Traditional Balinese split gate at the airport terminal in Bali with an aircraft on the apron behind it
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Updated August 2026

What you have to sort before you land in Bali

Four formalities, three of which you can do whenever you like and one that refuses to open until three days before you fly. What each one costs in Australian dollars, and which authority is charging you.

Entering Bali means satisfying three different authorities who do not talk to each other: Indonesian immigration wants a visa, the province of Bali wants a tourism levy, and customs wants a declaration. None of the three accepts a receipt from either of the others, which is where most of the confusion on this subject comes from.

Here they are in the order they happen. Together they come to about A$61 a head and roughly ten minutes of forms. Checked in August 2026. Indonesian entry rules have been rewritten repeatedly over the last two years, so treat this as the current state of play and confirm the decisive bits on the official portals before you travel.

Four things, and only one of them has a deadline

  1. A passport valid six months past your arrival date

    Check nowEveryone

    Indonesia counts six months from the day you land, not the day you leave. Australian passports renewed in the rush before a trip are fine. The ones that catch people out are the ones with eight months left on the day they book and five on the day they fly.

  2. A visa on arrival, or the e-VOA bought in advance

    Any time, or at the airportEveryone

    Thirty days for IDR 500,000, roughly A$47, extendable once for the same amount. Buying it online beforehand as an e-VOA puts you in the automated gates instead of the payment queue, which on a full morning of arrivals is worth more than it sounds. This is a federal charge and has nothing to do with the Bali levy.

  3. The Bali tourism levy

    Any time before you are askedBali only

    IDR 150,000 per person, about A$14, once per trip, children included. It is collected by the province rather than by immigration, and it is the one payment on this list that has enforcement officers attached to it at temple gates. How to pay it, who is exempt and what happens at a spot check.

  4. The All Indonesia arrival card

    Only within 72 hoursEveryone

    The single digital form that replaced the separate customs declaration and health pass. Immigration, customs and health in one submission, about three minutes, and it returns a QR code by email. The form does not open until three days before you arrive, so it is the one item here you cannot tick off early. Do it the night before you fly, at the same time as check in.

The guides in this section

One formality at a time, in full: what it costs, how it is actually paid, and what happens when it goes wrong.

Money

The tourist levy

IDR 150,000 a head, the three ways to pay it, the full exemption list and what an officer does at a spot check.

Read the guide →

Two decisions the paperwork does not settle

The formalities take ten minutes. The two choices that actually shape the trip take longer, and neither of them is a form.

Which month you come

Bali has two seasons and about four months that are genuinely better value than the ones everybody books. The wet season is not the washout its reputation suggests, and the peak months buy you crowds as reliably as they buy you sunshine.

The twelve months side by side, with rain days, sea state and crowds in one table, are in the Bali weather guide.

Where you sleep, and how often you move

Bali is small and slow. Distances that look like forty minutes on a map are ninety on the road at the wrong hour, and the single biggest waste in a first Bali trip is basing yourself somewhere convenient for nothing you came to see.

The Ubud guide makes the case for the inland base, and the Nusa Penida guide explains why one night on the island beats the day trip everybody books.

Entering Bali: the questions people ask

Answers as at August 2026. Indonesian entry requirements change more often than most destinations, so confirm anything decisive on the official portals.

What do Australians need to enter Bali?
A passport valid for six months from the day you arrive, a 30 day visa on arrival costing IDR 500,000 or about A$47, the Bali tourism levy of IDR 150,000 or about A$14, and the All Indonesia arrival card submitted within three days of landing. The visa and the levy are separate payments to separate authorities and neither one covers the other. Everything here was checked in August 2026 and Indonesian entry rules change often, so confirm on the official portals before you fly.
Is the Bali tourist levy the same as the visa on arrival?
No, and this is the single most common confusion about entering Bali. The visa on arrival is a federal immigration charge of IDR 500,000 that gives you 30 days in Indonesia. The tourism levy is a provincial charge of IDR 150,000 that funds cultural and environmental programmes in Bali specifically. You pay both, at different places, and a receipt for one proves nothing about the other.
When can I fill in the All Indonesia arrival card?
Only within 72 hours of your arrival. The form will not accept a submission earlier than that, which makes it the one entry formality you cannot get out of the way weeks in advance. It replaced the old electronic customs declaration and the health pass, it takes a couple of minutes, and it returns a QR code by email that you show at immigration and customs. Doing it the evening before you fly, alongside online check in, is the version that works.
Do children need their own visa and levy for Bali?
Yes to both. Children and infants travelling on their own passports need their own visa on arrival and their own tourism levy at the full adult rate, with no reduction for age. For a family of four that is roughly A$188 in visas and A$56 in levies before anything else. The arrival card also needs to cover every traveller.
How much cash should I bring to Bali?
Less than people assume for the entry formalities, which are all cashless, and more than people assume for the days afterwards. Visas, the levy and the arrival card are all paid by card or QR. What runs on cash is everything at a gate: temple entrances, waterfall entrances, parking at every stop, and small warungs. A few hundred thousand rupiah in small notes on you at any time covers a normal day out.

Read next

Line of visitors walking the clifftop path towards the shrines of Uluwatu temple above the sea, Bali

The Bali tourist levy

What you pay, how to pay it, and what happens at a spot check.

Terraced rice fields and volcanoes on the horizon under a clear dry season sky in Bali

Bali weather, month by month

The twelve months in one table, and the ones worth choosing.

The Kelingking headland dropping to a white beach and turquoise bay, Nusa Penida

Nusa Penida

Spectacular cliffs, bad roads, and whether it earns the day.

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Bali temples worth the drive

The six that earn a day out of more than ten thousand.