Our Bali holiday in February/March 2024 was a girl’s trip plus Mason. My sister-in-law and niece joined the kids and me for a quick one-week trip to Bali. It was cheap with Jetstar flights for this trip, per person including luggage and upfront seats, the flights were $316 each return.

Our itinerary for our Bail holiday is below:

• Hard Rock Resort in Kuta 2 nights
• Padma Resort Legian in Legian 3 nights
• Holiday Inn Baruna in Kuta 2 nights
• Sea Shanty Villa in Jimbaran afternoon stay before flight

We had a great time enjoying the resort’s facilities and relaxing while the kids were entertained. I was reminded quickly of how hot and humid it can be in Bali during February and March, a lot of sweating!

Tuesday 27th February 2024: Flying to Bali and Hard Rock Resort

We had a great flight time of 10 am so it was an early start but not as early as I normally get up for the gym 😉 We choose to park at Busy Beaver Airport Parking as we find it easy and don’t have to worry about managing our luggage on the long-term airport parking shuttle buses.

I was pleased to see that Jetstar finally had the bag drop-off operating! For our holiday in August 2023, they were still checking everyone in. I had also completed check-in on my phone in the day leading up to our flight and had our boarding passes in my Apple wallet. There was the opportunity to print of boarding pass at check-in if required.

Immigration and security was fine and we all used the smart gates including Mason who is 10 years old.

There were more shops and restaurants open at Melbourne International Airport which was great to see but I had scored two free Qantas lounge passes from the Points Coach so Mason and I headed to the Qantas Business Lounge. If you want to learn how to fly using points, head to Instagram and follow the Points Coach.

The Qantas Business Lounge is a great way to pass the time and having free passes was even better! The food was yummy with a great range including gluten-free options. I was glad to see that the coffee was good and Mason loved the pancake machine.

When you ask the staff they will let you know when your flight is boarding and Jetstar was on time which was great to hear. Up the lift to the gate 11 and boarding was quick and easy.

We boarded the 787 Dreamliner plane and I had again booked the upfront seats. I love this area just behind Business Class, feels like premium economy due to the reduced number of seats. Sad that this was probably the last flight on the Dreamliner to Bali as all the flights from Melbourne to Bali are being replaced with the Neo plane.

We always fly with a range of things to keep the kids entertained. This has changed over the years and now that the kids are older we pack in the hand luggage My Big Adventure Travel Diary, Nintendo Switch and iPad.

Early into the flight, our fight hostess Nora mentioned that the bulkhead seats 2 rows in front of us were free and we were welcome to move to them. She was so lovely and recognised that Mason needed space to spread out.

The flight landed 10 minutes early and we were at the closest gate to the immigration hall which was a nice bonus. I had completed our electronic VOA (you can read all about entry into Bali here) and lucky I had as the VOA queues were long! My sister and law and niece (she’s 14 years old) used the smart gates and we lined up in the family line to the right of the immigration lines. We could do this due to Mason’s disability.

Our driver Alex was waiting to take us to The Hard Rock. We have known Alex for many years and if you need a driver contact him and he will look after you. You can find his details here. The drive from the airport to the Hard Rock took around 20 minutes.

Check-in at The Hard Rock was at the Rock Royalty Lounge, a great benefit of the many Rock Royalty benefits.

See our blog post on our stays at The Hard Rock.

We were staying in a Loft Room that is located in the Chill Out Wing. Great space especially with teens due to the loft bedroom. The stairs leading up to the loft bedroom are a bit tricky to climb but the teens were fine with it and didn’t mind the height of the bedroom.

Our nanny Mella arrived and it was then straight to the main pool for the waterslides and splash park plus a cocktail by the pool for Mum after a long day!

After fun by the pool, I went for a walk and stopped at one of my favourite coffee shops in Kuta The Bare Bottle. Located in Kuta Square it is an easy walk from the side entrance to The Hard Rock near Jaime Oliver Kitchen restaurant.

Back to the Chillout Wing at 5:30 pm and it was time for the Rock Royalty cocktail hour by the pool. A great bonus of the Rock Royalty package, the cocktails were delicious, the snacks were yummy and the teens were very happy with their juices.

We then walked to The Fat Bowl for dinner, always a favourite restaurant with delicious food and great prices. Check out our Hard Rock review for more pictures.

After dinner, we walked to the Hard Rock Resort via The Beachwalk Mall. A Western-style mall, the Beachwalk Mall has cinemas, restaurants and a huge range of shops.

Meanwhile, back at the resort with his nanny Mella, Mason was very impressed with the turn-down service for his animal friends. And yes, they all came in our suitcase!!

