15 Things to Know BEFORE Renting a Scooter in Bali

One thing I was really conflicted about while planning my first trip, was whether I should rent a scooter in Bali. I looked into so many different resources to help me make my decision, and my goal is that this post consolidates all of the information you would need to make an educated decision about whether renting a scooter in Bali is right for you.

I’ll go through the pros and cons of renting a scooter in Bali, things you’ll need to know before you rent your first scooter, safety recommendations, and what other options you have if you decide that renting a scooter in Bali is not the best option for you.

If you’re still figuring out the rest of your trip to Bali, check out this ULTIMATE GUIDE to Bali for first timers!

Should You Rent a Scooter in Bali?

I agonized over this decision for MONTHS before my trip to Bali. My friend and I went back and forth, I read blog article after blog article trying to really decipher what the experience was like, and I still hadn’t made a decision by the time we landed in Bali.

At the end of the day, you have to decide which priorities are most important to you and whether you feel confident enough to drive a scooter and keep yourself safe. Here are what I consider to be the pros and cons of renting a scooter in Bali:

1. Pros of Renting a Scooter in Bali

2. Cons of Renting a Scooter in Bali

3. What Other Options Do You Have if You Don’t Have Experience Riding a Scooter?

I’m going to give advice that I personally ignored, but think it is worth mentioning: If you do not have experience driving a scooter or motorbike, don’t rent one…

My friend and I opted not to rent a scooter for our first few days in Bali and only grabbed one once we headed to the quieter island of Nusa Lembongan (highly recommend checking out this island). He picked it up pretty quickly and felt okay driving us both, but if my friend hadn’t been the driver, I would not have rented a scooter on this trip.

Here are some other options for your trip that you should consider if you haven’t driven a scooter before:

Option 1: Take a Lesson

I didn’t take a lesson in Bali, but a year later when I headed to Thailand, I took a scooter lesson and it was the BEST experience (read about it soon in my upcoming blog post)! I definitely recommend looking into something like this if you are interested in driving a scooter in the future.

If you’ve read other blogs, they may tell you that it’s super easy to pick up how to drive a scooter in a quiet area — heck, my friend learned in like 5 minutes — but I think it’s worth the investment to take an actual lesson and put your safety first.

While my friend was able to successfully drive us for the rest of our trip, he was super nervous, had me navigating and checking for other bikes that wanted to pass him, didn’t feel confident using his mirrors, and it probably wasn’t the best or safest decision for us to be renting a scooter during our time in Bali.

Fast forward to my scooter lesson a year later, I had a private instructor, we went through so many drills to imitate different road situations, and then did a trip onto the highway and up a mountain… after that lesson, I feel super confident that I could drive a scooter in most places!

While I can’t personally share my experience for a lesson like this in Bali, this tour is similar to the one I did in Thailand and has PHENOMENAL reviews. It should give you all the skills you need to be safe while renting a scooter in Bali!

Option 2: Use Ride Share Apps

Another affordable option if you opt NOT to rent a scooter in Bali, is to use apps like Grab or Gojek. These are ride sharing apps (similar to Uber) that are popular in South East Asia.

On these ride share apps, you have the option to request a bike, and then you’ll get to hop on the back of a scooter with someone who has much more experience driving in Bali.

My friend and I did use Grab a few times while in Uluwatu and Ubud, and found that it was typically $1-$2 USD per trip.

If you are transporting more than one person, each person should request their own Grab bike or you can request a car for everyone to travel together (though these will be more expensive than the Bike option).

Overall, I think ride share apps are a great option in busy areas like Ubud, Uluwatu, Canguu, and Seminyak; however, if you’re trying to get out of the cities, I would hesitate with this option because you won’t have a guaranteed way back into the city.

Option 3: Hire a Private Driver

If you’re craving the flexibility of renting a scooter in Bali without actually renting a scooter, you can hire a private driver (like this one).

The great thing about hiring a private driver is that they will typically help you build a custom itinerary (and have knowledge of good spots for you to visit if you don’t feel like doing much planning on your own).

A private driver is also a nice option if you have a group of 3-4 because you can all travel together and at your own pace.

Finally, one of the biggest perks to hiring a driver is air conditioning… I know it sounds silly, but Bali get HOT and HUMID; being able to hop into a car between stops with air conditioning and get out of the sun is a huge perk to hiring a private driver.

The only downside here is that the car won’t be able to weave through the traffic, so it may take a bit longer to travel between stops, but again, you’ll be inside a comfortable car so that shouldn’t be too big of a deal!

Option 4: Book a Group Tour

If you don’t want to deal with any planning but still want to see the major sites, meet some other travelers, and save a bit of money as compared to a private driver: group tours could be a great option for you!

There are so many different tours you can choose from exploring waterfalls to admiring temples to ATVing in the jungle… you really could plan an entire trip just by booking onto group tours and day trips without ever needing to rent a scooter in Bali.

Tips for Renting a Scooter in Bali

You’ve read the pros and cons, and have decided that renting a scooter in Bali is right for you — I’m so excited for you! Riding and driving scooters in South East Asia is one of my favorite feelings in the world and I can’t wait for you to experience it as well!

Here are the things you should know and keep in mind when you rent a scooter in Bali:

4. International Drivers Permit (IDP)

What is the IDP?

The IDP is a document that’s recognized by several countries and is used to confirm that you have a valid drivers license.

The document basically translates your driving license into several different languages so that police and officials in other countries know exactly which driving qualifications you have.

For the IDP to be “active”, you’ll need to carry it with your current driving license and present them both the normal drivers license and the international driving license when asked.

How Do You Get the IDP?

In the US, the only way to get the IDP is by visiting a local AAA store. They’ll have you fill out a form with your license’s information, take a passport photo, and then create the document for you. The entire process takes 10-20 minutes.

