James Wolfe
Bali charges every foreign tourist a levy of Rp150,000 per person, paid once per trip, and the only official way to pay it online is the Bali provincial government’s Love Bali system at lovebali.baliprov.go.id. The levy is separate from your Indonesian visa, it is not collected by the national government, and paying it produces a levy voucher with a QR code, sent by email, which officers can ask to see at arrival points and during your stay. Pay it before you fly, keep the QR voucher offline on your phone, and the whole obligation takes a few minutes.
What are the quick facts about the Bali tourist levy?
- Amount: Rp150,000 per foreign tourist, paid once while travelling in Bali
- Official channel: Love Bali at lovebali.baliprov.go.id, the Bali provincial government system
- Payment: Cashless only, by card (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, JCB), bank transfer, virtual account, UnionPay or QRIS
- Proof: A levy voucher with a QR code, emailed after payment
- Where else you can pay: Payment counters at Bali airports and ports, and registered Love Bali endpoints such as hotels, travel agents and attractions
- Legal basis: Bali Provincial Regulation 6 of 2023, as amended by Regulation 2 of 2025, with payment procedures under Governor Regulation 2 of 2024 as amended by Regulation 25 of 2025
- Who is exempt: Seven listed categories, including diplomatic and official visa holders, transport crew, and KITAS and KITAP stay permit holders
What is the levy actually for, and who charges it?
The levy, formally the Foreign Tourist Levy for the Protection of Balinese Culture and the Natural Environment, is a charge of the Province of Bali, not of the Indonesian state. That distinction explains most of the confusion around it. Your visa or visa exemption is a national immigration matter, handled under national rules. The levy sits on top of it as a provincial charge on foreign tourists visiting Bali, created by Bali Provincial Regulation 6 of 2023 and amended by Provincial Regulation 2 of 2025. It applies to foreign tourists, which is why Indonesian citizens do not pay it, and why the same traveller owes nothing equivalent when visiting Java, Lombok or any other Indonesian province.
Under the official Love Bali guidance, the levy is paid once while travelling in Bali, before the traveller leaves the territory of Indonesia. It is not a daily charge, it is not charged per island hop within Indonesia, and it does not renew if you move between regions of Bali. One payment, one voucher, one trip: that is the structure to remember when a website tries to sell you anything more complicated.
How do you pay the levy on the official Love Bali system?
Pay before you arrive, on the official system at lovebali.baliprov.go.id. The process asks for your passport details, contact email and arrival information, then takes payment through electronic channels only: the provincial FAQ lists credit cards including Visa, Mastercard, American Express and JCB, bank transfer, virtual account, UnionPay and QRIS. There is no cash option online, and the system sends your proof of payment, the levy voucher with its QR code, to the email address you entered. That last detail matters: a mistyped email is the most common self-inflicted problem, so enter an address you can actually open on your phone, and if the voucher does not arrive, the province notes that payment can be verified from your passport data, so do not pay twice in a panic.
Two warnings protect your money here. First, use the government address and nothing that resembles it: the official domain ends in baliprov.go.id, the Bali provincial government domain, and private lookalike sites exist to charge the same levy plus a service fee, or worse. Second, the levy fee is Rp150,000 however you pay it. A checkout asking for a materially larger sum for the levy itself, rather than showing a transparent card charge, is not the provincial system. Travellers combining Bali with a wider Southeast Asia trip should treat this as one of three separate arrival tasks, alongside the national visa rules and any arrival card requirements, in the same way our guide to the 2 days in Singapore itinerary separates the city’s entry steps from the trip itself.
Did you forget to pay before your flight? Where else can you pay?
Forgetting does not strand you. The provincial system allows payment after arrival in three ways: through the Love Bali system itself, which you can open from Bali just as you would from home; at payment counters available at the airport and at ports in Bali; and while travelling, through registered Love Bali endpoints, which include hotels, travel agents and tourist attractions that have registered in the system. Cruise passengers are covered too: they can pay individually through the Love Bali site or as a group through registered cruise agents using the Love Bali endpoint service.
