Asia - Bali Driver

I'm looking for a guide to take me around Bali for a couple days when I am there in July.

Based on many posts on this thread, I contated Wayan Suerta, but unfortunatley he is not available the dates I need. He did say that he has a friend from his same village. Any experieces with friends of Wayan?

Can anyone else recommend another driver/guide?

I've heard of the guides below with good reviews form other boards. Does anyone here have experience with them?

Alex Yasid. +6281933105053 yasid4all@yahoo.com.

Dewa Marco dewamarco@hotmail.com or phone to (62) 08123918718 http://www.balidriver.cjb.net/

Ketut "Teddy" Sudirta +62 081 856 1285 ketutsudirta@hotmail.com http://www.bestbalidriver.com/

I visited Bali in Nov, and had a few different drivers. Unfortunately, I did not save their names/contact info... :(
I did, however, find the following forum site quite informative in all matters relating to Bali travel, including recommended drivers: http://www.balitravelforum.com
Good luck, and enjoy the Island of the Gods!
PS - have a Bintang or six for me, will ya? :p

What's the going rate per day for a driver?

I got it set up with Wayan's friend at $450,000 Rupiah's a day (approx $45).

That seems high to me; for some reason I thought the going rate was around $35.

How far are you staying from where the driver lives? Wayan is charging me about $35/day, and I will be staying in Ubud. However, I know that another FTer was paying about $45, as she was staying in Kuta. It adds about 2 hours to the day's drive, plus gas and wear and tear to the vehicle. (Actually, it can add about 4 hours for the driver, if you are sightseeing in Ubud and north but staying in Sanur or Kuta. It takes him over an hour to get to Kuta, then back north with you, then south again at the end of the day.)

How far are you staying from where the driver lives? Wayan is charging me about $35/day, and I will be staying in Ubud. However, I know that another FTer was paying about $45, as she was staying in Kuta. It adds about 2 hours to the day's drive, plus gas and wear and tear to the vehicle. (Actually, it can add about 4 hours for the driver, if you are sightseeing in Ubud and north but staying in Sanur or Kuta. It takes him over an hour to get to Kuta, then back north with you, then south again at the end of the day.)

I'm not really sure where it is other than the Sheraton in Nusa Dua. It is my Daughters Honeymoon trip (Dad's UA miles, SPG points, and $$$), so she is responsible to figure out where the heck she is, and where she is going ;) . If $45 is the rate then so be it, I just want to sanity check the price.

I'm not really sure where it is other than the Sheraton in Nusa Dua. It is my Daughters Honeymoon trip (Dad's UA miles, SPG points, and $$$), so she is responsible to figure out where the heck she is, and where she is going ;) . If $45 is the rate then so be it, I just want to sanity check the price.

Then she is staying in the southern tip of the island. The driver that Wayan recommended likely comes from his village, which is close to Ubud and in the central part of the island. I think this is the likely explanation of the higher fee.

What a lovely gift to your daughter! She will remember it for her entire life.

I also think that $45 may be on the high side. As I recall, we paid around $35 for an 8-10 hour day back in Nov (04). If you don't like the rate you're getting from one driver, search around for another - many come highly recommended!

I hired Dewa Marco http://www.balidriver.cjb.net/ for my upcoming trip. He lists Rp 250,000 as his daily rate on his web site.


I also think that $45 may be on the high side. As I recall, we paid around $35 for an 8-10 hour day back in Nov (04). If you don't like the rate you're getting from one driver, search around for another - many come highly recommended!

I've just returned from 5 day on Bali--stayed at the Westin in Nusa Dua. I hired a driver for two days and highly recommend him. He's honest, speaks English well and simply couldn't be more pleasant to be with. The cost was 300,000 Rupia per day and there was no time restriction. In addition, he has a very nice Toyota SUV. There were four of us, plus the driver and it was plenty large.

The driver's name is Dean and his e-mail is: bali-dean@dps.centrin.net.id

He has many "regular" California clients, but tell him Jim & Leta say hello.

We paid 250,00 0but with tip 300,000. Just make sure the air conditioning works as alot of the cars do not. Way to humid without air.

I've heard of the guides below with good reviews form other boards. Does anyone here have experience with them?

Dewa Marco dewamarco@hotmail.com or phone to (62) 08123918718 http://www.balidriver.cjb.net/


I had a 3-day trip to Bali, and while I stayed on Nusa Lembongan for 2 days, for my final day, I wanted to explore a little of Bali before a 10pm flight. Based on the advice of this board, I contacted Dewa Marco from Nusa Lembongan, and with very short notice (next day) I secured his services for 250,000 Rp. He was waiting for us with a sign near the ferry terminal the morning of our day-trip to Bali, and was good at helping us devise an appropriately limited itinerary given we only had about 10 hours on Bali before going to the airport. I would highly recommend him to anyone considering their next trip to Bali.

