Wanderlands Travel review: 2 week tour of Bali and Lombok in Indonesia
An honest review of my experience with Wanderlands Travel
I heard so much about Bali from my Australian friends over the years and I considered visiting just by myself, as there is a good backpacker infrastructure on the island with lots of hostels and activities. I chose to book the tour because I liked the range of included activities and the idea of being with other young budget travellers, especially going over to the islands and on to Lombok. I booked this tour in October 2019 and I paid for it myself, so this is a completely independent review.
I had some great experiences on this tour like visiting the beautiful coastal temples around Bali, the rice terraces and monkeys forests in Ubud, diving and snorkelling near the Gili Islands, the beautiful beaches and local culture on Lombok, and watching the sunset anywhere on the islands with a lemon Bintang beer !
You can read a detailed day-by-day summary of all the experiences I had on this tour or jump straight to the end where I share what I liked, what could have been better, and my final recommendation for this tour of Bali and Lombok.
Quick Overview of the Wanderlands Bali and Lombok Tour
Destinations: Kuta area on Bali, Ubud, the island of Gili T, Kuta on Lombok, Lovina.
Highlights: The island lifestyle and SCUBA diving on Gili T, the beaches on Lombok, the oceanside temples on Bali, visiting the rice terraces, all the good vegetarian food and watching the sunset with a lemon Bintang beer !
Who was on the trip: We were a group of 18 people, 13 from Germany, including several students and gap year travellers, one girl from Mexico, a security guard from the USA, a teacher from England and another British girl on her way to Australia. There were 17 women and 2 men and around 75% were solo travellers and two German couples.
Who was the guide: We had one guide the entire time on this Wanderlands Bali and Lombok tour. She was actually Canadian and around the same age as me, and I think a relatively new guide. I thought she had a good social and positive personality and always kept everything organized, just maybe not as strong on local cultural knowledge.
How did we travel: We had private minibus transfers driven by local drivers on a number of occasions, we took large public ferry boats twice (which were quite busy) a small fast boat once and we walked around in several towns and did some longer walks to reach attractions like waterfalls a few times.
Where did we stay: This tour used a mix of hotel, hostel and resort style accommodation. I believe all rooms were air conditioned, and double or triple share except for Puri Gardens where we had four share bunkbeds. All places we stayed had pools and good breakfast, which was included. The last resort in Lovina was particularly beautiful with a huge pool and nice landscaping. All places were clean and good quality, the bathroom was just a bit small and damp at Puri Gardens.
Recommended Luggage: The majority of people on this tour had big backpacks and two people had rolling backpacks. You need to be able to carry your luggage yourself on and off the ferries and other short distances.
Arrival in Kuta and meeting the Wanderlands group
The Wanderlands Bali and Lombok group was the first tour I joined on a 2 month backpacking trip of South East Asia. I had originally flown into Singapore from Canada and then visited Malacca and Kuala Lumpur as a solo traveller before flying into Bali from Malaysia.
Travel Tip: Be assertive and defend your place in the immigration and customs line-up at Denpasar airport, I had several people try to push past me and someone kept shoving me forward with a travel pillow, orderly queueing and lining up doesn’t work the same way in Bali.
I arrived a bit later than expected on the first night, so the tour guide gave me the name of the restaurant where the Wanderlands group all went out for dinner together so I could meet them after stopping by the hotel.
I was really looking forward to meeting everyone, and the group seemed nice when people introduced themselves, but also fairly quiet and reserved and no one wanted to stay out or do anything, which was honestly a bit disappointing. But I also totally understand that if people just came off long international flights, they might be tired on the first day.
The tour guide was actually a girl my age from Canada, so we stayed out together for a while and we talked to some other backpackers in the restaurant before returning to the hotel together around midnight. The guide said the previous group she had lead partied every day, so it’s up to chance what kind of group you get.
Uluwatu Temple and Surf Lesson
The hotel we stayed at in Kuta was good quality for a budget tour and had air conditioning and a fairly large pool area. I was sharing my hotel room with one of the German girls, and the breakfast buffet in the morning was great, so many fresh fruits and lots of options for vegetarians. The guide then showed us which bank machines to use in Bali, there are some sketchy ATMs, but ‘Mandiri’ brand ones seem to be safe. This is also a good time to grab a cheap SIM card from a convenience store.
