MeaganImagine if your whole country shut down for 24 hours. Every single store is closed, and it’s actually against the law to walk outside of your house. And while staying at home, you’re not allowed to do much – not even eat.
Would you be able to handle it?
Well in Bali, Indonesia, this actually happens once a year. The day is called Bali New Years – or otherwise known as Nyepi Day/Silence Day. Usually when you think of New Years Day, you would imagine fireworks, big celebrations, balloons, partying, or spending time with family. Well during Nyepi day, the island of Bali does something quite the opposite – they cut themselves off from the rest of the world in order to cleanse their spirit, meditate, and reflect on life. If you’ve never heard what true silence is like, then you’ll experience it on Nyepi Day in Bali.
For some, traveling to Bali during Nyepi Day is perfect if you want to experience pure solitude. Some would even say it’s the best time to travel to Bali. However, if this doesn’t sound like your thing, then I would highly advise against traveling to Bali during this holiday since there’s no way to get around it.
So if interested, here are some things you should know before traveling to Bali for Nyepi Day, and some of the things my family and I had experienced.
Not ALL hotels/villas will completely shut down on Nyepi Day.
My family and I had stayed at the Haven Bali in Seminyak (HIGHLY recommend it, by the way). On Nyepi Day, while we were not allowed to venture outside, the hotel was still pretty “active”. They served a buffet of food in the morning and afternoon (which actually tasted pretty good!), had yoga and meditation activities, and left the pool open ‘til evening. We still had electricity, TV, and internet connection, and were able to have a long spa day. We were only told we had to keep our curtains closed and to not turn on the bright lights.
Many hotels and villas in the area were open. However, if you’re not sure if your hotel will completely shut down, make sure you stock up on snacks, movies, or something to entertain you.
If you’re here to drive around Bali and discover all of the beautiful landmarks and shrines, you should avoid making plans the day before and the day of Bali New Years (of course).
Shops close the day beforehand at 1-2pm. Certain areas, such as the beach and seaport, also closed down pretty early. This is so locals can get ready for the Bali festivities that take place later. So plan to pretty much walk around/do everything early the day before Nyepi Day.
And apparently, the temples are CROWDED the day before Nyepi Day.
We had booked a Viator driver on Tuesday to take us to Ubud, and he was giving us alllll the details. We asked him how things were going to be on Wednesday (Bali New Years Eve), and he told us to completely avoid the temples since they are going to be packed the day beforehand.
However, we went to the temples the day after Nyepi day and they still seemed crowded then – however I do not know if it’s just usual tourist traffic or due to the fact that it’s the day after Nyepi Day. But then again, some temples were more crowded than others. Here are pictures of the infamous Tirta Gangga the day after Nyepi Day – even when it was raining, it was very crowded with people trying to create the popular “stepping stone” photo. I called it the “Instagram Effect”:
And then here’s a picture of (my favorite) the Ujung Water Palace, which was much more quiet.
Make sure to catch the Ogoh-Ogoh parade the day before Nyepi Day – if you can.
The Ogoh-Ogoh parade is a big parade that occurs the night before Nyepi Day. Here you can see floats of monster-dolls being carried on bamboo platforms by paraders. They take the shape of mythological, evil creatures and gods that represent societal issues today such as wars, celebrities, politics, or social media (check out this Pinterest board and you’ll see what I’m talking about). Many have raved that this is an “experience like no other” and a “must-watch!” – and I was REALLY anticipating this parade! However – because I like to keep things real on this blog – I’ll highlight what happened to my family and I….
So we left our hotel at around 4:50pm with intentions to see the parade. We asked multiple people “what time is the parade starting?” with many different answers ranging between “right now!” to “around 6:30pm?” or just plain “we have no idea, so we’re going back to our hotel and then coming back”. So we traveled to an area where we saw a gathering of people and the actual parade (which didn’t start yet).
And yes – the parade actually started at around 7:10pm! However – it went in the opposite direction *facepalm*. We heard from others that the parade is going to circle back around in about an hour or two, so we decided to go back to our hotel lobby and stay until 8-ish, then went outside and stayed there amongst a bigger group of people. After 45 minutes, the parade still never showed up. Not only that, but nobody knew which direction the parade was coming from. People – both tourists and locals – started to become impatient, and you can hear complaints and sighs from all over. All in all, at 9:15 we left and ended up “missing” the parade.
So yeah, we had some bad luck.
At night, things get really dark outside during Nyepi Day.
No surprise here. I actually found the darkness very fascinating – I’ve never seen outside look as dark as it did on Nyepi Day.
Nyepi day usually occurs during rainy season – so if it rains a lot then you might not see the starry sky that many rave about.
This is what I was mainly looking forward to. It was POURING the day of Nyepi Day. Once it stopped raining at night, I tried to sneak a peak outside to see if I saw any stars – but didn’t see a thing. I assume the sky was still cloudy, so no stars for us. I was a bit disappointed about this.
My Overall Thoughts?
Overall, despite the few mishaps I had, I did enjoy my time in Bali during the week. I would say that this was probably the first trip where I got to actually experience culture in its entirety. However would I do it all over again? Maybe. If you think about it, the concept of Nyepi Day is good for the mind, spirit, and planet. If I can do it all over again, I would make my first time in Bali not during Nyepi Day week, and instead go any other time of the year. Then on a second trip, partake in Nyepi Day. Only because I did not get to experience all of Bali as much as I had wanted to.
