17 Days in Bali and Java with Kids: Our Honest Family Itinerary (August Edition)

Seventeen days, one family of four, two old engineering-school friend-families joining and leaving along the way, and a route that looped from a Malang night arrival to a Penestanan villa via two of Indonesia's loudest volcanoes. This is the itinerary we actually did in August 2019 — not a polished version, not the one we'd sell on Instagram. The good days, the day we turned back, and the budgets.

If you're shaping a similar trip with kids and trying to work out what to skip and what to lock in, this is the page I wish I'd had in front of me before we flew out.

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The Shape of the Trip at a Glance

We flew into Surabaya in East Java, spent the first week pushing east — Malang, Bromo, Kawah Ijen — then ferried across to Bali, dropped over to Gili Air for four nights of pizza and snorkelling, came back to Amed for four nights of black-sand mornings, and finally settled into a shared villa in Penestanan (west of Ubud) for the last five nights, day-tripping out to Sidemen, Munduk, Tegalalang and the south coast.

Two other families joined us at different points. The villa week worked because we shared one big house between three families. The Java leg was just us and one of the other families. We adjusted as we went.

Booking the flights — Surabaya in, Denpasar out. Most international itineraries into East Java route through Singapore or Kuala Lumpur to Surabaya (SUB), then back out of Bali (DPS) five hundred kilometres south. We booked Paris → Surabaya / Denpasar → Paris as an open-jaw to avoid a same-airport backtrack — that single decision saved us a full travel day on the back half of the trip.

Day 1 — Surabaya Landing and a Malang Arrival

Most international flights into East Java land at Surabaya's Juanda airport. We did the same and were on the road south by mid-evening, stopping in Malang for the night at a quiet guesthouse called INNI Homestay in the Araya residential area. Two things stand out from that first night.

The first was a line of bright Indonesian wedding banners — papan bunga — stretched in front of a venue near the guesthouse. They're the polite, public version of an RSVP card: sent to the family with the names of the senders and a "Happy Wedding" message. We must have walked past twenty different ones, sponsored by businesses, friends, neighbours, the local printer. It's the kind of thing that doesn't make it into anyone's blog because it's just life. It told us, very gently, that we were not on Bali yet.

The second was the food. We pulled into a roadside warung near the homestay and ate the cheapest nasi goreng of the trip, the kids slumped over the table, and were in bed by 9 PM. Travelling east through Indonesia's time zones is brutal on small bodies. Plan a soft first night.

Logistics: a driver-with-car from Surabaya airport to Malang runs around €25-35 one-way and takes about two and a half hours. Trains exist (Surabaya Gubeng → Malang) and are cheap but messier with bags and tired kids.

For the Java leg we used a driver-with-car booked through the homestay (cheaper, but you commit to one operator). On the Bali side, comparing rates ahead of time on Discover Cars Bali was the cleanest way to lock in a driver-with-car for the cross-island days — it surfaces both international agencies and the local Bali operators, including the airport-pickup fee in the headline price (most local quotes hide that). It's the option we'd take again over WhatsApping individual drivers blind.

Days 2-3 — Bromo, And A Sea of Sand at Dawn

We left Malang mid-morning and climbed up to Cemoro Lawang, the village perched on the outer rim of the Bromo caldera. The drive is short on the map but slow in reality: tight switchbacks, occasional landslide repairs, and the road thinning out the higher you climb. By late afternoon we were at Gubuk Ndeso Bromo, a simple guesthouse with thin walls, hot tea on arrival, and an early wake-up call confirmed for 2:30 AM.

The Bromo sunrise itself — King Kong Hill or Mount Penanjakan, depending on which jeep route you draw — is the kind of thing you'll see fronted on a million Instagram pages, and it deserves the attention. What surprised me, and what's covered in the longer write-up linked below, was how good the second half of the morning is: the horse ride across the Sea of Sand, with the kids on horses and the guides walking alongside, was the part the children actually remembered.

If you're planning a Bromo morning with children, our full Bromo guide walks through the 3 AM wake-up, the cold, the dust and whether the horse ride is family-doable.

If you'd rather not piece together the 3 AM jeep, the Penanjakan permit and the homestay yourself, a shared Bromo sunrise tour starting from Surabaya bundles the night-pickup, the 4WD slot and the park entry into one booking. It's the option we'd pick if we were repeating the trip with younger kids — one less moving part on a sleep-deprived day.

