Bali With Kids, Travel Guide 2025

Bali is a hugely popular travel destination in Southeast Asia for families with kids. On this page, we give you a few warnings about the realities of visiting Bali today, along with the practicalities of visiting Bali with kids of any age (toddlers to teens). We share family-friendly things to do in Bali with kids and tell you where to stay, where not to stay, plus how to keep your kids safe and happy in Bali on your holiday, vacation or even a short layover. Bali is a great place for a layover or short stay when travelling between Australia, Asia, Europe or the UK. We were in Bali just a few months ago, a lot has changed, and you need to be aware of some of the problems of taking your family to Bali,

Bali With Kids

What’s in this post? Use our jump links to go to the section you need!

1. Is Travel To Bali With Kids a Good Idea? Realities.
2. How To Visit Bali
3. How To Plan and Book Your Bali Travel
4. Best Time of Year To Visit Bali, Indonesia
5. Where To Stay in Bali, Family Friendly Resorts and Hotels
6. Beautiful Places To See in Bali
7. Which Part of Bali Should You Base Your Family In?
8. Family and Kid-Friendly Attractions and Things to Do in Bali
9. Getting Around Bali With Kids (Taxi, Grab, tours, driver etc.)
10. Dangers – Things To Avoid in Bali
11. Food in Bali With and For Kids

Is Travel To Bali With Kids a Good Idea? Realities

Visiting Bali with kids is relatively easy and affordable. There is plenty for children to enjoy on this amazing little island, including hikes, snorkelling, and fun tourist attractions. There is also terrible traffic, crowding, and sometimes there are dirty beaches. The plastic pollution is very weather-dependent. A storm or flooding can leave beaches littered with plastics.

We, and the children love Bali. It has its challenges, but you can have fun as a family, learn loads and enjoy diverse activities and cultural experiences and enjoy beaches, tropical greens, stunning rice paddy views, great food and beautiful Bali waterfalls. Here is our take on Bali for kids.

How To Visit Bali

Where are you travelling from? Southeast Asia is well served by budget airlines and there are cheap direct flights to Bali Denpasar Airport from, for instance, Bangkok, Singapore or Australia.

From Australia, flights to Bali are mostly easy, direct and affordable. If you’re travelling from Asia, Bali is also easy to get to. From Europe and the US, Bali is a long trip with flight connections in the Middle East or Asia. The flights may take up your vacation time but Bali is a gem of an island destination and worth visiting, still. You need to be ready for the traffic and tourist numbers.

Once you have arrived in Bali, accommodation is cheap, some hotels are excellent, and sightseeing in Bali is superb. There are plenty of hotels and resorts offering kids’ clubs and babysitters if you need those.

We’ll explain how to book flights, hotels, and activities for Bali. Or jump straight to the “How To Plan and Book Bali Travel” knowledge box, below.

You can also travel around Bali, backpacker-style, with kids, fairly easily, give or take the traffic. Or you can base yourself in one spot and easily explore most of this small island by road. There are must-visit attractions and cultural highlights scattered all over the island.

The hotel in the photo above is this one, in Ubud. It was an absolute winner at a very affordable price but did not have family rooms, we took a double and a twin. We list hotels and resorts that are truly family-friendly further down the post. After staying here we moved to another hotel on the same road at the same price. The second hotel was terrible. We recommend the former!

What’s your style of accommodation? Pick the accommodation to suit your family because you’ll find it all on Bali.

How To Plan and Book Your Bali Travel

Travel Tips and Tools

We have travelled extensively in Southeast Asia, for years, as a family with multiple stays and stop overs in Bali. We’ve had no major problems, maybe a few minor ones. It’s been easy, affordable, and fun for the whole family to spend a few days to a few weeks on the island of Bali. We create these travel guides, to help you get the most out of exploring the world!

All of our travel tips for Asian travel, including packing, are here. The links and guides below should be useful for you.

