Dian comes up with the ideas. I make them happen. That’s been our system since Rico Jr was small enough to carry, and it still works now that we have three of them. She’ll say we should try something, go somewhere, book a class nobody’s heard of yet. I figure out the logistics. Together we’ve landed on some of the best days of our lives and also some of the most spectacularly chaotic ones.
This itinerary is the product of both kinds of days.
We live in Canggu. Bali is not a holiday for us, it’s home. But when friends or family ask what they should do with their kids for a week, this is what I tell them. Not the Instagram version. Not the highlight reel. The actual version, with real timings, honest notes about what doesn’t work with a toddler, and a few things I’d skip entirely if I were doing it fresh.
Our three are Rico Jr (12), Rosalia (6), and Risa Mia (3). They cover the full range of what a kid in Bali can want and do. Rico Jr wants temples and hidden restaurants and will happily spend two hours talking to a local about surf breaks. Rosalia has strong opinions about what she’s wearing but will immediately wade into a muddy river if it crosses her path. Risa Mia doesn’t back down from anything or anyone. She went down the same water slide at Waterboom forty times. I stopped counting at forty.
A one-week Bali itinerary with kids is absolutely doable. You just have to build it around how kids actually travel, not how travel blogs say they should.
Bali Itinerary with Kids: Before You Arrive
The airport is in Denpasar, in the south of the island. If you’re staying in Canggu, the drive is 45 minutes on a good day and up to 90 minutes if traffic has other plans. Book a private driver for the airport transfer. Every time. It’s not expensive and it saves an enormous amount of friction when you’ve just landed with jet-lagged kids and a pile of luggage.
Traffic in south Bali is real. This is not something travel blogs say to add drama. After 9am on the main roads between Canggu, Seminyak, Kuta, and Denpasar, traffic builds fast. If you’re doing day trips, you leave early or you pay in time. The rule we use: for anything south, 8am is the latest you should be in the car. For Ubud, same thing.
With a toddler, you realistically get one major activity per day. Accept this early and plan around it rather than fighting it. The afternoon nap is not optional, it’s structural. If you skip it you pay for it at dinner. We learned this the hard way with Risa Mia in her first year of life and we’ve never tried to override it since.
Build in at least one slow morning every other day. Pool morning, late breakfast, nothing planned until noon. This is not wasted time. This is what makes the rest of the week feel manageable instead of like you’re chasing a schedule that’s already falling apart.
Day 1: Arrive, settle, do nothing
Seriously. Do nothing.
Land, get your driver, get to your accommodation. Let the kids get into the pool. Order food from somewhere nearby. Go to sleep.
The heat alone is a shock if you’re coming from Europe or somewhere cold. Bali sits just below the equator. In the middle of the day it is genuinely hot, the kind of hot where kids get grumpy fast and nothing feels fun anymore. Your first afternoon is not for sightseeing. It’s for acclimatising.
If you land in the morning and you’re staying somewhere with a pool, that pool is your entire day one plan. If you feel like going somewhere for dinner, keep it within five minutes of where you’re staying. Warung Sunset in Canggu, Monsieur Spoon for something lighter, or just wherever looks good when you walk out the door.
That first night is for getting comfortable and getting sleep. Everything else starts tomorrow.
Practical: Book a private driver for the airport run before you land. We use a local driver we trust and I’d recommend doing the same rather than relying on apps at the airport. If you don’t have a contact yet, your accommodation can usually arrange it.
Day 2: Canggu
Canggu is where we live, so I’m not going to pretend to be objective about it. But it’s also genuinely one of the better places in Bali to spend a day with kids of different ages because there’s enough variety that nobody ends up miserable.
Start the morning at Batu Bolong Beach. Go early, before 9am. The beach gets busy as the day goes on but in the morning it’s calm enough to walk, sit, have a coffee from one of the warungs on the strip, and let the kids watch the surfers. Rico Jr has done surf lessons here and it works well for his age. → Book surf lessons, Canggu For Rosalia and Risa Mia it’s more of a watch-from-the-sand situation because the waves at Batu Bolong are serious surf waves, not swim waves.
