Practical guide

Flights to Bali: when to book, which stopover to pick and what to check before you pay

By the Moris Insider team·7 October 2026·9 min read

There is no nonstop flight to Bali from London, Paris, Frankfurt, Vienna, Rome, Milan or Madrid: on 6 October 2026 Kayak showed only trips with a stop, 17 to 19 hours on average for the fastest. The cheapest months run from November to February (from London £659 in November against £975 in December) and Kayak suggests 4 to 24 weeks’ notice depending on the city. The number-one trap is the £595 to £599 fare that takes up to 37 hours 45 minutes in one direction. Aviasales does not sell tickets: you pay the airline or an agency, so the seller is what you need to look at.

The essentials in figures (Kayak and official pages, read on 6 October 2026, sources in the text):

When to book a flight to Bali

The season is covered in our piece on the best time to visit Bali; here we look at the purchase date. For each departure city Kayak gives a window in which returns cost less, on average, than a booking made in the last two weeks before departure: London 23 weeks ahead (about 15%), Paris 18 (12%), Madrid 17 (31%), Vienna 24 (25%), Frankfurt 14 (16%), Milan 8 (22%) and Rome 4 weeks (29%).

Read as a calendar: for a departure on 15 February 2027, London’s 23-week window opened on 7 September 2026 and Paris’s opens on 12 October 2026; for 1 July 2027, London’s opens on 21 January 2027. For Christmas there are 75 days left from 6 October, about 10.7 weeks: the windows for London, Paris, Frankfurt, Vienna and Madrid have passed, Milan’s (8 weeks) closes on 25 October 2026 and Rome’s (4 weeks) on 22 November 2026.

It is not a law. On the London, Paris, Rome, Milan and Madrid pages Kayak puts last-minute fares 7 to 31% above the route average; on the Frankfurt and Vienna pages it puts them 8 and 17% below, even though the same pages recommend 14 and 24 weeks’ notice. The percentages measure the advantage over a last-minute purchase, not the best moment. In practice: compare now, set a price alert and buy when the fare drops below the lower end of the usual range, which Kayak calls a good deal: under £663 from London, under €785 from Paris. According to its home page Aviasales also offers an app that notifies you when the price drops. The day matters too: from London, leaving on a Monday averages £747 and on a Friday £831.

What a flight to Bali costs, month by month

The table shows what Kayak displayed on 6 October 2026 for seven departure cities. To place the ticket in the whole bill, see the two-week Bali budget.

Prices per person, in each Kayak page’s own currency, with no conversion. Pages read on 6 October 2026; monthly values are 12-month averages. A snapshot: Kayak recalculates all the time.
Departure cityCheapest month (average return)Most expensive months (average return)Usual range (return)Lowest return seen in the last 5 days
LondonNovember £659December £975 · July £971£663 – £981£595 (XiamenAir)
ParisJanuary €781July €1,242 · August €1,177€785 – €1,130€694 (China Southern)
FrankfurtFebruary €794July €1,161 · December €1,098€801 – €1,116€703 (China Southern)
ViennaNovember €699December €1,035 · July €1,016€670 – €1,001€634 (Scoot)
RomeJanuary €656August €1,245 · July €1,074€730 – €1,142€721 (Sichuan Airlines, Air India)
MilanFebruary €518August €1,130 · December €1,095€689 – €1,043€693
MadridFebruary €666August €1,124 · July €1,058€696 – €1,058€635 (Qatar Airways)

In all seven cities July or August is among the two most expensive months, and December in four of them; the cheapest months run from November to February. The gap is real: £316 from London between November (£659) and December (£975), €612 from Milan between February (€518) and August (€1,130). These are averages, not a price for your date, and Kayak recalculates all the time: for Frankfurt, two readings on the same day gave February (€794) once and November (€801) once as the cheapest month. One more finding: from London a one-way fare usually costs £415 to £637 and a return £663 to £981. On all seven pages the lower end of the return range is below twice the lower end of the one-way range, so two single flights are not a saving in these data.

No nonstop flight: Doha, Dubai, Singapore, which stopover suits you

Kayak says so for all seven cities: no nonstop flights to Denpasar. Trips go through hubs that, according to Wikipedia (the “Airlines and destinations” table, undated), these airlines link to Denpasar: Qatar Airways from Doha, Emirates from Dubai, Etihad from Abu Dhabi, Turkish Airlines from Istanbul, Singapore Airlines and Scoot from Singapore.

