About Bali

This tiny island of nearly three million Hindus, surrounded by a sea of 190 million Muslims, is one of the smallest yet most visited of Indonesia's main islands. More than 500,000 visitors arrive each year on this beautiful isle that exactly fits the Western definition of a tropical paradise, famous for its charming people, lovely scenery, and the sophisticated artistry of its distinctly Indonesian-Hindu civilization. Earlier versions of this Hindu culture once flourished over large areas of Java and portions of the other islands, but it's now found almost exclusively on Bali. Today Bali is less a western Pacific paradise than an Asian hotbox-overpopulated, overdeveloped, underfed, and prone to eruptions, both volcanic and political.