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Things to do in Bali with kids (by a family who lives here!)

We love living in Bali with our three children. The island is a fantastic place to explore with kids, with plenty of family-friendly attractions and excursions. We use Get Your Guide for all our day trips and weekend excursions- we have tried other providers and find Get Your Guide to be the most reliable and professional by far.

Here are our mini-reviews and a roundup of the best things to do in Bali with kids (plus the little things we did at each place to keep the kids engaged!) Check out my friend Jackie’s post on things to do in north Bali when you head up that way!

If you are thinking of visiting Bali with kids you may want to check out our quick guide to travel gear essentials, including our fave airplane toys and travel-friendly strollers.

Things to do in Bali with kids: Get out into nature!

Visit Tellaganang rice terraces

The most Instagram-famous of all the rice fields in Bali, the Tellaganang rice paddies are a sight to behold. Vivid green and speckled with the brightly coloured umbrellas of coconut sellers, Tellaganang at first looks like a bit much of a walk for young children.

Let them lead the way and you’ll have a fab time- our 2, 5 and 6 year olds trekked down into the valley, up the other side and back no problem. Our guide was super helpful and explained all about the rice farming logistics; he also knew all the best photo spots and took our picture for us.

There are gelato cafes, custom-clothes shops and the usual tourist paraphernalia available along the main street at the top, as well as restaurants with an epic view of the terraces. If you’re going with kids ask them to spot:

• a tiny waterfall
• a bamboo swing
• a wooden bridge
• a plastic pot of cash notes
• a green coconut
• a palm tree
• a tiny treehouse

Book it! Check out latest prices and discounts for the All Inclusive Tour of Ubud Rice Terraces, Temples & Volcano!

Visit Tegenungan waterfall.

There are loads of waterfalls to choose from, from hidden away falls to the busy tourist hubs. We visited Tegenungan near Ubud; our guide found us a vegan-friendly place to eat which had a treehouse and was right near the waterfall.

He was really chilled about how long we spent there, we could have spent five minutes or five hours. Our kids loved swimming in the river at the bottom of the falls, swinging on the bamboo swing at the shoreline and creating stone masterpieces from the riverbed rocks.

They loved seeing the religious rock structures dotted around the waterfall area and made their own, as well as digging in the sandy riverbed. Ask the kids to spot:

• a water fountain
• religious stone structures
• colourful umbrellas
• A wooden unicorn statue
• A large wooden heart
• A bamboo swing
• Also see if the kids want to make their own stone structures, similar to the ones dotted around the waterfall.

Book it! Check out latest prices and discounts for the Private Waterfall Tour & Coffee Plantation Visit with FREE tastings

A wildlife-spotting boat trip

There are as many boat trips to choose from as there are grains of sand on Bali beaches. If your kids like snorkelling there are fantastic trips like Sanur to the paradise-like Nusa islands or Padangbai to the famous Blue Lagoon. Kids who aren’t yet confident ocean swimmers can wear the floaty life vests and still get a glimpse of underwater life.

The guide stays with you the whole time and was very accommodating when we asked to go to specific places; he also helped us find the cheapest warungs! Some boat trips offer the chance to see the best viewpoints from some of Bali’s neighbouring islands such as Angel Billabong and Crystal Bay on Nusa Penida. Ask the kids to spot:

• A huge stone arch
• A tiny island
• Purple coral
• Orange coral
• A black, white and yellow fish
• A rainbow-coloured parrotfish
• Plastic! Seeing the amount of rubbish in the ocean and on the beach has opened up plenty of discussion about the environment and how the kids can be part of a more sustainable world.

Book it! Check out the Snorkelling Day Trip to Nusa Lembongan island!

Beach-hop with a customised day tour

Bali has superb beaches- we are currently staying in Sanur and having beach days with the kids couldn’t be easier. There are beach clubs all along the front that have their own kids’ play areas with beach toys, swings and slides.

Most of the restaurants have a shower and changing area to rinse off sandy little ones, and the prices, although obviously more expensive than local warungs, is very manageable for the usual western visitors (a Diet Coke is £1.10, a kids’ fish fingers and chips is around £3).

The snorkelling off the beaches is good; our kids have seen plenty of fish, eels and sea snails. With a day tour your private driver will take you to the best beaches, wait for you and drive you along to the next one when you’re done.

• Get your kids involved in a beach clean- grab a couple of large bags and collect up the plastic bottles, cartons and string that accumulates at the tide line. Our kids loved doing this and it made the beach much nicer to sit on!
• Make a sand boat
• Get right up to the shoreline and dig pools with a channel to the ocean. Our kids loved sitting in them as they filled up with water!
• Bury the kids’ legs and make them mermaid tails/ bury their arms and make them sand wings!
• Get the kids a beach-side Bali massage! They are offered all along the beaches here; kids whose love language is physical touch might especially enjoy it (click here to read more about love languages).

Book it! Check out the Customised Full Day Tour of Bali with private vehicle & driver

A cookery class on an organic farm

The food in Bali is incredible, we can’t stress this enough. We are eating out paying just over £1 for a gorgeous meal of rice, veggies, tofu and tempeh.

We have made friends with a gorgeous local lady who is going to show us how to make a few traditional dishes, but if you don’t know anyone then a cookery class is well worth paying for. Often you’ll be taken to a market to pick your ingredients fresh, before getting hands-on instruction as to how to make Balinese dishes.

Kids often love getting involved and the pride on their face when they present a dish they’ve made themselves is just lush. (Check out our pick of the top restaurants in Ubud, Bali for child-friendly, vegan friendly eateries!)

All of these activities and more can be booked through GetYourGuide.com, the best online booking platform for tours all over the world. They showed us around Bali and undoubtedly have the best selection of things to do in Bali with kids! We’ve used them several times and love the service, using them means everything is included for the day so there are no hidden costs, and the guides are super professional and speak great English.

There are also 5 things you need to avoid while in Bali- click here to find out what they are.

Whether you’re wanting to see something new in your home area, having a short holiday or travelling long term, Get Your Guide has something for you to explore. To check out what you could see with Get Your Guide, click here.

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