Compare flightsCompare airlines on Aviasales
Airlines: Wikipedia, “Airlines and destinations” table (undated, read on 6 October 2026). Shares and times: Kayak pages of the same day; the share is read per departure city among the four most used stopovers, and the range shows the smallest and largest value; “–”: not in the top four.
StopoverAirline linking it to DenpasarShare of one-stop trips (Kayak)Shortest average total time with one stop
Doha (DOH)Qatar Airways11% to 29%18 h 01 min (Milan)
Dubai (DXB)Emirates11% to 21%18 h 55 min (London)
Abu Dhabi (AUH)Etihad Airways10% to 41%18 h 39 min (Vienna)
Singapore (SIN)Singapore Airlines, Scoot13% to 44%17 h 05 min (Rome)
Istanbul (IST)Turkish Airlines11%18 h 15 min (Milan)

Doha (Qatar Airways) carries a lot of weight: 29% of one-stop trips from Madrid, 22% from Rome and Paris, 18% from London, where its average total time is 19 h 07 min.

A Qatar Airways Boeing 787 at the jet bridge of Denpasar airport, with ground vehicles and the red-roofed terminal in the foreground
A Qatar Airways Boeing 787 at Denpasar: Doha is the most used stopover from Madrid, at 29% of one-stop trips (Kayak). Photo : Bahnfrend · CC BY-SA 4.0

Dubai (Emirates) accounts for 21% of one-stop trips from London, 14% from Frankfurt and 13% from Paris; its shortest average time is 18 h 55 min from London.

An Emirates Airbus A380 on the apron at Denpasar, with mobile steps and a worker in a high-visibility vest in front of the fuselage
Emirates links Dubai with Denpasar (Wikipedia); from London, 21% of one-stop trips go through Dubai (Kayak). Photo : Bahnfrend · CC BY-SA 4.0

Singapore (Singapore Airlines, Scoot) dominates from Vienna (44%) and Frankfurt (33%) and takes 15% from London, where it is also the fastest option at 18 h 35 min; the quickest figure on any page is 17 h 05 min from Rome.

A Singapore Airlines Boeing 787 at the jet bridge at night, with baggage carts and ground vehicles around it
Singapore Airlines and Scoot link Singapore with Denpasar; from Vienna, 44% of one-stop trips go through Singapore (Kayak). Photo : Bahnfrend · CC BY-SA 4.0

Abu Dhabi (Etihad) makes up 41% from Rome and 27% from Madrid; Istanbul (Turkish Airlines) offers 18 h 15 min from Milan. There is deliberately no ranking: depending on the city of departure a different stopover is the fastest, and the price follows the date, not the hub.

How long the flight really takes, and why the price says nothing about it

Bali is on UTC+8: 7 hours ahead of London on the day Kayak was read (British Summer Time), 8 hours once the clocks go back on 25 October 2026, and 6 then 7 hours ahead of central Europe. The arrival time on your ticket is local time.

See activities in BaliTours, tickets and day trips on GetYourGuide

The best example comes from Kayak’s London page of 6 October 2026. Four returns between £595 and £599: XiamenAir, 26 h 35 min out and 21 h 40 min back, via Xiamen; Air India, 26 h 15 min out and 27 h 20 min back, via Delhi; Lufthansa, 23 h 45 min out with two stops (Munich, Singapore) and 26 h 00 min back; China Southern, 37 h 45 min out and 29 h 55 min back, via Guangzhou. Four pounds separate the cheapest from the dearest, 16 h 05 min separate the shortest direction from the longest. The lowest price is rarely the quickest, and on a return you have to read both directions.

Full guide: Things to Do in Bali: Tours, Prices and Scams

It also matters whether everything is on one booking. According to Kayak News (20 January 2026), with a single through-ticket your bags are checked to the end and the airline is responsible for a missed connection; with separate tickets (“self-transfer”) you handle bags, checks and time buffers yourself.

Baggage: what the fare includes

On a 17- to 40-hour journey the suitcase counts. The official baggage pages give, in economy, by fare:

Official baggage pages of the airlines, read on 6 October 2026 (weight concept, not for flights to the Americas or Africa). For Turkish Airlines, Etihad, Scoot and the Chinese carriers we found no readable page: check the page of the fare you pick.
AirlineChecked bag in economy, by fareNote
Qatar AirwaysLite 20 kg · Classic 25 kg · Convenience 30 kg · Comfort 35 kgCarry-on: 1 piece up to 7 kg
EmiratesSpecial 20 kg · Saver 25 kg · Flex 30 kg · Flex Plus 35 kgEach bag 32 kg at most
Singapore AirlinesLite and Value 25 kg · Standard and Flexi 30 kgEach bag 32 kg at most

Between the lowest and the highest fare the gap is 15 kg at Qatar Airways and Emirates. For Turkish Airlines, Etihad, Scoot and the Chinese airlines, which often offer the lowest fare in Kayak’s lists, no page was readable: check the checked-baggage line before you pay.

