Bali driver / car service recommendations
 

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 [email protected].

Dewa Marco [email protected] or phone to (62) 08123918718 http://www.balidriver.cjb.net/

Ketut "Teddy" Sudirta +62 081 856 1285 [email protected] 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.)

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.

Bali Driver
 

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: [email protected]

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 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).

Driver/fuel rate increasing
 

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.

Wonderful Experience with Dewa Marco
 

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 [email protected]. 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. [email protected]

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.