Bali With Kids: A Realistic Guide for Australian Families

Most of the advice about Bali with kids is written by people who went once, for a week, and stayed in Seminyak. This is the other kind. We live here, we run family trips with Bali Sunny Kids, and we have watched a lot of Australian families arrive tired and leave rested. Here is what actually matters.

Which ages travel well

Every age works in Bali. What changes is how much of the trip is for the kids and how much is for you.

Under three

Babies and toddlers are easy in Bali in one way and hard in another. Easy, because Balinese people adore small children and you will never feel unwelcome with a pram in a warung. Hard, because everything runs on the nap. Plan one thing a day, do it in the morning, and treat the afternoon as pool and sleep. A carrier beats a stroller once you leave the flat bits of Sanur. Bring your own formula and a few familiar snacks. You will find nappies here, but not always your brand.

From three

This is where the trip opens up. From three, kids can join the Bali Sunny Kids days, which means you get a morning to yourself for the first time since they were born. Threes to sixes love the turtle sanctuary, the kite-making, and anything involving sand. They still need the afternoon nap, and they will melt down if you push through it. We do not.

From seven

Seven is the sweet spot. They can swim properly, sit through a cooking class, walk a rice-field path without being carried, and stay awake for dinner. They will remember this trip. This is the age where a temple visit stops being something to get through and starts being a story they tell at school.

From twelve

At twelve and up, minding is the wrong word. They want to do something, not be looked after. Snorkelling off the east coast, a surf lesson at Sanur, a long lunch where they order for themselves. Treat them as junior adults and give them a say in the plan. They will also want wifi, and we will tell you honestly which hotels have the good kind.

The flight

Denpasar is around six hours from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, a little less from Adelaide, and under four from Perth. Bali sits on Perth time, so from the east coast you gain two hours on the way over (three in daylight saving). That helps. A morning flight lands you in the afternoon with time for a swim before dinner.

With small kids, the morning departure is worth more than a cheaper red-eye. A tired child at midnight in a customs queue is nobody's idea of a holiday. Ask us about the current flight timings for your city, and note that on our trips the flights are included and we meet you at the airport, by name, with a sign.

Visa on arrival currently costs approximately [[NEEDS INPUT: current visa on arrival cost per person]] and applies to children too. Passports need six months of validity from your arrival date.

Where to base with kids

Skip Kuta. Think twice about Seminyak. Both are loud, the traffic is relentless, and crossing the road with a pram is a genuine hazard.

Sanur is the family base we use most. The beach is calm and shallow, there is a flat paved path along the whole beachfront where a stroller or a small bike works, and the hotels have real gardens rather than a strip of concrete. Dinner is a five-minute walk. Nobody is trying to sell you anything.

Ubud is worth a few nights, not a week. The rice-field walks, the cooking classes and the monkey forest are all genuinely good with kids. The town centre is hilly, the footpaths are patchy, and there is no beach, so three nights in the middle of the trip is about right.

The east coast (Candidasa, Amed) is the reward for families with kids who can swim. Quiet, slow, black-sand beaches and snorkelling you can walk into from the shore.

Our 10-Day Island Loop moves through three bases at an unhurried pace, which is about as many hotel changes as a family wants. You unpack, settle, and the car does the rest.

Heat, naps and the shape of a day

Bali is hot and humid every month of the year. Kids feel it before you do. The rhythm that works is simple: out early, back by lunch, quiet until three, out again for the late afternoon and an early dinner.

On our family trips nothing loud is scheduled between one and three. Little ones sleep in a cool room with a carer nearby. Bigger kids swim or do something quiet. If your child sleeps best with you, collect them for the nap and drop them back after. Nothing is locked.

Sunscreen, hats and water bottles go everywhere. The carers top up water every twenty minutes at the beach without being asked.

Food, fussy eaters and Bali Belly

The fear is real, so let's deal with it. Bali Belly is mostly water and ice. It is rarely the food itself.

Bottled water only, including for teeth. No ice unless it comes from the hotel or a restaurant you trust. Peel fruit yourself or eat what has been cut in front of you. Hot food, freshly cooked, from a busy kitchen. That is most of it.