Wednesday 28th February 2024: Hard Rock Resort

I always have the issue on the first morning of waking up early due to the time difference and Mason too! So it was a 5 am start and we went for an early morning walk around the resort then down the street and finally as the sun rose onto Kuta Beach.

With the Rock Royalty package at The Hard Rock resort, we could choose to go for breakfast at Starz Diner or in the Chillout Wing. Mason chose the buffet breakfast at The Starz Diner as he loved the range of different foods. I informed the staff that I would eat breakfast in the Chillout Wing and this wasn’t a problem.

For myself, I loved the ala carte options with the Rock Royalty Package that I could have at the Chillout Wing. Quieter and more relaxing, I quickly get over buffet breakfast and much prefer a breakfast made for me. The great thing was you could order anything on the menu so I chose the avocado toast and smoothie bowl.

While the coffee was ok at The Hard Rock, I am quite the coffee snob so once the nanny arrived I walked to The Bare Bottle for a strong coffee. We hired a cabana at The Hard Rock main pool so next stop was the pool at 9 am to set up for the day. The Cabana’s are a fantastic way to enjoy a day by the pool at The Hard Rock. You can come and go as you please throughout the day and have access to the Cabana until 9 pm!

For lunch, we booked into Jaime Oliver Kitchen and the food was fantastic! The drinks, food and staff made for a delicious lunch and the air-conditioned table near the bar was a great way to escape the heat. Keep in mind February/March is humid and hot, not my favourite time of year but fine if you are relaxing by the pool. Also, the pools that we visited were all warm. This is due to the heat and sun making the pools more like a bath!

Then it was back to the pool for slides for the kids and relaxing in the cabana for Mum! The pool bar is a lot of fun and the teens especially enjoyed it 😉

We had dinner at Splash on Fire, the poolside restaurant at The Hard Rock Bali. The food was delicious and the kids loved the flames coming from the meat when it was served at the table. Mum loved the flaming cocktails too 😉 The best thing about the restaurant is the pool doesn’t close until 9 pm so you can feed the kids and they can then enjoy a swim while you eat your dinner.

After dinner Mason and I stopped for a dance and a drink at Centrestage. So much fun and kids are more than welcome. The resort is well set out and the live music has minimal effect on the noise levels in the rooms.

Thursday 1st March 2024: Wild Experience Bali and Padma Resort Legian

What do you do when you wake up at 5 am by your 10-year-old son? Go for a walk to McDonalds of course 😉 The store in Kuta Square is open 24 hrs and Mason loved trying out the pancakes.

We then walked back Discovery Mall and back to the Hard Rock for breakfast.

Breakfast at The Rock Royalty lounge was once again delicious, today I ate the eggs benedict and bircher muesli. I really enjoyed The Rock Royalty experience for breakfast at The Hard Rock, which was the perfect way to start my day.

Back to The Bare Bottle for my morning coffee and then a swim in the chillout pool. The pool access rooms are a definite bonus around the pool as younger babies and toddlers can be sleeping while the older kids swim.

Mason then spent time at the Roxity kids club and joined in on the rock climbing activity. The activity is located by the main pool and from 9 am to 10 am is open to all guests and the kids club is allocated 10 am to 11 am. We then spent some time at the Tabu teens club where Mason enjoyed the computer games.

Rock Rock Royalty checkout was easy and our driver Alit picked us up at The Hard Rock at 11 am to drive us to Canggu. I always use our change of hotel days to hire a driver for a few hours to spend time doing an activity between checkout and check-in at the new resort. As our next resort was The Padma Legian we stopped at The Padma lobby and dropped our suitcases off for them to store until we returned for check-in at 3 pm. The drive was surprisingly quick for Canggu traffic and only took us just over 1 hour to arrive at Cumulus Restaurant for lunch.

We then drove a short distance to Wild Experiences. Located in Pererenan, this is such a fun place to visit with kids and adults of all ages! Our teens loved it and we needed more time to spend there. It features a selfie museum, chemistry lab and art experience. So much fun for the whole family.

We spent 1.5 hours at Wild Experiences and could have definitely spent longer! We again got lucky with traffic back to The Padma Legian and the drive only took 1 hour. We checked into The Padma Legian and were shown to our Premier Double Double room. A great space for a family of 4, the outlook over The Padma gardens was lovely and quiet but still close to the lagoon pool.

Check out our review of The Padma Legian here.

Our nanny Mella arrived to look after Mason. Charlotte and I went to the main pool to relax and enjoy a drink. It was so good being back at The Padma Legian, one of our favourite resorts in Bali.

We then headed to Kanoa on Legian Beach for dinner and sunset drinks. A great option when staying at The Padma Legian. Food was good and drinks were cold.

It had been a long day so it was an early night in bed. It was goodbyes with Mella as our other nanny Komang was starting with us the next day.