Car Hire If you’re thinking of hiring a car and road-tripping around Bali, don’t! The traffic and one-way systems, plus gridlocked scooters in parts. make driving less than fun. However, if you plan to visit the remoter parts, you may get away with it, just not on the south coast beaches. This tool is useful for checking costs.

A physical travel SIM card, without borders, or an eSIM

Your flights, to and from Bali, this is a great place to find discounted flights.

Bali VISAS & Tourist Tax – There is a charge, the Bali Tourist Levy, or Tourist Tax. It is payable at the airport, when you enter Bali or Indonesia. Adults and children have to pay the tax and it is an additional charge, on top of the visa. You can pay on arrival, or pay in advance, online. I recommend paying at the airport because there are too many scams with third-party sites. In 2025 we were not asked to pay this, so I don’t know what’s going on. You may need to show proof of payment. Purchase your eVisa (visa on arrival) for Bali, here, at the official government immigration site. Watch out for scams, only use the official websites. A 30 day tourist visa is 500,000 Rs (at time of writing, 2025). 60 day single entry visas are also available. That’s roughly $30 US, $50 Au, $22 UK pounds.

Fill in your Customs Declaration form online, in advance, you can do it at the airport, and we have. The airport wifi isn’t great and it was extremely frustrating trying to fill in the form in front of the customs exit. Do it in advance if you can. The e CD information and form are here, it will appear in Indonesian, there is a button to translate to English.

As you enter the airport, before the Visa / Tourist Levy desk, you will see signs with QR codes for a health declartion form. You complete this on your phone, online. Again, the signal isn’t great. In our experience, nobody checks this and we’re not even sure if you need to do it. Find out more about the SATUSEHAT Health Pass (SSHP) for Entry to Republic of Indonesia here.

Booking tours and activities, alternatively, use the Asia booking platform, Klook. If you subscribe we’ll send you our 10% discount code.

Booking Hotels, Guest Houses, Apartments and Hostels You can use whichever platform you’re used to, but Agoda is based in Southeast Asia, is very reliable in our experience, and often has more choices. This is the hotel we always use for short stays near the airport. They offer a very convenient airport transfer service, it’s gold!

Travel insurance. Never travel without travel insurance, including repatriation. Bali’s earthquakes and volcanoes cancel flights from time to time. This is the insurance company we use for travelling around SE Asia, they will give you a free quote here.

Download and set up the Grab app, or book a car with driver. Once you leave the airport and enter the taxi area (it’s a bit of a mosh pit with dozens of drivers approaching you), there is no airport wifi signal, so make sure you have a SIM card if you plan to use Grab. Alternatively, book an airport transfer to your hotel in advance here.

Beautiful Places To See in Bali

There are so many beautiful, historic, and culturally amazing places for you to visit. Here are just a few ideas to help you plan your itinerary, plus a list of places to see.

Here are some other places you make like to see in Bali.

• Tegalalang Rice Terraces, near Ubud. These are now very commercialised.
• Mount Batur or Gunung Batur, an active volcano with a caldera lake. It’s in the north east of Bali.
• Nusa Penida, south west of the airport, this area is a popular place to stay, close to the airport.
• Ubud, for The Sacred Monkey Forest, Markets, Palace, the ridge walks and rice terraces, and more beautiful buildings. Our favourite part of the island to stay.
• Pura Lempuyang (The Gates of Heaven). These traditional Balinese candi bentar, or split gates, are at Lempuyang Temple on Mount Lempuyang, offering views of Mount Agung. It’s incredibly commercial and expect a long queue to take a photo using a mirror to create the influencer’s favourite lake effect. I’d skip this, even 17 years ago it wasn’t good here. There are more temples at this complex. if you explore further, you’ll escape the crowds. There is a good guide to the Lempuyang Temple complex here. You will see candi bentar all over Bali, old and new, you’ll even see them at the airport.
• Waterfalls, including Banyumala Twin Waterfall, Sekumpul Waterfall, and Aling-Aling Waterfalls. You can take a Bali Waterfall tour if you’d like to, although I’m not sure my kids would have enjoyed this. I think generally families are better off booking a driver and spending the day their way, you can better accommodate children that way.
• Ulun Danu Beratan Temple
• Jatiluwih Rice Terraces are large and fairly unspoilt by tourism. They are in a rural area almost in the centre of Bali.
• Bali Swings. There are now Bali swings just about everywhere! The two major ones are near Ubud, but we’ve also seen them in Sidemen and at Gunung Kawi. This isn’t really a family activity.
• Beaches, Bali has plenty of beaches! Which is the best? I’ll leave that for you to decide, we don’t go to Bali for beaches.