Travel Tip: Many bank machines in South East Asia will return your card after dispensing your cash, which is the opposite order from North America and Europe and it is very easy to lose or forget your card after the transaction. If you can, bring a travel money card or prepaid card in addition to your regular debit card, so that at least you have a backup option if you lose one. Two people on the tour lost their bank cards on the first day.
Our first included activity this morning was a visit to the Uluwatu Temple, which is built on a 70 metre high cliff overlooking the ocean and highlighted by colourful plants and flowers. You do need to wear ‘temple clothes’ for this visit, or just cover your shorts/skirt with a sarong they provided there. Also, be very careful of the temple monkeys at Uluwatu, we saw them steal a Chinese tourist’s iPhone, throw someone’s sunglasses off the cliff and even steal the tour guide’s actual prescription glasses off her face and bite off one of the nose pads. Keep anything important zipped away and carried close in front of you. We also stopped for fresh coconuts after visiting the temple – I loved having fresh fruits and smoothies every day in Asia !
After lunch back in the Kuta area, there was included surf lesson with boards provided. I have been surfing in Spain and Australia before, and just never quite got the hang of it, so I was looking forward to this, and I actually got up on the board a few times ! The beach and the water were also cleaner than I expected, as I had seen some terrible pictures of beaches just covered in plastic trash when I was doing research for this trip to Bali. Do your best to avoid single use plastics in Asia, to not contribute to the issue of plastic pollution.
Later in the evening, we all walked from the hotel to a multi-level buffet restaurant/nightclub which had unlimited food and drinks until 10pm and a hot tub (no one actually got in the hot tub). I think we were able to get to know each other better this evening, I think some of the quietness and awkwardness the night before was due to the language barrier, I thought our group was really nice, very calm and relaxed, not a big party group. We all danced together in a big circle for a while, and I went home with the three other English speaking girls around midnight.
Tanah Lot Temple and Ubud Monkey Forest
We packed our luggage onto a private minibus to reach the first stop at Tanah Lot Temple, which is another coastal temple set on a rock island, we had just about 1.5 hours to walk around before continuing the bus journey to Ubud.
After checking into our next accommodation in Ubud at the Puri Garden Hotel and having lunch at the attached café, we walked 15 minutes through town to the Ubud Monkey Forest. This is a nature sanctuary area for Balinese long tailed macaque monkeys, and over 1000 of them live in the forest ! You can get lots of fun pictures here, including the selfies that look like a monkey is taking it, just keep a hold of items like water bottles, as the monkeys may snatch them from you.
Most of the group went to visit a local market afterwards, we got on a shuttle bus, but traffic in Ubud was so bad around 5pm that it was faster to get off and walk. I found the market a bit overwhelming as a first time visitor to Asia.
Travel Tip: Remember that the starting price a vendor offers in the markets will be way too high and you are expected to bargain, just walk away if you don’t want something. But if you agree to a price you are expected to buy the item. I was looking for shorts, and the first price I was offered was 25 dollars to start then it ended around 4 dollars.
There was an optional BBQ buffet dinner at Puri Gardens Hotel that night, and there we also a traditional Balinese dance presentation and live music. This was a really fun and relaxing evening, and there were lots of other backpackers staying at the hotel (which also offers hostel rooms), so it’s a very social atmosphere.
Coffee Farm and Rice Terraces in Ubud
We started the fourth day of this Wanderlands tour with an included visit to a coffee farm. There was a guided forest walk where they explained how coffee is produced (including the ‘luwak coffee’ which is extracted from beans that have already been eaten by a civet) and we sampled raw cocoa beans and different teas.
From the research I did after the visit, there is some suggestion that animals can be mistreated in the production of the ‘Luwak Coffee.’ I don’t think the place we visited was doing anything wrong, but vegans and vegetarians may wish to do your own research on the product before purchasing any.
The tour ends in a gift shop but there is no pressure to buy anything, I think its always great to learn more about where our food comes from and the farm area is beautiful overlooking the jungle.
Lunch was at set price buffet restaurant overlooking Mount Batur, which had lots of options and it was great to not be waiting forever for table service. I really liked how this Wanderlands tour included dining options that were suitable for the group size, later on my tour of Thailand, we were sometimes stuck waiting two hours or more in restaurants for the whole group to be served.