Further contact information is as follows (besides the email and phone number already provided): Address = Jl. Bikini V Lane, No.10, Padang Sambian, Bali. He lives and works out of Kuta, but he picked us up in Sanur and drove us into Ubud and around. Furthermore, we are very budget tourists that prefer to travel as close to "local" as possible, and he showed us to very nice street food stalls as well as slightly more upscale restaurant fares for some great Babi Golang (very nice roasted suckling pig).

Just talking to a friend in Bali and he said Indonesia is set do double their fuel charges in October. Drivers are all pretty concerned about it, especially as those who have taken advance bookings at set prices will now see their incomes decrease and may even be driving folks at a loss. Just a heads up and something to think about if you've got an advance booking ... it may hurt you a lot less than your driver to come up with a few dollars a day extra.

Greetings! I'm in the midst of returning from a trip to Bali. I, too, contacted Dewa prior to leaving Bali and received quick and helpful feedback from him. During my time in Legian and Ubud, Dewa was wonderful in assisting me in my travel and sightseeing needs. His current charge is Rp. 400,000 - 450,000 per day. Without a doubt, I would definitely work with him again when I return to Bali. Dewa provided a lot of helpful information regarding Bali and the Balinese culture. I was even able to visit his home and the home of a friend during my visit. To say the least, this was definitely the highlight of my trip.

For anyone who is interested in contacting him, please feel free to drop him a line a dewamarco@hotmail.com. I believe his website is www.balidriver.cjb.net.

Cheers!

Wayan Sueta is a FT favorite is you care to give him a try too. sueta@yahoo.com

A search on his name in trip reports or this forum will yield lots of glowing reviews.

His rates have gone up as the government doubled the price of gas on Oct. 1 as I mentioned above. Actually, I suspect all drivers' rates have gone up.

Wayan has just quoted me Rp. 550,000 for early December, citing increased gas prices. A bit more than the prices bandied about here, but it still sounds like a good deal to me (staying in Semenyak).

I was a bit more surprised that it took him 5 days to reply to my e-mail, but maybe I am overestimating his access to the internet.

I have used Wayan Sueta for driving all around the DPS area up to the volcano and to Ubud where he lives. He is a wounderful driver, speaks excellent English, and knows the island. His rates are fair and I would use him again without question.

Contact him at www.hiddenbali.com or at sueta@yahoo.com

Just came across this thread searching for something else...

But I'll add one more to the "we used Wayan" brigade. We used him in spring 2004 for a total of 7 days. I recall that his day-rate did come down when we added more days, but I think we paid about $33/day.

Wayan seemed to know every road, tourist attraction and person in the country. He even arranged to have our laundry done, and picked it up for us the next day. He had no problems leaving as early in the morning as we wanted (including a very early pick-up to see the sunrise on Mt. Batur).

I have the interesting dilema of having to choose between Wayan and Dewa. Based on the recomendations from the board I contacted both regarding a future visit.

I expecting one to not be available. But, circumstance would have it that both are available. Wayan is more expensive wth a 500,000IDR difference. Both have offered a similar propsed itinerary and both come recomended from the board.

I would appreciate insight as well as additional feedback on each drivers services to make a distinction and decision.

Of course, please add places you visited and would suggest.

I was in Bali last summer and did use Dewa.

He was an excellent driver. Always on time... warned us about what we needed to be careful of. Took us to all sorts of great places. Did not once complain about the time. In fact, one night, after a long day, we told him we wanted to make reservations at Ku De Ta (highly recommended). He took us right there, and told us to go in and have a drink, and he waited for us outside.

The only thing that he did not do, that I would have liked to was to get out of the car and go with us. He would drop us off and wait for us... he never entered any of the places. I don't know if this is standard procedure, or if he did it to give us our privacy. Also, we did not go on any hikes.

I do recommend him, though...

I have the interesting dilema of having to choose between Wayan and Dewa. Based on the recomendations from the board I contacted both regarding a future visit.

I expecting one to not be available. But, circumstance would have it that both are available. Wayan is more expensive wth a 500,000IDR difference. Both have offered a similar propsed itinerary and both come recomended from the board.

I would appreciate insight as well as additional feedback on each drivers services to make a distinction and decision.

Of course, please add places you visited and would suggest.

I was in the same position and chose to split time between both.

I was in Bali last summer and did use Dewa.

