Last updated: September 22, 2026 · By Joe Ghafari, CEO of Visiting Wrld
The short answer: For gay men visiting the tourist areas, yes, in practice. On paper, no. Bali is a Hindu island inside a Muslim-majority country, Seminyak has a strip of gay bars with a drag show every night, and two men sharing a hotel room is routine. But Indonesia does not recognize same-sex relationships, a new national criminal code took effect in January 2026 that makes sex outside marriage a crime, and the national government has turned harder against LGBTQ+ Indonesians over the last two years. Plenty of gay men go to Bali and have a wonderful time. They do it with more discretion than Mexico, Costa Rica or Thailand ask of them, and this guide explains exactly why.
We host gay men's retreats in Bali, and the same three questions come up before every trip: can two men share a room, is it legal, and what does the new law mean for me. What follows is the law as it stands in September 2026, what it actually means for a visitor, how the island feels on the ground, and the practical answers we give our guys.
The law, in plain English
- Being gay is not a crime nationally. Same-sex relationships between adults are legal across Indonesia, with one exception: Aceh, a province at the far northern tip of Sumatra, a long way from Bali, which enforces its own Sharia code.
- Same-sex marriage and civil unions are not recognized. A same-sex couple has no legal status anywhere in Indonesia.
- A new criminal code took effect on January 2, 2026. It replaced a penal code dating from the Dutch colonial era. Two articles matter here: sex outside marriage carries up to a year in prison, and an unmarried couple living together carries up to six months.
- Both are complaint offenses. Police can only act if a spouse, a parent or a child files a complaint. Nobody else can trigger it: not hotel staff, not neighbors, not the police on their own initiative.
- Public decency is covered too. The code punishes indecent acts in public, and that is the provision that matters for affection on the street.
Because same-sex couples cannot marry in Indonesia, the sex-outside-marriage article technically reaches every same-sex relationship in the country. That is the uncomfortable fact, and any guide telling you Bali carries no legal risk for gay couples is leaving it out.
What the 2026 code means for a gay tourist
In practice, very little, and the reason is the complaint rule. For police to act, your spouse, one of your parents or one of your children would have to file a complaint in Indonesia. For a visitor on a one or two week trip, that is not a realistic scenario.
Bali's governor, Wayan Koster, said as much when the code passed in December 2022. His government promised there would be no checking of marital status at check-in anywhere tourists stay, from hotels and villas to guest houses and spas, and he called it "Bali as usual." Two men booking one room, or a private villa, is routine across the tourist areas.
The code is a much bigger deal for people who live in Bali: expats, long-term residents and anyone with an Indonesian partner or Indonesian family. If that is you, get proper legal advice before you settle there. For a visitor, the risks worth thinking about are somewhere else, and they are in the next section.
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Apply for your spotThe bigger picture in Indonesia right now
This is the part most Bali guides skip.
In October 2025, President Prabowo Subianto signed Presidential Regulation No. 111/2025, the national defense policy for 2025 to 2029. It lists the spread of LGBTQ culture as a non-military threat to the state, alongside terrorism and illegal trafficking. It was widely reported in July 2026. On its own it creates no new crime, and it does not mention foreigners or tourists. ILGA Asia, the regional LGBTQ+ rights federation, says it gives a framework to discriminatory enforcement using laws that already exist, and it has called for the regulation to be revoked.
The raids of the last two years have mostly happened on Java, and they have targeted Indonesians: 56 people detained at a hotel in South Jakarta in February 2025, 75 arrested at a private villa in Bogor that June, 34 arrested in Surabaya that October. The Indonesian group Arus Pelangi documented 23 cases affecting 201 people in July and August 2026 alone.
Bali has not been untouched. On July 27, 2026, Bali provincial police raided a men's spa in Seminyak on suspicion of prostitution and held five employees, citing the new code's public decency provisions. We have found no reports of raids on Seminyak's gay bars.
What it adds up to: the enforcement so far has fallen on Indonesians, not visitors. The risk to you is low. It is not zero, and it is higher than it was two years ago. Discretion in Bali is simply how you travel there.
What gay friendly Bali actually feels like
Most Balinese are Hindu, not Muslim, and that is the biggest reason the island feels so different from the rest of Indonesia. Life here runs on temples, ceremonies and hospitality, and the tourist economy has been built around international visitors for decades. In the tourist areas, two men traveling together, sharing a villa or having dinner together draws no attention at all.
Where it gets more careful is affection in public. Kissing or holding hands on the street is frowned on for everyone in Bali, straight couples included, and under the 2026 code it is the thing most likely to cause a visitor a problem. Keep it for the villa.
Seminyak
The closest thing Bali has to a gay neighborhood is Jalan Camplung Tanduk in Seminyak, a short strip of bars. Bali Joe is the best known, with a drag show every night, and Mixwell is on the same strip. It is small and friendly, and it is where the island's gay nightlife lives. Seminyak is also the easiest place to stay if you want restaurants and beach clubs within walking distance.
