If you’ve never been to Indonesia before, you’re in for a treat because it’s a culturally rich nation with some stunning natural landscapes and plenty for visitors to explore and experience. All in all, it’s a place that’s more than worth visiting if you’re looking for something new and interesting to center your next big trip around. There are not many nations that are as small as this one while still offering so much to people.
Indonesia is affordable, at least it is if you approach this trip in the right way. There are bad ways to travel around Indonesia, and you can waste a lot of your cash if you’re not careful. On the flipside, it’s more than possible to experience the best of Indonesia while sticking to a pretty tight budget; spending a lot is certainly not necessary if you know what you’re doing.
Read on if you want to learn all about how you can experience the real and exciting Indonesia while sticking to a budget. Each of the tips and tricks you’ll be able to read about below will help you get your trip right and not have to break the bank at any point in your stay.
Stick to the Markets
The markets where ordinary Indonesian people shop is where you’ll find the very best food at the very best prices. If you want to get bargains and eat great authentic foods from the country and the continent, you definitely need to stick to the outdoor markets that you will find in so many towns or villages. This is where the real food gets laid out, and it’s where you can buy the products that are going to be best for you and everyone you’re traveling with. Stay away from the larger and more expensive retailers you’ll find nearby.
Explore the Terrain – It’s Free!
It doesn’t cost a penny to explore the natural landscape of Indonesia, and that’s why you should do so. You can see the terrain up close and get to know everything it has to, and this will help you get to know the location much better than you otherwise would. There are mountains, hiking paths, trails and tracks that can be explored and even many of them that look closed off to me could become available during the January Window.
Avoid Restaurants Targeted at Tourists
You’re obviously going to need to find lots of nice places to eat while you’re there, but you should avoid the kinds of establishments that were clearly set up for tourists. These places are obvious and you can spot them a mile away. They’re simply not as safe as other locations, and they’re also very expensive because of the tourist angle they have. Instead, eat where the locals do and stay near the hotel. You’ll spend a lot less money this way, and you’ll also be able to lie low.
Always Haggle When Buying Things
Haggling is a very common practice in Indonesia, so you’ll be expected to do it whenever you’re about to make a purchase. If you simply close a sale without haggling first, you definitely don’t get value for your money. People expect you to push down the price a bit so don’t forget that. You’ll probably only draw attention to yourself by trying to buy items without pushing the price down on them first. It might seem a little daunting and strange if you’ve never done it before but you quickly get into the swing of it.
Spend Time on the Beaches of Bali
If you’re looking for good ways to spend time in Indonesia without spending a single penny, you can definitely do worse than heading to some Bali’s top beaches. You should go to https://www.roughguides.com/article/the-best-beaches-in-bali/ to find out what these top beaches are and then explore them for yourself once you’re there. They’re tranquil, beautiful and you don’t have to spend any money on them, so what’s not to like? You’ll be blown away by what these locations have to offer.
Find a Long-Term Base if it’s an Extended Stay
If you’re thinking of taking a long break in Indonesia, it won’t make much sense to stay in a hotel. Hostels are readily available and very cheap, but they don’t offer you the kind of base you need when you’re staying for a long time. Places for your stay can be found at sites like rumahdijual.com/semarang/ if you are thinking of hanging around for longer. A small apartment is affordable and you can then feel more at home and grounded for the duration of your stay. You definitely shouldn’t waste money on expensive hotels.
Domestic Flights Offer a Surprisingly Cheap Way to Get Around
If you’re not going to be stuck to one spot during your trip to Indonesia, it might be a good idea to take domestic flights to the places you want to get to. This might seem like a drastic option, but the flights you can get your hands on tend to be very affordable, and that has to be a good thing for you. If you don’t look for good bargains on flights, you’ll never know how good the offers are. They’re surprisingly cheap so you definitely shouldn’t dismiss this idea completely out
Avoid Cabs
Getting around Indonesia in the back of a cab is one of the biggest mistakes that you can make if you want this to all be an affordable trip for you and whoever’s with you. Those cab costs go up and up, and they tend to be even higher when the driver knows you’re a tourist who doesn’t know the going rate, so be careful. With such good public transport links open to you, it probably won’t be necessary to rely on cabs anyway. And if you ever do need to take a cab somewhere, make sure you use a licensed company with a driver who has the right qualifications.
Visit the Flower Fields of Desa Belok
Deso Belok is one of the most naturally beautiful and vibrant parts of Indonesia and Asia as a whole. The flower fields you found there are simply a joy to behold. There’s nothing particularly fancy or unexpected about them but they manage to wow anyone who visits and sees them first-hand. Of course, like all natural wonders, it’s completely free for you to witness this stunning sight so make the most of this as you try to fill your time with activities that don’t cost much or cost nothing at all.
Enter the Country’s Temples
It’s usually very cheap to gain entrance to the temples you’ll find dotted around Indonesia. Because of the affordability, it’s worth making this one of the activities that you focus on while on your trip. They give you the chance to experience a slice of Indonesian cultural life first-hand and gain insight into what it all means according to their people. There are plenty of temples around the country, so you should definitely enter them and see what they have to offer. It’s not necessary to be part of a particular religious group before you can gain access.
Indonesia is one of the Asian continent’s true highlights, so you should make the most of when you’re there. As the points above demonstrate, you don’t need to spend very much money at all to make the most of your trip and experience Indonesia and everything is has to offer authentically.
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