It costs $20 USD, and is valid for one year after activation.

To find your local AAA with this service, head over to this link.

Why You Need an IDP to Rent a Scooter in Bali

Now, you may be asking whether you actually need to get an IDP for your trip… and the answer is up to your discretion, but personally, I think you do! Here’s why:

The most common reason you’ll see online for getting an IDP is that if you get pulled over by a police officer (which occurs fairly regularly) and do not have an IDP, you’ll have to bribe the officer. This bribe is usually about $15USD.

In my eyes, that’s pretty comparable to just getting the IDP, but there are lots of people who choose to just pay the bribes.

The BIGGER reason I would recommend getting the IDP is to make sure that your travel insurance policy and health insurance stay valid. Hopefully, you never have to use either of those while traveling, but there are tons of stories of tourists getting into accidents and not having valid insurance because they didn’t have the proper paperwork. Don’t become one of them.

5. Drive on the Left Side of the Road

Driving in Indonesia is done on the left side of the road; if that’s not your norm, practice in quieter areas because everything you know is reversed:

• Right turns need to pay attention to oncoming traffic at intersections
• Highway exits will be on the left
• Slow drivers should stay near the left shoulder

Honestly, even if you don’t consider yourself a slow driver, you should probably hang by the left shoulder as you get used to the roads and traffic patterns!

6. Fueling Up

We didn’t see many typical gas stations while driving the scooter around Bali, the two most common options we saw were:

1) a single pump outside of a convenience store or restaurant

2) a shelf outside a convenience store near the side of the road with water bottles or glass bottles labelled “Petrol”. The liquid inside is typically blue.

You’ll need to keep your eyes peeled and when you are farther out from the main cities, make sure to fuel up sooner rather than later… my friend and I almost got stuck in the middle of nowhere because we weren’t paying close attention to our fuel levels!

7. Wearing a Helmet

First of all, safety is so important! Hopefully, you’ll never end up “using” your helmet, but if you do get into an accident, you’ll be very thankful you were wearing one! I’ve heard many people tell stories about how they would not have survived without a helmet.

Any rental shop should provide you with a helmet, though you may need to specifically ask for it; also if you end up doing a ride share bike, most drivers will have a spare helmet, but again, you may need to ask for it.

Finally, if a police sees you on a scooter without a helmet, they can stop you and fine you. So overall, it’s just better to wear a helmet anytime you’re on a scooter!

8. Be Prepared for the Traffic & Road Conditions

I briefly touched on this earlier, but the traffic in Bali can be terrible! I personally experienced it in Uluwatu and in Ubud. In both of those areas, we mostly used the ride share apps unless we were driving out of the city.

If you do plan to drive in some of the busier areas, PAY ATTENTION; the Balinese locals are instinctual drivers so you need to be able to read the road as well as the other tourists who are also on scooters.

Once you get out of the main cities, traffic really calms down, but you should still be prepared and know that sometimes other motorbikes can seem to come out of nowhere and will want to pass you. For that reason, I recommend sticking towards the left shoulder of the road when you can.

Another thing to be aware of is that not all of the roads are in great conditions; we saw lots of pot holes almost every day while driving around, so you’ll want to be confident in manuevering around them!

9. Store Your Bags in the Seat Compartment

If you’re driving solo, it’s easiest to stash your bag inside your seat so that you don’t have to worry about it messing with your balance or someone grabbing it (we personally didn’t experience that, but always better to be prepared).

If you are carrying a larger bag that doesn’t fit in the seat compartment, opt for a backpack over a tote bag!

10. Checking the Scooter Before Renting It

Honestly, this is advice for any vehicle rental you do; walk around the scooter, check for any major damage that could impact your driving. Small scratches aren’t a big deal safety-wise, but I did see several scooters on the road with things like missing side mirrors… which is definitely a safety concern.

You’ll also want to take a photo or video of any damage you do see on the scooter so that you aren’t fined for the damage when you return it. In fact, this is a good practice anytime you rent a vehicle!

11. Cost of Renting a Scooter in Bali

Renting a scooter in Bali is a super affordable option for getting around. You can expect to pay around 80K IDR per day (about $5 USD) for a scooter rental. If you’re in Bali for a longer period of time, you can also do monthly rental periods which offer an even more affordable rate.

12. Get Travel Insurance

Nobody hopes for something to go wrong, but you should always be prepared for it. Even if you aren’t renting a scooter in Bali, I recommend that any time you travel, you have travel insurance that covers you!

That being said, because there are frequently accidents in Bali, you’ll want to check that your travel insurance covers medical expenses just in case something happens to you.

13. Have Copies of Your Passport

Some rental shops will ask for your passport in order to rent a scooter. I find the better option is to make copies of your passport while you are at home and bring them with you to use for the scooter rentals.

We didn’t have to do this with any of our rentals in Bali, but I was asked to leave my passport as a deposit when I rented a scooter in Thailand. Since I didn’t want to leave my physical passport, I was able to leave a copy of it with a cash deposit. In general, I find it’s a good practice to have a couple copies of your passport with you while you travel so that you don’t have to hand over the real thing!

14. Stay Sober While Driving

This should be a no-brainer… but you’d be surprised. If you’re drinking while you’re in Bali, make other arrangements for your transport. As I mentioned earlier, the ride share apps are super affordable option for the times when you are not sober!

15. Pack & Use Sunscreen

Bali is close to the equator, and with that means strong UV. If you are renting a scooter and spending time in the sun getting from location to location, make sure to apply and reapply sunscreen frequently while driving around.

My friend and I definitely paid the price the one day we didn’t do a good job of reapplying and learned our lesson. 🙈

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