Still figuring out Bali?
Good.
You don’t need to have everything planned before talking to us.
Ask Ilona.
Where should we stay?
Is this area right for us?
Are we doing too much?
Is this actually worth the drive?Message her on WhatsApp or Telegram while your trip takes shape.
Then, when you know what you actually want,
we’ll turn it into a personalized itinerary
and an easy-to-use custom map.
Your access continues until the last day of your Bali trip.
Includes:
• unlimited reasonable planning chat
• 60 minutes of accumulated video calls
• personalized Bali itinerary
• custom trip map
• reasonable itinerary adjustments
Ask first.
Plan when you’re ready.
Ready to book?
Use our Book Bali with Ilona.
Want us to physically check something before you book?
Use our Site Visit Assistant.
Plan Bali with Ilona
Plan Bali with Ilona is personal Bali planning help from someone who lives here.
You do not need to know exactly what you want before you start.
You can ask questions, compare ideas, discuss areas, hotels, activities, restaurants, travel times, or anything else that helps shape your trip.
As your plans become clearer, we organize them into a personalized itinerary and custom map.
Think of it as having one local person to help you make sense of Bali before and during your trip.
Ask Ilona the kind of questions that normally send you back to Google for another hour.
For example:
• Which area is better for our family?
• Sanur or Nusa Dua?
• Is Ubud worth staying three nights?
• Is this day too packed?
• Is this restaurant actually near our hotel?
• What should we do with children on a rainy day?
• Is this activity worth fitting into our trip?
• How much travel time should we expect?
• Does this hotel make sense for what we want?Sometimes Ilona already knows.
Sometimes we research or ask around locally.
The goal is simple:
help you reach a decision without having to research everything yourself.
You can continue chatting with Ilona throughout your active planning period.
There is no need to save every question for one meeting.
Ask when something comes up.
Change your mind.
Send us a place you found.
Ask whether another idea makes more sense.
“Unlimited” means reasonable personal travel-planning questions related to your Bali trip.
This is not a real-time concierge or emergency service.
Typical response time is within 24 hours, although we often reply sooner when possible.
Your plan includes:
60 minutes of accumulated video-call time.
You do not have to use it all at once.
For example:
15 minutes to talk about where to stay.
20 minutes later to discuss the itinerary.
25 minutes closer to the trip to finalize things.
Use the call time when talking is simply easier than typing.
Once we understand your trip well enough, we turn the ideas into a personalized Bali itinerary.
The itinerary is built around things such as:
• your travel dates
• where you are staying
• who you are travelling with
• interests and priorities
• preferred pace
• realistic Bali travel times
• things you already want to doWe are not trying to fill every hour.
The goal is to create a trip that actually feels good to travel.
Your itinerary also comes with a custom map.
Instead of searching through old chats every time you need a place, your trip locations are organized visually in one place.
Use it to quickly see:
• places in your itinerary
• restaurants
• activities
• useful stops
• locations worth rememberingIt is designed to make the itinerary easier to use once you are actually in Bali.
Your planning access begins up to 6 months before your Bali arrival date and continues until the final day of your trip.
If you purchase earlier than 6 months before arrival, your active planning period begins 6 months before your trip.
This gives you enough time to plan properly without needing to rush everything into one meeting.
Planning is collaborative.
Typical chat response:
within 24 hoursFirst itinerary draft:
typically within 5–7 working days once we have enough information to begin.The turnaround starts when your dates, travel style, priorities, and other important details are clear enough for us to build the first draft.
If you are already in Bali, we will try to respond sooner when practical, but this is not a real-time concierge service.
Trips change.
So we do not count every small adjustment as a “revision.”
Reasonable itinerary changes are included during your active planning period.
You can change your mind, replace a place, adjust your pace, or rethink part of the trip.
If the request becomes a completely new trip, involves multiple separate trips, or requires substantial additional planning, we may quote additional work before proceeding.
Plan Bali with Ilona helps you think through and organize your Bali trip.
It is not:
• a 24/7 concierge
• emergency assistance
• event planning
• professional travel or legal advice
• unlimited research projects
• booking managementWe help you plan and decide.
If you want Ilona to actually handle your bookings, use Book with Ilona.
If something is important enough that you want someone physically there to check it before deciding, use Site Visit Assistant.
Planning and booking are separate.
With Plan Bali with Ilona:
we help you decide what makes sense.
With Book with Ilona:
you decide what you want, and Ilona handles the booking side.
You are always free to book everything yourself.
But if you would rather have one trusted person handle multiple Bali bookings, Book with Ilona is available separately.
Ilona is Indonesian and lives in Bali.
Before this, she spent more than 20 years working as a destination wedding photographer and videographer with people from around the world.
That experience taught her to understand different travel styles, families, expectations, locations, timing, and the small details that can change an experience.
But you do not have to trust a biography.
You can see Ilona, our family, and our everyday life in Bali through @povhusbandbali on Instagram and YouTube.
SmartBali.Guide is built by the same family.
When someone is helping shape your holiday, we think it helps to know who you are actually talking to.
Plan Bali with Ilona is designed for personal Bali trip planning.
Unlimited chat applies to reasonable questions related to the trip covered by your plan.
It is not intended for:
• commercial research
• travel agency use
• planning trips for multiple unrelated groups
• large research assignments
• event management
• continuous real-time assistanceIf a request goes significantly beyond normal personal trip planning, we will let you know before doing additional work.
We are real people helping you plan a real trip.
We do our best to provide careful and useful information, but human errors can happen.
Bali also changes. Prices, opening hours, traffic, weather, availability, businesses, and local conditions may change after information is provided.
If you notice something that may be incorrect, please tell us. We will check it and, where reasonably possible, correct or update the information.
Important details should always be reconfirmed before making significant or non-refundable decisions.
You remain responsible for your final travel and purchasing decisions.
We want this service to feel fair.
If we make a mistake, please tell us and give us a reasonable opportunity to correct it.
A change of mind, a place not meeting personal expectations, changing local conditions, or incorrect information provided by a third party does not automatically qualify for a refund.
However, if we clearly fail to provide the planning service promised on this page, or we determine that our service has fallen materially below a reasonable professional standard, we may provide an appropriate partial or full refund.
Any refund will be assessed fairly based on the circumstances and the portion of the service already provided.
Refunds do not cover costs paid directly to hotels, vendors, activities, transportation providers, or other third parties.
Still figuring it out?
Ask questions.
Build the plan together.Need someone physically there before you decide?
Send Ilona.
Know what you want?
You decide.
Ilona handles the booking.
