Bali vs Mauritius

Cost

Indonesia, checked 19 September 2026: an inexpensive restaurant meal Rp30,000, range Rp15,000-60,000; a three-course dinner for two at a mid-range restaurant Rp210,000; a pint of domestic draught Rp40,000. Those are national figures and Bali's tourist areas run above the national average, so read them as a floor.

Mauritius, checked August 2026: an inexpensive restaurant meal Rs300, range Rs150-600; a three-course dinner for two at a mid-range restaurant Rs2,000, range Rs1,200-4,000; a pint of domestic draught Rs100. Some upmarket restaurants add a 10-15% service charge.

Bali is the cheaper of the two on food, though both sit well below the Pacific and Caribbean destinations in this directory.

Getting there

Ngurah Rai takes direct flights from across Asia and Australia and one-stop from Europe and the Middle East. There are no domestic flights on the island — everything is road, with boats to the Gilis and Nusa Penida. Indonesia gives a 30-day visa on arrival, extendable once for a further 30, with a visitor visa fee of IDR 500,000 and a passport needing six months' validity from arrival. Overstaying is fined IDR 1,000,000 per day and can mean detention, deportation and a re-entry ban.

Mauritius has non-stop service to and from London, Paris CDG daily, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Geneva, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Antananarivo, Saint-Denis on Réunion, Kuala Lumpur and Perth, with Dubai under a codeshare. There are no direct flights from the Americas. One airport in the south-east, then road. Mauritius grants a tourist visa on arrival for up to 180 days cumulative in a calendar year, case by case, with an All in One travel form to complete before departure.

The beaches

Mauritius has the better swimming proposition and it is structural: the reef ring keeps the water inside it flat on most of the coast on most days. The counterweight is wind — kitesurfing season runs April to November, windiest July and August, mainly on the east and south coasts.

Bali's own beaches are not its strength and the water people picture is off the Gilis and Nusa Penida, reached by boat. No sourced beach-level data for either yet.

In this directory: Bali has 2 beaches listed, 0 rated calm for swimming. Mauritius has 2, 2 calm.

In the water

Mauritius runs roughly 23.7°C to 28.5°C across the year — warmest in March at about 28.5°C, coolest in August and September at about 23.7°C — and is swimmable year-round at the main resort coasts.

Bali is warm and swimmable year-round with no sourced monthly figures here. Mauritius has a genuine cool season in August and September that Bali does not.

When to go

Bali's dry season is April to September, extending into October in most of the country. The wet season runs October to March, most reliably November to March.

Mauritius is best May to October — winter, drier and breezier at around 25°C, with quieter beaches. Cyclone season runs November to 15 May, officially that wide rather than confined to the new year.

May to October suits both. Bali is wet November to March and Mauritius is inside its cyclone season November to mid-May, so the off-seasons overlap heavily too.

Beyond the beach

Both are stronger here than most destinations in this directory, which makes it an unusually close call.

Bali's interior is larger and its culture more continuously present. Mauritius' advantage is compression — a capital, mountains and four cuisines inside a ninety-minute radius, with no traffic problem to plan around.