Australian owned & operatedSmall groups, max 12
An Australian host, local guides, and a 15-year little black book of the island — all-inclusive, small groups, and not a single thing for you to organise.
If you’re the careful sort, this page is for you. It puts our small group Bali tours next to the two other ways of doing the island, and it’s honest about all three. Then it covers the things people ask about quietly: the group size, where the money goes, and what happens if something goes wrong.
A small table at a family warung: the host, one guide and a couple of guests, food on the table, warm afternoon light through the doorway. Candid, nobody looking at the camera. Landscape, 1400 by 900.
We’ve tried to be fair to the other two. Plenty of people do Bali on their own and love it, and a coach tour suits some travellers. This is about what you’re paying for when you come with us.
The short version. You pay one price in Australian dollars before you fly. Someone from home is with you the whole way. And the day the coach can’t have, the hour before the buses, is the one we build the trip around.
The group size is the decision every other decision depends on. Here is what twelve makes possible, and what twenty would take away.
Twelve fits in small private cars. Cars get down the lanes to the warungs, the family compounds and the temples that a coach physically cannot reach. Every hidden spot in the Itinerary Pack is one a coach can’t get to, and that’s not a coincidence.
Twelve fits at one long table. You eat where the families eat, and you eat together, which is where most of the friendships on these trips get made. A group of forty eats at the restaurant with the coach park.
Twelve can be at Tirta Empul at 7:30 and back in the cars before the first bus pulls in. Twelve can wait while someone takes a photo, or sits down, or asks the guide a question that turns into twenty minutes. Forty is always being counted.
And twelve is the number where one person can genuinely look after everyone. If you’d rather skip a walk, there’s a car and a driver to sit with you, and the trip doesn’t stop. If you’re unwell, your host can be at the doctor with you while the guides carry on with the rest. That doesn’t work at forty. It barely works at twenty.
— [[NEEDS INPUT: founder first name]]
Eight to twelve guests in sarongs and sashes crossing an empty temple courtyard with a guide pointing something out, soft 7:30am light, no crowds. Landscape, 1200 by 800.
Five commitments about who gets your money and what we won’t do for a photo. The long version is on our responsible travel page.
Our guides are paid a proper wage, agreed up front, for every day they work with us. Tips are on top of that, never instead of it. You can read about each of them on this site, with their photos, because they are the trip.
Where a family-run or Balinese-owned property meets the standard our guests expect, we use it. Where one doesn’t, we use a larger hotel and tell you which is which. Comfort comes first, and we don’t pretend otherwise.
You won’t find an elephant ride, a civet-coffee plantation stop or a photo with a sedated animal on any of our itineraries. The wildlife you’ll see is the kind that lives there. The monkeys at Ubud are wild, and yes, they will have a go at your sunglasses.
On the water at Nusa Penida or Lembongan we use operators who tie up to moorings rather than dropping anchor on coral, and who don’t feed the fish for a show. [[NEEDS INPUT: confirm the reef operator standards we require]]
Water is always included. Rather than a mountain of small plastic bottles, every guest gets a refillable bottle on day one and the cars carry large refill containers. Sealed bottled water is there whenever a refill isn’t. [[NEEDS INPUT: confirm the refillable-bottle system in use]]
Read the full statement on our responsible travel page, including what we ask of the operators we work with.
Nobody books a holiday for the safety plan. Our guests still want to know there is one, so here it is, in the order you’d need it.
There is one number for you and one for the family at home, answered around the clock in both countries. Your host is in the seat in front of you anyway. The line exists for the middle of the night and for whoever is worrying about you back home.
Your host carries a first-aid kit on every outing, with the basics for cuts, stings, heat and upset stomachs. [[NEEDS INPUT: confirm first-aid certification held]] Anything beyond the basics goes to a doctor, not to us.
We won’t take you without it. Not because we expect trouble, but because if it comes, the difference between a covered guest and an uncovered one is tens of thousands of dollars. We’ll help you choose a policy that covers what you’re actually doing.
You tell your host, and that’s the end of your admin. The host or a guide takes you to the doctor, sits with you, translates and sorts the paperwork. The group carries on with the guides for the day and you rejoin when you’re right. Nobody gets left in a hotel room to work it out alone.
We take you to one of the main private hospitals, not the nearest sign that says clinic. If you need to be flown home, medical evacuation is arranged and paid for by your travel insurer, which is the main reason insurance is compulsory. We stay on the phone with the insurer, the hospital and your family until you’re where you need to be.
| Base | Nearest hospital and drive time |
|---|---|
| Ubud | [[NEEDS INPUT: nearest hospital per base]] |
| Sanur | [[NEEDS INPUT: nearest hospital per base]] |
| The southern cliffs | [[NEEDS INPUT: nearest hospital per base]] |
| The north lakes | [[NEEDS INPUT: nearest hospital per base]] |
| The east coast | [[NEEDS INPUT: nearest hospital per base]] |
| Sidemen | [[NEEDS INPUT: nearest hospital per base]] |
| Nusa Penida or Lembongan | [[NEEDS INPUT: nearest hospital per base]] |
Every base on every itinerary is chosen with the nearest hospital in mind. More on Bali Belly, medications and what to pack in the FAQ.
Three things a careful reader checks before ringing anyone. Here they are, up front.
ABN [[NEEDS INPUT: ABN]]
An Australian small business, based in Australia, that you can ring in Australian business hours.
$500 per person, refundable for 14 days
Change your mind inside two weeks and you get every cent back, no questions asked.
[[NEEDS INPUT: ATAS/AFTA accreditation number, if held]]
Ask us anything about how your money is held and protected. We’d rather you asked.
The full booking conditions are on the terms page and the insurance detail is on the travel insurance page. Neither has any surprises, and we’d rather you read them.
Careful people make the best guests. If there’s a question this page hasn’t answered, it’ll be on the FAQ, in the Itinerary Pack, or in [[NEEDS INPUT: founder first name]]’s head, and all three are easy to get to.
— [[NEEDS INPUT: founder first name]]
Have a real conversation with [[NEEDS INPUT: founder first name]] — no sales pitch, no obligation. Tell him who’s coming and what you’re after, and he’ll tell you honestly which package fits, or whether now’s the wrong time of year.