Family-Friendly Resorts and Hotels

We’ve broken Bali accommodation down into the following sections.

• Family hotels and resorts, vacation style. (below)
• Independent travel accommodation, backpacker style.
• Airbnb in Bali.

Family hotels and resorts are popular. A great pick for families is Novotel for their family-pleasing rooms, facilities and activities. You’ll find Novotel properties in Nusa Dua (here) and Benoa (here).

If you’re on a tighter budget, or resorts just aren’t your scene, you’ll also find villas, guest houses, homestays, hostels and lower cost (but no less beautiful) hotels that will cater to families in Bali.

Family accommodation is always harder to find than rooms for couples or singles but generally, we have found a good selection of family accommodation in Bali, at reasonable prices.

The cheapest place we stayed was $15/night for a room in a traditional courtyard home in Ubud, the most expensive over $100/night for a luxurious seafront hotel in Sanur. We list some favourite properties below.

Accommodation that includes breakfast can save you a lot of money, particularly when traveling with children. They can fill up on pancakes, eggs, toast, and fruit and be set for the day. If you prefer Balinese breakfast over Western, it’s usual to find both in most hotels.

These hotels are selected for good kid-friendly facilities and activities while giving parents a relaxed, more luxurious stay. These are some of the best hotels in Bali.

• The Grand Hyatt Bali. Nusa Dua. Incredible pools and grounds, on the beach, rooms that can accommodate children. In the region of $200 per night.
• Four Seasons Resort Bali. Jimbaran Bay. Stunning family villas for a high-budget luxury escape.
• W Bali. Seminyak.
• Rama Residence Padma Legian Bali. This is a beautiful spot with family studio rooms at a very affordable price, not budget, but not expensive. Legian is a good place to base yourself, a little out of the massive development of Kuta.
• Novotel Nusa Dua. Novotel properties tend to have very spacious rooms with many configurations to suit families of all sizes. This hotel has a kids’ club and beautiful pools and gardens. These are our favourite chain of hotels for a kid-friendly family vacation.
• Parigata Resorts and Spa. Sanur Sanur is a popular choice for families as the beaches are safer and more child friendly. sanur is like its own self-contained village with plenty of dining beachside. This hotel has family rooms at a very affordable price point. The gardens and pool are Bali beautiful.
• Hard Rock Hotel Bali. Kuta Hard Rock hotels are lots of fun, we’ve stayed in a few around the world. the family rooms are made with kids in mind and there is fun, games, and water slides for your little ones to enjoy at a moderate price point.
• Bali Dynasty Resort Kuta interconnecting family rooms are available here, plus a lovely pool with slides and kids activities. There are also kids’suites and family suites, many room types are available.
• Four Seasons Resorts at Sayan. Ubud I know I couldn’t afford this one, but check it out, it’s a stunning hotel with family-friendly rooms and activities. This one is all about the beautiful Balinese countryside. luxurious private suites and villas are available.

Independent Travel Accommodation in Bali

If you’re planning on travelling independently and touring the island, it’s best to book a few nights on arrival and then move on when you’re ready. It brings peace of mind if you know you have somewhere booked online in advance. After that, you can make your own way around the island booking as you go. Agoda (opens in new tab) works well for Southeast Asia for smaller hotels and guest houses.

If you like to wing it, check out hotels and guest houses when you arrive and take your pick, online, on foot or by taxi. You may find family rooms with four beds, a big double bed and an extra mattress on the floor or cot bed. Sometimes families will use adjoining rooms with twin or double beds.  It is often easier to negotiate reduced rates face to face if this is your style, but today with online bookings being so easy, this style of travel is almost gone.