In the afternoon, we walked through the famous rice terraces of Ubud at Tegalalang, which you have likely seen pictures of before. It was quite busy with other visitors and gets super-hot in the afternoon walking up and down through the terraces, so wear a hat and drink water ! There was a stop to get fruit smoothies and a chance to get pictures on the swings overlooking the terraces. The really high ones have safety harnesses and there are swing operators who take the photos for you, for a few dollars. It may seem a bit like a silly tourist activity, but I enjoyed it and it is a fun chance to get nice memories of your Bali experience.
We returned to Puri Gardens again for the evening and just went swimming and had free time to go shopping and grab dinner in Ubud. This is also a good chance to stock up on anything you are missing at the large supermarkets in town before going out to the islands, which have a more limited selection. Several people also signed up for an optional early morning hike of Mount Batur to see the sunrise, so everyone was once again in bed pretty early.
Travel Tip: Sunscreen is weirdly expensive in Bali, especially out on the islands or in isolated areas, bring your preferred brand from home or try to purchase it from big supermarkets for better pricing.
Local School Visit and Tegenungan Waterfall
Those of us who chose not to do the hike got to sleep in today until the sunrise hikers returned to the hostel. The included experience today was a ‘school volunteering visit’ which I was extremely suspicious of. I actually almost chose not to book this tour because of the ‘volunteering.’ I just think that often these activities are a way for people from well off countries to take pictures and pretend they are actually helping when they are really just on vacation, and I was also concerned about whether we would be interrupting the school children in any way or taking away from their actual learning.
However, we visited during the school lunch hour recess and helped the school children practice English and they played sports, and did a song and dance presentation and money could be donated to support the school. Overall, I think this experience was ok, and I thought it was interesting to learn about the local Bali schooling system but I would have liked to see some kind of statement on the Wanderlands website about how this actually helps the school children.
Our next stop was the Tegenungan Waterfall and nearby Mooi River Resort. We walked down to the bottom of the falls and went swimming and there was a full on professional influencer photo shoot going on at the same time there – crazy how much work it takes for fancy Instagram pictures ! The resort had an infinity pool area, there was time for lunch and to relax in the pool with a lemon Bintang beer, which quickly became one of my favorite drinks on this trip.
Back at Puri Gardens, you could sign up for massages and pedicures and we just relaxed in the pool area and there was another BBQ dinner with music and karaoke. Puri Gardens was a great hostel, the way its laid out around the central courtyard area was really social and the activities they offered in the evening were always good. Overall, this was a slightly random, but fairly relaxing day.
Ferry to Gili T and Sunset Bike Ride
It was an early morning on day 6, we left Bali for the Gili Islands at 6:30am on a private bus and boarded a public ferry boat all together. I think one of the best parts of this Wanderlands tour was having the transportation arranged and not having to sort out buses and ferry tickets alone.
Upon arrival on the small island of Gili Trawangan (usually shortened to Gili T in English) we walked along the beach with our luggage, since no cars are allowed on the island, though there are horse carts and bicycles. We stayed in triple share hotel rooms at Pesona Hotel and Resort, it was right on the beach front and had two nice pools.
During lunch at the hotel, there was SCUBA diving info presentation and most people signed up to do a ‘Discovery Dive’ the next morning, which is a guided dive for those who don’t have their full SCUBA diving certification. I thought the pricing on this optional was really reasonable (around 100$ in 2019) and you could add a professional video and photos for a few dollars more.
The rest of our first day on Gili T was just spent relaxing at the hotel pool and taking a sunset bike ride to a resort on the other side of the island to watch the sun go down with another lemon Bintang. We had dinner all together at a restaurant with super slow service, its just different that what you might be used to at home, meals are brought out sometimes in a pretty random order.
Everyone went to bed soon after, no partying at all because most people were diving the next morning and wanted to be well rested.
Photos from the photography package purchased from Dive Central Gili T.
SCUBA Diving + Gili T Pub Crawl
This was the SCUBA diving day ! All equipment and wetsuits were provided, and we did the safety training in the pool first. The instructors separated us by ability level, I got placed with all the scared people who needed extra help.
I am so grateful the safety training was in a pool and not the ocean. On my Thailand tour, several people did the training in the ocean and said it was stressful and difficult with the waves. Out in the open water, it took me three tries to actually go down underwater and I got stung by a small jellyfish right when we jumped in, so that didn’t help.
I don’t remember much of the dive because I was so terrified, but it was an amazing experience to see the coral and look up at the water above you. The dive boat also made a short stop for snorkelling afterwards at a site called the ‘Gili Meno Underwater Statues’, which is cool for underwater pictures if you have a GoPro. I really think SCUBA diving is a once in a lifetime experience and Gili T is a great place to try, I was very impressed with having a nice, patient instructor and the safety standards seemed very high with Dive Central Gili T.
