How much is the Bali tourist tax in Australian dollars?
Short answer: the Bali Tourist Levy is a flat IDR 150,000 per person, which works out to roughly AUD 15 on most days. It moves a dollar or two with the exchange rate, so treat that figure as "about fifteen bucks" rather than gospel.
It's a one-off for your trip, not a nightly charge, and there's no kids' discount — babies and toddlers on their own passport pay the same as you do. A family of four is looking at around AUD 60 all up.
That's the whole thing in a sentence. The rest of this page is the stuff Aussies actually get tripped up on: whether you can just pay it when you land, whether it's the same as your visa, and how to avoid the sites quietly charging triple.
Wait — is this the visa, or something else?
Different thing entirely, and this is where most people get muddled. As an Australian heading to Bali you're usually up for three separate things, and the levy is only one of them:
| What it is | Roughly | Paid to | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visa on Arrival (B1) | ~AUD 50 (IDR 500,000) | Indonesian immigration | National visa, 30 days, extendable once |
| Bali Tourist Levy | ~AUD 15 (IDR 150,000) | Bali provincial government | The thing this page is about |
| All Indonesia Arrival Card | Free | Indonesian customs | Online declaration, mandatory since Oct 2025 |
The visa and the levy are run by completely different bodies — one's national, one's Bali's own provincial government — which is exactly why they're billed separately and why you can't pay them in the same spot. The arrival card is free and quick, but it's been compulsory for every international arrival since October 2025, so don't skip it.
If you only remember one thing: the levy is the small one, about fifteen dollars, and it's Bali's, not Indonesia's.
Do you actually have to pay it?
Yes, it's a real, legislated charge — brought in on 14 February 2024 under Bali's provincial regulation, with the money earmarked for things like waste management, beach clean-ups and looking after the temples. Officially it applies to every foreign visitor.
Now, the honest bit. Enforcement has been patchy. Through 2025 only about a third of arrivals actually paid, and the province collected well under what it was hoping for. Bali immigration sits under the national government, so officers at the airport can't legally force you to show a levy receipt at passport control. What has ramped up in 2026 is spot-checking — tourism officers turn up at the big drawcards like Uluwatu, Tanah Lot and the Tegallalang rice terraces and ask to see your QR code. If you can't produce one, you pay on the spot.
There's no fine on the books as of June 2026, despite a few headlines floating a "ten times the levy" penalty that never actually became law. So the realistic risk isn't a fine or being turned away — it's getting pulled aside at the airport or a temple gate and paying it anyway, with a queue, when you could have had it done from your couch in Brunswick.
Pay before you fly, or sort it at the airport?
You can do either. There's a payment counter at Ngurah Rai after you clear immigration, and the price is identical whether you pay there or online — nobody's marking it up at the desk.
The catch is timing. If you're on one of the red-eye Jetstar or Virgin runs that dump three or four wide-bodies onto the tarmac at once, that counter can turn into a 20–40 minute shuffle right when you're jet-lagged and just want a Bintang. During the July and December school holidays it's worse. Paying ahead means you walk past all of that with the QR already on your phone.
The official channel is the Bali government's own portal, lovebali.baliprov.go.id — the only site ending in .go.id. It works, though plenty of travellers find the form fiddly and the occasional card decline frustrating. If you'd rather have it handled in plain English, pay for the whole family in one go, and get the QR codes emailed straight back, that's the gap a service like Vistumo fills.
Do the kids have to pay?
They do. The levy is per person with no age exemption, so a five-year-old and a five-month-old each need their own IDR 150,000 paid and their own QR code, as long as they're travelling on a passport. It surprises a lot of families, because plenty of tourist taxes around the world wave through under-12s. This one doesn't.
Practical tip for groups: keep the QR codes labelled by name. The easiest way is to knock them all out in a single transaction so they come back together rather than chasing four separate confirmation emails. Make sure each name matches the passport exactly — middle names included — because the code is tied to the traveller, not the card.
