When most people make their initial move to Bali, they can be a bit confused about where they will stay while they are searching for their new dream home. Hotels can become quite expensive after a while for anything clean and decent, not to mention the fact that they are located in touristy areas (not everyone’s thing).

The amount of monthly rentals available in Bali (besides expensive villas) are not many, so many people end up scratching their heads as to where they will stay. The good news is there are actually lots of nice little places, called a Kos that can offer you everything you need for that time period.

If you were to go around and ask a lot of the young people working in the tourist areas of Bali where they lived, a large majority would say in a Kos. A Kos, also known as Kost, or Kos-Kosan for the whole complex is basically like a studio apartment. The locals will probably live in a very basic one, sometimes without a private bathroom and share it with a friend for anywhere from rp 300,000 to rp 800,000 a month depending on location and facilities.

These sort of places may be enough for your needs, although not all of them accept foreigners for various reasons, and the owner or landlord may not speak a word of English.

Bali monthly rentals for foreigners

Over the past year or so though a whole lot of upscale kos have been going up all around Bali, and marketing themselves towards foreigners. Oftentimes these will be fully furnished with a bed, fridge, A/C and large private bathroom and sometimes even a kitchen and WiFi. The price again will definitely vary depending on location and the facilities, but you can expect to pay between 1 million and 3 million rupiah per month for the rental. If you think about this in daily terms it would be between rp 33,000 and rp 100,000. Now tell me, where are you going to find yourself a hotel at that price, with all of the same facilities?

Another good thing is that it gets you prepared to really start living in Bali. Your neighbors won’t be tourists they will most likely be expats and other locals which will give you more of a feel what life here is really like. More than that they will usually have great tips for you on where to look for a house and many other things that you should be learning about your new home.

If these places are so common, then why don’t you see more of them?

Well, most of them are down alleyways, and even the ones marketed at foreigners have their signs written at least partially in Indonesian. The first tip is to look for signs that say “Terima Kos” which loosely translates to “kos for rent”. Some rooms come completely empty, so if you are looking for something fully furnished look for the words “Lengkap” or “Komplit” both of which meaning complete or fully furnished in this case. Many will list their facilities right on the sign, often in English and if not generally in Indonesian terms that are close enough to be easily translated.

So where to actually find these places?

A lot of these sorts of spots are located on the outskirts of the main tourists areas, just far enough out to be a bit quieter and not so far that you can’t easily drive in to a night on the town. A great place to look would be the road behind the large Carrefour called Jl. Gelogor Carik. There is an extremely high density of these sorts of places on that road and most of them are new, clean and around 1.5 million per month.

With all these places popping up that don’t have to pay hotel taxes, they could become the next big thing for semi-long term travelers or those looking for a temporary spot while building or finding their dream home. You never know, you might be so comfortable in one of them that you decide to stay, and save loads of money not renting or building a huge villa!

Read more about renting in Bali: Rentals in Bali: Finding a House or a Villa