Airbnb in Bali

We’ve had some success with Airbnb in Bali. We had a lovely villa for 4, with pool and breakfast for around $50 per night. However, we prefer to use Agoda in Asia as they are local specialists and often have more choices. They also don’t add a cleaning fee.

Getting Around Bali With Kids

Your first hurdle will be getting from the airport to your accommodation. This isn’t too hard. You have options.

• Arrange a pick-up with your hotel
• Book a private transfer, book one here, now, it’s easy!
• Take a fixed price taxi from the airport taxi desk, there’s usually a queue.
• Use Grab – there is a Grab lounge at the airport now, again, you will likely have to wait.

Car seats are going to be an issue. If you have small children and you worry about car seats.

Ubud to the airport is around 300- 350 Rs. This trip can take 2+ hours if traffic is really bad.

Taxis

There are plenty of taxis available; we found taxis were a good option for touring Bali with kids. Bluebird taxis usually have a meter, but some taxi rides will require you to negotiate and fix a price in advance. You may find Grab is better.

Taxis in Ubud are fairly expensive. Stay within walking distance of whichever local facilities, beach, restaurants etc you will use. Car plus driver or Uber/Grab car may be cheaper.

The airport taxi we took on arrival was more expensive than any other we took, despite the fixed fare system you’ll maybe see, sometimes. You may do better to arrange your own airport pickup or transfers directly with a driver.

Uber and Grab

In some parts of Bali services like Uber are ” banned”. They actually aren’t but local taxi drivers don’t want them taking their trade. Don’t get involved.

Private Car Plus Driver

In Bali we sometimes hire a driver with a good- sized car for a day of sightseeing. Often a 4 wheel drive vehicle. Check out the car, see if you like the guy. Check if they have rear seat belts. You may be able to fit your own car seat if you bring one with you.

It’s not as common today to find a car with driver on the street, and with Grab being so easy to use, there isn’t as much need of this service in Bali today.

Drivers may be very helpful and suggested a tour itinerary and places to visit. But they may also take you to places you don’t want to go, or where they make a commission.

Most parents will worry about children’s safety in vehicles, particularly if there are no child or infant seats available. The heavy traffic and country roads make driving slow accross much of the island and I found that I didn’t worry about safety much at all.

Where To Stay on The Island of Bali

Bali is a small island and it’s pretty easy to take tours and visit attractions from any of the main hubs. Most people will base themselves, for the majority of their holiday, in one of the main tourist destination towns below.

Ubud

Ubud is pretty much in the middle of Bali, surrounded by rice fields and forests. These terraces and irrigation systems are one of Indonesia’s UNESCO listed sites. Ubud is not on the coast but makes a great base from which to explore the whole of the island. If it was my first time visiting Bali with a family, I’d be tempted to spend a week in Ubud plus a week at one of the popular beach destinations.

Ubud is where Bali first stole our hearts, we usually spend the bulk of our time here enjoying this busy little town and its neighbouring rice paddies and villages. Yoga and cultural activities are the order of the day in this hill town but you do need to know where and how to escape the crowds, traffic, and endless souvenir stalls.

The beautiful countryside walks and rice paddies are still there, just get away from the main road and explore.

The extra elevation can make Ubud a little cooler than coastal towns. Ubud is land-locked, there is no beach in Ubud.

Ubud is where you’ll find the famous monkey forest, take kids here with caution, these animals are the thugs of the animal kingdom and can be aggressive. You’ll also find beautiful architecture, art, culture and dance. But don’t think Ubud is off-the-beaten-track, Ubud is busy and growing by the day. There is good shopping in Ubud.

We have a separate post about things to do in Ubud, day trips and just hanging out in Ubud. You’ll find some excellent restaurants here along with a strong vegan scene.

Hotels, guest houses and villas are plentiful and can be particularly good value in Ubud.

