We review the top 6 best family-friendly hotels in Bali, Indonesia. Top picks include the Hard Rock Hotel Bali, Four Seasons Resort Bali at Jimbaran Bay, St Regis Bali, along with Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott Bonvoy properties.
The Indonesian island of Bali is known for its forested volcanic mountains, achingly beautiful beaches, tropical coral reefs, and a wonderful spiritual essence.
Bali is also known as the “Island of Gods”, and there are many distinct areas with different vibes. The Seminyak area is a chic, beachside cosmopolitan dream and thus a favorite with the luxury travel community.
It’s famous for its spectacular waves, breathtaking sunsets, and vibrant nightlife. Nusa Dua is derived from the two small islands on Bali’s eastern shoreline. Here, immaculate green manicured lawns front world-class hotels, which are nestled within this luxury enclave. Ubud is the spiritual center of Bali, a place to enjoy culture and arts with views over the lurid green paddy fields.
January is the hottest and also the wettest month in Bali, with temperatures averaging 28°C (82°F). July is the coolest month, averaging 26°C (78°F). You can, therefore, expect a warm, tropical climate all year round but with more rain in November, December, January, and February.
The best time to travel to Bali is in April, May, June, and September, just before and after the high season (which falls in July and August). It is still the dry season in these months, so it is slightly less humid, and room prices and villa rental prices are cheaper. Due to the tropical greenery on this island, make sure you bring mosquito repellent, and jelly shoes can also be useful at some resorts that have rocky shorelines. Others have golden sand beaches, so do your research.
We have compiled a list below containing the best family-friendly hotels in Bali. Whichever you pick, Bali is a magical island, and you will have a wonderful stay.
1. Hard Rock Hotel Bali
If you want the perfect hotel for the family, look no further than the Hard Rock Hotel Bali, which offers a slice of fun under the Bali sun with a rockin’ twist.
This 4-star rock-and-roll-themed hotel is located across from Kuta Beach, in the heart of Bali’s entertainment and shopping district. The hotel overlooks this idyllic beach and is also just 2 miles from Tuban Beach and Legian Beach.
Within the hotel, you will find Bali’s largest free-form swimming pool featuring a unique Sand Island. The Kids Waterpark includes slides, a waterfall bucket, and lots of water activities, while guests staying in the Premium Wings can enjoy a swimming pool right outside their ground floor balcony. There are loads of kids’ activities from art and crafts, rock climbing, and cooking to kids Olympics by the pool every day. The pool is amazing, with sand and paddling in the shallow waters.
The look is American rock crossed with Balinese style. The result is a classy Asian look sprinkled with lots of hard Rock logos and memorabilia, which works well. 418 tribute rooms and suites are decorated with memorabilia and icons from the history of rock and roll, celebrating artists from the ’50s to the late ’90s.
Rooms also feature BOSE Bluetooth speakers, as well as free Wi-Fi and LED TVs with satellite channels. VIP touches include 24-hour room service, minibars, Nespresso coffeemakers, iPod docking stations, and free bottled water. It is also worth knowing that kids’ suites come complete with game consoles and bunk beds.
Guests can dine at the onsite Hard Rock Cafe or can take their pick from 3 other themed restaurants, including Starz Diner and Jamie’s Italian Kuta Beach. All have an excellent reputation and offer big American-sized dishes of food.
The buffet dinners, especially on Wednesday evenings when it is Balinese evening, are very good. If your kids do not like the sound of spicy Balinese food, the hotel also provides a kids’ menu with the normal burger, hotdogs, spaghetti, and fish and chips type fare.
This hotel is ideal for families, as well as young and older rock-and-rollers. Perhaps the highlight is the huge pool surrounded by palm trees. This gorgeous pool has different areas for different purposes. There is a calmer end, which is more adult, and then an area with a basketball ring for kids, as well as a swim-up bar area, which serves a great menu of alcohol and mocktails for the kids. In fact, kids are superbly looked after here with a rock climbing wall, a club, and numerous parties including a pajama party!
2. Four Seasons at Jimbaran Bay
The completely stunning and family-friendly all-villa Four Seasons Resort at Jimbaran Bay spreads across 14 hectares (35 acres) down to the golden sands at the end of Jimbaran Bay. This resort is easy to get to in a taxi taking just 20 minutes from the airport, and is the kind of resort that you will never want to leave, which is a good thing as there isn’t a lot to do in the immediate vicinity.