For lunch, the Crate Cafe area or the streets around Jalan Batu Bolong have a good range of cafes where you can sit outside and not feel like you need to keep the kids quiet. Shady Shack works well if you want something good and not overwhelming. Old Man’s has a pool table and a relaxed atmosphere if Rico Jr wants to stretch his legs after lunch.
Afternoon: back to your villa or hotel for the nap window. Risa Mia goes down around 1.30pm and we work around that, full stop.
Evening: for a Canggu sunset, La Brisa is nice without being over the top. Or just walk to the beach around 6pm and watch from there. The sunset in Canggu over the surf is legitimately one of the things I don’t get tired of.
Day 3: Ubud day trip
This is a long one. Leave by 8am.
I cannot say that enough: leave by 8am. The drive from Canggu to Ubud takes about an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes in the morning. By 9.30am the road through Denpasar starts slowing down and you lose that time going and coming back.
First stop: Tegallalang Rice Terraces
Tegallalang is north of Ubud town, so you pass through and keep going. Arrive before 9.30am if you can. The terraces are genuinely beautiful and the walk down gives you a real sense of how the Balinese manage their land. It costs a small entrance fee to walk down. There are swings and photo spots if that’s what you want. It’s also fine to just walk, look, and leave.
With younger kids, stick to the upper viewing areas rather than going all the way down the steep paths. Rosalia managed fine at 5, but with Risa Mia we kept her up top. Worth it either way.
Lunch in Ubud town
Come back through Ubud town and find somewhere you like the look of. Locavore To Go is reliable and not too precious. Tutmak Cafe is a local favourite, good simple food, works for kids, not expensive. Naughty Nuri’s is a bit of a Ubud institution for ribs if you want something different.
Give yourself enough time after lunch to walk through Jalan Monkey Forest before you get to the actual Monkey Forest. The street itself has shops, art galleries, and a pace that works with kids.
Afternoon: Sacred Monkey Forest
The Monkey Forest is one of those places that divides people. Some love it. Some find it chaotic. With kids it is genuinely fun but there are rules that matter.
Go in the afternoon, not the middle of the day when it’s at its hottest. Aim to arrive by 2pm and give yourself 45 minutes inside.
Bring nothing that looks like food. Nothing in your hands, nothing in your bag that crinkles or smells. The monkeys are not aggressive for no reason, but they will absolutely take food and they don’t distinguish between “this is mine” and “that belongs to the child.” Everything zipped. Bags closed. Sunglasses on your face or in your bag, not on your head.
The monkeys are long-tailed macaques and they’re genuinely fascinating when you’re watching them rather than dealing with one that’s decided your snack belongs to it. Rico Jr loved this at every age. Rosalia’s face the first time a baby monkey climbed near her was something I’ll remember for a long time. Risa Mia tried to have a conversation with one of them. It did not respond in kind. → Book Sacred Monkey Forest entry
Drive back to Canggu: plan for 6pm arrival minimum. If traffic is bad, it’s 7pm. Don’t schedule dinner somewhere that needs a booking on this day.
Day 4: Ubud cooking class or slow Canggu day
This is a recovery/choice day depending on how day 3 went.
Option A: Cooking class
If the family has energy, a cooking class outside Ubud is one of the best things we’ve done with kids on this island. Look for classes that include a market visit in the morning, then cooking at a home or small school, then eating what you made. Three hours start to finish, all ages can participate, and you come home with something you’ve actually learned.
Lobong Culinary Experience and Paon Bali are two that work well for families. Both include the market walk, which Rosalia still talks about. Risa Mia ate more at the class than she’d eaten all week.
Book in advance. These fill up.
Option B: Slow Canggu day
If anyone needs a breath, this is your nothing day. Morning market walk through the Canggu area or Batu Bolong street. Pool from 10am. Lunch wherever. Nothing scheduled.
If you want to get out slightly, head to Echo Beach in the late afternoon. It’s a fifteen-minute drive from the main Canggu strip, the beach is wider and quieter, and there’s a row of warungs and cafes on the clifftop where you can sit and watch the surf. Don’t swim here, the current is strong. But it’s a great late-afternoon spot for the kids to run on the sand while you drink something cold.
