Common Indonesia travel mistakes that cost money and time, from card-only assumptions and middleman markups to wrong-season routes, scooter fines, and visa slips, each with the fix.
By Asik Travel Editorial7/14/202612 min readIndonesia is one of the most rewarding countries in the world to travel, and also one of the easiest to get wrong. It is enormous, cash runs the economy far more than cards do, the seasons make or break a route, and a lot of what first-timers book is quietly marked up by a middleman in Bali. None of these mistakes are disasters on their own, but together they can add hundreds of dollars and a couple of ruined days to a trip that should have been the best of your life.
We plan trips across these islands for a living, so we watch the same avoidable slip-ups cost travelers money and time month after month. Here are fifteen of them, grouped by the part of the trip they hit, each with the real cost and the simple fix. Read it before you book anything and you will travel smarter than most people who arrive here.
This is the big one. Outside the malls and mid-range hotels of Bali and Jakarta, Indonesia runs on cash. Warungs, drivers, homestays, market stalls, ferry tickets, park fees, most of it is paid in rupiah notes, and the further you travel from the tourist core the truer that gets. Islands like the Togeans and many Raja Ampat homestays have no ATM at all. Arriving with a card and 200,000 rupiah in your pocket is how people end up stranded. Carry more cash than feels comfortable, keep a stash of small notes for drivers and warungs, and top up in the last big town before anywhere remote.
Indonesian ATMs cap most single withdrawals at 1,250,000 to 3,000,000 rupiah, roughly 80 to 190 dollars, and many charge a foreign-card fee on top of whatever your home bank adds. Pull out small amounts and you pay that fee over and over. Withdraw the machine’s maximum each time, use ATMs attached to real banks rather than the standalone ones in tourist strips, and always choose to be charged in rupiah, not your home currency, or you take a terrible built-in exchange rate. Our Indonesia trip cost guide breaks down what things actually cost so you can plan withdrawals instead of guessing.
A huge share of Komodo boat trips, Flores tours, and inter-island packages sold in Bali are resold. The agent on the Kuta street is not the operator; they take your money, mark it up, and pass you down a chain to whoever actually runs the boat. You can pay 30 to 50 percent more for the identical trip. Book with the operator that runs the thing, or with a planner who works direct, and the same Komodo boat trip costs a good deal less. This is exactly the gap we exist to close.
Fixed prices are the exception, not the rule, for taxis without meters, market goods, souvenirs, and charter boats. Paying the opening number is not generous, it is just the tourist rate, and locals do not pay it. You do not need to be aggressive. Ask politely what the real price is, offer a bit under, settle in the middle, and keep it friendly. For rides, use the Grab or Gojek apps where they run, because the fare is set and you skip the negotiation entirely. Where they do not run, agree the fare before you get in, never after.
The single figure most people leave out of their budget is the cost of moving between islands. Indonesia is 17,000 islands wide, and domestic flights, fast boats, and ferries add up fast, sometimes rivaling the cost of the activities themselves. A Bali to Labuan Bajo flight, a fast boat to the Gilis, a Sorong connection for Raja Ampat: these are not rounding errors. Price the whole route before you commit to it, and read how to get around Indonesia so the crossings do not blindside your budget.
Indonesia has a dry season, roughly April to October, and a wet season, roughly November to March, and picking the wrong one for where you are going can sink the trip. Near Bali, wet-season crossings are short and mostly fine. But for remote boat-dependent places like the Togeans and Raja Ampat, the wet season means rough open water, poor visibility, and cancelled boats. Match your season to your route, not the other way around. Our best time to visit Indonesia guide lays out the right window region by region.
The classic first-timer mistake is treating Indonesia like a country you can loop in ten days. You cannot. The distances are vast, the connections are slow, and every hop eats a half-day you did not plan for. People land with a list of Bali, Komodo, Raja Ampat, and Java temples for two weeks and spend the whole trip in transit, exhausted and underwhelmed. Pick one or two regions, go deeper, and leave the rest for next time. A slow week in Flores beats a frantic fortnight across four islands, every single time.
Indonesian holidays can reshape your trip if you do not see them coming. On Nyepi, Bali’s Day of Silence in March, the entire island shuts down for 24 hours: no flights, no leaving your hotel, no lights, even the airport closes. Ramadan changes opening hours and the rhythm of daily life across this majority-Muslim country, and the Eid holiday period sends millions of Indonesians traveling, so transport books out and prices jump. None of these should stop you coming, but you want to know they are happening and plan around them rather than getting caught out.
Scooters are cheap, everywhere, and the fastest way to get hurt or fined in Indonesia. Police do stop tourists and issue on-the-spot fines if you do not hold a valid motorcycle licence and an International Driving Permit endorsed for motorbikes, and, more seriously, most travel insurance will not pay a rupiah of your hospital bill if you crash while riding unlicensed. Bali’s roads injure foreign riders daily. If you are not a confident, licensed rider, hire a driver instead; it costs little and it is the single easiest way to avoid a trip-ending accident. Pack the right gear too, per our Indonesia packing list.
Google Maps is excellent for a Bali scooter route and close to useless for inter-island travel. It does not know the real ferry timetable, it underestimates how long a mountain road actually takes, and it has no idea that today’s boat was cancelled for weather. On remote routes, travel answers to the sea and the season, not the app. Ask locally, confirm departures the day before, and build in a buffer day before any onward flight. Our island-hopping routes guide explains how the crossings really connect.
