A Brit has slammed an iconic holiday destination after his visit, advising other tourists to avoid the island altogether. Boasting a mix of some of the world’s most beautiful beaches, delicious food and impressive temples, it is not hard to see why the Indonesian island of Bali has become one of the top destinations on travellers’ bucket lists.
In fact, last year some 6.3 million international tourists descended on its shores in 2024 – a 19.4% increase compared to the previous year. However, it appears that not all its visitors were as blown away by Bali’s offerings as they first thought. In a scathing 43-minute rant posted to YouTube, a British fitness coach has sparked backlash after slamming the hotspot as a “false reality” and has even urged other future tourists to give it a miss completely.
Harry Mackarness spent two months on the island, but said his trip left him” deeply depressed, disillusioned and determined never to return”. Instead of being a paradise holiday island heralded by social media influencers, Mr Mackarness said the real Bali was nowhere to be seen.
“It felt like a fake movie set,” Mr Mackarness said. “It’s a false reality.”
He claimed the island, far from being a serene yoga destination, is collapsing under the strain of mass tourism and is plagued by gridlocked roads, overflowing rubbish and rundown accommodation, all overseen by a tourism industry more interested in profit than hospitality.
“Everywhere you go, there’s rubbish, construction, or scams,” he added. “The infrastructure just can’t handle the number of people being sold this dream.
He even revealed that a spitting cobra – whose venom has been known to cause blindness – made its way into his villa’s living room. When he called the landlady for help, he said she brushed it off and said: “I’ll deal with it in the morning”.
“That just summed everything up,” the YouTuber said. “There’s this attitude that once you’ve paid, nobody cares anymore.”
Mr Mackarness has travelled across the world over the past couple of years, including to war zones like Ukraine, but he said that Bali was “the biggest let down”.
He said: “I have travelled the world in the last couple of years, from war zones, to the top of mountains, to the Galápagos Islands, and this was the biggest let-down.”
“It was all so isolated. You should save your money and not go. I cannot recommend this place at all,” he claimed. “There’s something so off about this island that no one is telling you.”
He said the only type of tourist who would enjoy Bali is those visiting purely for fitness purposes, calling gyms like Wanderlust “second to none.”
“But everything else around it? No thanks,” he continued.
Mr Mackarness said that after completing his two-month stay – the limit for a tourism visa – he said he could not wait to leave. He flew straight to Thailand, where he claims he felt instantly “safe, happy and at home”.
“For all the money in the world, you couldn’t pay me to go back,” he concluded.