Day 5: Temple day
This is the longest day in the itinerary. It’s also the one I’d think hardest about with very small children.
For Rico Jr this was a standout day. For Risa Mia at 2, it was about thirty minutes too long by the end. Know your kids.
Morning: Tirta Empul
Tirta Empul is a sacred water temple northeast of Ubud. It’s built around natural spring pools that Balinese Hindus use for ritual purification. The temple complex is open to visitors and it is genuinely one of the more moving places I’ve been on this island.
Arrive by 8am. This is non-negotiable if you want to see the temple before the tour groups arrive. By 9.30am the pool areas are significantly more crowded and the atmosphere changes.
Wear or bring a sarong. They’re available to borrow at the gate but bringing your own is simpler. No shorts above the knee in the inner temple. Kids follow the same rules. Rosalia loves the temple ceremony element of this island and she was genuinely respectful and engaged here. Rico Jr asked the guide more questions than I could answer.
This is a place of worship. Behave accordingly and your kids will follow your lead. → Book Tirta Empul temple tour
Lunch and drive south toward Uluwatu
After Tirta Empul, drive south. You’re heading to the Uluwatu Peninsula, which is about 90 minutes from Tirta Empul depending on traffic. Stop for lunch in Seminyak or Jimbaran on the way if timing works.
Jimbaran Bay has seafood warungs right on the beach that are perfect for a lunch stop with kids. Eat, let the kids run on the sand, then continue south.
Afternoon: Uluwatu Temple
Uluwatu sits on a cliff edge above the Indian Ocean in the south of the island. The temple itself is dramatic. The views are extraordinary. Monkeys are present here too, same rules as Monkey Forest: nothing accessible, everything zipped.
Go in the late afternoon rather than the middle of the day. The light is better, it’s cooler, and you’re positioned for the sunset.
Evening: Kecak fire dance
If the kids and you have anything left in you, the Kecak fire dance at Uluwatu at sunset is one of those things that’s genuinely hard to describe. It’s an outdoor performance on the clifftop with the ocean below and the sun going down. A hundred performers, no instruments, just human voices building rhythm. Rico Jr sat perfectly still through the whole thing. That’s not something I say about him often.
Starts around 6pm. Book tickets in advance — it fills up. Kids under a certain age are free, check at the gate. → Book Kecak fire dance tickets
Be honest with yourself about whether Risa Mia age 3 will last through a 45-minute outdoor performance at sunset after a full day. We’d split this day differently now: send one parent to the fire dance with Rico Jr while the other heads back to the villa with the younger two.
Day 6: Beach day
After two big days, this one is simple. You go to the beach and you stay there.
Sanur
Sanur is on the east coast of the island. The beach faces east, the water is calm because of the reef break offshore, and it’s genuinely one of the better places to swim in Bali with young children. No serious surf, no current issues, shallow enough for Risa Mia to be in the water with an adult and feel safe.
The beach strip has a paved path running along it for the whole length of the area. Bikes and carts are available to rent. Rosalia made us rent one every time we’ve been.
There are good warungs and cafes along the beachfront. Sanur is a bit quieter than the Canggu and Seminyak strip. That’s a feature, not a problem.
Nusa Dua
If you’re staying further south, Nusa Dua is an alternative. The beaches are maintained by the resort area, the water is calm, and there are facilities. It’s slightly more structured than Sanur but fine for a family beach day.
Waterbom, Kuta
If your kids are asking for a water park day: Waterboom in Kuta is the answer. It’s a full water park, multiple slides, a kids’ area for smaller ones, sun loungers, food. Not a cheap day out by Bali standards but it’s a legitimate all-day activity. Risa Mia went down the same slide forty times. I am not exaggerating. She counted.
Book tickets online to skip the gate queue. Arrive when it opens.
One of these is enough for day 6. Don’t combine.
Day 7: Slow morning, then go
Don’t plan anything for day 7 that you’ll genuinely miss if it falls apart.
Last pool morning. Breakfast somewhere you’ve come to like. Pack slowly. Let the kids have one more swim.
