Travel Medicine · Bali · Destination
No. The CDC lists no malaria transmission in Bali, including Ubud and the resort areas, so no malaria pills are needed for a Bali trip. The same goes for Jakarta and the Gili Islands. Malaria risk in Indonesia is in the east, Papua, Maluku, and East Nusa Tenggara, and in remote rural areas, not the places most people go. What actually matters in Bali is traveler's diarrhea and dengue, and no malaria pill prevents either. CDC guidance checked June 19, 2026.
| Destination | Malaria pills? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Bali (Ubud, Seminyak, Canggu, Uluwatu), the Gili Islands, Jakarta, Java resort areas | No | CDC lists these as having no malaria transmission. Traveler's diarrhea and dengue are the real concerns. |
| Eastern Indonesia: Papua, West Papua, Maluku, North Maluku, East Nusa Tenggara, plus rural Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Sumatra, and Lombok | Yes | CDC lists malaria here. Doxycycline or Malarone are appropriate if your trip includes these areas. |
So a classic Bali and Gili Islands trip needs no malaria pills. The only reason to take them is if you are adding eastern Indonesia, a Papua trek, or remote rural islands.
For Indonesia's malaria areas the CDC lists atovaquone-proguanil (Malarone), doxycycline, mefloquine, and tafenoquine. Two of those, doxycycline and Malarone, we prescribe for a flat $45, sent to your own pharmacy. See doxycycline vs Malarone to choose.
I am Bidwell Cranage, a nurse practitioner and Member of the International Society of Travel Medicine, and I have traveled and had traveler's diarrhea around Southeast Asia. For a Bali trip I would not take malaria pills, the CDC does not call for them, and I would not pay a service to bundle a pill you do not need. What I would carry is a standby antibiotic for Bali belly and good repellent for dengue. Those are the things that actually ruin Bali trips.
The most common thing to derail a Bali trip is traveler's diarrhea, often called Bali belly. Many travelers carry a standby azithromycin course so a bad case does not cost them beach or surf days. Dengue, spread by daytime mosquitoes, is also present in Bali, so repellent matters, and there is no pill that prevents it. We can include the standby antibiotic with your visit.
We do not give vaccines. We refer you to a travel clinic for those and can handle a standby antibiotic or, for an eastern-Indonesia trip, malaria pills online. See online travel medicine vs a travel clinic.
For one flat $45 visit, sent to your own pharmacy with no markup, we can cover a standby antibiotic for Bali belly, a scopolamine patch for a boat to the Gili Islands or Nusa Penida, and malaria pills (doxycycline or Malarone) only if you are adding Papua or eastern Indonesia. We refer you to a travel clinic for hepatitis A and typhoid shots, and for mefloquine or pregnancy.
No. The CDC lists no malaria transmission in Bali, including Ubud and the resort areas, so no malaria pills are needed for a Bali trip. The same is true for Jakarta and the Gili Islands. The travel health issues that actually matter in Bali are traveler's diarrhea (Bali belly) and dengue, neither of which a malaria pill prevents.
No. The CDC lists the Gili Islands and Jakarta among the areas with no malaria transmission, so no pills are needed. Lombok itself has low rural transmission, but the Gili Islands off Lombok are listed as malaria-free.
The CDC lists malaria risk in eastern Indonesia, the provinces of Maluku, North Maluku, East Nusa Tenggara, Papua, and West Papua, and in rural parts of Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Sumatra, and West Nusa Tenggara including Lombok. For those areas, doxycycline or Malarone are appropriate, and we can prescribe either. Bali, Java's resorts, and the Gili Islands are not malaria areas.
The CDC recommends hepatitis A and typhoid for Indonesia, which are shots, so we refer you to a travel clinic for those. What we can help with for Bali is a standby antibiotic for traveler's diarrhea, the most common Bali problem, and a scopolamine patch if you are taking a boat to the islands. Use good insect repellent for dengue, which has no preventive pill.