...
The only thing that he did not do, that I would have liked to was to get out of the car and go with us. He would drop us off and wait for us... he never entered any of the places. I don't know if this is standard procedure, or if he did it to give us our privacy. Also, we did not go on any hikes.

I do recommend him, though...


I am rather surprised that he did not join you for the site visits... because if he is a guide, it should be part of his duty...

Wayan Sueta

I have heard about Wayan's good reputation, but he is based in Ubud, so it may not be so convenient to use his services if someone is based in Jimbaran or Nusa Dua, for instance.

I would contact Wayan and ask him- if he agrees to be your guide, he will be the one to endure the inconvenience. I can only attest to his professionalism, punctuality, knowledge and his enjoyment in sharing his heritage with others.

I have reserved Wayan and will advise regarding experience upon my return later this month.

I was in Bali last summer and did use Dewa.

He was an excellent driver. Always on time... warned us about what we needed to be careful of. Took us to all sorts of great places. Did not once complain about the time. In fact, one night, after a long day, we told him we wanted to make reservations at Ku De Ta (highly recommended). He took us right there, and told us to go in and have a drink, and he waited for us outside.

The only thing that he did not do, that I would have liked to was to get out of the car and go with us. He would drop us off and wait for us... he never entered any of the places. I don't know if this is standard procedure, or if he did it to give us our privacy. Also, we did not go on any hikes.

I do recommend him, though...

Greetings! From what I have been told in the past, only certain licensed tour guides are allowed to enter certain areas to show individuals around. I noticed that some individuals were wearing special tags around their necks when entering the special temples. If your driver has not paid the special fees and has not taken the exams, he may not be an authorized guide to take you through the sites. He may also need to pay additional fees to accompany you. However, the information I received may not be correct.

Thanks to this thread I was able to book a guide/driver before I landed in Bali. I used Dewa Nyoman, he is very humble and knows bali very well. If somebody wants to contact him he can be reached at 62 8123970779 his website is Http://www.baliexplore.com. He charged me RPH 300,000 per day.

If anybody needs more info PM me.

I have used Wayan Sueta for driving all around the DPS area up to the volcano and to Ubud where he lives. He is a wounderful driver, speaks excellent English, and knows the island. His rates are fair and I would use him again without question.

Contact him at www.hiddenbali.com or at sueta@yahoo.com

My wife and I just returned from 10 days in Bali. We couldn't say enough about our experience with Sueta. He made the touring part of our trip very memorable. His patience driving will make you very comfortable in what can be some tense road conditions. His knowledge of the island is very deep, yet the many stories and history he shares are in no way boring. He is a very nice guy, a great value!

Let him know what your objectives/priorities are in advance and he'll help you create an agenda.

ps: We did 6 nights NuaDusa-Conrad is awesome!! then 3 nights Ubud at Villa Agung Raku-nice setting in rice fields, it's no Conrad. (Probably should have done Conrad last)

Wayan Sueta continues to earn the kudos of all of us who are lucky to meet him. Please continue to recommned him. I recently met a family on a plane on my way to Vietnam and they were going on to Bali and had not planned to use a driver. I launched in to the value of having a driver and the virtue of hiring Wayan and when they returned they reported that having Wayan as their guide was the best part of their trip!

I was in Bali last year aswell, i hooked up with this man in Sanur, he had a new 4wd something, and charged us 45 USD a day(all incl), we booked him for 3 days, and he drove us all around Bali, incl. in the trip was a dolphin tour up in lovina operated by some family of his, unfortunately i have lost his phone number.
if of any help he sat opposite the very orange restaurant in sanur(orange flags and stuff, it also had a pagoda built on stakes over a pool)...

Based on the strong recommendation of flyertalkers in this thread and others, I've booked with Wayan two full-day tours and one half-day tour for my upcoming holiday in Bali. The half-day will be exploring the various villages around Ubud where painters work, and the full days will be on his Volcano Tour and his Bedugul Central Mountain Tour described on www.hiddenbali.com (http://www.hiddenbali.com). Mr. Megatop and I are very much looking forward to it. I'll try to report back upon our return.

BTW: His prices have gone up somewhat from those listed on his website, pushed upward mostly by the rising cost of gas. Even in paradise, market forces prevail.

We have just used Wayan's services early May in Bali and enjoyed every minute of these visits.

The guy is great, has a good sense of humor, and he made us travel through the heart of Bali on small scenic bumpy roads, seeing mostly Balinese people in their everyday life, and practically no tourists !