Sanur

We didn’t find very much to do in Sanur itself, other than hang out on the beach, check out the market stalls and get a massage and pedicure. That said, you could take many day trips from Sanur when you’re not relaxing or enjoying your hotel, it’s close to the boat departure points for Nusa Lembongan, if you plan to explore other islands or take the awesome manta ray snorkelling trip.

The beach has the protection of reef and breakwaters so it doesn’t have the big surf of Kuta, making it safer for children. It’s nice to eat on the beach in the evening, there are plenty of restaurants and bars.

Kuta and Legian

The Kuta Beach area is very busy. Bali Denpasar Airport is almost in Kuta, so for a layover or stop over, stay in Kuta. We know a great hotel for this, it’s within walking distance of the beach, Waterbom Bali water park, and plenty of shopping. Take a look at our favourite Bali hotel here.

Kuta and Legian blend into each other as you progress along the coast west from the airport. Legian is considered to be more up-market but today it’s hard to tell where one ends and the next begins. 

The traffic is terrible and journey times made worse by one-way systems. Walk, if you can.

There are a lot of big shops, a lot of sports bars, plenty of fast food, busy roads and traffic and a wide sandy beach with surf. On the plus side, the shopping is quite good with some big international chains that we don’t have back in Australia. Marks and Spencer and H&M, for instance.

Our driver showed us the spot where the bombings took place, it was sobering.

Canggu

If you want to see the worst traffic imaginable, head to Canggu. Beloved of influencers and young digital nomads, we do not recommend Changgu to visitors with kids. The beach was quite busy and there is surfing, but it wasn’t very clean. To the rear of the beach you’ll find beach bars and clubs. The bad traffic here is going to make sightseeing from here pretty tiresome.

Kid-Friendly Things To Do in Bali, Activities and Attractions

The child-pleasing attractions and activities you can enjoy on Bali include the following list. We go into more detail about these attractions below the list, with photos!

• Beaches and water sports.
• Animal attractions such as Bali Bird Park and The Reptile Park.
• Snorkel with manta rays
• Arts and crafts classes and courses.
• The beautiful dawn volcano hike (we took tweens and teens but you can do it with younger kids) Book that one here.
• Adventure activities, trekking, downhill bike touring, white water rafting, ATV riding, snorkelling and scuba diving.
• Gentle rice field walks.
• Bali Swing tours.
• Tours to enjoy history, dance, art and culture.
• Sightseeing, rice terraces, temples, volcanoes and palaces.
• Water parks – Waterbom Park Bali and Circus Water Park. The latter is more for younger kids.
• Cooking classes and food tours
• There are many beautiful temples and monuments to see.

Find more information on many of these activities below. You should have time to fit in quite a few on a typical two week family holiday. Some are half day tours, others will fill a whole day.

Bali Bird Park

The bird park was a must-do with kids, ours loved having parrots perch on their heads. There was also a small 3D cinema on-site, we watched a film about birds. Book Bali Bird Park tickets here

Bali Reptile Park

Next door is Bali Reptile Park, admission for Bali Bird Park covered both areas for us, although tickets can be purchased separately. The kids enjoyed the reptile park but it wasn’t huge. Book reptile park admission here.

You have to go here to take the photo of the demon mouth cave opening.

Spice Farms and Kopi Luwak

Our driver took us to a spice farm on the way back from the volcano, Gunung Agung. This is normally listed as a ” scam to avoid” but if you want to go, go. We usually avoid these places as we’ve seen plenty before and there is usually some hard sell. As this was a first for the kids we agreed to go.

It was a great experience for all of us, spices, chocolate, tropical plants, coffee and Kopi Luwak. Bali coffee, Kopi Luwak is something special but it might gross you out slightly. There are also animal exploitation issues. I won’t be getting involved again.

Visit a Volcano, Gunung Agung

Your driver will take you up to a viewing spot and temple near the top of Bali’s active volcano. The view was pretty spectacular, but as we left the car women swarmed around us and my children, dressing them in sarongs, demanding money and separating them from me.

My younger son was in tears. We left straight away, never to return.