"Is this a scam?" — how to tell the real thing from a rip-off
Fair question, and the instinct is healthy, because there genuinely are dodgy operators in this space. The levy itself is legitimate. What's not legitimate are the copycat sites — usually .com or .org lookalikes — that quietly charge two to three times the real amount, bury a vague "handling fee" you only see after you've paid, or take your money and never send a working QR.
Two simple gut-checks. First, the underlying levy is IDR 150,000, about AUD 15 — if a site is pulling AUD 45 or more for the levy alone with no explanation, close the tab. Second, you should always end up with a scannable QR code in your inbox; if there's no clear proof of payment, something's off.
The official government site is lovebali.baliprov.go.id and it costs you exactly the levy. If you'd prefer a hand with it — English checkout, group payments, the QR delivered to your email — that's a reasonable thing to want, and there are trustworthy ways to do it. Just make sure whoever you use shows you what the levy is and gets you that code.
A quick pre-Bali checklist for Aussies
- Visa on Arrival — about AUD 50, sort it online or at the airport
- Bali Tourist Levy — about AUD 15 per head, this page's hero, pay ahead if you can
- All Indonesia Arrival Card — free, do it within three days of flying
- Passport — six months' validity past your arrival date, and a blank page
- QR codes — saved in a couple of places, named per traveller
Get those five sorted and your Bali arrival is genuinely just: plane, passport, bags, Grab to the villa.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is the Bali tourist tax in Australian dollars?
It's IDR 150,000 per person, which is roughly AUD 15 depending on the exchange rate that day. It hasn't changed since the levy launched in February 2024. A family of four pays around AUD 60 in total.
Do Australians have to pay the Bali tourist levy?
Yes. It applies to all foreign visitors, including Australians, regardless of your visa type. It's separate from your Visa on Arrival and from the free arrival card.
Can I pay the Bali tourist tax at the airport when I land?
You can. There's a payment desk at Ngurah Rai (Denpasar) after immigration, and the price is the same as paying online. The downside is queues — they can run 20–40 minutes when several international flights land together, which is common on overnight services and during school holidays.
Do my kids have to pay the Bali levy?
Yes, every traveller pays IDR 150,000 regardless of age, including infants and children on their own passport. There's no family cap and no age exemption, so a family of four pays four levies.
Is the Bali tourist tax the same as the visa?
No. The Visa on Arrival (around AUD 50) is a national immigration fee. The tourist levy (around AUD 15) is a separate provincial charge collected by the Bali government. Most Australians pay both, plus complete the free arrival card.
What happens if I don't pay it?
There's no fine and immigration can't block you over it — but that's not the same as getting away clean. Tourism officers spot-check QR codes at the big sights and around the airport, and if you can't show one you're paying on the spot, on patchy data, while everyone else heads to the beach. For about fifteen bucks, having it done before you fly means you never have that moment — and with checks tightening through 2026, that's only going to matter more.
When should I pay the Bali tourist levy?
Any time before you arrive is fine, and paying before you fly is the easiest path — you skip the airport counter entirely. There's no advantage to leaving it until you land beyond one less thing to do before the trip.
Do I pay again if I take a side trip to the Gili Islands or Lombok?
The official Love Bali guidance describes it as a one-time payment for your time travelling in Bali, not a daily or per-island charge. The portal doesn't spell out every re-entry scenario, so if your itinerary involves leaving and re-entering Indonesia, it's worth a quick check on the official site before you go.
Is paying the levy online safe?
The levy itself is a legitimate government charge. The thing to watch is the site you use — stick to the official lovebali.baliprov.go.id or a reputable service that clearly shows the levy amount and emails you a real QR code. Avoid any site charging well above the ~AUD 15 levy with fees it won't explain.
Sort it before you go
The levy is the smallest line item of your whole Bali trip, and also the easiest one to forget until you're standing in an arrivals queue wondering why there's a second counter. Do it from home, get the QR codes filed away, and the only thing waiting for you at Ngurah Rai is the humidity.