After hundreds of airport pickups, we can tell who packed well by the way they walk out of arrivals. The happy ones travel light. Bali is hot, casual and cheap to shop in — your suitcase should reflect all three.
The golden rule
It is 27–32°C every single day, and humid. You will live in two or three light outfits, swimwear and sandals, whatever else you bring. Cotton and linen win; anything heavy or tight loses. Laundry costs a couple of dollars a kilo and comes back folded the next day, so pack for five days even if you’re staying three weeks.
The actual list
- Clothes — light tops, shorts, one pair of long trousers, a long-sleeve layer for the highlands and air-con, swimwear, and one “nice dinner” outfit.
- Feet — sandals you can walk in, plus trainers if you’re hiking Batur or chasing waterfalls. Reef shoes are genuinely useful.
- Sun — reef-safe sunscreen, a hat with a brim, sunglasses. The sun here doesn’t negotiate.
- Wet season extras — a packable rain jacket and a dry-bag for your phone (Nov–Mar; see our rainy-season guide).
- Practical — universal adapter (Bali uses the two-round-pin type C/F), power bank, basic first-aid, motion-sickness tablets if boats worry you.
- Cards & cash — one travel card plus a little cash; ATMs are everywhere, small warungs are cash-only.
The temple kit
You’ll visit at least one temple — everyone does, and they should. Shoulders and knees covered is the rule, and a sarong is usually lent or rented at the gate, but having your own light scarf or sarong in the daypack makes spontaneous stops easy. The full etiquette is short and worth knowing — we wrote it down here.
What to leave at home
Heels, hairdryers (every hotel has one), a week of “just in case” outfits, expensive jewellery, and drones unless you’ve checked the rules — several temples and Nusa Penida viewpoints ban them. Don’t pack big bottles of toiletries either; the minimarts sell everything in tropical-strength versions.
If you forget something
Relax. Between Circle K, the pharmacies (apotek) and the markets, you can fix almost any packing mistake within an hour for a few dollars. The only things genuinely worth bringing from home are your prescription medication, good sunscreen and shoes that already fit. Everything else, the island provides — and if it doesn’t, message us and your driver will know where to look.
