Hi everyone! We’re hoping to do a family trip to Bali (2 adults, 2 kids ages 7 and 5) for March 2024 for about 7-10 days. I was hoping to receive some information on general expenses once we’re there. What area(s) would you recommend checking out? How long to stay in which city? Was food very expensive? How about hotels? Any insight will be helpful!

I'm going in May so following this thread!

There aren't really cities on Bali, but areas. Each have different charm/things to do there.
What would you like to do?
Food can be as cheap or expensive as you want. Think $2 on the street or $200 and a luxury hotel per person.

Canggu surfing area, Sanur has calmer beaches, we prefer air b and b. Hire a driver they are great and can give really good day trips. So many choices of restaurants high end to basic warungs. Ubud Monkey forest, rice terraces and big swings.
Check out Bali Waterbom.

I didn’t like Sanur. Ubud and the monkey forest will be a hit with kids

You might want to check on renting a villa for a family. For such a short time, stay in one place and do day tours with a hired driver. Sanur would be my choice for convenience.

Marli My choice too. Was there two months ago. Can pay by CC but there may be an extra3%taken at restaurants Evening meal about 10$ cdn. We went to Wicked Parrot couple of times. Used ATM to get cash We will be returning

I have been traveling to Bali since 1992. I prefer East Bali, as I am a diver, but I think Sanur's location and amenities are great for a family.

Marli agree with Sanur—we always stay there with kids and it’s great. The beach there is very safe and it’s got a very laid back vibe

Padma resort

Gili Air is a wonderful little trip from Bali for a few nights.

Just came back from 3 weeks in Bali. It really depends on what you prefer to do. Feel free to PM me and I'll be glad to share all I've learned there re prices, accomodation options, transportation...

I lived there for about 6 months and ran an air bnb. Some great places to see and be with kids is Ubud, Canguu, Uluwatu.
I have an amazing trust worthy driver there too who can pick you up from the airport and take you on private tours. He has great reviews. You can Message him on Facebook
Made Mustara

Ubud is a must. Sanur and kuta were ok. You have to take the kids to the monkey forest and waterbom water park. Breakfast with the orangutans at the zoo was great too. Food is cheap. Private driver for a day is about 60 bucks. 100-150 a night will get you a beautiful 2 bedroom place. You can stay for a lot cheaper though if you want to. Hour massage is $6. 3.5 hour spa package is about $25

We took our kids (7 & 15yrs old) this past spring break and we stayed in two places. The Sofitel in nusa Dua and an air bnb in ubud. We had to book two rooms at the Sofitel because our 15 yr old is considered an adult, so that increased our expenses but maybe for your ages it would be fine for one room.
There are tons of beautiful airbnbs, although u may be able find better deals through Bali short term rental companies. I think our airbnb owner is part of Bali Superhost management company which seems to be totally legitimate. I just felt more comfortable booking everything through Airbnb.
We used a few transport ppl while we were there but ultimately stuck with one really amazing taxi driver. We really liked him and even though we probably overpaid, we felt like there was value in using him daily. For short trips my husband rented a scooter and took both our kids on his which is totally normal in Bali. I didn't trust myself driving a scooter so I would just order a scooter driver on the gojek app. Most rides were $1-2 into ubud centre from where we stayed (10 min ride).
Food and massages were very inexpensive. I would say clothes and souveniery things have been marked up.
We also did a day trip tour to nusa penida and highly highly recommend it. We were able to swim with manta rays! Although the waters and in general, Bali is heavily polluted unfortunately.
The kids had a blast though.
And on the last day after check out (late flight) we were able to get a booking to have lunch at Apurva Kempinsky hotel in nusa Dua. We were able to use their pools and shower facilities afterwards which was

Look up ‘Private Villas Ubud’ managed by Steve Castley. A nice selection of villas, private pool, a young man comes in every morning to prepare breakfast and tidies up. Ubud is the cultural center and a good spot to visit other sights. Inexpensive to hire a driver and car. Sanur is also a nice spot too if you want to be near or on a beach. We will spend 6-7 weeks in January/March.

i agree with Geri

You’re so agreeable Laura!