On our trips we choose every kitchen, we have eaten at every one, and the kids' meals come from the same places as the adults'. Bottled water goes into the kids' bottles, always.

For fussy eaters, the good news is that plain rice, grilled chicken, noodles and fresh fruit are on every table in Bali. A child who will only eat chicken and rice will do fine here. Allergies go on the booking form and travel with the group to every kitchen, so you are not explaining coeliac in your best Bahasa at each meal.

Pools and safety

Many hotel pools in Bali are not fenced. That is the honest answer, and it is the single biggest safety difference from home. Before you book anywhere, ask.

On our trips a carer is in or beside the pool whenever the kids are, with eyes on the water. Pool time is scheduled with a carer rather than open-ended, so nobody wanders off. Swim vests and arm bands come with the little ones, and we ask about swimming ability when you book. We confirm fencing at each property before you travel. If a pool is not gated, you will know, and so will the carers.

What Bali Sunny Kids actually does

Bali Sunny Kids are qualified, vetted local carers who run the kids' program on our family trips. Ratios and qualifications are set out on our Family Retreats page, and we will not state them here until we have checked them with the partner.

What they do, in plain terms: they take the kids for a morning or a full day of things the kids actually like. Turtle sanctuary. Cooking class where the kids make their own satay. Beach cricket. Kite-making with a local kite maker. Rice-field walks at kid pace. The carers hand back a sandy, worn-out child at five o'clock with a report on what they ate and who needs an early night.

This changes the trip for parents in a way that is hard to explain until you have had it. You get a long breakfast. You get a massage. You get to read a book by the pool. You get to be a person for a few hours, and then you get your kids back and you are glad to see them.

You join in whenever you want. Plenty of parents do the cooking class and skip the beach. Tell the carer at handover and the plan bends around you.

A sample family day

Not every day looks like this. Some days everyone goes out together. Some days you stay at the hotel and do nothing, which is also the point.

The two adults-only dinners

Two dinners on every family itinerary are for the adults only. The kids eat early with the carers, a carer stays with them at the hotel, and you get a long dinner where nobody cuts anyone's food.

This is the part of the trip that families talk about afterwards. Not the temple, not the waterfall. The dinner.

Packing list highlights

• Reef-safe sunscreen. It is expensive here and not always the good kind.
• A hat each with a chin strap. They blow off on the beach.
• Swim vests or arm bands if your child uses them at home.
• Rash vests. Kids can be in the water for hours without burning.
• Your own formula, a few familiar snacks, and any regular medication with a copy of the prescription.
• A light muslin or sarong. Shade, blanket, temple cover-up, all in one.
• Rehydration sachets and children's paracetamol. You may not need them, and you will be glad you have them.
• A refillable water bottle for each child. We keep them topped up.

We do not bring a stroller. Cots, high chairs and strollers are available on our trips, so you do not have to fly with one.

What it roughly costs

Doing it yourself, an Australian family of four can spend anywhere from modest to a great deal. Flights are the big variable and change with school holidays, so we will not quote a number. Mid-range family hotels in Sanur run roughly $200 to $400 a night. A private driver for a day is roughly $80 to $120. Meals are cheap by Australian standards, but they add up, and so does every entry fee, sarong hire, taxi and "small tip" that you were not expecting. Families who add it all up afterwards are usually surprised.

Our family retreats are one price in AUD, with return flights, every meal, private transport, all entry fees, the carers, and the adults-only dinners included. Adult pricing starts from [[NEEDS INPUT: family retreat price from, per adult, twin share]], with child rates by age bracket on the Family Retreats page and current dates on Dates and Prices. A $500 deposit per person holds your spot and is fully refundable for 14 days, no questions.

The only money you take out of your pocket is for a Bintang and a souvenir. That is the whole idea.

Want the day-by-day?

The free 20-page Itinerary Pack has all three itineraries day by day, real AUD pricing including child rates, a packing list, and "12 Places in Bali the Tour Buses Never Reach". First name and email, nothing else. Get the Itinerary Pack.