children close at the Monkey Forest. If you are bitten or scratched, or licked on broken skin: wash the wound with soap under running water for a full fifteen minutes, then see a doctor the same day. This is not something to sleep on.
Bali belly
Common, usually short, and mostly a matter of a new set of bacteria rather than anything sinister. Drink far more than you feel like — rehydration sachets from any apotek are the single most useful thing in your bag — eat plainly, and rest. See a doctor if there is blood, a high fever, or if it goes past two or three days, and much sooner than that for a small child or anyone elderly.
Sun and mosquitoes
You are eight degrees from the equator: the midday sun burns far faster than the temperature suggests, and it burns through cloud. High-factor sunscreen, a hat, and shade between eleven and three. Dengue is present year-round and rises in the wet season; the mosquito that carries it bites during the day, so repellent is a morning habit as much as an evening one. Long sleeves at dusk cost nothing.
Spirits and cocktails
Stick to sealed, branded bottles, beer, or wine. Cheap spirits and free-pour cocktails — particularly in the Kuta, Legian and Canggu nightlife strips — have been linked to methanol contamination, which is not a hangover but a medical emergency. Blurred vision, severe headache or vomiting hours after drinking means hospital immediately, not bed. Never leave a drink unattended, and do not accept an open one from a stranger.
Doctors, pharmacies and insurance
An apotek is a pharmacy and there is one every few hundred metres; pharmacists speak good English and can deal with most small things. For anything more, Bali has excellent international-standard clinics used to treating visitors — BIMC and Siloam are the names to know, and the numbers are on the last page. Take travel insurance, check that it covers you on a motorbike if you intend to ride one, and carry the policy number in your phone.
One firm rule
Indonesia's drug laws are among the strictest in the world and are enforced without sympathy for tourists. Penalties run to very long prison sentences. Do not buy, do not carry, and never accept a package or a bag from anyone.
Asked often
- Can you drink the tap water in Bali?
- Not in hotels, not in villas, not anywhere. Use sealed bottled water, and use it to brush your teeth for the first few days until you know how your stomach is settling. Bring a refillable bottle — most hotels and many cafés have filtered refill stations, which is cheaper and spares the island several plastic bottles a day.
- Is the ice in Bali safe?
- Ice at hotels, cafés and busy restaurants is factory-made and fine — it is the uniform cylindrical sort with a hole through it. Be more careful with crushed or irregular ice in remote spots. The same logic applies to salads and cut fruit: somewhere busy, washing in treated water, is a safe bet. Fruit you peel yourself always is.
Reviewed August 2026. This chapter carries figures that expire — fees, levies, fines and phone numbers. They were checked against current sources in August 2026, and the hedging in the copy above is deliberate. Message us and we will confirm what is current for your dates.