Where is Bali? Location, Maps and Facts

Bali is both an island and a province of Indonesia, set in the tropics of Southeast Asia about 8 degrees south of the equator. It sits at the western end of a long chain called the Lesser Sunda Islands, which trail eastwards from Java towards Timor. Only a narrow strait separates it from Java, the most populous island of Indonesia, while a deeper one to the east divides it from Lombok. The Indian Ocean rolls in from the south; the calmer Bali Sea lies to the north.

For all that it feels different, Bali is not a country. It is one province among Indonesia’s 38, with its capital at Denpasar in the south and its own international airport, Ngurah Rai. What marks it out from its neighbours is its people and their Hindu faith, which shaped the temples, festivals and terraced landscapes travellers come to see. Grasp where the island sits, in the world and within Indonesia, and much of the practical side of a trip there falls into place.

Bali is a small island in the Indonesian archipelago, in Southeast Asia, one of more than seventeen thousand islands strung along the equator between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It sits just east of Java, at the western end of the Lesser Sunda chain, eight degrees south of the equator.

A province and an island

When people say “Bali” they usually mean the main island, but the official meaning is the province of Bali, which also takes in three small offshore islands to the south-east. The province is one of the smaller units of Indonesia by area, yet it is one of the best known internationally because of tourism. Its administration runs from Denpasar, and it is divided into eight regencies and one city, each covering a slice of the island from coast to mountains.

The island itself is compact. It measures roughly 145 km from west to east and about 80 km from north to south, so no point is very far from another in a straight line. Road conditions and traffic, rather than raw distance, are what shape a journey. A spine of volcanoes runs across the middle and north, and rivers cut down from these highlands to the coast, carving the ridges and valleys on which the famous rice terraces are built.

East of Java, in the Lesser Sunda chain

Bali marks the point where the Greater Sunda Islands give way to the Lesser Sunda Islands. Java, to the west, is part of the larger group; Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores and the islands stretching towards Timor form the smaller, drier chain to the east. The Bali Strait that divides Bali from Java is only about 2.5 km wide at its narrowest, and a ferry crosses it constantly between Gilimanuk and Ketapang.

This position has a deeper significance for naturalists. The Lombok Strait, just east of Bali, follows the line that the naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace identified as the boundary between Asian and Australasian wildlife, now called the Wallace Line. Bali sits on the Asian side of that divide, which is why its forests and animals feel more like those of mainland Asia than those of Australia, even though Australia is not far to the south-east.

The steep cliffs and turquoise water of Nusa Penida, off the south-east coast of Bali

The lie of the land, north to south

The island tilts from a volcanic centre down to the sea on every side, and this shapes where people live and where visitors stay. Across the middle and towards the north rise the great volcanoes, Mount Agung and Mount Batur among them, with crater lakes cupped in the highlands. Rain falls heaviest on these slopes, feeding the rivers and the irrigation channels that make the rice terraces possible.

The south is where most visitors spend their time. The airport, Denpasar and the best-known beach areas all sit on the wider southern lowlands and the Bukit Peninsula, the limestone headland that hangs below the rest of the island. Ubud lies inland in the cultural heartland, a little higher and cooler. The north coast, reached over the mountains, is quieter, and the east around Amed is drier and more remote. Our page on reading a map of Bali sets out these regions in more detail.

Getting your bearings on arrival

Because almost everyone arrives at Ngurah Rai airport in the south, your first sense of Bali is of the busy southern lowlands. The resorts of Kuta, Seminyak and Jimbaran are within a short drive, while Ubud is roughly 90 minutes inland and Uluwatu sits on the peninsula to the south. The Nusa Islands are reached not from the airport but from the beach town of Sanur, where fast boats leave through the morning.

One small tropical island, close to Java and 8 degrees off the equator: that single fact explains a great deal about a trip here. Heat and humidity hold steady all year, the sun sets early and fast so near the equator, and the sea shapes life on every coast. For the practical side of arriving, our guides on getting to Bali and the best time to visit carry the story forward.

Frequently asked questions

What country is Bali in?+

Bali is part of Indonesia, the large archipelagic country of Southeast Asia. It is one of Indonesia's 38 provinces, and the province covers the main island of Bali plus a few small offshore islands. Bali is not a separate country, although it has a distinct language, religion and culture of its own. You enter Indonesia when you land, so Indonesian visa and customs rules apply.

Where exactly is Bali on the map?+

Bali sits at roughly 8 degrees south of the equator and 115 degrees east, at the western end of the chain known as the Lesser Sunda Islands. It lies just east of the much larger island of Java, separated from it by the narrow Bali Strait. The Indian Ocean is to the south and the Bali Sea to the north. On a world map it is south of the Southeast Asian mainland and north-west of Australia.

How far is Bali from Java?+

The Bali Strait between Bali and Java is only about 2.5 km across at its narrowest point. A car and passenger ferry runs constantly between Gilimanuk in west Bali and Ketapang near Banyuwangi in Java, and the crossing itself takes under an hour. Most visitors never make this trip because they arrive by air. The two islands are close, but Bali feels culturally very different from its Muslim-majority neighbour.

What is the capital of Bali?+

Denpasar is the capital and largest city of the province, in the south of the island. It is the administrative and commercial centre and home to markets, government offices and the main hospitals. Most visitors pass near it rather than stay in it, because the airport and the main resort areas sit just to its south and west. The seat of the provincial governor is in the neighbouring town of Renon.

Which airport do you fly into for Bali?+

Bali has one international airport, Ngurah Rai International Airport, with the code DPS. It sits between Kuta and Jimbaran in the south of the island, a few kilometres from the main beach resorts. Almost every visitor arrives here, whether on a direct flight from Australia or a connection through a hub such as Singapore, Kuala Lumpur or Doha. From the airport it is a short transfer to the southern resorts and about 90 minutes to Ubud.

What are the small islands off Bali?+

Three small islands lie off the south-east coast: Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan, together called the Nusa Islands. They are reached by fast boat from Sanur in about 30 to 45 minutes. They are administratively part of Bali but feel quieter and more rugged, with steep cliffs and strong currents. To the west, across the Bali Strait, is Java, and to the east, across the Lombok Strait, is the island of Lombok.

Is Bali in the same time zone all year?+

Yes. Bali uses Central Indonesian Time, known as WITA, which is UTC+8. Indonesia does not observe daylight saving, so the offset never changes. That puts Bali on the same clock as Singapore, Perth and Hong Kong. It is usually a couple of hours behind the eastern states of Australia and around seven to eight hours ahead of central Europe, depending on the season in those places.

How big is Bali?+

Bali is a small island, about 5,780 square kilometres, which is roughly the size of a small English county or the American state of Delaware. You can drive from the south coast to the north coast in a few hours, traffic permitting. Despite its size it holds volcanoes over 3,000 metres, crater lakes, long beaches and hundreds of villages. Its compactness is part of the appeal, because very different landscapes sit close together.