Cost of Living in Bali: More Affordable Than You Think
People assume Bali is either dirt cheap or outrageously expensive. The stereotype swings between backpackers slurping noodles from a Styrofoam box and influencers posing with cocktails at five-hundred-dollar resorts.
The truth lives somewhere in the middle. Bali is affordable in a way that makes you laugh every time the bill arrives.
We sit down at a warung for the first time. Two plates of nasi goreng, two cups of coffee, and the total lands under five dollars. Cary tilts the receipt, half expecting the ink to smear.
“Five dollars total? Back home that doesn’t even buy a taco that collapses in shame.”
That became our first Bali lesson. Life here is not defined by extremes. Not just cheap noodles, not only luxury breakfasts by the pool. The magic lingers in the middle, where daily life feels both rich and affordable.
Living Well in Bali on Less than $2,000 a Month
Our first place is small but has everything we need: air conditioning in the bedroom, a bathroom with a shower that only squeaks when it feels dramatic, and an outdoor kitchen that always smells like coffee. Because it is outside, we actually keep it clean. Nothing motivates tidiness like knowing the local geckos are judging your crumbs. We found our first house through a Facebook group for long-stay travelers. Messaging owners directly saved us almost 30 percent compared to Airbnb listings. Rent came to four hundred a month, the kind of price that makes you wonder if you accidentally time-traveled to 1973.
Meals come mostly from warungs. A plate of nasi campur costs three dollars and tastes like someone’s grandmother still runs the kitchen, because she probably does. Dinner at a café with printed menus feels like a splurge at twelve dollars for both of us.
Transport barely makes a dent. Grab rides across town cost less than a latte back home. A private driver for a full day of temples and waterfalls runs forty-five dollars, cheaper than filling a gas tank in the States.
Spa days and extras are laughably cheap. Massages cost fifteen dollars. Temple entry fees hover under ten. By the end of the month, we live well on about two thousand dollars without feeling like we cut corners.
Learning the local money took a minute. Indonesia’s rupiah comes with more zeros than a phone number, and the first time we paid a million for dinner, Mitha nearly fainted (it was seventy bucks, not a financial crisis). Once you get used to counting in thousands, daily life starts making sense, and you stop checking Google every time you buy coffee. For anyone still scratching their head over the zeros, we put together a simple guide on how to understand money in Indonesia.
Comfortable Bali Living: $3,000 to $3,500 a Month
The next villa comes with a proper pool, a small garden, modern furniture, and someone who cleans twice a week. It costs fifteen hundred a month, and it changes the rhythm of our days.
Meals shift too. Avocado toast, pancakes, and cappuccinos in cafés with ceiling fans run six to eight dollars each. Seafood or steak dinners are ten to twenty dollars per person. Add cocktails or a bottle of wine, and suddenly food becomes the biggest line item.
Imported cheese nearly gives us a heart attack.
“Twenty dollars for this wedge,” Cary says.
“For that price,” I reply, “the cow should deliver it herself.”
With more comfort comes more yes. Private drivers two or three times a week. Spa days that stretch into spa weeks. Snorkeling trips. Guided tours. All in all, our lifestyle runs about three to thirty-five hundred a month, still less than a single week at a mid-range U.S. hotel.
How We Found Our Villa (and How You Can Too)
Finding a place to live in Bali felt less like house-hunting and more like trying to win a radio contest—you keep dialing numbers, hoping someone picks up before your optimism expires.
We began with Facebook groups (for example: Bali Expats, Ubud Housing, Bali Long Term Rental, etc.) and Facebook Marketplace, where every other post seems to promise “quiet villa, close to beach” but half include roosters as roommates. Still, it worked. Most listings come with a WhatsApp number, so you can message the owner directly instead of waiting three days for a polite “still available?” in broken English. The conversations move fast. One minute you are asking about Wi-Fi speed, the next you are being invited to see the place.
Airbnb was our backup plan. The trick? Set up the search for 28 nights or more. Watch the prices tumble like a drunk tourist on a scooter. Message the host and mention you are staying long-term. Suddenly they are throwing in discounts, breakfast, and possibly moral support.
We compared about a dozen rentals around Sanur and Ubud before realizing the secret everyone in Bali already knew: prices drop the moment you start chatting with the owner. Message them directly, be friendly, maybe ask about the neighborhood, and suddenly the “monthly rate” looks like it lost a zero out of pure politeness
But honestly, the best leads came the old-fashioned way, talking to people. The warung owner near our first villa knew everyone within a mile radius, and the clerk at the mini-mart turned into our unofficial real-estate agent. “My cousin has house,” he said, which in Bali translates to “expect a tour in five minutes.”
A few survival tips from our learning curve:
Do not pay before you see the place. Wide-angle lenses lie more than politicians.
Confirm who you are paying. If things feel murky, ask to meet the pecalang, the local security leader who somehow knows everyone’s business and does not mind proving it.
Trust your gut. If the landlord seems too eager or the deal feels too perfect, it probably involves a chicken coop and a “shared” bathroom.
Between Facebook leads, WhatsApp calls, and a few lucky conversations at the juice stand, we learned that finding a home in Bali was not about searching. It was about talking, listening, and pretending to understand directions that included the phrase “turn left after the waring with the blue wall.”
Talking with locals while house-hunting became a crash course in more than real estate. It showed us how Bali actually works. Respect here is not a travel tip, it is the operating system. From how you greet a shopkeeper to where you stand during a temple ceremony, small gestures matter. We learned that the easy way, and occasionally the awkward way. That is why we wrote a separate funny and witty guide on how to be welcome in Bali and Indonesia etiquette guide, because being a good guest is just as important as finding a good villa.
Pro Tips: How to Save Money in Bali
Stay Monthly, Save Big. Book villas by the month. Nightly rates look affordable until you add them up.
Eat Local, Splurge Smart. Warungs are cheap, delicious, and authentic. Save the avocado toast for when you need a Western fix.
Grab It, Don’t Haggle. Use apps like Grab or Gojek. They work like Uber, the price is locked in, and you skip the Wild West drama of taxi negotiations.
Hire a Driver for Big Days. Planning a temple marathon? Skip the scooter circus and hire a private driver. Ten hours costs about 700,000–800,000 rupiah, roughly fifty bucks. No complaints if you change your mind three times.
Splurge with Points. Two nights at Andaz Bali felt like winning the lottery, and we paid with credit card rewards. Cary called it “romance courtesy of Capital One.”
The Takeaway: Is Bali Affordable in 2025?
Bali is affordable not because you sacrifice, but because daily life simply costs less. You can live simply on two thousand a month or comfortably on three thousand, with room for luxuries.
“So, does Bali live up to the hype?” I ask as we pack.
“No,” Cary says. “It beats the hype, then charges us three dollars for lunch.”
Ready to plan your own Bali stay? Wander through the Ubud Mask museum, grab a coffee in Kuta , or let a three-dollar nasi campus set the tone for your trip.
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