Bali With Kids: A 7-Day Plan

Bali rewards families that respect its rhythm. The island is hot, the traffic is real, and the kids who get the best week here are the ones whose parents resisted the urge to stack four headline attractions into three days. Here is a 7-day plan that does the opposite — alternating big-ticket days with pool-and-mango downtime, choosing bases that put you near what you’ll actually use, and skipping the things that look great on Instagram but ruin a toddler.

This is the brief we send friends arriving with kids in tow. It assumes one or two young children, an interest in seeing the island rather than just a resort pool, and a preference for not wasting mornings in traffic.

Where to base yourself

Bali is bigger than first-time visitors expect. A 40-kilometre transfer can take two and a half hours in afternoon traffic. The single most important decision you will make is where you sleep — get this wrong and the week becomes a sequence of car journeys with overheated children.

For families, four areas are worth considering. Sanur is the original family base — calm, reef-protected water with no surf, a flat beachfront promenade you can push a stroller along, and a 40-minute reach to most of the south’s attractions. It is unfashionable in exactly the ways families want a holiday to be unfashionable. Nusa Dua is the resort enclave — gated, manicured, beach-club-and-buffet calm — and the most logistically painless choice, plus the closest base to Devdan Show and GWK. Ubud is the cultural and jungle counter-balance: cooler, greener, slower, and the right base for the second half of the week. Seminyak sits in the middle — walkable restaurants and proper kid-friendly hotels — but the surf has rip currents and the Petitenget end of the strip is increasingly an adult bar zone after dark.

A note on Canggu, because every family asks. The Canggu beaches (Echo, Batu Bolong, Berawa) have powerful rip currents and are not safe for kids to swim from. The area is great for restaurants and walkable mornings, but plan your water days at a hotel pool or at Finns Recreation Club rather than the ocean.

The plan below assumes a five-night base in the south (Sanur or Nusa Dua) followed by two nights in Ubud — the geography that minimises transfers and gives you a clean change of scenery midweek. If you only want one base, do all seven nights in Sanur and day-trip to Ubud on Day 5.

Day-by-day plan

Day 1 — Arrival and recovery

Land at Ngurah Rai, get to your hotel, do as little as humanly possible. If you arrive in the morning, the rooms won’t be ready and the heat will hit a jet-lagged child like a wall — head to the hotel pool, order club sandwiches, and rebook your ambitions for tomorrow. If you arrive in the afternoon, walk the Sanur boardwalk at sunset or have an early dinner at one of the Nusa Dua beachfront warungs.

Two practical things to lock in on Day 1. First, arrange a car-and-driver for the week. Gojek and Grab in Bali rarely come with car seats, and the drivers who run on the apps are not trained for hourly waiting. A private driver costs around IDR 600,000–900,000 for a 10-hour day, will fit a car seat you’ve brought (or rented from Bali Bubs), and will park and wait at every attraction. For a family week, this is the single highest-leverage spend on the trip. Second, if you didn’t bring a stroller or travel cot, get one delivered from Bali Bubs or Bali Baby Hire — both pick up at the end of the trip.

Day 2 — Waterbom Bali

Go early. Waterbom Bali opens at 09:00 and the queues for the headline slides triple between 11:00 and 14:00. A taxi from Sanur or Nusa Dua takes 30–45 minutes; from Ubud, do not attempt this as a day trip. The park has a dedicated kids’ zone (Funtastic) for under-eights with shallow play pools and gentle slides, plus a height-graded ladder of slides that gets you all the way up to the headline drops by the time a confident eight-year-old has done a few laps.

The day pass model is simple — admission covers everything inside. Lockers, towels and meals are extra and add up; bring sun cream from your hotel because the in-park pricing is brutal. Most families burn out by 15:00, which is ideal: leave when the queues swell and the sun is at its worst, get back to the hotel pool for the late-afternoon slot, and have dinner in. Tickets are best bought in advance via Klook, GetYourGuide, or the official Waterbom site — the gate price is the highest of the three.

This is the most physically demanding day of the week. Don’t follow it with another full-program day.

