Denpasar, Indonesia
Do your paperwork online before you fly: the All-Indonesia Arrival Card (immigration + customs, you get a QR code) and — if you need one — visa on arrival. Pay Bali's IDR 150,000 tourism levy through the Love Bali app for a QR too. At arrivals, use the official taxi counter or the Grab/Gojek lounge — never a tout at the exit.
Complete the All-Indonesia Arrival Card online before your flight — it combines immigration, customs and a health declaration into one form. You'll get a QR code by email; show it to the immigration officer on arrival.
If your nationality needs a visa, buy the e-VOA online before you travel (IDR 500,000, 30-day stay, extendable once) so you can use the faster e-gate lane. You can also pay VOA at a counter on arrival, but the queue is slower.
Bali charges a one-time IDR 150,000 (≈US$10) levy on foreign visitors. Pay it in the Love Bali app or website before you land and save the QR code — it's faster than queueing at the airport counter. Keep the QR; you may be asked for it.
With the digital customs declaration already done, most visitors walk straight out through the green 'nothing to declare' channel. Your Arrival Card QR covers the customs part.
Check the baggage screens for your flight number to find the correct carousel, and keep your bag-tag sticker until you've left the airport.
File a Property Irregularity Report (PIR) at the baggage-service desk in the reclaim hall before you exit — it's much harder to do once you've left.
Tip: Photograph your bag and its tag before you fly; it speeds up any claim.
Withdraw Indonesian rupiah from a bank's own ATM in the terminal (BNI, BCA, Mandiri). Whenever a machine offers to charge you in your home currency, always DECLINE and choose rupiah — 'conversion' hides a markup.
Bali is known for money-changer tricks — rates that look too good to be true, then short-counting at the desk. Prefer a bank's own ATM, or an authorised money changer displaying its permit; count your cash yourself and don't hand it back before you leave.
You don't need data to clear the airport, but a Telkomsel/other prepaid SIM or an eSIM bought before you travel makes Grab/Gojek and the Love Bali app easy. SIM counters are in the arrivals hall.
Inside the arrivals area there's an official taxi counter where you state your destination and pay a fixed fare by zone, then you're assigned a driver. It's regulated and no haggling is involved — a safe default if you don't have a ride app.
Grab and Gojek work at Bali but can't pick up inside the terminal — they have official lounges. Walk past the taxi touts toward the car park and look for the Grab / Gojek lounge, or follow the app's pickup point. Fares are set in the app.
The moment you step out of arrivals you'll be surrounded by men offering taxis. These are unregulated touts who commonly quote several times the real fare, refuse the meter, or add 'extra' fees. Walk past them to the official counter or the Grab/Gojek lounge.
Scam warning: Touts at the arrivals exit are not official taxis. Use the prepaid counter or a ride-app lounge instead.
Blue Bird (light-blue cars, bird logo) is the reputable metered company — but copycats mimic the livery. Book Blue Bird in its own app or the counter, and insist on the meter ('argo'). Agree there's a meter before you get in.
Before leaving the baggage hall, file a PIR at the baggage-service desk and keep your tag receipt and a photo of the bag. You'll get a reference number to track the claim.
Go to your airline's transfer or ticketing desk — don't leave the secure area if your onward flight is from here. Airlines usually rebook a connection missed because of a late inbound flight.
Report it to airport police, then contact your country's embassy or consulate for an emergency travel document. Keep a photo of your passport's ID page on your phone before you travel.
Go to an airport medical point or information desk, or call the local emergency number (shown in this airport's arrival tips) — it usually works from any phone, even with no SIM. Numbers differ by country, so don't assume 112 works everywhere.
Do not leave immediately — note the ATM's bank and location, then call your card issuer to block the card. Machines inside bank branches are safer to retrieve from than standalone ones.