Flying home from Bali: do's & dont's what to bring

As you might know we travel quite a lot :) It’s already 8 years ago we stepped on the plane from Amsterdam to Bali for our little adventure… we planned on staying one year and here we still are, hehe. Since a few years we fly back home to Europe at least three times a year, if not more.

We never leave Bali without presents and island goodies for our friends and family. 1: because we’re Indo; we simply love to smother and spoil everyone. And 2: souvenir shopping in Bali is simply the best. Whether it’s beautiful interior accessories, bags, cloths, jewelry… still can’t stop shopping after all these years!

The funny thing is though, we’re never really sure what we can and what we can’t bring home and always get a bit nervous around customs somehow before leaving Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, haha. Is that weird or do you also recognise this feeling?

So once and for all we decided to dive into it. We teamed up with The Douane(Dutch Customs, so these tips are especially for all our Dutch world travellers!) and used their new Douane App, which shows exactly on what you may and may not take on your flight back to The Netherlands. Including all rules on medicines, money, food, tobacco, shells, plants and all that kind of things. We downloaded the app on our iPhone (it’s also for Android) and checked knowledge. Can’t say we knew it all!

Yes & Nope’s: what to bring home from your Bali travels

Yes: Market Souvenirs!
We LOVE all the Bali market souvenirs like the Rotan Bags, hats (which we have for you in our online store if you’re not coming to Bali any time soon ;), batik sarongs, coconut oil, incense jewelry, home and kitchen ware, etc.

The Douane App showed us you can import products tax free up until a value of 430,- euros. So it’s important to keep the receipts or invoices. If you bring more value, you can declare this at customs ‘De Douane’ after you picked up your luggage at Schiphol Airport. You’ll pay tax over the rest of the products (check here for all info!).

Nope: beach treasures coral & shells
Who doesn’t love to go treasure hunting on the beach, and collect the most beautiful shells and washed up coral? But… it’s best to leave them right where they are :) As these are nature’s own and protected. But, you can actually bring max. three carcass shells (only if super clean!) which you can find in many souvenir shops.

Yes: Clothing
Bali is filled with amazing island boutiques, from independent designers to international brands. To shop new outfits to bring home we love to go to Oberoi and Seminyak street. Also check out ‘Pasar Kodok’ in Tabanan where you can score the best vintage! In Bali we also frequently custom make our own leather shoes, bags or jackets (tip: check The Bali Tailor!). These are all perfect goods to bring home. Do keep the receipts!

A little: Fruit & Veggies.
We used to bring typical Bali fruit salak (snake fruit, delicious!), Mangosteen and durian (NOT a good idea, this has the worst smell EVER haha) with us from Bali to bring home to our ‘Oma’ (grandmother). As she really longed to eat fruits from her home country. You can max. 5 kghome of these delicious souvenirs. Clean them well, as you don’t wanna bring back home any parasites :).

Do you always bring souvenirs you bring home?
Which Bali souvenirs are your favorite? Let us know in the comments below!

We hope you found this helpful. For more specific questions you can always contact The Douane via Facebook. The Douane App is available to download via the App Store for IPhone and Android.