Day 3 — Recovery, pool, and Finns Rec

Day 3 is the saviour day. Sleep in. Have a long breakfast. Spend the morning at your hotel pool. If your hotel pool is small or the kids want a change, this is the day to use Finns Recreation Club in Berawa. Splash Waterpark inside the Finns complex is a smaller, calmer alternative to Waterbom — toddler-friendly, with cabanas where parents can actually sit and read. Day passes include a food and beverage credit, and the bounce trampoline centre and kids’ club next door give you a built-in plan B if the water tires the children out.

If you want even less transit, swap Finns for a hotel pool day with a long lunch at a beachfront warung. The point of Day 3 is to bank energy for the next four days. Treat it as non-negotiable.

Day 4 — Bali Zoo or Bali Safari

Pick one. Both are in Gianyar, both are excellent, and both will eat the entire day if you let them. We default to Bali Zoo for families with younger children — it is more compact, the animal-encounter program is well-paced, and the orangutan breakfast (last seating around 09:00, book a week ahead) is the most-talked-about animal experience on the island for under-tens. Day Zoo runs 09:00–17:00; the Night Zoo is a separate evening program (around 18:00–21:00) with dinner included, ideal if your child has settled into the time zone.

If your kids are older, more adventurous, or fascinated by big cats, choose Bali Safari & Marine Park instead. The drive-through tram safari, the Rhythm of Africa cultural show, and the larger park footprint suit eights-and-up. The Night Safari (18:00–21:00) is the marquee evening program, with a walking safari, tram ride, dinner and fire dance — limited capacity, book in advance via Klook or GetYourGuide.

Either way, this is a long, hot day. Buy tickets ahead, leave the hotel by 08:30, and plan a quiet dinner.

Day 5 — Move to Ubud, Tegalalang, and the Monkey Forest carefully

Check out, transfer to Ubud (90 minutes from the south, longer in afternoon traffic), and take the afternoon gently. Tegalalang Rice Terrace is 20 minutes north of central Ubud and works as a 90-minute stop on the way in if your hotel can hold your luggage. The terraces themselves are stroller-hostile — narrow paths, steep steps, no shade — so carry younger children in a back-carrier. There is a small entry fee at the main gate plus informal donation booths along the trail (cash only, around IDR 25,000 per person at the gate, IDR 10,000–20,000 at booths). The viewpoint warungs at the top are the easy version of the visit if you don’t want to descend into the valley.

Ubud Monkey Forest is the second half of the afternoon, but treat it carefully. The macaques here are genuinely opportunistic — they will grab sunglasses, water bottles, snacks, plastic bags, anything dangling from a backpack. Brief children before you enter: hands by your side, no eye contact, no food, no touching. If a monkey jumps on you, do not flail or pull — walk slowly and a ranger will help. Strollers are awkward inside the forest; back-carriers work. The site opens 09:00–18:00 with last entry 17:00 and is at its calmest first thing in the morning, so the alternative is to skip it on Day 5 and visit at 09:00 on Day 6 instead.

Dinner in central Ubud, early bed.

Day 6 — A slow Ubud morning, GWK or Devdan in the south

If you skipped the Monkey Forest yesterday, do it at 09:00. Otherwise, give the morning to Ubud — the Campuhan Ridge walk in the cool of early morning is stroller-friendly for the first kilometre and a real one for older kids. Lunch in town, then transfer back to the south in the early afternoon.

The evening choice depends on the day of the week. Devdan Show at the Bali Nusa Dua Theatre runs only on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday at 19:30 — a 70-minute story-of-Indonesia performance with acrobatics and wirework that is genuinely engaging for ages four and up. Doors open at 19:15. If you are in the south on a Devdan night, this is one of the best evening picks of the week.

If your evening is not a Devdan night, pivot to GWK Cultural Park in Ungasan. The Kecak fire dance at 18:00 is a 45-minute outdoor performance included in the standard admission — visually arresting and a useful introduction to Balinese performance culture for kids who have only seen waterparks all week. Aim to arrive by 16:00 to walk the park, see the Garuda Wisnu statue, and settle into the amphitheatre before sunset.

