In Reply to: Trip to Bali posted by nac on Tuesday, 29. December 2009 at 01:24 Bali Time:
If you could grab a map and decide on an area that you want to stay in Bali that would be helpful. Also, what age group are you and are you travelling on your own or with a family? This gives a better idea of the 'type' of hotel you may like.
Food wise - 'a nice place' is relative to the diner. You can eat from $1 to $100 in Bali. You will find through searching this forum that some have put up big lists of favourite restaurants, this will give you an idea.
You can 'walk in' to a hotel in Bali when you're there but you may not get your choice. Many people book the first few days and go from there.
There are ATM's in Bali that you can withdraw money, the more you use your Debit Card overseas the more you are open to your card being used so many don't use them in shops. Bigger shops take Visa, market stalls take cash.
You will have to change you American dollars to Rupiah when you get there, you will find many money changers, try and stick to the Kodak Shops or Pt. Central Kuta Shops, they are honest.
Taxi's are very cheap and you can hire a driver and air-con'd car if you want to do tours, these are easy to come by but once again search the archives on this site and you will find some favourite drivers that are honest.
Exchange rate (I assume for USD) is just under 10,000rp at the moment obviously this changes.
Hopefully this has given you some help. This forum is invaluable but you need to use it by doing searches on what you like because we all have different likes and dislikes.
If you have any specific questions post them if you can't find them whilst searching.
Good luck, you'll have a great time in Bali.