In Reply to: to hire a car v's to hire a driver posted by rozina on Wednesday, 13. May 2009 at 06:59 Bali Time:
Well, funny you should ask....
In March (my 20th trip to Bali) I decided to hire a car for one day, just give it a try. First trip was for 5 ladies to go down to the Legian early morning market, at least the streets were quiet. It was a bit scary, but fine. We went out again later during the day then out that night for dinner (Nyepi eve as its too difficult to get transport back to the hotel after dinner and the parade).
We decided to hire it again on the Friday and in fact I drove for the next 10 days.
I thoroughly enjoyed driving and the independance it gave us. We saw lots of new places, drove up streets we would never have gone, got lost and saw some places repeatedly, all good fun. I plan to always hire a car for future trips.
You drive at a much slower speed, plenty of time to avoid other vehicles. You turn left on a red light. You take the inside of a roundabout when turning right. You need to show some confidence and make your turn in front of lots of trafic, its bluff I suppose.
I didnt enjoy driving home after a night out into an area that I was not familiar with. The landmarks are not so prominent in the dark.
Make sure you obtain your International drivers licence.
Overall I enjoyed it.
If you give it a go for a day, nothing lost. If you dont like it you can hand back the car and hire a driver.