Holiday Inn Resort Baruna Bali is a great choice if you want to stay in Kuta. It’s not right in the middle of the action but it’s close enough to fun places like Waterbom. It is close to the airport so you can avoid a long drive with over tired kids when you arrive. The updated kids club looks like a lot of fun and the beautiful gardens are wonderful for the kids to run around. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Baruna in September 2016 and the following review contains photos from our stay plus updated photos of the new kids club and playground.

To check out prices and more info for Holiday Inn Baruna click here.

Why should your family stay at Holiday Inn Baruna?

• For a relaxing holiday with your kids and plenty of space to run around the beautiful gardens
• To be close, but not too close, to the action of Kuta and the best Bali water park, Waterbom
• If you arrive late at night and want to have a hotel booked close to the airport

Tips before your stay

• Join the IHG rewards program. This is free and comes with perks of 15-20% discount at certain restaurants
• Pre-book your Waterbom Bali tickets with Klook for the best Waterbom Bali price

Ways to save money

• Before I booked our stay in September 2016, I researched where was the best prices. I found that booking direct through the their website was the cheapest as they offer a best price guarantee

Rooms at Holiday Inn Baruna

Holiday Inn Baruna has a range of rooms that suit families and we stayed in the Kids Suite Rooms in 2016.

Kids Suite Rooms

The rooms, while not ultra modern, were very comfortable and the Kids Suites consist of 2 bedrooms interconnecting. This was guaranteed as part of the purchase price unlike often when you book interconnecting rooms and it’s subject to availability. The look on the kids faces when they entered their own themed bedroom was priceless!

A fridge in the main bedroom was handy for snacks and drinks. The bathrooms were on the smaller side with just a shower in the main bathroom and a bath in the kids bathroom. Keeping the kids safe and secure is so important for us when travelling with our kids as Mason is quite the escape artist and we were so pleased to find high internal chain locks on all doors leading to the outside. This made us feel at ease so if you have a toddler or child that likes to open the door and run out to the pool, these rooms are for you.

The outside sitting area was spacious with outside lounge suites and drying racks. They faced the gardens which were extremely well kept. It was a short walk to the pool area and I loved the look of the pool view rooms but they did have quite a few steps down so perhaps not so suited to toddlers.

Other Room Types

Holiday Inn Baruna has a great range of rooms that suit most budgets. The pool access rooms looked great to be close to the pool but not too close so you still had your space. The garden access rooms faced gorgeous manicured lawns and we would have been more than happy to stay in them if we were trying to save money. The walk is really not that far to the pool from these rooms.

The rooms suited the most to families are:

• The Kids Suites
• Studio Garden Access
• Studio Garden View
• Junior Suite Garden View
• Junior Suite Garden Access
• One Bedroom Suite

Kids Club at Holiday Inn Baruna

The Rascals Kids Club was a huge hit with our kids. The staff were fantastic and the kids enjoyed the different activities in the temporary kids club.

The new kids club that opened in 2019 looks awesome. Below are photos of the updated kids club taken by one of our Facebook Group members.

There is now a charge for in-house guests to join in on the kids club. If you book a suite room you don’t pay a charge but for all other room categories you do. See the price list below that was accurate in July 2019.

Kids Outside Playground

The perfect spot for the kids to have a play outside is the kids playground located near the pool.

Dining at Holiday Inn Baruna Bali

At the Holiday Inn Baruna there are good food options and the room service is great too for when Mum and Dad get hungry when the kids are asleep in bed.

Breakfast

Open 6:30am – 10:30am

Breakfast, that was included in our room price, was a huge buffet selection with the usual eggs, fruit, juices, bacon, waffles, Asian breakfast and the kids had their own corner to choose from. A couple of the choices from the kids corner were a bit sweet for my liking but hey we were on holidays! Coffee was from a coffee machine and I would have liked a latte from the cafe on site but we were too early as we were often at breakfast at 6:30am as the kids are early risers!

 

Envy Restaurant

Open 11am – Midnight

Lunch 11am-6pm

Dinner 6pm – Midnight

Happy Hour 5pm – 6pm

Our favourite restaurant at The Holiday Inn was the beachfront Mediterranean restaurant Envy. The sunset views were amazing especially enjoying happy hour from 5-6pm. There was plenty of grass for the kids to run around on with colouring in pages including pencils provided for the kids which was fantastic while we were waiting for dinner to arrive. Our first night there we managed to time it for the nightly entertainment of the fire dancers, the kids were mesmerised!

My only disappointment is that the kids don’t eat free in this restaurant. Even though it is part of the hotel, it isn’t included in the kids under 12 eat free with a full paying adult.

Palms Restaurant

Open 6:30am – 11pm

Breakfast 6:30am – 10:30am

Lunch 11pm – 6pm

Dinner 6pm – 10pm

The Palms Restaurant is an Asian restaurant with Asian Tapas and Indonesian food. We only ate here as a family for the breakfast buffet and I had lunch by myself on our last day. The food was really yummy and I wish we had eaten there more but we just loved the views from Envy too much!

A great part of the Palms Restaurant, if the Bali heat gets too much, is that they have an indoor AC section. They also have a fabulous kids menu and kids under 12 eat for free if accompanied by an adult that is having a main meal.

