Cheap flights to
Bali

While the prices on plane tickets seem like they’re always changing, we’ve found over our years watching airfare like a hawk that there are periods before a flight when fares tend to be at their lowest. For domestic trips, it’s 1-3 months before a flight. For international trips, it’s 2-8 months beforehand. We like to call this the Goldilocks Window, and we recommend most people buy their plane tickets during this time.

There are cases, though, when you’d want to book even further ahead of a trip. If you’re flying during peak travel season, for example, or you have very specific days when you can fly, we suggest adding a few months to the equation above. Dreaming of a summer holiday in Bali? Plan to book those tickets the winter before. And always try to book before the airlines start raising prices at the last minute, at 21, 14, and 7 days before a flight.

We love finding great deals on flights, but some destinations don’t make it easy. Bali, for instance, has zero direct flights from the US—there aren’t any direct flights from the US to any airport in Indonesia. Our beloved Greek Islands Trick, which works on way more places than just the Greek Islands, can sometimes help you save in cases like this.

The idea is to get as close as you can to your ultimate destination as cheaply as possible. Then, you’d book a separate ticket from that place to where you really want to be. Flying from New York or Atlanta to Bali might be $1,200-1,500 or more roundtrip. But if you can find a cheap fare to a major city nearby—think Bangkok, Singapore, or Tokyo—the chances are very good that you’ll be able to score a ticket on a low-cost regional airline that will still mean overall savings on your flights. Sure, this requires a little more logistical juggling on your part, but the savings can be substantial.

Flying out of your home airport is the preferred option most of the time, if for no other reason than convenience. But sometimes, there are shockingly low fares to the places you want to go that depart from other airports nearby—or not so nearby—that make it worth your while to do a little logistical juggling.

If you’re in Seattle and you want to visit Bali, you might get sticker shock when you see that fares are $1,200 and above for a roundtrip ticket. Widen your net a bit, however, and you may find a roundtrip fare from LA to Bali for less than $800. Even when you add a flight from Seattle to LAX for around $110, you’re still saving a nice sum of money.

There are some oft-quoted travel tips about saving money on airfare that seem obvious but bear repeating. When we say “fly when it’s cheaper,” what we really mean is that if your travel plans stay flexible, you’re better able to take advantage of a cheap fare. If you’re only looking at a summer trip to Bali, the island’s high season, or you absolutely have to fly on specific dates, you’re automatically reducing your chances of finding a deal on airfare.

If, however, you don’t have the luxury of traveling during the off-season, or your vacation days are set in stone, there are still some things you can try to save a little bit on airfare. The first two weeks of June and the last two of August, the beginning and end of the busy summer travel season, sometimes have cheaper fares. And, although flying domestically over Thanksgiving weekend is famously expensive, it’s often a pretty cheap time to fly internationally.

No matter when you travel, try to avoid the days when flights are typically more costly (Fridays and Sundays) and target the days when they tend to be cheaper (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays).

One of the easiest ways to keep track of ever-changing airfare without sacrificing all your free time to the task is to sign up for airfare alerts for the itinerary you’re looking at. When you sign up, you’ll then get an email notifying you when the fare is in the price range you want to pay. This helps give you the confidence to book when the price is right. An even easier option is to join Going—we’ll send you all the deals from your home airport.

The main international gateway in Bali is the Denpasar-Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS). It’s about eight miles from the capital city of Denpasar and between Kuta and Jimbaran, and it’s a hub for Garuda Indonesia as well as a focus city for Batik Air, Citilink, Indonesia AirAsia, Lion Air, and Wings Air. Major airlines serving Bali include AirAsia, Air New Zealand, Emirates, KLM, Qantas, Turkish Airlines, and Virgin Australia.

In terms of the busiest airports in Indonesia, Denpasar is second only to the airport in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital—49 airports around the world have direct service to Denpasar Airport—but there are no nonstop flights to either Bali or Jakarta from the United States. From the US, you’ll most likely have at least one layover elsewhere in Asia or the South Pacific, depending on where you’re flying from.