Chapter Five
Riding a Motorbike
The best way to see Bali, and the fastest way to ruin a holiday
Reviewed August 2026 · Fees, forms and fines change. Ask us to confirm before you fly.
A scooter turns Bali from a place you are driven through into a place you can wander. Rice-field back lanes, an empty beach at six in the morning, a warung you would never have stopped at. We rent well-maintained automatics and deliver them to your hotel with helmets — ask us for current rates and what we have available for your dates. What follows is the honest version of what riding here involves, because we would rather you were ready than merely enthusiastic.
Read this before you ride
Indonesian law requires a licence valid for motorcycles from your own country AND an International Driving Permit carrying the motorcycle category. A car-only permit is not enough. Roadside checks in Kuta, Seminyak, Canggu and Ubud are routine, and fines are commonly quoted from around IDR 250,000 up to about IDR 1,000,000. Far more importantly: if you ride without the correct licence, most travel insurance will not pay a medical claim. Bali's hospitals are good and an evacuation home is not cheap. Get the permit at home before you fly — it takes minutes and costs very little.
Before you ride away
Photograph and video the whole bike with us there — both sides, the seat, the panels, the tyres, the mirrors — and note the fuel level. Check the brakes, both of them, before you leave the kerb. Check the tyre tread and the lights. Sit on it and find the indicator and the horn with your thumb before you need either. If anything feels wrong, say so; we will swap it rather than argue about it later.
Do
- Helmets on, always, rider and passenger, strap done up
- Carry your licence and IDP on you, not in the hotel safe
- Fill up at a proper Pertamina station where you can
- Pay the parking attendant — it is a small coin and it is normal
- Ride slowly in the wet: the first rain lifts oil off the road
Don’t
- Ride in flip-flops, shorts and no shirt — the road takes skin off
- Ride after a drink, at all, ever
- Overtake on a blind bend, however slowly the truck is going
- Leave anything in the under-seat box overnight
- Assume dogs, chickens or oncoming scooters will give way
The helmet is not optional
Helmets are compulsory for rider and passenger, and the fine is commonly quoted at IDR 250,000 for each of you. Ours come with the bike — but check it actually fits before you ride off, and do the strap up properly rather than leaving it hanging. An unfastened helmet is decorative. If you would rather bring your own from home, bring it; nobody will mind.
Fuel, roads and rain
Pertamina stations are everywhere in the south and thin out inland; the roadside stalls selling petrol in bottles are fine in a pinch but pricier and of variable quality. Expect potholes, loose gravel on bends, sand where a lane meets a beach, and dogs asleep in the road. In the wet season a downpour arrives in minutes — pull in under an awning with everyone else rather than riding through it, and wait the twenty minutes out.
If you come off
Get yourself and the bike out of the traffic first. Photograph everything before anything is moved. Clean even minor grazes immediately and properly — "Bali tattoo" road rash infects quickly in this climate, and a scrape that would be nothing at home can put you in a clinic here. Call us: we will come, we will talk to whoever needs talking to, and we will sort the bike out. Then call your insurer the same day.
Asked often
- Do I need an International Driving Permit to ride a scooter in Bali?
- Indonesian law requires a licence valid for motorcycles from your own country AND an International Driving Permit carrying the motorcycle category. A car-only permit is not enough. Roadside checks in Kuta, Seminyak, Canggu and Ubud are routine, and fines are commonly quoted from around IDR 250,000 up to about IDR 1,000,000. Far more importantly: if you ride without the correct licence, most travel insurance will not pay a medical claim. Bali's hospitals are good and an evacuation home is not cheap. Get the permit at home before you fly — it takes minutes and costs very little.
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.