Day 7 — Beach day, then home

Save the calmest beach day for last. Sanur is the right answer if you are flying out late — flat sand, reef-protected swimming, beach loungers at every hotel, and a 25-minute transfer to the airport. Nusa Dua works if you stayed there all week. Either way, the formula is the same: morning swim, long brunch, hotel-pool nap, late shower, airport.

Do not schedule anything ambitious on Day 7. The flight is the activity.

Practical playbook

Transport. Book a car-and-driver for any day with a meaningful transfer. Gojek and Grab work for short hops in Sanur, Nusa Dua and Seminyak but rarely have car seats, and the apps go silent in Ubud. A WhatsApp number for one trusted driver is worth more than any travel app.

Health. Stomach upsets (“Bali belly”) are the most common kid issue. Stick to bottled water, including for tooth-brushing with under-fives; avoid ice in roadside warungs; pack rehydration sachets. For anything more serious, the international hospitals are BIMC Nusa Dua, BIMC Kuta, and Siloam Hospitals Denpasar — all have English-speaking staff, paediatric care and accept travel insurance. Save those numbers in your phone before you land.

Heat and sun. Bali is on the equator. Reapply sun cream every two hours, wear a rash vest in the water, and treat 11:00–14:00 as indoor or pool-only time. Hats are non-negotiable. The kids who melt down at 15:00 are the kids who got too much sun at 11:00.

Gear. Strollers, travel cots, car seats, high chairs, baby monitors and pool floats are all rentable from Bali Bubs and Bali Baby Hire, delivered to your hotel and picked up at the end. Bringing your own car seat from home is the alternative — most drivers will fit it without issue. Pharmacies (Guardian, Apotek) stock formula, nappies and most baby supplies; specialty brands are harder to find, so bring favourites.

Food. Most mid-range and upmarket restaurants in family areas have kids’ menus and high chairs. Plain rice (nasi putih), grilled chicken (ayam bakar), sate lilit and noodle soups are easy starting points for picky eaters.

When to go

Bali has two seasons: dry (April–October) and rainy (November–March). Dry season is the obvious family choice — fewer cancelled boat days, fewer washed-out attractions, and Waterbom is at its best. The trade-off is that dry season is also peak tourist season; July, August and the Christmas–New Year window are the most expensive and the most crowded.

The sweet spots for families are May, June, and September — dry, warm, and noticeably cheaper and quieter than peak. April and October are the shoulder months and a good gamble if you can travel outside school holidays.

The Australian school holidays (mid-June to mid-July, late September, mid-December to late January) push prices and crowds up sharply at every family attraction. UK and US school holidays have a smaller but real effect. If your dates are flexible, build the week around the gaps.

What to skip with kids

Some Bali highlights are quietly terrible for families. Skip them without guilt.

Clifftop sunset bars after dark. Single Fin, Ulu Cliffhouse, the Uluwatu strip in general — gorgeous at sunset, but the crowd, music and edge-of-cliff layout are not built for kids past 19:00. Go for the sunset slot at 17:00 if you must, leave by dark.

Scooter-only spots. Anywhere reachable only by scooter (Nyang Nyang, Green Bowl, the more remote Bukit beaches) is off the table with kids. Stick to places a private car can drop you at the entrance to.

Temple ceremonies that aren’t tourist-facing. Bali’s working temple ceremonies are not performances — they are religious events where children running around with cameras is genuinely disrespectful. The cultural shows you should take kids to are explicitly tourist-facing: the GWK Kecak, Devdan Show, Pesta Kesenian Bali parade week. Save the working ceremonies for an adult trip.

Volcano sunrise hikes. Mount Batur is a 02:00 wake-up and a four-hour climb in the dark. Wait until kids are at least 12, and even then, save it for a different trip.

Day trips to the Gilis or Nusa Penida. Boat days with under-tens are usually a bad trade — choppy crossings, sunburn, and a full day burned in transfers. If you have a second week, sure. On a 7-day trip, no.

We publish a curated weekly brief every Tuesday with the best family-friendly events, attraction specials and seasonal openings happening that week — subscribe to the newsletter, and check /out-and-about for the live week-of family picks. For a head-to-head on which attractions are worth the day-pass spend, see Bali Attractions Ranked. For week-of family events, /events/family is updated daily. The plan above is the map; the newsletter is the weather report. Both work better together.