When it comes to travelling around Bali, It’s Not like most of the other countries where they have proper public transportation system. Bali, being an island destination of Main Island Indonesia, it doesn’t have a proper public transportation system. Although there are few Shuttle services operating between main destinations, if your plan is to explore more locations without wasting much time, best and only way is renting a vehicle. Here comes the main issue in renting a vehicle with a driver. It will be expensive and will not be fitting with your itinerary. So, renting a bike is the cheapest way to travel around Bali. When You hit bali, you will understand the number of bikes running in Bali. The roads are full of hundreds may be thousands of Bikes.
01. Your Experience and confidence with Bikes.
You Might have ride bikes in your country. But It requires good Confidence and experience to ride a bike in a foreign country because you must adapt to an entirely different environment and road system within a short period of time . Attitudes, Riding pattern and nature can be entirely different from your own country. How people obey to road rules can be differ when comparing with your own country. So, you Must have good experience and confidence level to Ride a bike in a foreign soil. . If you don’t process that confidence level and experience, please forget about renting a bike in another country. It will Make your Vacation a good one rather than renting a bike and stepping into so much Troubles. If you have that courage, Confidence and experience, then move into the next point.
02. Do you have International Driving license?
Here I’m Not going to emphasize about the local Driving license (In your Country). I think no one will be a fool to rent a bike in a foreign country without processing local driving license. Some might advise you to rent a bike without processing International Driving license.
But in most of the countries they will require your international Driving license when on the process of renting a bike or while you travel by bike. It better to carry an IDL for you to avoid any inconvenience during the trip. Every country has a relevant organization where you can obtain IDL.
I have mentioned below the link to the article – How to obtain international Driving License in Sri Lanka
03. Do a Proper Study About the Driving rules and regulations of the desired country and also not forgetting about the Road System of the relevant Country.
Most of the countries have similar road rules applicable. But it;s better to have an idea before you hit the road.
Bali is full of motorbikes. It’s not difficult to ride in remote villages. But when it comes to city areas such as Kata, Sanur, DPS situation gets critical with so many bikes on the roads. In the city area you will be able to see a priority line for motor bikes even in the toll ways.
04. Finding a reliable place to rent a bike.
This can be identified as one of the life changing point when it comes to renting a bike in a foreign soil. There might be scammers, Frauds in anywhere. So, it’s better to find a reliable and reasonable supplier. You will be able to find a place through internet. There are reputed vehicle renting companies in Bali. But their Charges can be very high due to the service they are providing. Some of them are providing the pickup and drop off services as well. If the rate is fitting with your budget, it’s ok to rent a bike from those companies.
Other best way to find a reliable source is, contacting the hotel where you stay in the 1st night. They provide the best sources most of the times. For your convenience I have mentioned below the contact details of the supplier where I had rented bikes during my trip to bali. I have recommended this guy for some of my friends as well. He never disappointed me and provided the best service for reasonable rate.
05. Taking the bike under your care
Last but not least, when Taking the bike under your care, there are few points you should consider about.
– Condition of the bike – Who ever the reliable source, at the end of the day you don’t know this guy/company. So, it’s better to check all the damages with the bikes and take photographs or videos.
– Check the Documents – This is one of the best things you should consider about. Some companies do change the year of registration and documents without paying the relevant charges to the government.
– In Bali you can see the license renewed year on the number plate. Compare that year with the year which is mentioned on the document. If it’s outdated or not renewed, you know what to do. Don’t take it or not even take any bike from that supplier.
– Check the Agreement document of the supplier. Make sure to get clarified the unclear points with him
– Check the petrol Level – It’s a must to return the bike with a similar level of petrol to where it was when pick up the bike.
If I have missed any point. Please feel free to comment below.
Happy Ride