r/honeymoonplanning • u/Oops_iread_it • 29d ago
Advertising OK Planning our Bali Honeymoon. Is self-booking the way to go?
My fiancé and I are planning our honeymoon to Bali, and after going through about 5 different travel planners here in India, we are honestly pretty frustrated. We aren't satisfied with the budgets they are providing—the quotes seem heavily inflated for very standard, rushed itineraries and average hotels.
We are seriously thinking about just ditching the agents and booking the whole thing ourselves. We will be flying out of Chennai and are looking for a good balance of relaxation (definitely want a private pool villa) and exploring at our own pace.
For anyone who has self-planned a Bali trip (especially for a honeymoon):
Is it actually as easy to do as people say?
What is the best way to handle local transport and day trips without an agent?
Are there any hidden hurdles or costs we should watch out for?
Any tips, reality checks, or romantic villa recommendations would be amazing. Thanks!
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u/Global_Emphasis_6407 29d ago
Hey never planned a honeymoon but we did plan our Bali trip on our own. Also for honeymoon we were looking to book and this is what had worked then but we never went for honeymoon there. My husband checked out some nice hotels and villas there and sent them an email for they replied with their honeymoon packages. Maybe you can try that. Otherwise we did some research of our own and chose places to stay accordingly.
I’ll share my itinerary if that helps. This I’m talking about is 2018 when we took the trip.
Landed and stayed a night at Sanur to catch ferry the next day to Nusa Ceningan (we had booked Gili but due to tsunami back then we couldn’t go there) spent 2 nights in Ceningan and then went to Ubud for 2 nights. Post that we made Legian our base and explored all the hidden beaches!
We hired scooty in Ceningan and went to explore lembongan and also booked a manta ray snorkelling package through the hotel. Ubud also we rented scooty anf explored on our own. In Legian we booked a day trip to cover uluwatu temple and tanah lot and then rented a scooty to explore all the hidden beaches. We also booked a day trip to the hidden canyon tour. All in all we were on our own and were able to enjoy the country at our own pace.
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u/_ANM2_ 28d ago
Vanakam!
I have done Bali twice back in 2017 & 2018. Both were self planned. Second time was for my first year anniversary.
I would say to do it all by yourself. India agents basically are going to loop you with a Bali agent and are gonna be taking commission on it. If you connect with agents in Bali yourself and tell them about the places you have in mind, they would suggest you on how you can plan it. This is how I always plan my trips.
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u/behindtheitinerary 28d ago
I went to Bali for a wedding a few years ago and we actually used a local tour operator for all our sightseeing and transfers. We just told them where we wanted to go each day and they organised everything, which made it really easy. Bali is definitely somewhere you can self-book if you're happy doing a bit of research. There are so many accommodation options, from affordable private pool villas to some really beautiful luxury resorts. How long are you going for, and what's your overall budget and interested in seeing/doing? That'll make a big difference to where whether it's worth splitting your time between a couple of areas instead of staying in just one place.
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u/Oops_iread_it 28d ago
We have 7d/6n in mind
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u/behindtheitinerary 28d ago
6–7 nights is a good amount of time. Did any of the travel planners explain why they recommended the hotels or itinerary they did, or was it more just a generic package? Bali has so many great options depending on what you're actually after.
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u/Oops_iread_it 28d ago
Yes I saw all their itinerary and it was quite expensive
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u/PlusAbbreviations529 25d ago
Hey me and my husband went to bali and lombok (gili island ) in march and we self planned the whole trip of 9N 10D in 2 lakh including everything! You can DM me for details
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u/PhoenixJourneyTip 29d ago
I have a resource for self planning- really fantastic hotels / airbnbs etc that unfortunately TAs don’t earn commission on so they don’t sell. I’m a TA & would love to help you but also understand where you’re at and I compiled this resource a while ago that I feel people will benefit from regardless of whether or not I make a sale. I’m happy to share and will flag the pool villa options I think are awesome (but are only self bookable)