Paying on arrival still costs time at the point in the journey when you have least of it, in an arrivals hall, possibly with tired children and a driver waiting. Paying in advance costs five quiet minutes at home. The levy is one of the easiest pieces of trip administration in Southeast Asia to finish early, and one of the most annoying to leave until the airport, which is reason enough to do it with your visa paperwork rather than after it.
Who is exempt from the Bali tourist levy?
The provincial rules exempt the following categories of foreign national, as the official list sets them out: holders of diplomatic and official visas; crew members on transportation vehicles; holders of a Temporary Stay Permit Card (KITAS) or a Permanent Stay Permit Card (KITAP); holders of family unification visas; holders of student visas; holders of Golden Visas; and holders of other visas. In practice the list divides into two groups. Most of the exempt categories simply show their card or visa to the officer when asked. Golden Visa holders and holders of other visas, categories (f) and (g) in the official FAQ, must apply for their exemption through the Love Bali system in advance rather than relying on showing a document at a checkpoint.
Note what is not on the list. Ordinary tourists are not exempt by age, by length of stay or by how many times they have visited before, and a short trip owes the same Rp150,000 as a long one. If you believe you qualify for an exemption, the time to establish it is before travel, through the Love Bali system where your category requires an application, with the underlying visa or permit card carried in hand luggage either way.
Where do checks happen, and what should you carry?
Your proof is the levy voucher with its QR code, emailed by the system after payment. Carry it the way you carry a boarding pass: saved offline on your phone, with a screenshot that does not depend on airport wifi or a roaming signal, and the original email reachable if an officer wants to verify the details against your passport. Checks are built into the arrival flow at Bali’s airports and ports, where the same counters handle travellers who still need to pay, and the voucher system exists precisely so that officers can verify payment during your stay as well as at the border. Travellers arriving by sea, including on fast boats from neighbouring islands and on cruise ships, are inside the same system, not outside it.
Once paid, Bali itself is the reward, and the levy districts repay slow travel: the island’s temple and resort geography is laid out in our earlier stay at the Four Seasons Resort and Spa at Jimbaran Bay, a useful base for understanding how far the south coast bases sit from the cultural centre. However you structure the trip, finish the levy before the flight, keep the QR voucher, and this particular piece of Bali administration will never trouble you again.
Frequently asked questions
How much is the Bali tourist levy in 2026?
Rp150,000 per foreign tourist. The amount is set under Bali Provincial Regulation 6 of 2023 as amended by Regulation 2 of 2025, and it is paid once per trip, not per day and not per entry into a region of Bali.
Is the Bali levy the same as the visa on arrival fee?
No. They are separate charges run by different levels of government. Your visa or visa exemption is a national Indonesian immigration matter. The levy is a provincial charge collected by the Bali government through Love Bali, and paying one does not pay the other.
What happens if I land in Bali without paying the levy?
You can still pay after arrival: through the Love Bali system online, at the payment counters at Bali airports and ports, or at registered Love Bali endpoints such as hotels, travel agents and attractions during your stay. Expect it to take longer than paying in advance, and complete it before travelling around the island.
Do children have to pay the Bali tourist levy?
The official guidance sets the levy at Rp150,000 per person for foreign tourists and the published exemption list is based on visa and permit status, not age. Unless a child falls inside one of the seven exempt categories, plan on the levy applying, and check the Love Bali FAQ for your family’s exact status before you travel.
I paid but never received the QR voucher. What should I do?
Do not pay again straight away. Check the email address you entered, including spam folders, because the voucher is sent to that address. The Bali authorities note that where an email registration error has occurred, a levy payment can be verified from your passport data, so carry your payment confirmation and passport details and have the payment checked against them.
Does the levy apply if I arrive in Bali from another part of Indonesia?
Yes, the charge is on foreign tourists travelling in Bali, however they arrive, and the official guidance frames it as paid once while travelling in Bali before leaving Indonesia. Arriving on a domestic flight or by boat does not remove the obligation, and payment counters at ports as well as airports exist for exactly those arrivals.
