Tourists in Bali must be prepared to leave extra time to travel by road for the next week.
As the island prepares for Nyepi, and as Indonesia prepares for the Eid al-Fitr festivities, there will be plenty more cars on the roads and new traffic systems in place to help keep everyone moving safely and easily.
Bali’s Mandara Toll Road will be one of the most heavily impacted highways in Bali. The toll road, which connected tourists to important destinations like I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport, will be closed for 32 hours over Nyepi Day.
Nyepi Day will formally start at 6am on Saturday 29th March 2025 and will end at 6am on Sunday 30th March 2025.
While the island must fall silent and all transportation and movement must be halted for the full 24-hour period, some areas of the island will observe the stillness for even longer.
PT Jasamarga Bali Tol, the company that operated the Bali Mandara Toll Road, has confirmed that the road closure will start at 11 pm on Friday 28th March.
The road will reopen at 7 am on Sunday 30th March. The company explained in an Instagram updated “Although the Bali Mandara Toll Road will be closed at the predetermined time, the Bali Mandara Toll can still be used in emergencies.”
This is true of all transportation on the island. While everyone, whether Balinese Hindu or not, is expected to observe the rules of Nyepi Day, in the event of an emergency movement across the island is permitted.
In the event of such an emergency, police and security escorts will be in place and available to support those in need.
PT Jasamarga Bali Tol also explained, “[We] appeal to drivers of vehicles categorized as an emergency to always be accompanied by pecalang or related agencies in accordance with the SOP (standard operating procedures) that have been determined.”
Tourists traveling throughout Bali over the next two weeks are advised to leave extra time to travel between destinations, especially when returning to Bali Airport for departing flights.
The General Manager of I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport, Ahmad Syaugi Shahab, has confirmed that a plan is in place and additional staff have been deployed to ensure the smooth running of all travel operations over the Eid al-Fitr holiday, known in Indonesia as Lebaran.
Shahab told reporters “We estimate that there will be an increase in passenger traffic of 4.5 percent or around 1.5 million passengers and flight growth of 5.6 percent or around 9,000 aircraft movements.”
Additional support staff have been called in from airport security teams, operational control assistance teams from the Indonesian Air Force, Airport Police, and Pecalang of Tuban Traditional Village.
While Bali will fall silent, and both Bali Airport and the airspace will remain open. The General Manager of AirNav Indonesia’s Denpasar Branch, Suryadi Joko Wiratomo, told reporters that while Bali Airport will be closed, staff will be on standby to support aircraft flying over Bali.
He shared that 30 officers will be deployed throughout Nyepi Day at AirNav at Bali Airport. Wiratomo explained, “During Nyepi, 30 personnel are divided into operations and engineering. For Nyepi, I GUsti Ngurah Rai Airport is closed, but our personnel remain on standby in two work units, namely the tower and approach control.”
He confirmed that as Bali Airport prepares to welcome an increased number of flights over the holiday period, AirNav Indonesia is really too.
Wiratomo noted, “If normal flights are 360 per day, it will increase by an extra 18-20%, the submission of extra flights to us is for 27th and 28th March, then 4th, 5th April, and increased again on 11th April.”
Bali Airport will be extra busy on these days, and travelers should be mindful to leave plenty of time to arrive at the airport and complete check-in processes.
Tourists should be conscious that there may be traffic jams around the airport, meaning that even on arrival on those days, congestion may cause delays throughout the central south of Bali.
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