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Can you fly a drone in Bali?

What the regulation says, what villages add on top, and which of the rules you read online don't exist.

Updated September 2026 · Bali Creator Go Bags

Short answer: yes, with limits, and with more local rules than most visitors expect. Here's what we could confirm from Indonesian sources, and what we couldn't.

The national rules

Drones in Indonesia fall under Transport Ministry regulation PM 37 of 2020. The government runs a registration system for it called SIDOPI-GO, launched in June 2022. It covers drones from 250 grams up to 25 kilograms, pilot registration, and flight approvals.

The limits that apply everywhere on the island:

• Keep the drone where you can see it.
• Daylight only.
• Stay under 150 metres above the ground.
• Controlled airspace and the zones around airports need approval from the aviation authority first. South Bali near Ngurah Rai is the obvious one.

Flying for fun with a drone under 2 kilograms doesn't need a pilot licence. Flying for money does. That's a Remote Pilot Certificate, and it's a process, not a form you fill in at the airport.

What we could not confirm

Whether a visitor can complete the SIDOPI-GO registration on a passport. The Indonesian guides we read list a national ID card for pilot registration. One guide from 2025 lists a passport copy as acceptable for registering the drone itself. We haven't seen a foreigner walk through it end to end. Treat registration as unresolved and ask before you fly.

Village and temple rules sit on top

Bali runs on village councils, the banjar, and they set their own rules. Penglipuran village bans drones outright. Around temples, the working rule is to ask the caretaker before you launch, and to accept a no. A ceremony isn't a backdrop.

This is where most visitor drone trouble starts. Not with the national regulation, with the village.

The rules that don't exist

Search "Bali drone laws" in English and you'll find confident articles citing a "SIPP-TA" portal, a "DGCA directive 008/2025", a Bali provincial regulation "Perda 12/2024", a 5 kilometre no-fly ring around every sacred site, and fines of 5 billion rupiah plus deportation.

We looked for each of these in Indonesian government sources. We didn't find them. Bali's provincial legal database has no Perda 12 of 2024 about drones. The national system is SIDOPI-GO, not SIPP-TA. And a different guide from April 2026 says recreational registration isn't required at all and caps fines at 5 million rupiah, which contradicts the first set completely.

When sources disagree this badly, the honest position is simple. Follow PM 37/2020. Register if you can. Stay under 150 metres and in sight. Keep away from the airport. Ask the village. Nobody can promise you more than that, including us.

If you rent a drone from us

Renting doesn't include permission to fly. When you send us your dates and where you're staying, we'll tell you what we know about that area. If it's a temple town or a ceremony week, we'll say so before you commit to anything.

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