What is everyday life like for the Balinese?
To understand Bali, you have to get up early. Days start at dawn, with roosters crowing and the first offerings, laid out by the women of the house. In the morning, children head to school in uniform while adults go off to the rice fields, the sea, the shops or the hotels. Lunch is simple and quick. The afternoon is often given over to community life: preparing offerings for a ceremony, decorating the temple, rehearsing a dance.
Family is the pillar of everything. Several generations live on the same plot, in a cluster of small pavilions around the family temple. By tradition, sons stay in the family compound and daughters join their husband's family after marriage.
And ceremonies decide the rest: it is not unusual for a neighbour, a driver or a shopkeeper to tell you they are unavailable on a certain day because of a ceremony, and nobody finds this strange.
On health:
- The puskesmas: community health centres, found everywhere at village level. They are the first port of call, some with a few beds.
- Private clinics and hospitals: mostly in the south and around Denpasar. They can be expensive for travellers (see the health and precautions section).
- The balian, a traditional healer: many Balinese consult one alongside modern medicine, for care of the body and the mind.
- National health insurance (BPJS) for residents.
Tourism has become the island's main activity, but village life remains very present outside the tourist districts.
Verdict: you will see more of Bali in an hour's walk through a village at 7 am than in a day at a beach club.
Tip: get up early and walk through a village when children are leaving for school and offerings are being prepared: that is when social life is most visible. Smile, say hello, and don't enter a private courtyard without an invitation.
Information checked in October 2026.