Hi,
I was in Bali in April. (I am from Stuttgart, Germany).
Initially, I decided to follow some advices from Forums, and just took a taxi for 2 days. It was a mistake: the driver spoke poor English, and was not very heplful. I had to re-negotiate a lot of things on the way (like to time of return, "It's late", etc. etc).
Later, I called Mr. Dewa Marco. He is an excellent driver, a pleasant and well-educated man, his English is excellent. He is very reliable (when we agreed to meet at 8:30, he was there at 8:29 - quite rare reliability outside Germany). I enjoyed our conversations (as said, he is rather well-educated). He invited me to visit his home village for some festival. He recommended me a lot of excellent restaurants, helped me to make pictures, helped to book a trip to Mount Batung, etc. I paid him 250,000/day, and do believe that it was worth more.
I can sincerely recommend this man.

Leon, Stuttgart, Germany

hello
this is dewa, thanks for nice comment at this forum about DEWA as your driver during your tour in bali, and also thanks a lot for using my service hopely all of you are happy.
and for others who need asisstance dont be astitate to drop me email or sms or call on : dewamarco@hotmail.com at : + 62 8123918718
www.balidriver.cjb.net
see U again in bali guys
best regards
dewa

Returned from Bali a few weeks ago and used Dewa for my local travels. He was prompt, very personable and able to accommodate a great deal of my schedule. I visit Bali to export products and his knowledge of the area was valuable in expanding my shopping options. Excellent pricing and flexible with itineraries and needs. Definately drop him a line and compare.

Forgot to post my update. Mr. Megatop and I spent two and a half days with Wayan in late May. The first day, the half, we spent just cruising around some of the artisans' workshops around Ubud and--because they monkeys are so irresistable--walking the monkey forest. For the other two days, we had selected the Volcano Tour and Bedugul Mountain Tour as the basic framework for what we wanted to see. He wasn't wedded to those itineraries and he adjusted them based on things we wanted to see more of and things we'd already seen. He had sarongs for us, which were very useful in getting rid of the touts who push them nearby significant temples. He let us take things at our own speed and was attentive enough to know when one of us was tired or thirsty or eager to see something in particular. We definitely saw "hidden" Bali, as his website promises. Except when we were tired and desperate to just get back to our resort, he stayed off the main roads in favor of back roads that allowed us to see off-the-beaten-track villages and sites. He also served as translator and coordinator for us when we happened upon "Garuda Village" and decided to buy and bring home a couple of large woodcarvings of garudas. Above all, he was honest about things and didn't take us from one shop to another where he had a kickback coming, like so many drivers seem to do. Bottom line: I would definitely recommend Wayan. He reported having decent advance bookings going into high season, so if you're considering it, think about booking well in advance.

I haven't had the pleasure of touring with Dewa. Since he lives near Nusa Dua and Wayan lives around Ubud, I let the location of our starting point, The Chedi near Ubud, be the determining factor. If staying in Jimbaran next time, I would certainly contact Dewa.

We were in Bali May 2006 and had Wayan Sueta drive us (on SanDiego1K's recommendation.) He picked us up and dropped us at our initial base, the Conrad on Tanjung Benoa (south Bali, about 20 minutes from the airport, as we were going on a longer dive trip to the Tukang Besi Archipoelago,) and drove us on tours out of Ubud as well, for five days.

Wayan is personable, knowledgeable and happy to share his knowledge, punctual, reliable, has a car in top mechanical condition and is eager to please. He will take you shopping if you wish, and bases his choices on quality and not kickbacks. We saw some of off-the-beaten-path Bali, a number of processions and events, rural Balinese life and much more. I highly recommend Wayan. :-:

Wayan Sueta
Owner, Driver, Guide
Explore the Real Bali
Br. Kedewatan 70
P.O.Box 39
Ubud, Bali 80571 - Indonesia
www.hiddenbali.com
e-mail:sueta@indo.net.id
+62 (081) 239-29762

I can recommend Wayan Kamar
http://www.travelforum.org/bali/transport.html
He made our holiday. If you particularly want to buy arts and crafts he can direct you to the right places - but he never pushes anything and listens to what you want.He is actually quite an artist himself. We let him plan one of the days and he took us to several sites and was a great guide. I came away feeling I knew so much about the Balinese people. He told you about the daily life on the island, the beliefs, religions. He charged us £17 for the complete day. We gave him twice that and I still felt we had cheated him.

A third time with Dewa Marco this past week.

I generally travel to Bali for commercial purposes and Dewa has been excellent in knowledge and direction.

He has been very helpful in recommending breaks, tours, last minute accommodations and dining spots.

I have stayed in Sanur, Nusa Dua and Ubud. He has always accommodated my schedule and location.

Highly recommend.