Short answer
You legally need an International Driving Permit endorsed for motorcycles. Without one, most travel insurance will not pay out for an accident — which is the single most common claim in Bali.
Scooters are how Bali moves, and renting one is cheap and easy. The part that is not obvious: the paperwork determines whether your insurance pays if something goes wrong, and something goes wrong often enough that it is the most common claim on the island.
The licence question
To ride legally you need an International Driving Permit with the motorcycle category endorsed, which in turn requires a motorcycle licence at home. A car licence alone does not cover you.
Rental shops will hand you a scooter without checking. That is not permission — it just moves the risk to you. Police checks happen, and more importantly, an insurer will ask for the licence when you claim.
Before you ride off
- Photograph the scooter from every angle before leaving, including existing scratches. Damage disputes on return are routine.
- Check the brakes and tyres yourself. Fleet maintenance varies enormously.
- Wear the helmet properly. It is legally required, and head injuries are what turn an accident into a catastrophe.
- Do not leave your passport as a deposit. Offer a copy or a cash deposit instead.
Riding there
- Traffic is left-hand drive and flows more than it follows rules. Be predictable and go slowly.
- Roads are worse after dark, and many have no lighting or edge markings.
- Wet season afternoons make roads genuinely slick — the first rain after a dry spell is the worst.
- Fuel from roadside stalls in bottles is normal and fine.
When not to bother
If you have never ridden a scooter, Bali is not the place to learn, whatever the internet says — see the wider safety picture. A private driver for day trips costs little when split between two people and removes the entire risk. Plenty of people do a whole trip that way and miss nothing.
