An Encounter with Bali
Bali is not just a holiday destination for me — it is a chapter of my life. I lived on this beautiful island for eight years and am married to a Balinese woman from Lovina, the charming north of Bali, which is still characterised by authentic local life.
During that time, I ran a diving centre and travelled regularly all over the island — from the well-known tourist destinations to the most hidden corners known only to locals. I experienced the culture, the people and the local customs first-hand. This experience is worth more than any Wikipedia entry.
But as is so often the case in life: the best things wait until you can tell the story.
A domain name that waited for years
The domain mybestbali.com had been in my possession for a long time — a perfect name, but I lacked the time and the technical resources to turn it into a truly ambitious project.
A few years ago, it would have been a nightmare: learning a front-end framework, setting up a MySQL database, designing from scratch, translations for four languages… Unrealistic on my own.
Then came AI. Not just ChatGPT, but real AI agents — Claude and his companions from Anthropic. Suddenly, it was possible to realise an ambitious web project in weeks (not years), with a team of virtual specialists.
That was the moment I dusted off mybestbali.com.
What is mybestbali.com?
Mybestbali.com isn’t just another generic travel guide. It’s a curated directory of Bali backed by a smart travel planner.
The core idea:
- An authentic island perspective: Not written by SEO agencies, but by someone who really knows Bali — 8 years living here, family here, daily contact with the reality
- Smart travel planner: You choose your regions, your activities, your budget — the system suggests a personalised itinerary
- Multilingual from day one: English, French, German and Indonesian (not just Google Translate, but written natively by AI agents)
- Affiliate integration for real added value: Partnerships with Stay22 for hotel deals, local tour operators and activity providers
This isn’t a “I’ll sell you a travel guide” project. It’s a bridge between visitors and Bali’s best deals — a win-win for both sides.
The technical platform
Technology stack
Next.js 16 with App Router is the backbone. SSR/SSG hybrid rendering is ideal for SEO, and React on Demand powers interactive features like the travel planner.
PostgreSQL with Drizzle ORM — a robust, relational database that neatly maps the complex relationships between regions, activities and hotel offers. Drizzle is lightweight and gives me full control over the queries.
Tailwind CSS for responsive design without UI framework overhead. A bespoke look, not a template.
AI & Content Generation
Here’s the interesting bit: I didn’t write every POI (Point of Interest) myself. Claude and specialised AI agents generate and refine the content based on my briefings.
Each region has a structured outline (which I’ve filled in with local expertise), then AI editors step in and write the final text. Translations are done by native-speaker agents (not automatically).
Images are generated by OpenAI gpt-image-1 for illustrations — not too kitsch, but authentic.
The result: 127+ SEO-optimised URLs, completely unique content, no plagiarism, no scraped content.
Infrastructure & Deployment
The site runs on a VPS with Infomaniak — yes, deliberately hosted in Switzerland, not with AWS or DigitalOcean. Swiss infrastructure is a selling point for my audience.
Coolify orchestrates the Docker containers. GitHub Actions handles auto-deployment: push to main → build (~3 mins) → deploy (~20 secs).
Cloudflare CDN sits in front of it for global speed and DNS management.
SEO & Performance
Dynamic sitemap with 127+ URLs. Schema.org markup for every POI (Place, LocalBusiness, etc.). RankMath for meta optimisation.
Lighthouse score: 92+ on desktop, 85+ on mobile (the web isn’t rocket science if you write clean code).
Conclusion — Global experience as a real competitive advantage
I’m not just a web developer from Switzerland. I’m someone who has lived, travelled and worked across several continents. I’m married to a Balinese woman. I’ve run a diving centre — that’s entrepreneurship, customer satisfaction, operational reality.
This experience is the backbone of mybestbali.com, and it cannot be bought with money.
For hotel providers, tour operators and local businesses in Bali: this is why partnerships with mybestbali.com are different. It’s not just another source of traffic — it’s a curator with genuine local credibility.
Curious? Take a look at mybestbali.com. Get in touch if you’d like to become a partner.