I have used Qatar Airways to get to Bali - involves a change in Doha. Their business class is extremely comfortable. February is not the best time to visit Bali - very humid with frequent heavy downpours and lots of rubbish washing up on the beaches. May, June, July much better. In February, Krabi, Phuket, Ko Lipe, Langkawi are a much better bet.
dab69 (October 3rd, 2018)
After doing some research for Bali, there is an annual event which takes place every year during the months of March or April, you may want to avoid if you're thinking of going to the island of Bali.
It's called Nyepi and the following details are:
Nyepi is the Balinese New Year (of the Saka calendar). It takes place in March or April according on the Balinese calendar.
It corresponds to a day of silence, meditation, to refocus and liberate the minds from negative emotions. This silence is also aimed at convincing demons that the island is deserted, so that they will not come back to disturb its inhabitants.
The following rules/custom applies:
During that day, it is strictly forbidden to anyone (Balinese and tourists) to go out on the streets, to set a fire or to turn the lights on, to work and even to entertain themselves for 24 hours starting from 6am. Even the airport is closed for the day (except for medical emergencies)!
Find below the upcoming Nyepi dates in Bali:
• March 17th, 2018 (year 1940 of the Saka calendar)
• March 7th, 2019 (year 1941 of Saka calendar)
• March 23rd, 2020 (year 1942 of Saka calendar)
For further details please Google.
Emirates is also very good with one change in DXB. But you can be very flexible and go for the best deal and use any number of stop over places. Singapore to SIN and then on to DPS is a good option - 14 hour flight and then a 2 hour hop to Bali, Changi is a great airport to transit. Thai or Eva to Bangkok and then on to Bali with Thai or Air Asia, that's a longer option as it's a 4 hour flight from Bangkok to Bali and you have to change airports if you use Air Asia. Cathay via Hong Kong is good but again a bit longer and finally you could try a transit in KL with Malaysian (they have a business class sale on right now) just three hours from KUL to DPS.
Although Bali is a almost consisered another state of Australia, given the numbers who holiday there, very few people seem to know about nyepi. Bali, of course, tends to keep quiet about it so as not to deter the tourists.
I only heard about it because I've got friends who live there full-time, and from other friends who got caught out.
Apparently, there are hefty fines if you go outside your hotel.
You need to find a good hotel with a nice pool area. You can enjoy the day around the pool as long as you keep the noise down. Same with music and TV.
Your best option is to find a guy and have him stay with you on the day. That takes care of your entertainment needs!
christianpfc (May 7th, 2018)
There is always Garuda who have upped their game a lot recently and are now rated 5 Star on Skytrax. http://www.airlinequality.com/airlin...uda-indonesia/
They have a direct flight to Jakarta, two hour layover, and on to Denpasar. I used to fly with them on the first leg when their flights went via Bangkok to Indonesia, in the days before they upgraded everything. You could get very reasonable business class flights with them then, and the flights were never full, although everything was a bit worn. I was just happy with the extra space.
Thank you kindly for the info.
Garuda has done well to get to 5 stars.
Airlines I will consider will be Qatar, Emirates, Etihad or Garuda.
A colleague at work who has been many times, has kindly informed me the cheapest fares are about 6 to 7 weeks before travel?
He has flown with all those airlines and told me Qatar was the best.