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50 free Bali trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Bali trivia quiz covers Indonesia's Hindu island from the Blanjong pillar of 914 CE to the overtourism debates of the 2020s. The early questions deal with geography and nature: where Bali sits among the Lesser Sunda Islands, the strait that marks the Wallace Line, Mount Agung and its 1963 eruption, the black-sand and white-sand coasts, the extinct Bali tiger and the endemic Bali myna, and the coral reefs of the Coral Triangle. The middle section covers history and culture: the Majapahit colony, the Portuguese and Dutch, the puputan mass suicides of 1906, the Western artists and anthropologists of the 1930s, the Japanese occupation, the hero I Gusti Ngurah Rai, and the province's creation in 1958. It then turns to religion and custom: Balinese Hinduism, the subak water temples that UNESCO listed in 2012, Nyepi's day of silence and its Ogoh-ogoh monsters, Galungan, the birth-order names Wayan, Made, Nyoman and Ketut, the Kecak monkey chant, gamelan and babi guling. The last questions cover the modern island: Denpasar and Ubud, Kuta and the 2002 bombings, Ngurah Rai airport, Eat Pray Love, the G20 summit at Nusa Dua and the visitor numbers. Every answer has been checked against the Wikipedia articles on Bali and its landmarks, festivals and history.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Bali is the westernmost of which island group?
The Lesser Sunda Islands
It lies east of Java and west of Lombok, with the small islands of Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan off its south-east coast.
Q 02What is the capital of Bali province?
Denpasar
It is the most populous city in the Lesser Sunda Islands; Singaraja on the north coast was the old colonial capital.
Q 03Roughly what share of Bali's population follows Balinese Hinduism?
86%
Muslims make up about 3 per cent of the ethnic Balinese and Christians about 1 per cent.
Q 04Tourism-related business makes up roughly what share of Bali's economy?
80%
Agriculture is still the biggest employer, but tourism produces the largest output and has made Bali one of Indonesia's richest regions.
Q 05The Balinese name for the island appears as 'Vāli-dvīpa' on which 914 CE inscription?
The Blanjong pillar
It was erected under King Sri Kesari Warmadewa; dvīpa is Sanskrit for 'island', and one theory derives Bali from the Sanskrit for 'offering'.
Q 06Bali lies how far east of Java across the Bali Strait?
3.2 km
The island is about 153 km wide and 112 km from north to south, roughly 8 degrees south of the equator.
Q 07What is Bali's highest peak, known as the 'mother mountain'?
Mount Agung
The active volcano rises to 3,031 metres and is rated one of the world's likeliest sites for a massive eruption within a century.
Q 08Bali's most important temple, Pura Besakih, sits high on the slopes of which mountain?
Mount Agung
The lava flows of the 1963 eruption missed the Mother Temple by mere metres.
Q 09The 1963 eruption of the island's highest volcano had what consequence for many Balinese?
They were transmigrated to other parts of Indonesia
The eruption killed thousands and created economic havoc; further eruptions in late 2017 closed the airport.
Q 10What is Bali's longest river?
Ayung
It flows about 75 km; the Ho River is the only one navigable by small sampan boats.
Q 11Beaches on Bali's south coast tend to be white; those in the north and west are typically what colour?
Black
The volcanic black-sand beaches between Pasut and Klatingdukuh are little visited apart from the seaside temple of Tanah Lot.
Q 12The Lombok Strait, east of Bali, marks which famous biogeographical boundary?
The Wallace Line
Alfred Russel Wallace landed at Buleleng in 1860; Bali's fauna is Asian while Lombok's is Australasian.
Q 13Which critically endangered bird is endemic to the island?
The Bali myna
About 280 bird species live on the island; the yellow-crested cockatoo is a rare Australasian visitor west of the Wallace Line.
Q 21Bali's international airport is named after which Balinese national hero?
I Gusti Ngurah Rai
He formed a Balinese 'freedom army' under the Japanese occupation and was killed fighting the Dutch at Margarana in November 1946.
Q 22In which year did Bali become a province of Indonesia, with its first governor appointed by Sukarno?
1958
Anak Agung Bagus Suteja was the first governor; direct popular election of the governor began only in 2008.
Q 23Roughly how many people were killed on Bali in the anti-communist purges of 1965–66?
80,000
That was about 5 per cent of the island's population, with upper-caste landlords of the PNI leading the killings of PKI members.
Q 14The last definite record of the Bali tiger dates from what year, when one was shot?
1937
The endemic subspecies may have survived into the 1940s or 1950s; leopards now occur only on neighbouring Java.
Q 15Bali's Coral Triangle has over 500 reef-building coral species. That is about how many times the Caribbean's total?
Seven
A 2011 survey of 33 sites found 952 reef fish species and 393 corals, several new to science.
Q 16Which Javanese empire founded a colony on Bali in 1343?
Majapahit
When Majapahit fell in 1520, mass Javanese migration to Bali followed and the island became a cluster of independent Hindu kingdoms.
Q 17What is a 'puputan', as carried out by the Balinese royal family facing the Dutch at Sanur in 1906?
Ritual mass suicide
An estimated 200 Balinese killed themselves rather than surrender, and a similar mass suicide followed at Klungkung.
Q 18Which Dutch merchant-explorer arrived at Bali in 1597?
Cornelis de Houtman
The Dutch East India Company followed in 1602, but Dutch control of Bali only began on the north coast in the 1840s.
Q 19Which two anthropologists' 1930s stays helped create the image of Bali as 'an enchanted land'?
Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson
The artists Walter Spies and Miguel Covarrubias and the musicologist Colin McPhee were there in the same decade.
Q 20Why did the Japanese decide to occupy Bali in February 1942, though it was not an original target?
Airfields on Borneo were unusable because of heavy rain
The island had no regular Dutch colonial troops, only about 600 native auxiliaries, and fell quickly after landings near Sanur.
Q 24What is subak, listed by UNESCO in 2012?
A cooperative rice irrigation system centred on water temples
It dates from the 9th century and covers nearly 20,000 hectares of terraces; its philosophy, Tri Hita Karana, links harmony with God, people and nature.
Q 25What is Nyepi?
Bali's Hindu new year day of silence
From 6 a.m. to 6 a.m. work, travel, fire and lights are restricted and everyone, tourists included, stays indoors while pecalang patrol the empty streets.
Q 26Who are the only people allowed on the streets during Nyepi?
Pecalang, traditional security men
They patrol to ensure the prohibitions on work, travel and lighting are observed.
Q 27Large colourful monster sculptures paraded on the eve of Nyepi are called what?
Ogoh-ogoh
They embody evil spirits and are carried through the streets before the day of silence.
Q 28Which is the most important Balinese Hindu festival, celebrating the triumph of dharma over adharma?
Galungan
It is related to Deepavali; ngejot food-sharing with neighbours is held for Galungan and Nyepi.
Q 29Balinese children are traditionally named according to what?
Birth order
Names are the same for boys and girls; a first-born is Wayan, Putu or Gede, and a fifth child is often 'Wayan Balik', meaning 'Wayan again'.
Q 30A first-born Balinese child is commonly given which name?
Wayan
Putu, Gede or, for a girl, Ni Luh are alternatives; the name Wayan means 'eldest'.