Designed on the hillside, this Balinese resort has 147 beautifully designed villas that seem to meld into the tropical gardens. The beach and infinity pool are reached via winding pathways that meander between colorful gardens through wafts of hibiscus, jasmine, and frangipani in the warm breeze and across beautifully manicured lawns.
Rooms are stylish, mixing creams with Balinese touches, netted beds, and glass doors leading onto private pools. Bathrooms have double sinks, indoor and outdoor showers, and stand-alone tubs.
Breakfast is served alfresco with absolutely everything you would want, including many items you didn’t even know you wanted. The Pool Terrace Cafe will keep you fed with snacks and sophisticated burgers, and you can also grab a bite or a cocktail at the beach club.
More sensory delights await at the open-air Taman Wantilan restaurant, where theatre-style dining is presented by a brigade of specialty chefs at nine culinary exhibitions or show kitchens. Like most Four Seasons hotels, they love the family, and children under five get free meals when adults eat. Under 12’s get a 50% discount too.
3. St Regis Bali
The St. Regis Bali Resort is probably the best miles and points hotel in Bali, but it comes at a price, both in cash or rewards points.
St Regis Bali lies in the heart of the beautiful “Garden of Bali” on a stretch of pristine beach. It is the only luxury hotel with an alluring beachfront villa in Nusa Dua. From its 123 beautifully appointed suites and villas, you’ll find understated elegance and infinite panoramic ocean views over 22 acres of lush gardens and the 39,480 ft² crystal blue lagoon.
The exceptional 81 suites, 41 villas, and one residence have private signature St. Regis Butler Service and complimentary Wi-Fi. Award-winning dining venues, bars, the distinctive Remède Spa, a fitness center, and a Children’s Learning Center are also on-site. This is the only resort in Bali with 10 beachfront villas with a pool and direct access to their private beach, ideal for families.
4. The Ritz-Carlton Bali
Offering 313 spacious and sumptuously appointed suites and villas in an elegant tropical ambiance, The Ritz-Carlton Bali is a luxurious resort benefitting from a stunning clifftop and beachside setting. It also has a fabulous kids club for families.
Tranquil views over the azure waters of the Indian Ocean are the perfect setting. Along the foreshore are The Ritz-Carlton Club, six stylish dining venues, an indulgent and exotic marine-inspired Spa, a glamorous beachfront chapel, fun and recreational activities at Ritz Kids.
Created to ensure the Bali family vacation of a lifetime, the Ritz Kids resort experience at The Ritz-Carlton, Bali taps into little ones’ innate curiosity by introducing them to Bali’s natural wonders and cultural traditions. This immersive resort club provides exciting, kid-friendly things to do on and around the beach for kids of all ages. Activities include exploring coral reefs, sea turtle preservation and forests, Night Safaris, and more.
A nice choice for families is the clubrooms, which enable you to experience The Ritz-Carlton Club® with your own exclusive Ritz-Carlton Club Concierge. This club lounge is great, with its own private pool and a manned cocktail bar. Ritz-Carlton hotels don’t offer free club lounge access to Marriott Bonvoy elite members. You only get lounge access if you book a club room or many Ritz-Carlton resorts offer discounted lounge fees to elite members.
This particularly excellent club lounge is located in its own villa halfway between the bottom of the lobby and the Beach. Ritz-Carlton club lounges have always been exceptional and are usually the best in the particular city that they inhabit. They offer an extensive breakfast, light lunch, afternoon tea, light dinner, and desserts. This lounge offers red and white wine and beer all day with special cocktails and spirits and after-dinner liquors.
The food on offer is massively generous. It will fill you up and make paying for access to this lounge worthwhile. There are at least 2 Chefs at any one time to cook up items to order. Breakfast options include everything you could wish for, including Lobster scrambled eggs.
5. InterContinental Bali
The InterContinental Bali Resort is nestled in 34 tropical acres of lush tropical gardens overlooking Jimbaran Bay on Bali’s southern tip and is just 10 minutes from Denpasar International Airport (DPS). It has a huge 417 guest rooms, including a Club InterContinental wing and a gorgeous open-air lobby.
Designed with the ambiance of a tranquil Balinese village, this five-star luxury property was the first of its kind to be built on the shores of the beautiful Jimbaran Bay to enjoy stunning sunsets. InterContinental Bali Resort is one of the most conveniently located Jimbaran hotels on the beach.