Bali is wonderful and it is also about 0.3 percent of the country. Treating it as the whole of Indonesia is the most common mistake of all, and it means missing the orangutans of Sumatra, the reefs of Sulawesi, the dragons of Komodo, and the empty beaches of Sumba. You do not have to go far to feel it, either. A short flight opens up a completely different country. Start with Indonesia beyond Bali and the hidden gems most tourists never reach to see what is a hop away.
Indonesia is a religiously observant country, and its temples and mosques expect modest dress. At Balinese Hindu temples you need a sarong and sash to enter, and at mosques both men and women should have shoulders and knees covered. Many sites rent or lend a sarong, but not all, and being turned away from the place you traveled to see is a needless disappointment. Carry a light sarong in your day bag: it doubles as temple wear, a beach towel, a bus blanket, and sun cover, and it weighs almost nothing.
Tap water is not safe to drink anywhere in Indonesia, and this is where a lot of trips lose a day or two to illness. The obvious fix is to drink sealed or filtered water only, but people forget the hidden sources: ice in drinks at cheaper spots, salads rinsed in tap water, and brushing your teeth from the tap. In reputable cafes and restaurants the ice is factory-made and fine; use judgment at roadside stalls. Bring a water filter bottle to cut plastic and cost. If you do get sick, our is Indonesia safe guide covers staying healthy and what to do about it.
This is the mistake that actually ends trips. Many nationalities can get a visa on arrival, but it is not automatic for everyone, it must be extended if you want to stay longer than 30 days, and Indonesia charges a fine for every single day you overstay. Sort your visa before you fly, know exactly how many days it gives you, and diarize the extension if you need one. The rules shift, so check the current requirement for your passport rather than trusting an old blog. Our Indonesia visa guide walks through the options and the extension process.
Indonesia is a place where good insurance quietly earns its keep. Serious medical cases on remote islands often need an evacuation by boat or plane to a city hospital, which can run into tens of thousands of dollars uninsured. Two traps catch travelers: buying a policy that excludes scooter riding, and buying one that does not cover diving below a shallow depth. If you plan to ride or dive, read the exclusions and pay for the cover that includes them. It is the cheapest peace of mind you will buy for this trip, and the one you least want to need. Park fees and permits, like the Komodo park fees, are worth checking in advance for the same reason: no surprises.
Almost every mistake on this list comes down to the same thing, underestimating how big, cash-based, and weather-dependent Indonesia really is. Carry more cash than you think, match your season to your route, book direct instead of through middlemen, go deep in one region instead of skimming five, and get the visa and insurance right before you fly. Do that and the country opens up beautifully. If you would rather not manage the joins yourself, that is precisely what we do: you can plan a trip with us or browse our small-group and private trips to skip the middleman markup and the logistics entirely.
Cover photo: Jatiluwih rice terraces, Bali, by Imacim via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Written by
Asik Travel Editorial
Local travel editors
We write from the islands we sell, with first-hand notes from our guides and operators.
Trying to see too much in too little time. Indonesia is enormous and the connections between islands are slow, so a two-week list of Bali, Komodo, Raja Ampat, and Java usually means spending the trip in transit. Picking one or two regions and going deeper is almost always the better trip. A close second is booking everything through Bali middlemen, which can add 30 to 50 percent to the cost.
You need cash. Outside malls and mid-range hotels in Bali and Jakarta, Indonesia runs on rupiah notes: warungs, drivers, homestays, ferries, market stalls, and park fees are cash only. Remote islands like the Togeans and many Raja Ampat homestays have no ATM at all. Carry more than you expect to need, keep small notes handy, and top up in the last big town before anywhere remote.
Only if you are a confident, licensed rider. Police issue on-the-spot fines to tourists without a valid motorcycle licence and an International Driving Permit, and, more importantly, most travel insurance will not cover a crash if you were riding unlicensed. Bali’s roads injure foreign riders daily. If you are not experienced, hire a driver instead; it is cheap and far safer.
Avoid remote, boat-dependent regions like the Togean Islands and Raja Ampat during the wet season (roughly November to March), when rough seas and cancelled boats can wreck the trip. Also plan around Nyepi (Bali’s Day of Silence in March, when the island fully shuts down, airport included) and the Eid holiday period, when transport books out. Near Bali, the wet season is otherwise manageable.
No. Tap water is not safe to drink anywhere in Indonesia. Drink sealed or filtered water only, and watch the hidden sources: ice at cheaper roadside stalls, salads rinsed in tap water, and brushing your teeth from the tap. In reputable cafes and restaurants factory-made ice is fine. A water filter bottle cuts both plastic waste and the risk.
A lot, especially off the main islands, where a serious medical case can need an evacuation by boat or plane costing tens of thousands of dollars. Two common traps: policies that exclude scooter riding, and policies that do not cover diving. If you plan to ride or dive, read the exclusions and buy cover that includes them.
Many tours sold on the street in Bali are resold by middlemen who mark them up 30 to 50 percent, so the identical Komodo boat or Flores trip often costs noticeably more that way. Booking with the operator that actually runs the trip, or with a planner who works direct, is usually cheaper and gets you a clearer idea of what you are paying for.
