5 Days in Bali
5 Days in Bali apart from the travel time, is enough to spend time in both parts of Bali, the hills and the beach and enjoy top 10 things to do in Bali including the must see places in Bali. You can directly use this Bali itinerary for 5 days and 4 nights skipping Day 1 where we just relaxed.
Travel Date : June 2017 (May, June and July is the best time to visit Bali)
Trip duration : 6 Nights 6 days (5 full days and 1 partial day)
Journey : Mumbai – Denpasar – Mumbai
Travelers : 12 members, 4 grandparents, 4 parents and 4 children (3 kids and 1
infant)
Places covered: Bali
Bali Itinerary 5 days 4 nights:
Our itinerary was split in 2 parts: Hills/landside and Seaside. Hence we decided to also split our stay, 3 nights at each place. You can convert the same to a Bali itinerary of 5 days 4 nights by skipping the first day and night.
Day 1: Reached Bali and checked into our villa Hillside Eden near Ubud. We had a minibus pick us up from the airport. We had hired the minibus through our villa manager, for the next 2 days as well. Rest of the day we just explored the area around on foot and enjoyed the amazing property we were staying at with a full-fledged game room and a nice pool. We closed the day with Balinese dinner. Traditional Balinese dinner is one of the top 10 things to do in Bali.
Day 2: The day started at around 5:00am as we hiked to a waterfall closeby. Bali especially Ubud has many such places close by and this would be another one of my top 10 things to do in Bali. Our villa support staff was our guide on the trip and it was an interesting 30min hike (one way). The kids and elders stayed put in the villa while the others went.
Post breakfast we started with our sightseeing and Our first stop was Puseh Batuan Temple or the Batuan Trinity temple, one of the most famous temples in Bali. It is a temple dedicated to the Hindu trinity (Lord Brahma, God Vishnu and Lord Shiva). A visit to Satria coffee plantations in Ubud soon followed, where we saw chocolate plant and tasted bali luwak coffee and saw the plantations. We also picked a few distinct flavors of coffee. Last stop for the day was Gunung Kawi temple. It was a steep descent and thus grandparents and the younger kids (5yr olds and the infant) decided to stay at the parking itself while the rest of us hiked. I wouldn’t recommend it if you have had an opportunity to see such temples in India or elsewhere. It was a mistake we made after reading a lot of recommendations by fellow travelers. These are mountain carved temples which we had already seen in places like Ellora. There was a stream alongside which we enjoyed more than the temple itself. Coconut water on the way was very refreshing and highly recommended. We skipped the tirta empul temple but one can plan to see it too since its very close to Gunung Kawi. Also most of these temples have an entrance fee so best to shortlist the ones you are most interested in and plan accordingly.
One could have covered Ulun Danu Bratan temple (which we did on the last day of our trip) this day instead of Gunung Kawi. Ulun Danu Bratan would definitely make it to the must see places in Bali.
Breakfast and dinner: At the villa.
Lunch: Some packed sandwiches and other snacks
Day 3: This day was a mix of sightseeing at the must see places in Bali and shopping. We started at Celuk and Mas for shopping of some wood carved products. This was on our to do list and we bought bags full of products, some combinations of wood and glass vases as well. We then went to Ubud while the kids went to the Monkey forest. Ubud market was our next shopping stop and we picked up some really nice centerpieces, wooden chip and dip bowls, tissue box holders, ceramic serving dishes etc. We ended the day with a visit to the Ubud Palace and the Barong Dance performance. Children younger than 4-5yrs may find it difficult to stay put in one place and watch the performance which is almost 45mins – 60mins long.
Barong dance happens at different locations on different days. Its advisable to check the schedule available online at sites like this one. Some children may get scared by the masks worn by dancers so may be showing them the photos first and then planning on the show may be a good idea.
Breakfast: At the villa
Lunch: Ganesha ek sanskriti (an Indian restaurant in Ubud). Everything we tried was quite delicious.
Dinner: At the villa (but it got really late by the time we got back and the kids were already asleep)
Day 4: Post breakfast, we moved to our villa in Seminyak. This itself took us good part of the day and we just spent the rest of the evening on the beach and walking around Seminyak. We had our lunch on the way and ordered pizza for dinner.
At this point, I must warn you that some people prefer to spend longer on the beaches for some water activites and having a more relaxed trip thereon. When traveling with kids, I believe 5 days in Bali are enough. But again, there are so many more things one can do if you have more time like Bali Swings etc.
Check out this 5 day itinerary for Dubai if you’re looking for more travel options.
Day 5: Started the day with an interesting place: the water blow in Nusa Dua. Its a place where waves crash against the small cliff and create a beautiful impact. Its stroller friendly and one need not worry about getting drenched as its like a viewing platform. Continued onto the beach at Nusa Dua and some water sports. This was followed by a visit to Garuda Wisnu Kencana (which was a very short trip with nothing much to see anyways). Later, we drove to the Uluwatu temple for sunset. There was also a kecak dance (fire dance) performance in the temple after sunset but everyone was quite tired and we decided to call it a day. We had breakfast in the villa, lunch on the way and a thai dinner. Good part about Seminyak (and our villa’s location) was it was very conveniently located from restaurants with vegetarian fare and we could pretty much walk to pick up our dinner.
Day 6: Our last day was sheer fun for atleast me and Saurabh. We first visited Ulun Danu Bratan temple (in top 10 things to do in Bali as per tripadvisor) and totally worth the 1.5hr drive. It’s a lake/water temple and beautifully made one. We then headed to the Bali Treetop adventure park and we did those activities for the first time in our lives. It was amazing. We started at the Blue circuit and were able to reach to the Red circuit (just one level below the most adventurous the black circuit). This was one of the highlights of our trip. Kids had fun too since they had some children circuits too. The baby had fun walking around the park and the forest along with the grandparents. On our way back we visited the Jatiluwih rice terraces. You can read my review of the same here. We celebrated my dad’s 66th Birthday in the night with a delicious tiramisu ice-cream cake which our host graciously ordered on our behalf.
This side of Bali has very limited food options and probably none for the vegetarians. Make sure you carry packed lunch/ enough snacks with you. The tree top adventure park also did not have a cafe where we could eat anything. We carried juice and milk cartons (the 150/170ml ones) for the kids.
Check out some travel food ideas for kids here.
Day 7: We packed our bags and left for the airport.
Traveler Notes:
- All temples have an entry fee so pick and choose carefully
- Keep a buffer when considering driving time as per google maps. Places which on maps showed us 1hr took us 1.5hr in the afternoon and 1hr 45mins in the night.
- Most of the villa managers can provide the rental vehicle
- There are enough and more Indian and vegetarian restaurants around the sightseeing areas. It is better to check the ones on your route and plan accordingly.
- Negotiate in water sports. Most definitely if you’re traveling in a group. They will come down to almost 2/3rd of what they started at.
- If you are fond of trekking, the hillside has a lot of trails of varying difficulty which you can explore. Many of the villas (like ours) have one or two in close proximity.
For more travel tips on Bali, check out my travel guide to Bali.
