How I Had a Successful Trip to Bali with CIRS/Mould Sensitivity. And You Can Too!
Before my family booked our trip for Bali, I almost backed out. As someone with a sensitivity to mould, I did what many of us do before travelling—dive into Facebook groups and online forums to get the lowdown and look for travel recommendations. What I found was a sea of negative stories: “I was so sick there”, “I would never go back”, “I was bedridden after I got home” and many more accounts of people who said they’d never return. Not pleasant.
But I didn’t want to miss out on a family trip, and to a place I had so many fond memories. I decided to do my homework and plan carefully to ensure I could manage my mould sensitivity—and I’m so glad I did. As it turns out, it was pretty similar to planning a trip anywhere else with CIRS.
The trip turned out to be a huge success, and I want to share what I learned with others who might be in the same boat, feeling scared to travel to what’s often referred to as the ‘mould capital of the world’. Venice, ‘the floating city’, usually comes in as the runner-up, but I’m yet to try that one!
Honestly, one of the things I’ve slowly realised with my CIRS diagnosis is to always try things for myself. Early on - fearful and trying to educate myself about my new, mysterious illness - I’d read about experiences where people had bad reactions to certain places or activities, and I immediately think, “Ok, so I can’t do x anymore with CIRS” before even trying it. Catching the bus, going to the cinemas, staying in a hotel room—anything that others had said triggered terrible reactions for them, I ruled out for myself, like it was gospel. I truly thought at one stage that I would never, ever be able to travel again. But the time eventually came when I decided I wanted to just start trying things for myself, or putting on a p2 mask and seeing if I could tolerate whichever place/activity/adventure. And what I found was that, despite being very sensitive to mould and mould toxins, I’m able to do a lot more than I thought.
The key is to find what works for you personally, rather than giving in to fear, based on a few negative stories. The Facebook groups aren’t your friend!
Here are some of the tips that helped me have a smooth and enjoyable trip, as well as my mum and sister who also have CIRS, and my mould-sensitive 3 year old:
Hotel and Accommodation Tips
1. Opt for New or Newly Renovated Hotels
Bali’s tropical climate—with heavy rain and very high humidity—makes it a breeding ground for mould, especially in older buildings. Leaks are very common, particularly roof leaks, and it’s not uncommon to see dark, black mould growing on the gyprock/drywall of many market and stall ceilings. In some ways - this made it easier for me to avoid mould in Bali because it is so visible. You don’t need to be a mould inspector to be able to spot the clues.
But since I couldn’t inspect the hotel for mould before I booked my stay, I made sure to choose hotels that were either newly built or recently renovated. I was also lucky enough to chat with others with CIRS who had stayed here successfully.
We stayed one week at the Hyatt Regency in Sanur and one week at the Padma in Legian. The Hyatt was slightly more mould friendly than the Padma. My mum’s air con was not great at the Padma and she had to rely a bit more heavily on purifiers, as well as an EC3 candle, and to sleep on the side of the bed that was furthest away from the air con stream. In this instance, I would have requested to move rooms, but she wasn’t bothered by it in terms of symptoms.
These hotels are popular, and stunning, but also expensive. Given the prevalence of water damage and humidity issues in many buildings, I would always choose the newer, pricier option, even if it meant shortening the holiday to stay within budget.
The fear surrounding Balinese hotels in Toxic Mould Facebook groups often stems from people expecting older hotels with fancy reputations to be safe or opting for backpacker-style accommodations. In my opinion, that’s extremely risky, and I’d avoid it. If I only had the budget for a cheap, older hotel, I’d actually choose a different destination. Even in places like the Hyatt Regency, which is newly constructed, we saw visible signs of water damage in outdoor areas, and the humidity inside rooms was consistently above 75% RH, even with the air con running. So, research is crucial, and a newly renovated or newly built hotel is the safest bet.