Day 4 — Kawah Ijen, The Day We Turned Back

I won't repeat the whole story here — the full Kawah Ijen article covers it properly — but the short version is that our six-year-old got hit hard by sulphur fumes at the rim, I carried him back down the mountain coughing, and we never saw the blue flames.

He was fine. We were lucky. The article is the longest piece of writing in this cluster because I want other parents to read it before they sign their family up to climb a sulphur volcano in the dark.

Practically: we hiked from Paltuding, slept the night before at a backup homestay near Banyuwangi (our Mi Casa booking was cancelled at the last minute and the replacement turned out lovely), and dropped down to the Ketapang ferry port the same afternoon for the short hop across to Gilimanuk on Bali.

Days 5-9 — Gili Air: Pizza, Turtles, No Motorbikes

Once we'd driven east across Bali to Padang Bai, we caught a fast-boat to Gili Air for four nights at Scallywags Beach Club. We added one more night on the return swing through, on the way back to Amed.

Where to base yourself on Gili Air: Scallywags Beach Club anchors the western beach (sunset side, restaurants two minutes' walk, pool for the kids). Cidomo cart bungalows on the quieter east side trade quiet for a longer walk to dinner. Map's clickable — zoom in for live availability.

Two things made Gili Air. The first was Mama's Pizza. After three weeks of rice and noodles, the family consensus on that first beachfront pizza was unanimous and immediate: the best pizza of our lives. Probably it wasn't, objectively — but on a sand-floor terrace with candles in jam jars and a wood-fired oven puffing smoke into the dusk, the verdict felt honest. The kids would talk about it for the rest of the trip.

The second was the dive. The eldest, who was ten, did his first scuba experience here — a PADI Discover Scuba session with a small school on the south side of the island. He surfaced talking about sea turtles for the next four days. The full Gili Air write-up linked below covers the dive operator decision, the cidomo carts, and why having no motorbikes on the island is the single biggest reason to choose Air over Trawangan with children.

Beyond the Discover-Scuba slot at the dive shop, the half-day snorkel boat from Gili Air to the underwater statues and the turtle spot off Gili Meno is the most kid-friendly water activity we found — glass-bottom boat, fins available in kids' sizes, and the guides won't push you to free-dive if your child isn't ready.

If you only do one stop on this whole itinerary with kids, this is probably it. The Gili Air guide is here.

Days 10-12 — Amed and East Bali

We fast-boated back to Bali and drove up to Amed for three nights at Kelapa Cottage — a small beachfront bungalow place that worked out at about $200 a night for three. The east coast was quieter than we'd expected, which is the point of going.

Where to stay in East Bali: Amed itself stretches across seven fishing villages — Kelapa Cottage and the cluster around Lipah Beach are the most family-workable (calm bay, restaurants, dive shops two minutes by scooter). Tirta Gangga and Tulamben make sense as bases only if diving is your whole reason.

Two excursions stood out. Pura Lempuyang — the temple with the "Gateway to Heaven" gates framing Mount Agung — was still pre-Instagram-queue when we visited, which is to say there was no two-hour wait and no mirror trick required. Tirta Gangga, the royal water palace 30 minutes south, was the kids' favourite: stepping stones across koi-filled pools, a fountain tower in the middle, and the chance to drop fish food into the water until they ran out.

If you'd rather not drive the East Bali loop yourself, a Lempuyang Temple + Tirta Gangga + Taman Ujung day tour from Karangasem is the version we'd pick now — it includes the dawn slot at Lempuyang (the only way to get the Gates of Heaven shot without three hours queuing) plus the temple ticket and the fish-pond entry at Tirta Gangga.

Skip the rush to fit in a Tulamben dive day if your kids are still snorkel-only — Amed's house reef is enough for that age. The full East Bali write-up has the timing logic.

Days 13-17 — Villa Week in Penestanan, Ubud

The last five nights were the slowest of the trip and the ones we'd repeat unchanged. Three families — twelve people including kids — shared a villa in Penestanan, the artist-village a kilometre and a half west of Ubud's centre. Private pool, rice fields out the kitchen window, scooter access to everything that mattered, and the friction of central Ubud kept at arm's length.

Where to stay in Ubud with kids: Penestanan ridge — five minutes by scooter west of central Ubud — is the village-feel option (rice terraces, pool villas, walkable to the Yellow Flower café path). Central Ubud is closer to the Monkey Forest and the restaurant rows but louder; Pengosekan and Nyuh Kuning sit between the two.