There is plenty of room for sunbathing around the six pools, including one with fountains that you can swim around in and underneath the jets, and then more room on the beach with comfy loungers everywhere. It is worth noting that the beach is quite rocky, so jelly shoes would be useful here.
The rooms themselves are beautiful, with lots of dark wood, and club rooms are slightly larger (624 ft² instead of 527 ft²). The bathrooms are marble with double vanity and huge, and the rooms have large terraces.
The 24/7 Club InterContinental lounge is very good here and a nice option if you are visiting with your family. The design is a classic colonial style that meets Oriental refinement with a crystal chandelier centerpiece and a grand piano. There is indoor seating in air-conditioned comfort leading to an outdoor terrace overlooking a lagoon where you can enjoy the complimentary food and drink along with a selection of daily local and international newspapers and lifestyle publications.
Club guests can indulge in a range of complimentary food and beverage options: gourmet breakfast in the lounge or a choice of four additional breakfast venues around the resort. You get light refreshments, such as coffee, teas, soft drinks, mineral water, juices, and snacks, then afternoon tea. Evening cocktails and canapés are also available in the lounge with lots and lots of delicious canapés. The Club InterContinental Lounge also provides an à la carte menu for lunch, dinner, or in-between, but this is a paid menu. Of note, the quality of the food in this lounge is excellent but is nowhere near as generous as the food in the Ritz-Carlton lounge above.
The evening buffet has lots of small dishes, and the staff serves hot canapés. If you are a club lounge guest, you also get free cocktails at the Sunset Beach Bar & Grill until early evening, but there are no canapés here. One of the pools is exclusively for Club InterContinental guests.
Kids are also allowed but must remain calm in this pool. Club InterContinental guests can also use the Jacuzzi, steam room, and sauna at Spa Uluwatu, return airport transfer, 4:00 pm check-out (Platinum status gets til 2:00 pm), and you can continue using the club until you leave the resort (even if you have checked out). You also get unlimited use of children’s daycare at Planet Trekkers. When you leave, there is an additional lounge available with showers, locker facilities, tea and coffee, and an outdoor terrace for guests with late-departing flights.
There are a number of kid-friendly activities at this Intercontinental, including the Spa which offers fun treatments for kids using child-friendly products. There are 4 kids’ pools (Planet Trekker’s pool, fish fountain pool, splash pool, turtle pool), Jimbaran Garden restaurant had a kids’ corner during breakfast, and Planet Trekkers’ kids’ club is open 9:00 am to 10:00 pm a day, for fun with other littlies.
6. Conrad Bali
If you are a Hilton Honors Diamond member or have any brand loyalty to Hilton, you must try Conrad Bali, which has some of the best hotel rooms in Bali for a major brand. The Pool Villa rooms are just the best, with private plunge pools and gardens, great fun for kids old enough not to fall in. It is located on the quieter side of the island of Bali, in the Nusa Dua resort area, and away from the madness of trendy Seminyak.
This hotel is simply stunning, from the grand, dark wood lobby with windows that swing open to the vista beyond to the lagoon pools and the huge variety of rooms, some with their own private pool. The rooms to pick here are the new Pool Villas, which are considered part of the Conrad Suites Wing, with its own separate entrance. The villas are hidden away between the reflections lounge and the executive lounge. Guests staying in these villas will have access to the executive lounge at the Conrad Bali, which is always nice for families offering plenty of food throughout the day.
Pool Villas, although not large, are perfectly formed with their own private garden, plunge pool, sun terrace, and outdoor tub. Sliding doors on both sides of your room can be opened up to let the outside in from either the lawns on one side or you can open up to the private bathtub area on the other. Within the room, you have all the usuals, a double sink, etc., and a large shower area doubling as a private steam room.
The private plunge pool is a highlight in this climate, although bear in mind this is a plunge pool, not an exercise pool, so if you want to exercise, you will need to swim laps in one of the main pools and lagoons, some of which have sandy bottoms which is fun.
Pool Villas at Conrad Bali get all the Conrad Suites benefits. If you are a Hilton Honors Diamond member, you also get these same benefits, the highlight being the Conrad Suites Club Lounge access.
Compared to the Marriott Bonvoy St Regis hotel in Bali, the Pool Villas in Conrad Bali do not quite match up, but this is considered in the price and cost per enjoyment. The Conrad Bali is hard to beat and is definitely one of the best resorts in Nusa Dua. When you stay in a Conrad Pool Villa, you will wake up to the sound of birdsong and waves lapping on the shore. Paradise? It certainly comes close.
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