Fly to Denpasar from Australia
 

We are planning to travel to Indonesia next March as part of a longer trip to Japan. The options are to ship to Timor Leste and travel overland to Indonesia or, alternatively, fly direct to Denpasar. The Denpasar option leaves us with more time to travel further north later in the trip.

I read that Peter Forwood did this some years ago (2004) but I have not seen anyone else report on flying into Denpasar. Has someone any first hand, recent experience? I understand that this port of entry is quite corrupt and there are some traps for the unwary. Any information would be much appreciated.

There will be two of us travelling on DRZ400Es.

Cheers,
Rowan

I´ve done this the other way, airfreighted my bike from Denpasar to Perth in March 2008.

I´m sure it´s do-able the other way, too, but as you probably know already, Indonesian customs can bring you a headache. I met a few bikers there, who had been having huge problems with them, even though they claimed they had carnets and all (but their worries were in Jakarta and Surabaya, not in Denpasar). The airport did not appear so badly corrupt to me, in fact it was quite straightforward.. (except our freight agent was somebody, who usually ships furniture, had never sent a bike before, and it really showed!)

It seemed to me like most of the troubles of entering Indonesia were happening at ports of entry, that are not commonly used. The customs don´t know the procedure or something. This is why I would probably go for the East/West Timor border crossing (..or Belawan, if coming from Malaysia), those are probably the most frequently used ones.

Thanks for the information - much appreciated. maybe I am making a mountain out of a molehill :oops2:

I will try to get further information from official channels although that hasn't always been consistent!

Also, need ot consider time available and the option of travelling via Timor Leste.