2. Avoid the Bottom Floor
Given the heavy rain, lower floors are more prone to water infiltration. I always requested rooms on higher floors, since rainwater can easily seep into lower-level rooms. Foundation and drainage issues are common, so if possible, aim for a middle or higher floor to avoid any potential dampness from the rain.
Since roof leaks could also be a concern, if there was an option to stay in the middle floor I would request that. But generally, I requested rooms on higher levels and found them to be a safer bet.
3. Bring Your Own Pillow and Pillowcase
I didn’t want to risk using hotel pillows that may have been exposed to the humidity or mould or other guests’ wet hair. Bringing my own pillow and a couple of spare pillowcases ensured I had a clean, safe surface for my head every night. And the extra pillowcases meant that I wasn’t relying on laundromats to launder those, since they were going to be right up in my breathing zone. I packed my pillow in a garbage bag in my suitcase, so that it wouldn’t get dirty from the suitcase itself or other belongings during travel. I then left the pillow over there rather than bringing it back home because it had been in humidity levels of 80%+ for a couple of weeks and used in a bed that probably wasn’t totally mould free.
The hotel pillows will be mould affected (invisibly), for sure. I put my face in one of them and sniffed it deeply (out of curiosity) and had immediate brain fog and heart palpitations.
4. Inspect for Mould Before Unpacking
It’s essential to do a quick inspection of your room upon arrival. Look for any obvious signs of water damage, such as peeling paint or water stains, especially on the ceiling or around the windows. If I saw anything that raised a red flag, I would have requested a room change.
I had actually also emailed both hotels prior to staying saying that myself, my mum, sister and my son all have severe mould '“allergies” and need the rooms to be free of any mould, past or present water damage and need to have clean air con units. One hotel replied, one didn’t. I don’t know how much difference it made, but I think it’s worth emailing in advance even just so you’ve got a bit more bargaining power in the event that you need to change rooms. You can state that you requested in advance a mould-free room.
Because I’m very sensitive, I could tell that the air con at the Padma Hotel wasn’t 100% perfect in my room, but not too bad and an air purifier was enough to bandaid the issue.
5. Be mindful of unclean drains
I noted a smell from the two bathroom drains at the Hyatt Regency, but not at the Padma. It wasn’t a strong smell when I entered the room, but I noticed it when using the bathroom or toilet area. If you find yourself in the same position, you can try covering them with a folded towel to block the smell – this has worked for me in other hotels.
Secondly, and a bit more left of field, but I have been playing around with a new app called the MoldWizard App (no affiliation) which aims to target mould through rife frequencies. If you download the app, there is one free tune included which is stated as “for mildew”. It runs for 5 minutes, but can be looped on repeat. Many have claimed that minor mould odours have disappeared after playing the frequency in the affected area. When we went out, I played the frequency in the bathroom areas and the smell had gone on our return. My husband seemed to think so too. More to come on that – but if you’re overseas and desperate, it’s worth a shot!
Dining & Activities
1. Choose Outdoor Seating
Most restaurants in Bali have outdoor seating options, it’s part of the appeal – eating outside along the street or near the beach. Eating outside kept me away from potential mouldy buildings and/or air conditioning and was easily done. Unless you’re travelling with someone who is a fiend for air con, this shouldn’t be an issue.
It’s the same with shopping – most of it is outdoors (albeit there is a lot of water damage visible to the gyprock ceilings of many street market stalls and just walking near them POTENTIALLY could trigger an inflammatory response for those in the very hypersensitive phase). For others, mould in an open, outdoor space won’t be an issue.
The hotel breakfast buffets/restaurant areas were fully outdoors in the hotels I stayed too, which was great since breakfast is usually included and you don’t want to miss it.
There’s a large shopping mall opposite Kuta Beach, Beachwalk Mall, that is large open air style and I was fine in there too (although the air con is ducted here and some of the vents were blackened around them so I avoided those stores). But in so far as cruising around the mall with family, I was fine.
