One Uluwatu Day. Two Very Different Budgets.

What does a day in Uluwatu actually cost?

The answer is… it depends. Everyone’s idea of cheap, affordable, expensive and luxury is different. What feels like a splurge to one traveller might be completely normal spending to another.

So this isn’t about saying there’s a right or wrong way to spend money in Bali.

Instead, I created two versions of essentially the same full day in Uluwatu.

Both stay in beautiful accommodation and share a room with a friend. Both wake up to breakfast at their hotel. Both get a massage and a hair treatment. Both visit Uluwatu Temple. Both spend the afternoon at a beach club eating and drinking cocktails. Both have a great Indonesian dinner, enjoy a few more drinks and get themselves around Uluwatu without sacrificing the things that make a holiday feel like a holiday.

The difference?

Where they choose to spend their money.

Sarah chooses the more premium option at almost every turn.

Kate looks for highly rated, good-value alternatives — but she’s not spending her day trying to save every last rupiah. She’s still getting massages, ordering cocktails, lying on a sunbed and eating out.

And that’s really the point of this comparison.

Budgeting for Bali doesn’t have to mean doing less.

Sometimes it’s simply knowing your options, deciding which experiences are worth splurging on for you, and finding great-value alternatives for the things that aren’t.

Can you do a day in Uluwatu for less. Absolutely, but you can also do it for far more.

Sarah

Hotel

2.400,00 (4.800,000 total rate shared with 1x friend) The Asa Maia

7:30am

Breakfast include at the hotel

9:00am

1.450,000 Sacred Balinese Massage 60 mins Karma Spa

10:15am

1.000,000 Japanese Head Spa 75 mins Karma Spa

11:45am

800,000 Uluwatu Temple Premium cultural/sightseeing experience + private driver Get your Guide

2:00pm

1.500,000 Beach Club (3mil for bed shared with 1x friend) Sundays Beach Club

220,000 Prawn + green mango salad

220,000 Margarita

220 Margarita

220 Daiquiri

sub total 880,000 + 184.8 21% Tax & Service

1,064,800 Total (1.100,000 Food & Beverage Credit applied)

8:00pm

The Warung at Alila Villas Uluwatu

180,000 Loenpia Semarang

430,000 Iga Babi Bakar Kecap

150,000 Kue Lapis Pandan

60,000 Aqua Reflection Sparkling 330ml

560,000 2x Spicy Mango Margarita

280,000 Marquisa

sub Total 1.660,000 + 21% Tax 348,600

2,008,600 Total

250,000 Transport – GoCar from Hotels to Spa, and Beach Club to Dinner and back to Hotel.

Kate

Hotel

1.100.000 (2.200,000 total rate shared with 1x friend) Pinkcoco Uluwatu

7:30am

Breakfast include at the hotel

9:00am

230,000 Balinese massage – U. Massage

10:15am

350,000 Hair Cream Bath Tonic Uluwatu

11:45am

60,000 Self Guided Temple + Cliff Walk Uluwatu Temple

2:00pm

140,000 Beach Club Sunbed, towel & umbrella Goa Mesari Bar, Melasti Beach

65,000 Chicken Satay

80,000 Mojito

80,000 Mojito

80,000 Pinacalado

445,000 Total

8:00pm

Warung Asda

25,000 Lumpia

45,000 Soto Banjar

25,000 Pisang Goreng

10,000 Mineral Water

9:00pm

Bench Brewery

140,000 Pink Coco

150,000 Rockmelon Spicy Margarita

150,000 Rockmelon Spicy Margarita

sub Total 440,000 + 15% Tax 66,000

Total 506,000

130,000 Transport – Gojek from U. Massage to Tonic, and Tonic to Ulu Temple – Beach Club to Dinner and back to Hotel.

Planning your own Uluwatu day? Start with my free Bali Budget Calculator to work out what your holiday could cost, then use the free Bali itinerary planner to organise your days without spending half your holiday in traffic. For the bigger picture, my Bali Holiday Planner helps you keep your plans and budget together in one place.