Back on the island, we all had lunch at an Irish bar together (everywhere I’ve ever been in the world seems to have an Irish bar) and a few people made arrangements to get tattoo consultations, since Gili T is also apparently a popular place to do this. (Not for me, I am terrified of needles !). The tour guide sorted out pub crawl tickets and wristbands that afternoon for the Gili T Pub Crawl later that evening and we got a discounted group rate, which was nice to save a bit of money.
I think pub crawls can be hit or miss in terms how social people are and the quality of the actual places you go, but the Gili T Pub Crawl was a lot of fun. At the first stop, the organizers led an ice breaker game and we met lots of other travellers and backpackers, the second stop had beer pong and other games, and I think we ended up back at the Tir Na Nog Irish Bar from earlier that day. The great thing about Gili T, was that you could just walk back to the hotel easily when you are ready to go home, since everything is close together along the beach.
Gili T Free Day and Cooking Class
This Wanderlands Bali and Lombok tour actually had two parts, some travellers had booked just the one week Bali and Gili T part, while others had booked the extension to Lombok after Gili T. We had to say goodbye to some people this day, our group went from around 18 people down to 12 people and no one new joined. I remember actually being mildly shocked when the American girl told me she had flown to Bali from New York for just a week, because that seems like such a short travel time, but in some parts of the world, that’s all people get for vacation.
This was really a rest day/free day on Gili T, there was nothing scheduled until an included cooking class in the evening. We just got to enjoy the hotel pool and I went bathing suit shopping with the remaining two British girls.
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I actually spent most of my time on this tour with the two other British girls, because we were the only native English speakers left, besides the guide. The three of us got along really well and were all around the same age, so I think that was lucky, since the group did feel kind of separated sometimes when the Germans all spoke German together. (I am a bilingual person and I know how exhausting it is to always use your second language, and I obviously wouldn’t have expected the Germans to always accomodate three English people).
I was really looking forward to the cooking class this evening, both to learn more about Indonesian culture and to actually learn some cooking techniques for Asian dishes. Unfortunately, the cooking class was not a well-structured experience, we arrived around 7pm ready to eat, and we cooked the dessert first, then an appetizer and two main dishes over the course of four hours and people were so exhausted by the end, we just wanted to eat and not keep making things.
The chef misunderstood someone’s allergy and she got a reaction to the ingredients, and some other girls got really upset when the chef kept adding more hot spices to their curry that they didn’t want. There was also no drink service for a long time, and no hand soap for washing hands, which concerned me when people were cooking meat. The tour guide also wasn’t with us for the cooking class, and I think she probably should have been to help manage some of these issues. The food we actually made was good but it just wasn’t well organized, so I hope Wanderlands modifies that experience for future groups.
Boat Ride to Lombok, Sasak Weaving Village and Yoga Class
When I booked this tour, I chose the extension to Lombok because I wanted to see the cultural contrast of visiting another area of Indonesia, since Bali is mostly Hindu and reflects that tradition, Lombok is majority Muslim, so things are a bit different there. Getting from Gili T to Lombok is also super-fast and easy, we literally walked into the ocean with our luggage, got on a speedboat and we arrived on Lombok within 20 minutes.
We took a private mini bus transfer to our first included activity, a visit to a cultural village which showcases weaving and crafts and the traditions of the Sasak people of the island. There was a local guide and we got to see inside a village house, I thought this experience was very important (especially since our Wanderlands guide wasn’t a local) to actually learn about local culture. They also had lots of beautiful textiles and weavings for sale to bring home.
Later we checked into another resort style hotel in triple share air conditioned rooms, which also had a nice, big pool and offered welcome fruit smoothies when we arrived. Lunch was at an excellent Mediterranean restaurant and the guide arranged advance orders the previous day, so we weren’t stuck waiting around for food.
The included activity this evening was a yoga class at Ashtari Lounge and Yoga Loft, and the class was held outdoors on a raised platform among trees and flowers overlooking the ocean, this was probably the most beautiful place I’ve ever done yoga ! The attached resort also had a good restaurant, so we ate there and watched the sunset. Back at the hotel, it was a very relaxed evening, we just played cards out by the pool area for a while.