2. Be Mindful of Fabrics
Many hotels/restaurants/shops in Bali use fabric cushions or chairs, which are prone to retaining moisture and can feel mouldy because they don’t ever fully dry due to the humidity. They also just get wet in the rain a lot – particularly sun loungers near hotel pools.
I made it a point to move fabric cushions off chairs, and simply sit on the wood or plastic wicker chairs instead. I was polite and subtle about it and no one ever seemed to notice that I was placing the cushion on another chair. On the odd few occasions that I thought “she’ll be right” and sat down, I could always feel that I was sitting on something mouldy. One time, I checked the fabric and saw loads of visible mould growth on it.
A dry towel on top of a cushion helped mitigate the issue a few times too when I couldn’t lift the cushion off.
You may not feel anything depending on your sensitivity level, but just know that it’s an option to simply shift the cushion off if you need to. If you don’t feel it, don’t worry!
With pool sun loungers, the Hyatt Regency uses fabric ones (god knows why – they are constantly scrambling to get them packed up when it rains) and the Padma used leather. The leather was obviously much better as it’s less porous. I didn’t have any issues using any of the pool towels or hotel towels supplied, or with the bed sheets for that matter (although wouldn’t sleep with the doona right up near my face).
3. Air-Conditioned Spaces
I can’t believe I’m typing this – but the air conditioning in Bali seemed to be EXTREMELY MOULD FREE. Over there, they predominantly use wall hung split system units (unless in a hotel where it’s usually ducted air con). In Australia, I avoid these units like the plague – ie. I’ll go out of my way to avoid sitting beneath one as I know that it’s a rare one that is tested and doesn’t come back as positive for mould (usually Cladosporium/ Asp/Pen-Like). Dr Nicole Bijlsma (founder of the Australian College of Environmental Studies) has previously stated that of all the split systems she has tested, only one ever came back as having no abnormal mould levels. [side note: if you’re not using the bagged pressure washing method to have your split system cleaned, it’s not actually being cleaned]
But I digress. So in Bali, the split systems are hung everywhere. If you walk into a larger beauty salon for a massage, it wouldn’t be uncommon to see NINE of them hanging off the walls. It’s the stuff of nightmares ordinarily. But I was shocked to find that on visual inspection, not one of these units I ever saw had dust/dirt/visible mould of any kind. [Yes I was visually inspecting, the mould inspector brain doesn’t turn off just because I’m on holidays].
They were impeccably clean. And I never had any type of reaction to them.
This made it easier for me to screen for places that I wanted to enter for a massage, I could exclude the air con and mainly just check for roof leaks.
4. Going for a massage
Getting a massage is hugely popular because it only costs around $15-$20 per hour.
Like I mentioned, the mould in Bali is often very visible and the main issue I saw was roofs leaking onto gyprock ceilings that then grew mould (usually very black and very visible). Gyprock really shouldn’t be used in Bali – it’s just not the right climate.
But for our purposes, gross looking black gyprock can make it easier to find and avoid mould.
I got massages in 4 different salons during the trip. When I entered, I checked that the entrance didn’t have any warping/swelling/staining or other signs of flooding. If it was green with lichen or moss all around the base of the building, this told me that the foundation was very wet and I also stayed clear (moss needs lots of water to grow).
But mainly, I just looked up! Before I went in, I peered through the glass door, looked at the ceiling, then went inside and quickly and subtly looked again before requesting an appointment. This strategy worked for me, there was only one massage I left that I felt slight brain fog after which cleared quickly (and that might’ve been from the bed I was laying on).
I also got my hair washed with some fancy cream bath thing in a 5th salon, and again, was fine there just by checking the roof and the entrance as I walked in. I wish I had a photo from that afternoon, my sister and I had our hair blow-dried together, then got stuck in a rain storm with no umbrellas and returned home as drowned rats - we couldn’t stop laughing.
A lot of the salons have leather seats too, which beats fabric any day of the week in my books.
Anywhere that was below ground level, I would assume has been flooded at some point and move on to the next salon.