Ubud
Ubud is inland, green and quiet: rice terraces, temples, yoga studios and the monkey forest. There is no gay scene and nobody expects one. It is the calm, cultural side of the island, and it is comfortable for gay travelers in the way any quiet resort town is. If Ubud's wellness side is what draws you, our guide to gay wellness and yoga retreats compares the options.
Canggu and Uluwatu
Canggu is surf, cafes and young international crowds, about as relaxed as Bali gets. Uluwatu, on the southern cliffs, is beach clubs, surf breaks and the clifftop temple where the Kecak fire dance is performed at sunset. Neither has a gay scene. Both are tourist towns where a group of men is just a group.
Practical questions gay travelers ask us
Can two men share a room? Yes. Hotels and villas do not ask about marital status, and Bali's government said they would not. Book the way you would anywhere.
Should we look for a gay hotel? You do not need one. International hotels and private villas are the norm in Bali, and they are used to every kind of guest. Men-only guesthouses exist, but in the current climate a business that advertises itself as gay is more exposed, so an ordinary hotel or villa is the lower-risk choice.
Do the apps work? Not reliably. Indonesia's government blocked Grindr and similar apps from 2016 on, and in 2025 police arrested three men over an LGBTQ+ community page on Facebook. We would not rely on dating apps in Indonesia, and we would not meet anyone from one in private.
Can I bring PrEP and my prescriptions? Bring them in the original packaging with your prescription, and carry what the trip needs. Indonesia is extremely strict about drugs, so never carry anything you cannot document. Our guide to bringing LGBTQ+ medications through customs covers the details.
Do I need a visa? US travelers get a Visa on Arrival at Denpasar airport, valid for 30 days, and need a passport with at least six months left on it. Entry rules change, so check the current requirements before you fly.
Temples. Every temple asks visitors to cover their legs with a sarong, and the popular ones provide them at the entrance. It applies to everyone, gay or straight.
Is it safe generally? Bali's everyday risks are ordinary ones: scooter accidents, heavy traffic and petty theft. Take cars rather than scooters, keep your phone off the table, and it is a non-issue.
Think a retreat like this could be your thing?
Train, travel, and connect with like-minded guys on a Visiting Wrld retreat.
Apply for your spotGoing alone, or going with a group
Most men who come to Bali with us have never traveled this far from home, and plenty have never left the US at all. If that is you, start with whether it is safe to travel internationally as a gay man.
Bali solo is doable, and plenty of gay men do it. What a solo trip does not give you is a group of gay men who know your name by the second day, or a team that handles the airport, the visa questions and the logistics for you. Ours runs nine days and eight nights from a private villa: airport pickup at Denpasar, coach-led training at the gym, nutrition and mindset workshops, a full day on a private yacht with snorkeling and island hopping, a day in Ubud for the rice terraces, a temple and the monkey forest, and sunset at Uluwatu for the Kecak fire dance. About 80 percent of the guys arrive on their own. In a country where you keep things private in public, a villa full of your own people is also the easiest place on the island to be yourself.
The next dates are November 4 to 12, 2026, May 4 to 12, 2027, and November 16 to 24, 2027, and the full week is laid out on our Bali gay fitness retreat page.
How Bali compares to our other destinations
Bali is the trip that asks the most of you. Thailand is the obvious comparison in Asia, and on the law it is far ahead: marriage equality took effect there in January 2025, which we cover in our Thailand guide. Costa Rica and Mexico both recognize same-sex marriage and are much shorter flights from the US. If you want the fewest variables on a first trip, read is Costa Rica gay friendly. Bali's case is the temples, the rice terraces and nine days that feel like a different world, in exchange for keeping things private in public.
Our honest verdict: is Bali gay friendly?
Bali is gay friendly in the places visitors go, and Indonesia is not gay friendly as a country. Both are true at once. A gay man can spend nine days in Bali and feel nothing but welcome, and the law behind that welcome gives him no protection. The 2026 criminal code does not realistically touch a tourist, the national mood toward LGBTQ+ Indonesians has hardened, and the practical answer is the one Bali has always asked of everyone: be private in public, respect the temples, and enjoy the island.
If you would rather see it with a group, the retreat application call is a real conversation about whether Bali, or one of our other destinations, is the right trip for you. There is no obligation on the call, and a $500 deposit locks your spot when you are ready.
Sources: LGBTQ rights in Indonesia (Wikipedia); Governor Wayan Koster's statement on the new criminal code, as reported by ABC News and CNN; ILGA Asia and the Library of Congress on Presidential Regulation No. 111/2025; and Bali Discovery on the July 2026 spa raid. All accessed on September 11, 2026.