Lombok Beach Day
This morning, we set off for a full day island road trip to visit different beaches ! The first stop called Selong Belanak Beach, was a beautiful half moon bay with white sand and we had a designated sun lounger area for our group. There was a stray dog under someone’s chair and its nose was bleeding and we didn’t really know what to do to help, since you can’t just call an animal shelter/rescue like you could in North America. Someone did get it some food and water, but several people were upset by that, including me, I know it’s part of life in that area of the world, but it was still so sad. When I got home, I looked up how to donate to rescue organizations in Bali to help animals.
We also had the option to use surfboards or the smaller size ‘body boards’ for an hour, which was a lot of fun and every once in a while a farmer would walk across the beach with a herd of water buffalo, which is something you definitely don’t see at home !
The next beach was much smaller, with bigger waves and deeper water and we only stayed about an hour. The beaches in Lombok were so much quieter and less busy than the ones in Bali, I’m really happy I booked the Lombok extension and didn’t just stay in Bali the whole time. The last beach stop for sunset was at a big lookout rock, we bought (you guessed it) lemon Bintang beers before we walked up to watch the sun go down.
We were accompanied on the sunset rock by children selling bracelets and I generally try not to buy things from children when I travel because I think they should be learning or playing, not working, and I don’t want to encourage parents to keep children from school. However, we were assured that they were local children just making some pocket money and they weren’t missing any school, they stayed with us the whole time and they are quite persistent salespeople with their bracelets !
Dinner was back in the town of Kuta at a well-rated, wood fired pizza place. I know that sounds like a random choice for dinner in this part of the world, but I found that it was hard to get good quality cheese in many parts of Asia, and these pizzas were really good !
Lombok Ferry to Bali and Drive to Lovina
This entire day was a long travel day, we had been clearly warned on the itinerary that this would be the case, since we had to drive to the ferry port on Lombok, sail back to Bali, and then drive to Lovina on the North Coast. The ferry was overbooked and packed with people, we couldn’t get seats together, some people just sat on the floor since there weren’t even enough seats. The boarding process is also super chaotic on the piers, with no logical lines for people getting on and off, and people pushing the get to their luggage. That’s just part of travelling sometimes, interesting to see how things are done in different parts of the world !
We arrived in Lovina around dinner time and went to a restaurant which employs people with disabilities and sells crafts and decorations they make, so I thought that was good to support a local social initiative.
Travel Tip: Be careful about buying really heavy souvenirs and things to send home, someone bought a big, heavy traditional mask at the restaurant and it was extremely expensive to ship back to the UK through the Bali postal system.
The resort we stayed at was beautiful, we had double share rooms in these cabin houses around the property, there was a huge pool and flowers everywhere, I was actually surprised we would stay somewhere so nice on a budget tour.
Lovina Dolphin Watching, Gitgit Falls and Banjar Hot Springs
Lovina is known for being a dolphin watching destination, along with snorkelling and fishing being popular activities. We had to wake up quite early for the included dolphin watching tour, and we separated into groups of four or five per boat, there are probably 20 or 30 boats that go out altogether, and as soon as someone spots a dolphin, all the boat operators rush over to that area. We saw them a few times jumping around, I was a bit concerned about whether the dolphins are bothered by all the boats chasing them, I usually try to do more research before animal tourism activities. There was also a short stop for snorkelling from the same boats afterwards and equipment was provided.
Back at the hotel, we had a proper breakfast with fruits and pancakes, I really liked that this Wanderlands Bali tour included breakfast every day, it was very convenient and always good. After relaxing in the pool for a while, we set off on an easy walk to see the Gitgit Waterfall, there’s lots of vendors along the pathway down and we stopped for a fruit tasting and ice cream.
The next visit was to the Air Panas Banjar Hot Springs (the word ‘Air’ means water in the local language) which consists of two pools with different temperatures of mineral water. It was relaxing, but something in the water stained a lot of people’s white bathing suits to an orange colour, so be careful of that if you visit !
During the lunch stop, we were all sitting together and the tour guide had a laptop and asked us all to review the tour on Tour Radar. Obviously we weren’t being forced to write a review, but I wrote something short and generic because it felt a bit… weird, especially since the tour wasn’t over yet. I’ve never been asked to do this on any other tour so directly, I am happy to fill out evaluation forms, but I didn’t feel totally comfortable with how that was presented.