The transfer to the airport from Canggu takes 45 minutes minimum and up to two hours if traffic is against you. I’d allow 90 minutes as a baseline and add buffer if your flight is in the afternoon when the south Bali roads are at their worst. From Seminyak, allow at least 90 minutes. From Ubud, two hours minimum.
Don’t cut it close. Departures in Bali work the same as everywhere: you need to be through check-in and security with time to spare, especially with kids and luggage.
What to skip with young kids
This is the part travel blogs usually leave out.
Full-day Ubud with under-3s. You can go to Ubud with a toddler. What you cannot do is plan a full Ubud itinerary the way you would without one. Three stops plus lunch plus the drive is too much. Pick two things and go home early.
Scooter day trips. If you want to get around Bali on a scooter, go for it on shorter trips. But for young kids long days on a scooter is too much. The roads are unpredictable, the traffic doesn’t follow rules in the way you might be used to, and the sun can be fierce. Get a car.
The whole morning at certain temples. Some temple complexes in Bali require a lot of walking in the heat with limited shade. Besakih, the Mother Temple, is the most common example. It’s the largest temple on the island and it’s genuinely significant. It’s also a large outdoor complex at altitude that takes a couple of hours to walk properly. With a toddler in the heat it’s genuinely hard going. We’d wait until Risa Mia is older. Tirta Empul and Uluwatu you can do. Besakih needs more planning.
The Tegallalang swing photos with small kids. If your goal is the Instagram shot on one of the swings, bring an older child or just accept that with a toddler that’s not the priority. The terraces themselves are worth seeing. The swing set-up with a line of other tourists waiting behind you while you pose is something you can skip.
Getting around
Hire a private driver for day trips and anything that involves leaving the immediate area. An air-conditioned car, someone who knows the roads, door to door. Full-day rates for a private driver in Bali are very reasonable. Split between a family of five it’s the most sensible way to travel.
We’ve used the same driver for years. If you’re staying in Canggu and want a recommendation, ask your accommodation to connect you with a trusted local driver rather than using a random app. The relationship matters over a week of travel.
Apps like Grab and Gojek are fine for short rides within the same area. Gojek’s car option (GoCar) works well for quick trips in the Canggu or Seminyak area. For day trips to Ubud or temple circuits, private driver every time.
Renting a scooter is popular and if you’re comfortable with it and travelling without young children, it’s a legitimate way to get around. With small kids, the risk calculation changes. Make your own call but we don’t do it with the younger two.
What we’d do differently
Honest version.
I’d book the cooking class earlier in the trip, not later. By day 4 you have a sense of the island and the class gives you something to take home. Doing it on day 2 would feel abrupt. Day 4 is right.
I’d split day 5 from the start. Tirta Empul in the morning for everyone, then the driver takes Dian and the younger two back to the villa while Rico Jr and I continue to Uluwatu and the fire dance. One day, two different afternoons. This is actually how we do it now.
I wouldn’t try to be in Seminyak or Kuta in the early afternoon on any day of the week. The traffic there between noon and 3pm is slow and draining with kids in the car.
I’d tell myself earlier that one major thing per day is not a failure. It’s a success. You saw one big thing and the kids weren’t wrecked by dinner. That’s a good day.
A note on the island
Bali is genuinely good for families. People here are kind to children in a way that goes beyond service. It’s cultural. Kids are welcomed. Risa Mia, who has the volume and energy of someone twice her size, has been received with warmth and patience in every warung, every temple, every market we’ve taken her to.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be respectful. At temple sites: sarongs on, voices down, let the kids see that this is a place that matters. The Balinese have been sharing their sacred sites with visitors for a long time. Behave like you understand that.
The island rewards people who slow down. The families we see having the best time here are not the ones who are trying to do everything. They’re the ones who’ve picked their moments, accepted that the plan will change, and let their kids lead some of it.
That’s always been our approach. Dian picks the idea. I handle the logistics. The kids do the rest.
→ Full guide: [[Bali with Kids — Complete Family Guide]]
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If you are planning bali itinerary with kids, everything in this post comes from real experience — not guides written from a hotel room.
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NL Title: 1 week Bali met kinderen — het perfecte gezinsprogramma
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