Friday 2nd March 2024: Padma Resort Legian

One of my favourite parts of staying in Legian is there is always a great coffee shop open early. Mason and I went for an early morning walk to get a coffee as the sun rose at 6 am.

We walked towards Mugshot Coffee as they have great coffee but they had no almond milk so we ordered a coffee from Cafe Magnum. Delicious coffee and they stocked Milk Lab almond milk so both Mason and I were happy 🙂

From Cafe Magnum on Jl Padma Utara there is a shortcut through a laneway to the beach. It runs alongside The Bandha Hotel and Niksoma Resort. We then walked along the beach road back to The Padma Legian for breakfast.

We love the breakfast at The Padma Legian, so many choices!! Early morning the breakfast area at Donbui is quieter and Mason sat us right next to the pancakes. Check out our photos/videos of The Padma Legian breakfast here.

Our nanny for the next few days Komang arrived at 9 am and the morning was spent enjoying the lagoon pool and the kids once again loved the pool bar! Mason then decided to check out the temporary kid’s club as the family area was undergoing renovations during our stay.

I went for a walk and purchased a leather handbag from Tommy’s Leather. The shop is a short walk from the entrance to The Padma Legian on Jl Padma. The bag was beautifully made and cost $100AUD.

It was then lunch at Fresco Bali, a great spot with air conditioning and delicious food and drinks. March gets hot and humid so the AC was definitely needed!

After lunch, it was time for the foam party at The Padma. So much fun and you can find all of the details about the foam party here.

One of Mason’s favourite things to do was exploring The Padma gardens. Set over a large area the gardens were very well kept and the animals looked after.

Komang ordered room service for Mason’s dinner and the girls enjoyed dinner at the on-site teppanyaki restaurant TENKAI Japanese Nikkei Restaurant. Was so much fun and the food was delicious!

Saturday 3rd March 2024: Padma Resort Legian

While the kids slept in I joined the resort bike ride through the streets of Legian and Kuta. The activity is free and we left the resort at 6 am, there is also a 7:30 am start if you like to sleep in. We rode towards the Bali bombing memorial in Kuta to pay our respects before riding towards Kuta beach. It was a leisurely ride and suited to all fitness levels. We then rode along the beach path and arrived back at the resort at 7:30 am.

For breakfast Mason and I decided to have breakfast in The Deli as it was quieter. It only opens for breakfast at 8 am so not suited to early risers but is quieter than the main breakfast area. Anyone can enjoy breakfast in The Deli, just ask the breakfast staff to seat you there.

I love having laundry done in Bali, we use Nikki’s Laundry when staying in south Bali. Her staff will come and pick up the laundry and deliver it back to the hotel/villa the next day.

Komang arrived for the day to hang out with Mason and the teens participated in a free tennis lesson on The Padma tennis court. Excellent tennis coaches but the girls were glad to do the lesson early as it was very hot!

I escaped to the Padma spa for a 1-hour Balinese massage and it was absolute bliss. Make sure to become a Padma Resident if you stay at a Padma Hotel as you can receive discounts for food/beverage, spa etc. The massage cost 748,000IDR or approx. $75AUD.

At lunchtime, we walked over to The Bali Mandira Resort and enjoyed a swim and lunch. There was only one set of lounge chairs free so we set up near the beach on the lawn and the kids enjoyed swimming in the pool with the waterslide. I was then taken on a tour of the resort. The Mandira Club Suite was a gorgeous room that sleeps 2 adults and 2 kids.

When we returned from The Mandira we had organised to change rooms to stay 1 night in a deluxe chalet room. We were allocated an upstairs room 510 located near the Barong Bar and the room was lovely. The chalets sleep 2 adults and 1 child, you can also book 2 adjoining chalets for families.

We had been invited to celebrate Bali Kidz Hire 1st Birthday so we jumped in a Blue Bird Taxi (they wait at The Padma lobby so easy to get) and drove to Cocoon. It is within walking distance but it was so hot!

It was an easy walk along the beach as the sun set and such a great day.

Sunday 4th March 2024: Holiday Inn Baruna

A quiet morning and a short walk for a morning coffee at Deddy’s Bali. They open at 6 am, have delicious coffee and use Milk Lab milk. Highly recommended.

Our final breakfast at The Padma was once again amazing and is one of the best buffet breakfasts in Bali.

Mason wanted to try out the archery at the activity field and then one final swim in the lagoon pool before checking out. We love staying at The Padma and are always sad to leave.

While we waited for our driver Putu from Epo Bali Driver, we enjoyed lunch at Fresco Bali. Jamu was really good and Mason loved his kid’s burger with chips.

