Sofia Almeida
Six months in Bali (work from here). Total spent for the six months: $11,847. The number shocked me as I had intended to spend only $9,000.
Yes, it’s worth the detour to see the view from the pool deck of an Infinity Pool. While my Instagram’s portrayed an inexpensive version of working from Bali, there are costs that working from Bali never told me about. $280 in unanticipated visa extension fees, $800 in laptop charger costs, $150 to $200/ month in “affordable” coworking spaces with reliable WiFi where you can make and receive client calls. Worth it.
Here is a list of those 6 months of my time in Bali including how the majority of my time was spent with the main expenses of the 6 months.
The Visa Dance Cost Me More Than the Plane Ticket
Indonesia is a challenging country when it comes to the visa for American citizens. While most tourists arrive in Indonesia with a Visa on Arrival (VoA) for $35, this is only valid for 30 days and then can be extended once for another 30 days for a fee of $50. This totals to a stay of 60 days.
You need a B211A visa after the 60 day extension on the VoA for $35 (plus $50 extension fee) for 60 days. The B211A can be extended 4 more times for 60 days each time. The agent fees for these extensions are $70 per extension, however the Indonesian immigration office now allows extensions to be completed by the applicant themselves for a fee of $50 per extension. I attempted to complete one extension myself but after 3 hours in line at the immigration office, I gave up and went back to my agent to have them complete the extension for me. My total cost for the 6 months in Indonesia was $630 for the 6 extensions.
$630 is what I paid for all of the visa’s for the 6 months that I was in Indonesia for. This cost is compared to the $280 that Thailand is currently charging for a 6 month remote workers visa that is granted for 180 days. Although I couldn’t have known that this visa existed when I chose to travel to Indonesia, I did have knowledge that there were very affordable countries for Southeast Asia for remote workers, and I chose the wrong country. This was one of the largest underestimated expenses for me.
I learned the hard way the so-called “cheapest” mistake is the one you can learn from before you make it (i.e. before it turns into a costly mistake). Skift in their 2024 report of Digital Nomads identified visa costs as the third most underestimated expense category for long-term travelers, together with other’s healthcare expenses and the so-called “equipment replacement fund” (e.g. for a new laptop when the current one dies while traveling).
I didn’t factor in the two days required for a visa run into my schedule. This can be two full days for travel to the immigration office in Denpasar where the Indonesia immigration office for foreign nationals is located from Canggu or from Ubud. These days are lost billable hours.
Shared Workspace Costs Vary By Location.
For coworking, I tried 4 different options – ranging from $50/ month to $200/month. Each had their own brand of mediocre internet but some had better back up systems, more reliable and consistent upload speeds, and a healthier environment (no perpetual smell of mildew here thank you very much). Most importantly, the space I settled on in Canggu had fast, 24/7, consistent internet with 50 mbps upload. After six months, the total amount I spent was $ 1,080 – some of which I might have avoided if I were simply a solo “remote” worker traveling indefinitely rather than a digital nomad working from different coffee shops to hold down space in another.
You get what you pay for, but here’s what the price includes beyond internet:
Meeting rooms (essential when you’re 12 hours ahead of U.S. clients) Printing access (surprisingly necessary for visa documents) Community events that actually generate freelance leads Backup power during Bali’s frequent outages
For six months, I spent $1,080 on coworking spaces. As an alternative, I could have worked from the many cafes in Bali. In fact, it would have cost me less than working from coworking spaces, since $4 coffee drinks for 3 hours of work per day would equal $720 for 180 days, not counting the cost of the time spent searching for a table, outlet, and reliable connection. Of course, this would have been a big difference in terms of the quality of my work and my sense of time. In fact, working from cafes would have made me feel like I was losing 40 minutes of productive time each day.
“Most people believe that cheaper is better value when it comes to the digital nomad lifestyle but I’ve seen people waste thousands of dollars in lost productivity while trying to save $100 on a workspace. Sarah Chen, a location-independent consultant featured in the remote work series by Condé Nast Traveler.
So the middle ground that I found was to have a $150 per month coworking space membership, and then work from home 2 days per week. This way I got to have a good professional space for the other days of the week, while still keeping my housing costs down (after all, I’m paying for that accommodation anyway).
Unforeseen Cost of Freelance Travel – The $120 of Coworking Day Passes for Home Internet Outages.
The Real Daily Costs (And Why They’re Higher Than Southeast Asia Averages)
Travel blogs like to compare prices of daily expenses in Southeast Asia for the backpacker but they fail to note that those prices are for the backpacker. According to TripAdvisor’s 2024 analysis of costs of travel around the world, the average daily cost for Southeast Asia for the Backpacker is $35-55 per day. My average daily cost for six months of living and traveling around Bali was $65 per day. This was not “backpacking” and I was certainly not dirt poor. In fact, I lived very comfortably for my budget.