The baggage reclaim area at Denpasar airport with a carousel, travellers in the background and a stand of tourist brochures
Baggage reclaim at Denpasar. The allowance depends on the fare: from 20 to 35 kg in economy, by airline and fare. Photo : Liang SK · CC BY-SA 2.0

Entry to Indonesia and arrival in Denpasar

According to Wikipedia (“Visa policy of Indonesia”, read on 6 October 2026), citizens of every EU member state, Switzerland and the United Kingdom can get a visa on arrival or an e-VOA: IDR 500,000, 30 days, extendable once for another 30. A passport valid for at least six months and a valid return or onward ticket are required. On top of that, according to visitbali.com, comes the Bali tourist levy: IDR 150,000 per person per visit, payable on the Love Bali platform (its official page could not be read by our tool: check the exemptions there).

There is also the All Indonesia Arrival Card, which visitbali.com advises completing within three days before arrival. With an e-VOA bought online in advance you use the automatic gates, according to the same page; at passport control allow 30 to 90 minutes in peak season.

The arrivals hall of Ngurah Rai’s international terminal with woven pillars, a large chandelier and travellers queuing behind blue barriers
The arrivals hall of the international terminal: according to visitbali.com, passport control can take 30 to 90 minutes in peak season. Photo : Chris Olszewski · CC BY-SA 4.0

One date can wreck a plan: on Nyepi day Ngurah Rai airport closes for 24 hours. In 2026 the closure ran from 6 a.m. on 19 March to 6 a.m. on 20 March (NOTAM A0096): 440 scheduled flights were affected, 209 of them international (ANTARA Bali, Tempo). For 2027 the official public-holiday calendar (joint ministerial decree, setneg.go.id) sets Nyepi on Monday 8 March; we did not find the airport’s closure hours for 2027: check both before you book. To be online as soon as you land, see our article on the best eSIM for Bali; for the first night, where to stay in Bali, and for that check the arrival time on your ticket.

Full guide: Bali airport transfer: taxi, Grab or pre-booked?

How to search, and what Aviasales is

Aviasales is a metasearch engine. Its home page says in essence: we don’t sell tickets, we just help find the cheapest ones, and it is totally free. You compare the offers by your filters, then book on an airline’s or an agency’s website. The page also mentions a multi-city route and an app with price alerts (read on 6 October 2026), and its footer names a Hong Kong company (Giant Travel Unicorn Two Limited). The results page loads by script and could not be read by our tools, so we do not describe the booking screen.

The method: enter “Denpasar (DPS)”, test several departure days, read the checked-baggage line of each offer, look at both directions for duration and stops, and note the seller: airline or agency? To combine Bali with another stage, for example a longer stop in Singapore or Doha, you can create a multi-city route on Aviasales.

What speaks for it, what against: on Trustpilot the profile stood on 6 October 2026 at 2.4 out of 5 on only 10 reviews, 80% of them one-star; the latest is dated 2 October and the profile is unclaimed by the company. Criticism covers late refunds, a support team that points to the agency, and reselling agencies; praise covers the clean layout and the speed of the search, and one user writes that the cheapest offer sometimes disappears after the click. Whoever sells the ticket is your contract partner: check them before you pay.

The traps, and how to avoid them

Before you pay: the checks

  1. Are the airport (DPS) and the dates of the outbound and return right, and does no flight fall on Nyepi?
  2. What are the total duration and the number of stops in each direction?
  3. Is checked baggage included in the fare, and how many kilos?
  4. Who is the seller? At equal prices, the airline is the simpler choice.
  5. Are all legs on one booking (one reference)?
  6. Does the name match the passport, and is it valid for at least six months?
  7. What are the change and cancellation conditions?
  8. Are all taxes in the final price, and does the arrival time suit your first accommodation?

With these eight points checked, the rest is routine. Once you know the date, the stopover and the seller, you can repeat the comparison on Aviasales in a few minutes as soon as your price alert fires. For what comes after landing, see the two-week Bali and Lombok itinerary.

Moris Insider

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