Back in Lovina, we wandered down to the beach to watch the sunset with another lemon Bintang beer (they are so light that I think it was alright to have one pretty much everyday) and then we got ready for the last big night out together as a group ! Our last group dinner was at a really fun restaurant with a live band, and they had set up a special buffet table area for us so you could just go serve yourself, no waiting around, and lots of vegetarian choices, Bali was great for plant based options. We just stayed at the same place all night dancing and walked home together around midnight.
Drive back to Kuta
Our group had one last breakfast at the resort and packed our luggage on the private minibus to start the drive from Lovina back to Kuta. A few people on the tour were actually staying in Lovina to do a turtle conservation volunteering program (which is very popular with gap year students) so we said goodbye at the hotel. The departure time wasn’t until 10 am, which was really nice not to feel rushed. I also realized during the drive, that I actually didn’t have a Vietnam visa, and I was flying to Hanoi to meet a Northern Vietnam tour group the following day, so I was frantically googling how to get a last minute Vietnam visa. It actually wasn’t a huge deal, I just had to pay an express charge for the visa invitation letter.
Upon arrival back in Kuta, the tour officially ended, most people had paid for an extra night at the same hotel we started at, but I was trying to save money so I booked a cheaper hotel just down the road.
Even though our time with Wanderlands was officially done, the tour guide offered to walk people over to a big shopping mall if anyone was interested to visit a big supermarket and showed us a good place to do laundry. Most of us met up one last time on the beach that evening to have one last lemon Bintang beer and talk about the last two weeks we spent exploring Bali and Lombok with Wanderlands Travel.
Final Recommendation for the Bali and Lombok tour with Wanderlands Travel
What I liked: I liked that we had a range of experiences on this tour, seeing temples, nature areas like the rice terraces and waterfalls, the cultural village with local guide on Lombok, sports like the SCUBA diving, snorkelling and yoga, and social activities like the Pub Crawl on Gili T and nightly events at Puri Gardens. We didn’t just go from town to town and stay there, we actually got out and did things every day.
Having at least 3 days in most destinations was nice to not feel like we were constantly re packing and moving around too quickly. The group size was quite reasonable at under 20 people, I never felt like we were stuck waiting around for people or taking forever to load the buses.
I was very impressed with the quality of the accommodation that was used, everywhere we stayed was of a good standard for a budget tour, always with pools and air conditioning.
I liked how well organized the meals were, we did advance orders, family style or buffet meals on several occasions so we weren’t waiting around, having all the transportation tickets included and the use of private minibuses was helpful and felt safe.
I thought the operators they partnered with for the optional activities were all good quality and worthwhile, like the SCUBA diving, the pub cawl, the yoga lesson, the only exception was the cooking class which was quite unorganized.
There were a few busier days on this two week tour, but there was still lots of time to relax.
I thought the provided pre departure information and email communication from the company was fine, no issues there.
What could have better: I think we could have used one more locally guided activity on the island of Bali itself, since our guide was not actually a local, I would have liked to learn more about life on the island from someone who is from there, which we did do on Lombok. As I mentioned earlier, I would have liked more info about the school visit in Ubud on the website when I was booking, to feel confident that it was an ethical activity.
If you have personal concerns about animal tourism activities, you may want to research more about the ‘Luwak Coffee’ and the dolphin watching in Lovina to see how you feel about those.
I think I also would have liked to see a few more mentions of sustainability, or what we could do to help lessen our environmental impact, as I think that’s becoming more of a concern for visitors these days.
I did think the second half of the tour felt a bit more rushed, especially only really having the one full day in Lovina, although we did do a lot.
Final Recommendation: I found this Wanderlands tour was a good way to the experience some of the highlights of Bali and Lombok in about two weeks with a smaller group of other young adult budget travellers.
I think you certainly could backpack Bali by yourself and there is a particularly large community of travellers in Ubud, but I do not think that I could have done as many activities, stayed in such good accommodation and visited so many places alone for the same amount I spent to join the tour.
I found having the transportation arranged was very helpful, especially as a first time visitor to a Asia. Having the guide felt like being led around the island by a backpacker friend, and was it was nice to have other people to travel with consistently after visiting Singapore and Malaysia alone. I also found the extension to Lombok worthwhile as it allowed me to experience another part of Indonesia, when so many people and other tours just stay on Bali the whole time.
Overall, I thought this Wanderlands Bali and Lombok tour provided the service it advertised and I am happy with the experience I had with the tour, especially as a first time visitor to Asia.
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