5. Going to the gym
If you’re a gym junkie – I’d plan on getting your exercise outdoors in Bali. The gym at the Padma was below ground and smelled unbelievably strong of mould. You might get lucky and find your hotel gym is unaffected, but I think it’s a common problem. My sisters boyfriend used the gym (he isn’t mould sensitive), and had a headache for the rest of the day and a sore throat after it because of how contaminated it was.
Everyday Tips
1. Use an Air Purifier
I brought a portable Winix ZERO 360+ air purifier with me. It kept the air consistently fresh. It’s massive, and that’s why I personally like it. But a great travel option that I also own (which I loaned to my mum) is the VBreathe Enviroguard. My sister used a small Winix compact purifier and was happy with that (her and mum are less sensitive than I am, so I like to bring in the big guns and go overboard).
In the second hotel, I sensed that it wasn’t quite as mould free as the first, so I placed the air purifier about a meter from where I was sleeping. This is one of my best tips for travelling with air purifiers. If you’re worried about the room, don’t have the purifier on the other side of it, well away from where you’re actually spending time. They purify the area closest most efficiently. This way, when you’re sleeping, you know you’re breathing fresh air [provided you took your own pillow!].
You can also consider taking a Microbalance EC3 candle to help with air quality if your room feels like it needs it.
2. Be Prepared for the Humidity and Trying To Keep Your Clothes Dry
The humidity in Bali is insane, indoor and outdoors. I had a thermo-hygrometer over there (no need to take one, I just get curious about these kinds of things) and it showed our hotel room, even with air con on 24 hours day, always had 75%+ RH, often close to 90%RH. Everything in the room felt kind of damp.
With this level of humidity, wet clothes can stay damp for days. That will trigger mould growth if left unchecked (and clothes are often wet because of swimming/getting caught in the rain etc). Bacteria grows on wet clothes even quicker than that. So you’ll need to plan on using a laundromat. If you’re chemically sensitive, I would take your own laundry detergent and request they use that as the smell of the regular stuff is pretty potent. (Re fragrances, I didn’t notice that any of the hotels had overpowering fragrances, other than potentially toilet air fresheners and that’s probably because areas like lobbies/breakfast buffets etc are outdoors and the soaps in the room were all essential oils based).
After I got my clothes back from the laundromat, I gave them a big sniff and didn’t have any reaction. I used two different places successfully – they had a bit of mould on the ceilings from humidity but I didn’t let that deter me [you can tell the difference between mould from leaks or from humidity because the leak mould will be very dark and aggressive and the humidity mould is just lightly scattered].
Depending on your sensitivity level, you could just send a couple of items into to the laundromat you’ve selected, and see how they feel when you get them back. Or see if the hotel laundromat looks better (although will cost more).
The hotels often have heated drying racks in the bathroom and a drying rack on the balcony, but I still found it took too long to dry the clothes without using a laundromat. When the air is full of water outside, it can’t evaporate water from the wet clothes very efficiently.
Side note: Don’t send fancy things to the laundromat - they have to use a dryer to get everything dry and a lot of my t-shirts returned as midriff shirts…
3. Use a Mask in Taxis and Cars If You Need To
In Bali, the taxis and cars always use air conditioning, as you’d expect. I wouldn’t assume that any of those are mould free. Some of them also smell a bit. I found it helpful to wear an AMD P2 mask (and I do the same here when I jump in an uber or on public transport). I buy mine here: https://www.aussiepharmadirect.com.au/products/amd-p2-respirator
The same goes for the plane. I didn’t wear a mask on the way over and was fine. But when I stepped onto the plane on the way back I immediately quipped to my sister “Erm.. this isn’t a smell that I love”, so I chucked on my mask. She could smell it too, as well as my mum - kind of like wet dog smell.
Generally however, since travelling with CIRS – I’ve actually found that airplane air quality is pretty good! Which is another mistruth I’ve overturned after reading the mould groups that planes are terrible and someone with CIRS should never get on one. Plus – it’s so easy to just wear a mask if needed! The AMD p2 ones I recommend are genuinely comfortable enough to be worn for a whole flight (I’ve tried so many, and most aren’t).