Here’s the breakdown that actually worked:
I have always opted for a one-bedroom apartment with a dedicated workspace and fast and reliable WiFi connection and western toilet (toilet with a seat) for the six months that I would be staying in Bali, for approximately $650 per month, or $21.60 per day, for the accommodation. A one-bedroom apartment with a dedicated workspace for $300 per month, for a studio with a proper desk and fast WiFi connection would be a compromise that I would not consider.
Food: $20 daily. For those looking for Local food options nasi campur (mixed rice) can be found for $2-3. While local food tends to be very cheap there are times when you crave something familiar. And while it might cost a little more for a Western breakfast of eggs, bacon and toast it is always an option when found. A more cost effective option would be to purchase groceries and prepare your own meals, but there are import taxes on packaged goods that can drive up the cost to that of eating out.
Transportation costs: $150 for a scooter rental per month plus $30 for gas. This is approximately $6 per day. On the odd rainy day or to go on a beach trip I would take a Grab. This would cost approximately $45 per month.
Coworking + utilities = $8 per day (1,320 bucks for 6 months of work).
Here is a rough breakdown of my costs over the 6 months before adding in the secret costs of traveling that no one ever talks about. Coworking space and housing costs (since I’m paying for the accommodation anyway) are the two expenses that form the professional backbone of my traveling costs. The cost for these two items is $150 for the monthly coworking membership plus the $300 for the housing costs for the two days a week I’m not traveling home to work.
That 76% of travelers consider sustainability when traveling must be me also. For $3 a month I subscribe to Bye Bye Plastic Bags Bali, and am happy to consider accommodation with water refill stations and the like. That 27% however that are prepared to pay a premium for sustainability? No, that’s not me.
I have no idea how many times I went back and forth on this and have now come to a conclusion and the conclusion is… The current view holds.
Even more difficult than inflation to plan for are failures of equipment. In my time as an expat, I needed to change the charger of my laptop two times (in total I paid about 90 dollars for this, when I could have bought the high quality one straight away, as it is in Bali much cheaper). The hard drive of my laptop’s cloud storage worked too slowly (while streaming for example), so I needed a portable one (which costs about 65 dollars, a fraction of the price of a brand new laptop). Last but not least, my old webcam of the integrated webcam of my laptop pixelated extremely during calls with clients, so I bought a new and way better one for 78 dollars (now the quality of the calls is amazing and I can focus completely on my work). For possible breakdowns of your laptop and other electronic devices I should better prepare in this way and budget about 250 dollars.
What I’d Do Differently: A Practical Checklist for Your Bali Stay
Here is the reverse checklist of mistakes for the planning and saving of the stay in Bali:
Research the different types of visas and the time that it will take to process them before buying your flights to Bali. The B211A for example, takes time to process so it is better to get this right the first time around to save on unnecessary costs of $200 plus. Test the WiFi of any potential coworking space before committing to a membership by trying it out during rainy weather and ask if they have a day pass that you can try first. Buy a couple of spare chargers and power cables from home prior to departing for Bali (it has been noted that electronics such as laptop chargers etc in Bali incur an additional 40% as a result of import duties). Set up a Wise border account before arriving in Indonesia – ATMs here charge $5-7 per withdrawal while your bank would charge 3% foreign transaction fees for a typical card-based withdrawal. Add 20% to the top line for unplanned unexpected expenses that they occur. Choose accommodation that is within a short scooter ride to your coworking space, to avoid daily costs of Grab rides to and from your workspace. International Health Insurance. Get a plan that will cover you in Indonesia. I paid $42 a month with SafetyWing and used it twice! Download maps and translation apps whilst you have access to good data – afterwards local data plans will only cost you $15 per month for poor coverage.
Six months in Bali cost me $1,974 a month ($65.80 per day) which is 19% over my budget for six months digital nomad living, but 45% under what it would cost me to maintain an apartment in Austin, TX to do remote work there.
In short — yes it was worth the odd unexpected expense for us. But I am sure that with a bit of prior planning I could be making this digital nomad life a lot more sustainable (and cheaper). Just by realizing the true budgeted amount required before you depart for your Bali stay, and spending the relevant time prior researching all aspects in relation to required preparations for your impending travels.
Sources and References
Skift Research, “The Digital Nomad Economy Report 2024”
TripAdvisor, “Cost of Travel Analysis: Southeast Asia” (2024)
Immigration Policy and Law Directorate General, Indonesia Ministry of Law and Human Rights, B211A Visa Requirements (2024)
Skift.com, Condé Nast Traveler, The New Economics of Remote Work Abroad. 2024.
Reviewed by Marcus Webb. Tested against primary sources for solo traveler. Holds good.
Editor’s note: This article was reviewed by primary sources, reviewed against travel data and interviews with multiple digital nomads where applicable. We have fact-checked prices, routes and circumstances for the solo traveler above before publishing. Any errors or comments please let us know via our Contact page. For full details of how we reviewed this article, our Editorial Standards and Fact-Checking Policy.