This is the only time we saw this sort of pushiness in Bali, or anywhere else, our driver was full of apologies. This is a popular Instagram spot.

Bali Volcano Hike With Kids

Climbing one of Bali’s volcanoes for spectacular sunrise views is a popular activity in Bali. But can you do it with kids? We took older children and they managed just fine.

I quizzed our guide during the climb. She said the youngest children she’d taken up were around 5 years old. Sometimes she’d had to carry them some of the way, sometimes she’d had to put them on a motorbike.

Motorbikes are there, ready, for anyone unable to complete the climb. For us, the volcano trek took around 2 hours up, 1 hour down. We started our journey to the volcano at 2 am and started climbing around 4 am.

We loved it. You can book a volcano trek here.

Snorkel With Manta Rays From Bali With Kids

We did this with older kids but it was just amazing! Yes, you can do this from Bali, even from Ubud. See our full post on the Bali manta rays here. We have video of this activity on this page. Or just go to this link and book it right now! This is one of those once-in-a-lifetime things to do and if you can, do it.

I wouldn’t do this tour with young children unless they were exceptionally confident in the water. The water is very deep and rough.

Family-Friendly Cooking Classes in Bali

We love taking cooking classes with kids and a cooking class could be just the thing to enhance your family vacation in Bali, while bonding and learning some new skills. Be sure to check that your cooking class will accept kids.

Beware sharp knives and roaring gas burners.

My son loved making his favourite satay and pandanus pancakes, as well as meeting a lovely Balinese family in their home.

You can book a cooking class from Ubud, or most beach towns in Bali. Some hotels will offer their own mini cooking sessions, sometimes as part of a kids’ club.

Bali Elephant Safari Park

I have major issues with animals doing tricks, but this was the children’s first up-close elephant encounter, so we went, many years ago. It’s expensive, but rather good, the kids loved it.

They fed the elephants and took an elephant back ride through the forest. This was before the negative press started being circulated about elephant riding. Back then it was fine, nobody batted an eyelid.

Make your own call on the ethics of elephant riding.

I’ve ridden elephants many times over the last 30 years, I’ve read up on the subject and I make a call based on individual circumstance and location. I have a degree in zoology, if that counts for anything, and a deep fascination with animals.

I really have no knowledge of particular conditions in Bali, but I think today, I wouldn’t visit this one even though it comes with many endorsements from Steve Irwin.

Padang Bai, Fishing and the Blue Lagoon

We spent two nights in Padang Bai in a glorious and cheap hotel just behind the beach. The town is very small, not much to keep you occupied, but there are trips in traditional fishing boats for the adventurous.

The Blue Lagoon is just around the headland, it’s sold as a snorkelling spot. My husband snorkelled, he said it was OK. The boys jumped in briefly but the deep water was too much for young children.

We took an early morning fishing trip from Padang Bai. We expected rods and lines, instead, we went miles out to sea in a tiny boat to watch the owner net fishing. He didn’t catch anything.

It was an interesting experience and the views of the volcano at dawn were spectacular but I wasn’t entirely comfortable being out at sea with two small children. In Amed local fishermen will also take you out to sea at dawn.

Best Time of Year to Visit Bali

What’s the best time of year to go to Bali? Bali enjoys a tropical or equatorial climate as it sits just 8 degrees south of the equator. May-July are normally considered the best months to visit. The dry season runs from May to October, but even in the wet season conditions can be pleasant and dry days and sunshine are not unusual.

We have a guide to the best time to visit Southeast Asia here.

Balinese Food For Kids

Balinese food isn’t as amazing as Thai or Vietnamese but we liked it a lot. We had some great food and some not so great, mostly down to us picking the wrong establishments.

If you want to eat in good restaurants you have plenty of options and the standards of food and service can be very high, while prices remain reasonable.

Generally, we found the small, family-run cafes and restaurants (warung) better than the big backpacker places, and cheaper.

We picked up a few munchies at markets and at roadside stalls, sticky rice, barbecued corn. It was all good.