Cortney

Aman I just got back from a 3 week trip there. It’s our 3rd time visiting Bali. I would recommend staying in Canggu and rent a villa on airbnb. Avoid Kuta. Seminyak is also way too busy. You can do day trips to Ubud & other areas. It’s not very expensive food wise and with a Villa you can cook most of your own meals. Some villas even come with a private chef and housekeeper. There is an array of restaurants catering to everyone’s taste & budget in the area.

Here’s an example of what you can find Villa wise in Canggu: https://abnb.me/WKuQDFTjJCb
AIRBNB.COM
Home in Canggu · ★4.84 · 2 bedrooms · 2 beds · 2 baths

Put in the dates for this airbnb for March and the want $350 a night. Way too much for Bali.

I agree on hiring driver and checking out different areas. 7 days I feel would be too short for such a long trip to get there. Ubud for a couple days would be a must for the monkey forest. We stayed in Kuta and there’s definitely lots going on in that area although it’s not the nicest beach area. Water boom is a great day for kids. I would check out uluwatu too as a beach day. Nusa dua has nice beaches and resorts but it’s out of the way for other things. For a short trip I don’t think I’d bother going to the Gili’s as it’s a rough boat ride and it’s main attraction is scuba diving and snorkeling. There’s a current in the water so I think it would be too much with little ones. (Not that I don’t love Gili Trawangan but I think it’s less kid friendly and I’ve heard the other 2 islands have far less going on) Food is cheaper and hotels depend on the level of luxury you are wanting in Bali. I’ve heard seminyak is nice but not sure how much there is to do with kids.

Check out JJ Bali on trip advisor. We did all of our transportation with him - to/from airport, day tours, he even helped book boats to Nusa Lembongan (which is amazing).

We lived in Bali for 2 yrs with our kids & go back 1-2x a year. Feel free to Pm me if you like

Helene Can I DM about how to travel to Bali?

I highly recommend
Wayan Merta Private Tour for a driver. He'll take great care of you!
Wayan Merta

Bali is the most westernized and most expensive of all indonesian cities.
People usually hire a driver to tour around. Sounds like there are already recommendations

Eilene Bali is not a city lol

Don’t go. Bali is dirty, very crowded and very polluted. Go anywhere else in South East Asia.Check out google maps, satellite view, there are streams at Mano beach house,Kira Kira restaurant,Nokia beach house and santai surf school, not streams but open sewers draining the residential areas,anybody tells you different they’re lying to you. I watched a local on Gili raking up the plastic on the beach, made 3 piles, then dug 3 shallow holes and buried the plastic in the holes,all ready for the next tide….they don,t have a choice, there’s no garbage collection. Sorry.

Semniyak was nice and resort like but quite expensive. Kuta was more affordable, but much higher density, louder and polluted. Uluwatu was also nice. Ubud was clean, but no surfing. Monkey forest was neat to see, but some of the monkeys seemed a bit naughty/aggressive.

Lived in Bali for 8yrs. And my first thought for you is that if you’ve only got 7 days, then don’t do Bali. It’s a very long and not inexpensive trip to get there and back (min 21 hrs each way), which eats up a significant chunk of your 7 days. And then you have a hefty jet-lag toll to contend with too. Even 10 days total vacay doesn’t leave you with much time on the island, but it’s doable. If you have 14 days off and go to Bali, you’ll end up with 10/11 useful days on the island, which gives you time to do one or two side trips. On that short a schedule, I’d look at these places for a couple of nights each: Nusa Lembongan, Ubud, Amed, Uluwatu. Maybe plonk yourself at the Padma or somewhere similar in Seminyak for the first couple nights to acclimatize (beach, pool, close to the airport- you don’t want to be doing long drives in the dark when you get off the plane). Canggu is where the hipsters and digital nomads hang out, and while there’s some great spots to eat up there, I’d steer clear on a short trip- traffic is too crazy and the beaches aren’t any better than further south. Amed and Nusa Lem willl give you the chill island vibes you’re probably picturing and lots of beachcombing and snorkelling for the kids. No snorkeling and unpredictable waves on the Canggu coast. Kuta/Seminyak beach has a long sand shelf that makes the waves there calmer and more predictable. Happy to help if I can via DM

James How do you find good flights to Bali?