As a side note, the airport in Bali was generally very clean too - honestly, much better than Sydney Airport.
Having a laugh on the plane home. I don’t recommend wearing a face mask and a sleeping mask at the same time if you ever want to be taken seriously again.
4. Unpacking at home
When you get home, wash everything that you took with you, even the clothes you didn’t wear. Wipe your suitcase (which is hopefully a hard case not a fabric one) down with either microfibre cloths and hot soapy water, or alcohol wipes, or hypochlorous acid (HOCI), or your chosen mould solution.
Depending on your level of sensitivity (I used to do this but don’t need to now), you can leave the suitcases outside rather than bringing everything indoors before it’s cleaned.
Store your suitcases away, and if you’ve got any little silica bags laying around (I save the ones from my supplement bottles or else buy them on Amazon), then chuck a couple in the suitcase before you pack it away.
Clean any other items, and fully clean your purifier, including potentially changing the outer filter, vacuuming the machine and wiping it all down.
Bonus Tip: EMF Sensitivity
If you’re also sensitive to EMFs (electromagnetic fields), Bali might not be the best place for a relaxing holiday. The island is covered in cell phone towers, and many hotels have massive nests of tangled wiring outside or near rooms. To mitigate this, you can check with your hotel to ensure you’re not staying under a tower. I don’t just mean near a tower, I mean that I saw many hotel rooms with cell phone towers on top – ie. lingering 2 meters from people’s heads as they sleep. There are also modems in most rooms, often near the bed, so bring a small shielding blanket so that you can cover it, like this one: https://radiasmart.com/collections/emf-blanket/products/classic-organic-blanket-emf-protection
Conclusion
I can happily say that despite my initial fears, my trip to Bali was a success. I felt energised, healthy, and was able to enjoy all the food and activities without any issues. If you know any of my story, I was restricted to eating just meat and dark chocolate for a few years pre diagnosis so it’s major for me to now be able to eat anything and everything! I’m not exaggerating when I say anything and everything - my husband and I each gained 5kg in 2 weeks.
The key to success was planning ahead, being mindful of potential triggers, and trusting myself to try things out rather than letting fear dictate my experience. I didn’t get caught up in the annoyance of having to plan and strategise more than a non-CIRS patient would for a holiday, I just got on with it.
If you’re sensitive to mould or other environmental factors, please don’t let a few negative stories stop you from travelling. With a bit of preparation and the right mind set, you can drastically increase the chances of your trip being enjoyable and stress-free. Bali is a beautiful destination, and it’s worth experiencing for yourself.
I think it’s important to note however, that I am someone that is MOULD sensitive specifically (I have the mould sensitive HLA DR/DQ haplotype), so I can’t comment on what someone with a multi-susceptible haplotype may experience in relation to actinobacteria, endotoxin or other biotoxin exposure. You will know your haplotype if you’ve done the “mould gene blood test”. In regard to endotoxins, there are a LOT of sewer smells lurking about outdoors. If you know that endotoxins can trigger your CIRS, this may be worth considering as a separate risk.
My final tips – totally unrelated to mould – are:
1: Download books on your kindle (if you use one) before you leave, 3 of us were unable to download books whilst there for some reason and
2: The best spot to stay is widely considered as Canggu now, over Legian, which was most popular for years. But we also loved how relaxing and quiet it was in Sanur (where the Hyatt Regency is). If you’re staying in Legian, be prepared for lots of traffic if you want to venture anywhere else.
3. Kids need to be 4yo to use the kids club in both the hotels I mentioned. However you can also hire a nanny/babysitter which I heard was $8-$10/ph at The Padma.
I hope this gives you the insight and confidence you need to plan your trip to Bali. If you’ve had similar experiences or have additional tips to share, feel free to leave a comment below!
Follow me over on Instagram at @mould.wise for more mould/CIRS tips and info!