We drove from The Padma to the Bali Wakepark for a look before stopping in at Aircrew Sensation. Features an old plane to explore, an on-site cafe plus you could pay extra for the flight simulator. Easy way to waste 1/2 hour near the airport in Jimbaran but I probably wouldn’t go especially out of my way to visit unless I was willing to pay for the flight simulator. It was only approx. $5AUD each to look through old plane and from memory $80AUD for the flight simulator. I forgot to take photos as it was a bit hot so the prices may be different!

It was then check-in time at The Holiday Inn Baruna. We stayed at The Holiday Inn in 2016 so it was great to be back. A great resort close to the airport, I enjoy staying at The Holiday Inn Baruna which is also a great price.

Check out our full review of the Holiday Inn Baruna here.

We were staying in the spacious 1 King Bed Suite Garden View Sofa Bedroom. It features a king-size bed plus a bunk room that Mason chose for himself! I love the outside terrace overlooking the gardens, an easy walk to the pool and a beautiful spot to enjoy a coffee early morning. The family we were travelling with had an interconnecting room next door.

It was time to relax by the pool for the afternoon and enjoy the pool bar. The pool area at The Holiday Inn is easy to watch the kids and also features a shallow pool for toddlers or big kids playing water volleyball.

Dinner at Envy restaurant is the perfect way to relax and watch the sunset over Kuta Beach. Delicious food with a great cocktail list plus a fantastic kids menu.

Monday 5th March 2024: Holiday Inn Baruna

Our final full day in Bali and it was a slow morning enjoying the beautiful gardens at sunrise and then Mason and I had breakfast at Palms Restaurant. A good range for breakfast and you can order eggs directly to your table.

We visited the kids club as we were lucky enough to have a photoshoot in Balinese costume. Mason looked so cute and it was a great experience.

Kadek our nanny for the last couple of days arrived so we went to the pool for a chill out as it was hot!

Lunch at Palms Restaurant was delicious, with a great selection of Indonesian and Indian food.

The Tea Tree Spa at the Holiday Inn Baruna is a great experience. The prices are reasonable for a resort and the treatments are lovely.

The teens wanted to check out Lippo Mall so we walked in the heat and found Starbucks to cool off. Lippo Mall has a good range of shops and a large supermarket downstairs, as well as a cinema and play area for the little kids.

I was lucky enough to be shown through the Beachfront Pool Villa at the Holiday Inn Baruna, a gorgeous space to enjoy a special celebration.

For our last night, I had been invited to Samabe Resort in Nusa Dua to experience the Beach Cabanas. What a wonderful way to spend our last night in Bali, the sunset was magnificent, the cabana was amazing and the food delicious. Highly recommend it for an adults-only experience.

Tuesday 6th March 2024: Sea Shanty Villa Jimbaran and Flying Home

To start our last day in Bali I went for an early morning walk solo as Mason finally slept in! I walked from the Holiday Inn past Lippo Mall and to The Bare Bottle for a coffee. I struggled to find anywhere open early for coffee close to Holiday Inn Baruna. It is easy to get a Grab bike back to the hotel.

Breakfast was lovely again but I was well and truly over buffet breakfasts! Mason loved it and kept piling up the pancakes 😉

Mason wanted to have a final play at the kids club and we checked out at 10:30 am to go to the Sea Shanty Villa in Jimbaran

We last stayed at The Sea Shanty in 2017 for my birthday and we love this gorgeous villa. Features 4 bedrooms with a stunning kid’s bunk room. The gardens and pool area are the perfect spot to relax and chill out before our night flight home.

The kids ordered McDonald’s on Grab for lunch and I went for a walk. I was pleased to see La Brasserie was still open as we loved their food back in 2017. Great prices, lovely staff and yummy food.

The staff at The Sea Shanty organised for spa treatments to be done at the villa and I had a pedicure plus shoulder massage. Was going to be very hard to go home!

Lina cooked us up a delicious final meal of nasi goreng, mei goreng and chicken satay. Was only a brief visit but so lovely to see both Lina and Supri again.

Our driver Alex picked us up at 7:15 pm and it took 35 minutes to arrive at the airport. Check-in was easy but immigration was a bit hectic again, always allow enough time to get through immigration.

Our Jetstar flight was on time and we departed Bali at 10:30 pm. We were on the Neo plane which is not my favourite but we all scored a free middle seat in our rows of seats, making the flight much easier!

We landed on time back in Melbourne and the e-gates made it easy to get through, much easier that Mason is now 10! It was such a great trip but was very hot and humid! Going into the trip, I knew that Feb/March weather could be trickier and the first few days were fine. The last few days, however, were hard work; we just wanted to relax by the pool.

We also share our Bali holidays on our Instagram and Facebook Pages, feel free to follow along.

Kate xx