When we walked through Candidasa on our first day in Bali, we were besieged by local Balinese wanting to be our driver. Most of them were very pushy and some didn't impress me with their levels of English.
However within a few minutes of talking to Gusti, I knew that he was a cut above the rest. He had reasonably good English and his approach was soft yet he still had an air of confidence that he really knew what he was doing.
When we walked through Candidasa on our first day in Bali, we were besieged by local Balinese wanting to be our driver.
Many drivers use the quality of their cars as their main selling feature but what we wanted in a driver/guide was someone we could trust and communicate with effectively. Gusti was that and more. As an added bonus he has a great sense of humour and we enjoyed our time with him as much as seeing the sites of Bali.
We tried him out for one day trip and once confident that we had a good guide we booked him for another three more days. He never led as astray and his ideas and advice can be trusted.
We did a day of snorkelling in Amed, a trip to the volcano rim at Mt Batur and the absolute "must do" is the white water rafting on the Telaga Waja river with lunch on the slopes of the gorge. And make sure you feed the monkeys just 15 minutes north of Candidasa. When we return we have a long list of other things we will see next time - and they will all be with Gusti as our driver. One of the best things about Bali was Gusti.
We will certainly make him our No 1 driver, every time we visit Bali.
Personalise your tour with these optional destinations.
Ujung Water Palace is a former palace in Karangasem Regency, Bali.
Most structures are on the road Jalan Raya Candida west of the lagoon, heading towards Gianyar or Denpasar.
Airport Transfers from Ngurah Rai Denpasar Airport available for people staying in or around Candidasa.
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