We didn’t get a chance to try the marinated spit-roasted pork, Babi Guling, that Bali is famous for, there were huge queues every time we passed the recommended place in Ubud, Ibu Oka. We’ll try harder next time.

Gado Gado, is a cooked and raw salad with slightly spicy peanut sauce and hard-boiled egg. It’s great for kids and vegetarians. If you are exclusively vegan Bali caters to vegan travellers well and you’ll find plenty of dedicated vegan cafés and restaurants.

I don’t think the Balinese use chilies with the same abandon as the Thais, or maybe they were just toning it down for the tourists, but none of the food we were ever served in Bali was very hot.

The children loved mild, peanut based satay dishes when they were younger. Now they eat anything Bali offers.

Bali Essentials, Things to Take to Bali With You For Kids

Visit our travel gear page to see which products we love, but don’t go crazy, you probably won’t need to buy anything special for a normal holiday. Do pack sunscreen and mosquito repellent. Solid sunscreen works well in your carry-on luggage and this is the best sunscreen we’ve ever tried.

Take anything that you may need importantly and urgently, like contact lens solutions, paracetamol ( adults and kids) and any other medications or products you use often. There are excellent shops in Bali and you can buy just about anything, but if you’re likely to need something in a hurry, take a stash.

We like to carry a small bottle of iodine, cuts and bites can get infected rapidly in the tropics.  Hand sanitiser gel or antibacterial wipes are a good idea with kids – not least on the plane.

What gear you need depends on your style of travel and duration of stay, as long term travellers we carry everything from mosquito nets to travel towels, but if you’re staying in a resort or hotel, of course, you won’t need much.

Day Trips From Bali

We recently took a day trip to snorkel with manta rays off a nearby island. You can read about this amazing tour from Bali here. This would not be suitable for babies, toddlers or younger children. Our kids were teens and tweens and strong swimmers for this family activity.

Bali Belly and Kids

Because everyone has heard the Bali horror stories and worries about that, right? Two of us had diarrhea by the end of our first trip to Bali. Second time around we had no problems at all. Third time in Bali, two of us got flu on the plane.

That round of traveller’s tummy wasn’t serious and didn’t stop us doing anything, but there were a few urgent trips to the bathroom. When we got home I flew by the doctors where stool cultures revealed that we actually had a strain of salmonella. That was surprising, we weren’t too bad at all. There is no treatment for salmonella, so my Doctor told me, you just wait for it to pass and take probiotics (live yogurt or pharmacy probiotic preparations)

It is interesting that only 2 of us went down with it, one adult, one child, we were all eating the same things and shared and tasted each other’s food constantly. It could have come via direct hand-to-mouth transmission, maybe a virus, not food.

People seem to worry about food hygiene in Bali quite a lot, particularly if they are visiting Bali with kids, I really don’t think that Bali is outstandingly dodgy in the food department based on our experience and over the 15 years we’ve been visiting, things have continued to get better.

That said, in 2020 we did see 3 rats feasting on pizza toppings in a busy wood-fired pizza restaurant in Ubud.

My best tip to avoiding all this stuff is to keep your hands clean, wash with soap often and if needed use antibacterial gels and baby wipes (but think about your plastic consumption and limit use ).

Bali Dangers – Dogs, Mosquitos, and Monkeys

Bites happen. You will find dogs and monkeys hard to avoid, and yes, they can potentially carry rabies. Teach your children to stay away and never carry food or drink in or near Ubud’s Monkey Forest.

If you are scratched, bitten or even licked, head to the doctor’s surgery. We have had rabies vaccinations, but not for Bali. We had them for more remote travel, but the shots do give us extra peace of mind.

People get Dengue fever in Bali. It can be a worry, particularly for parents. I have to say that each year we see fewer and fewer mosquitoes. Fogging is fairly common. Hotels use chemical sprays to kill all insects lurking in nearby greenery. Nonetheless, you should probably pack the mosquito repellent and follow all the usual tips for avoiding mosquitoes.

Enjoy Your Bali Trip!