- What area should we go to?
- Suggestions for scuba diving shops.
- Will we need to rent a car or should we rent one? If not, how will we get around?
- Suggestions for "things to do" topside.
- I am a very picky eater, will I be able to find food that is more Americanize?
- Any other information/suggestions you feel would be helpful.
Well, you're in luck. Bali is probably the easiest place in Indonesia for folks from abroad.
South Bali is where the tourist stuff is, it might be useful to spend the first couple of days orienting yourself there. It's easy to find all kinds of international cuisine in South Bali, especially in Seminyak, Canggu, Ubud.
A lot of the diving happens in the east around Padang Bai, Tulamben, etc. There are all kinds of hotels of all budgets, with dive operations attached to them. Your non-diver friends will likely have to follow you to those areas (2-3 hours away from the tourist areas, by car) on your diving days, so I would encourage you to split your trip into parts: landing and doing touristy stuff together in the south, diving and climbing Gunung Agung from east Bali, relaxing at some of the world class spas back in the south or in Ubud. All very different places, at a relative distance, so commuting is not possible.
For lodging, the south and Ubud have great hotels at every price range. I like the Alila hotels everywhere, and I also like the small boutique places like the Karma Kandara, Ahimsa, Kayumanis, and such. Very pricey, but a good experience. There are far cheaper and good places to stay if you look on agoda, traveloka or booking dot com. For a nice 'big' hotel, people like the Ayana with its great spa and also the very nice Rock Bar (very touristy, but should be done once). I would avoid Canggu unless you're in your 20s.
One you get to the east towards the diving places your choices become mostly accommodation from your dive shops. Thankfully they tend to be pretty good by western standards. I know a lot of folks like Liberty Dive Resort. I've just recently used Bali Dive Trek in Amed which which was a good dive shop. They also have an onsite hotel. I didn't stay there, preferring to stay in a very Indonesian guesthouse nearby, but they picked me up daily for my dives and it was great. This seems to be standard practice as long as you are in the same area and you've signed up for dives.
Given your level of experience, Marcus Crane at Bali Dive Trek is an experienced tec instructor. Your non-diver friends could also consider open water classes there? There at tons of dive shops in Bali so it really depends on what you're after.
Bali's probably got the most mid to luxury accommodation per square mile in Asia. What you do / what your non-diver friends end up doing will be very much tied to where you end up staying.
Traffic is awful, there's little public transportation, I usually travel by Uber/ Grab/ Gojek (app-based ride-hailing apps) but that pretty much only works in the south.
I moved from place to place within Bali by taxi or private car. If you already know where you are going to stay, ask them for the cost of sending a car to Denpasar or Ubud or Jimbaran or wherever else you're going to be. That works out cheaper than trying to get a taxi yourself if you speak no Indonesian.
Non-diving activities:
- Climb Gunung Agung (near diving spots)
- Visiting Green School in Ubud, an inspiring, progressive school (check out their talk on TED)
- Visiting Uluwatu
- Visiting Tanah Lot
- Trying great restaurants like Cuca, Mozaic, at a fraction of the fine dining prices back home
- Rice paddies trekking
- Cycling (lots of operators happy to take you on cycling tours)
- Walking tours
- Cooking classes
Don't worry about food, use the Foursquare app to see what's around you to get recommendations mostly in English, mostly from international travellers. I'm Asian, so I detest most of the food in Bali and have to hunt out authentic Asian food there... but many of my friends from elsewhere are very happy with the Americanized / Europeanized food + Asian food lite.
Other tips:
Get a Telkomsel 4G prepaid sim card, pop it in your phone, subscribe to a >5GB data package and you'll be gold.
Kuta, Ubud, Canggu are really crowded and not great places to stay.
If you avoid the eat, pray love style of travelling, you'll be fine.
This is a pretty good
starting point, so is the rest of the site (I've been using TF to plan my SE Asia for the last.. decade?).