Denise just answered this in another post last week. Here’s what I told them
: [Forgive the upcoming essay. I'm a details guy and want to make sure that if I contribute, it has enough detail to be meaningful and helpful.
] We used to always gravitate towards Cathay. Great service, competitive prices, the departure/arrival times lined up nicely to offset jet lag as much as possible, and the layovers were a good length - not too long, not too rushed. We usually left YVR around 1 or 2am (remember-you have to check in the night of the day before your flight!!), got into HK the next morning, left HK around 9/10am and got to Bali (Denpasar) around 3/4pm. Time enough to get to the hotel, have dinner, walk around a bit and then pass out around 9/10pm (b/c jet lag), sleep a full night and be up and at 'em the next morning. Coming back, usually left Bali around 4pm, into HK around 9, time for a nice dinner, then on the next plane around midnight. You try to sleep for a few hours, then stay up for the second half of the flight. It arrives YVR in the late afternoon/evening of the day you left Bali (love crossing the date line!), and the jet lag battle once you get home is making yourself go to sleep that night at a reasonable time. Cathay isn't the only airline that runs similar schedules, and we've also flown EVA Air via Taiwan (Taipei) which has similar timings and sometimes has better deals. Some of the Chinese airlines flying via Taiwan can also provide good deals, but you do get what you pay for in terms of food and service quality. We always found Cathay to have a good balance of price to quality, but they can be significantly more than the others if you don't get lucky on the timing of your purchase. If you can afford it, go for the Premium Economy seats on the long YVR-asia legs- they're definitely worth it if you can get a bit of a deal, the extra room is a godsend when you're trying to sleep. (You won't usually find them on the shorter Asia-side legs to Bali, tho). You might find cheaper flights that involve more stops, longer stops, different hubs that extend the flight times or make you overnight somewhere. In our experience, it's worth paying a few hundred extra for an uncomplicated trip and the best timings for jet lag. Unless you want to stay a few days in a transit country and visit, even a 14 hr overnighter rarely gives you time to do much more than grab a bite to eat and get some sleep before heading back to check in. When searching, look carefully at the total elapsed times, which can vary from 20 outbound and 18 return, to over 32 each way! Looking at kayak today, you can get a decent EVA flight leaving the 3rd, back on the 31st for about $2650 each, or China Airlines for about $2500. For about $1500 each, you can go through Manilla, spending 14 daytime hours in the city in each direction (the timings mean this could be an ok choice IF you're allowed to leave the airport while in transit- you'd need to check this). Just to throw a wrench in there - because you have a month, you could, if you wanted, look at flying via somewhere like Bangkok, Japan, or Vietnam and spending a week there on the way out or back. You'd probably have to buy a return to the middle country from Van, and a separate return from the middle country to Bali. It might or might not make it any cheaper, but it's an option... SO many choices! [Can you tell I miss my Asian travelling days?
]

James Thanks for the detailed message!

Following

Any recommendations near Kubu?

Look up the Padma Resort in Legian. Family friendly. Great pools for kids and the best breakfast buffet Inhave seen in the entire world.

Maia Dennill

Rent a villa. We just did that with our two kids aged 7 (twins). They had their own bedroom. Someone made us breakfast. Can't say enough amazing things. We loved Ubud and Nusa lembongsn, both in airbnb rentals. Stayed in legian too at Padma resort but it was a let down after the other two places.

Josée Bedard-Pauls

We were there for a few weeks in 2019 and the city we loved best was Ubud!! We also enjoyed quite a few beach stays throughout the Island.
I am not sure if 7 days will be enough, there’s really so much to see and do.
We found that food was pretty inexpensive depending on where you go, hotels the same also you can rent a driver for the day or the week and they can take you around.
Check out the Temples - so many to see - we enjoyed the Bat Temple, Tirtagangga, Ulan Danu, and so many more!
It’s a beautiful place and we loved it there.

Kathleen Phillips

Thank you all for the wonderful recommendations and advice. I definitely have a lot more clarity now.