This was also where the DJI Mavic Pro 2 came out for the first time on the trip.

We day-tripped out most days — Sidemen valley one morning, Munduk waterfalls the next, Tanah Lot at dawn before the crowds, Uluwatu for the Kecak fire dance at sunset, and a final morning out at Tegalalang rice terraces and the Bali Swing platforms. The dedicated Beyond Ubud day-trips article covers the timings, costs and which ones we'd actually repeat.

Two of the day-trips above are easier as packaged GYG tours when you've got tired kids. The Tanah Lot Sunset Kecak Fire Dance ticket bundle saves you queuing for both the temple entry and the dance-floor stadium seating (which fills 90 minutes before sunset in dry season). For the Munduk waterfalls morning, a guided Munduk Waterfalls + Twin Lakes + temple trek is the option we'd pick over self-driving — the road up from the south coast is steep and the trailheads aren't signposted in English.

The villa itself, and why Penestanan over central Ubud, is in the villa-week guide.

Budget for Four — What We Actually Spent

Approximate figures from our 2019 trip, converted to euros, for one family of four out of three sharing the villa. Treat these as ballparks — costs in Indonesia have moved a lot since 2019, especially in Ubud.

Where We'd Adjust

If we were planning this trip again with the same children, the same season, the same friend-families to coordinate with, here's what we'd change:

- Add a night between Bromo and Ijen. Two pre-dawn starts on consecutive days was too much for the kids, and contributed to how badly the Ijen day went. - Drop the rim descent at Ijen entirely. Stay at the upper rim if at all. The full Ijen write-up explains why. - Stretch the villa week to six nights, not five. We left Penestanan tired and would have benefited from one slow day before flying. - Book the Gili Air dive in advance. We got lucky on the day; the dive school had one slot left for a Discover Scuba.

Best Time to Go with Kids

We went in early August and the weather was textbook dry-season — clear skies, warm days, cool pre-dawn at altitude. The school holidays bring a price premium, but the trade-off is real if your only window is summer. May, June and September are quieter and just as dry.

For the Java leg, a Bromo-Ijen combined family tour can fold both volcanoes into one packaged itinerary if you'd rather not coordinate hotels and drivers yourself.

Avoid November through February if you can: the Bromo and Ijen views collapse under cloud cover for weeks at a time, and the south Bali surf beaches get rough.

What Health Prep We Did

Standard Southeast Asia kit: typhoid and Hep A boosters before flying, mosquito repellent in every bag, a small course of oral rehydration salts in case of stomach upsets, and a paediatric pulse-oximeter that paid for itself the morning after Ijen. No malaria pills — the risk in our route was minimal and our doctor advised against. Check current advice before you go.

More Family Travel Across Southeast Asia

If Indonesia is one stop in a longer Southeast Asia loop, these are the guides we'd reach for next — practical, family-tested and honest about what's worth the travel time.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is 17 days too long for Bali and Java with kids? For a first trip, 17 days is on the high end but it pays off if you build in slow days. We'd struggle to fit Java's volcanoes, Gili Air, Amed and an Ubud villa week into less than 14 nights without rushing the kids.

Can you do Bromo and Ijen with primary-school-age children? Bromo, broadly yes — it's cold, dusty and early, but the path and the horses work. Ijen is a much harder yes and our full write-up explains why we wouldn't repeat it with a child under ten.

Is Gili Air better than Gili Trawangan with kids? Yes. No motorbikes, calmer atmosphere, easier beach access. Trawangan is louder and busier; Meno is sleepier but with fewer family-friendly options.

How much driving is involved across this itinerary? Less than people expect. Java has two longer drives (Surabaya–Malang, Banyuwangi–Ketapang ferry). On Bali, day-trips from a Ubud base rarely exceed two hours each way.

What about Bali belly with kids? We had one mild stomach day across 17. Bottled water for drinking and tooth-brushing, plus rinsing fruit, was our standard. Pack rehydration sachets — they make the bad days much shorter.

Closing — Plan for the Days, Not the List

The itinerary above is a frame, not a checklist. The best memories from these 17 days came from the slow days — the pizza on Gili Air, the pool table evenings in the Penestanan villa, the koi pond at Tirta Gangga — not the bucket-list ones. If you take one thing from this guide, let it be the permission to schedule fewer things and to let your kids set the pace on the rest. We'd do this trip again. We'd just do it slower.