Flavaz

Open 8am – 10pm

Happy Hour 8pm-10pm

This was one of the kids favourite spots in the resort where they could get their daily ice creams. They had other delicious things like fresh-baked cookies and finger sandwiches with coffee for Mum and Dad.

Pool Bar

Open 10am – 8:30pm

Happy Hour 4pm – 5pm

The pool bar had a great selection of food and the swim up bar was a hit with all the family. Charlotte thought it was very cool to drink her milkshake with her newly found friend while sitting at the bar in the pool. Happy hour is at a great time of the day and then you can head to Envy restaurant for their 5pm happy hour and give the kids dinner. Winner!

Pool Area at Holiday Inn Baruna Bali

Pool open from 6:30am – 8:30pm

We loved the pool area at Holiday Inn Kuta and even though there was no water slides, we still had a great time playing on the big floating pillows as a family. There is the main pool with pool bar, volleyball net and basketball ring which also includes a ledge to sit on so the kids can splash around. This was perfect for Mason as he wasn’t trying to launch himself all the time from the edge of the pool like he normally does! The kids pool, next to the main pool, had a couple of shade sails that were perfect with babies and toddlers. Also a great temperature in both pools.

Other Facilities at Holiday Inn Baruna

The Holiday Inn Baruna has a minimart on site if you need any snacks, drinks or forget milk like I did one day. The prices are quite reasonable for a hotel and not that much more than the shops on the street. There is also a gym with some equipment and where the temporary kids club was, is now a library area plus games for older kids.

Gardens at Holiday Inn Baruna

The gardens and space is one of my favourite things about staying at Holiday Inn Baruna. So much room for the kids to run around and the beach is close by but there is a huge grass field separating the beach and edge of the resort with security guards at the entrance. This gave the feeling of an extra large resort right on the beach but without miles to walk everywhere.

Beach at Holiday Inn Baruna

The beach is typical of Kuta and not the best for swimming. The beach path that heads to Kuta one direction and the airport in the other, is great to walk along with a stroller. I loved my morning walks with Mason along the path watching the planes take off and land at the airport. I must say I was concerned prior to our stay that being so close to the airport we would hear too much airport noise. We really didn’t notice it and it was quite a lot of fun for the kids to spot the planes coming in.

Tea Tree Spa at Holiday Inn Baruna

One word for the Tea Tree Spa, amazing!

Because we were Platinum IHG members, thank you hubby for all that FIFO flying, Jed and I were given a complimentary 1 hour massage each. We had booked the highest level room, the Kids Suite, and there was no higher room to upgrade too hence the free massages.

So glad we were able to experience a massage there as the therapists were fantastic, rooms lovely and the view relaxing after the massage was gorgeous. It was so good that I booked Charlotte and I in for the Me & Li’l princess package at the spa. We both had a massage and facial with Charlotte’s first time at a day spa and she loved it!

Click here for the Tea Tree Spa Menus and details

Location of Holiday Inn Baruna

We actually really liked the location of Holiday Inn Baruna. We don’t like to be in the middle of the action and since staying in Kuta years ago, I was a bit anxious about going back. If you are feeling like this too, then Holiday Inn is perfect if you want to be a short taxi ride from Waterbom Park and the shopping malls.

Once you arrive at the Holiday Inn Baruna you feel like you are in an oasis amongst the chaos. I think this is due to the huge grounds and that the streets directly outside the hotel aren’t that busy. There is restaurants nearby, we didn’t try any as we ate at the hotel and at Beachwalk Mall for dinner one night, as well as many convenience stores for supplies like water, milk, snacks and nappies.

Things to do in Kuta Bali

What to do in Kuta Bali? Kuta is full of things to do with kids but all are not cheap, so if you are on a budget, choose wisely!

Here are a few suggestions of Kuta Bali attractions to see with your family and feel free to check out our ultimate guide to Bali with kids for more suggestions:

• Visit Waterbom Park our favourite Bali water park that we have visited 6 times
• Head to Beachwalk Mall Bali. Also check out the Beachwalk Cinema for a family movie together.
• Get involved with the turtle release with Bali Sea Turtle Society
• Learn to surf on Kuta Beach
• Head to dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp or Poppies Restaurant in Poppies Lane
• Shop at Discovery Mall Bali and visit the Amazone for an indoor entertainment area for the kids.
• If it is raining check out Art Kids Bali workshop for arts and craft plus baking fun.

Kuta Bali Map

Check out our google map with a few of our favourite things to do in Kuta with kids.

To give you some idea on distances from the Holiday Inn Baruna it took us 5 minutes to drive to Waterbom and 15 minutes to Beachwalk Mall. Due to the one way streets of Kuta it took at least 1/2hour to drive back to the resort from Beachwalk, this is something to keep in mind and off course traffic can be worse or better.

If you would like to check out more info and prices for the Holiday Inn Baruna Click Here.

We highly recommend a stay at the Holiday Inn Baruna. My gauge of how much we enjoy a resort is would we choose to stay again? The answer is most certainly yes from the kids and us as well, can’t wait to have another massage at the spa and enjoy another cocktail watching the sun set over the beach!

Feel free to join our Facebook Group if you have any questions about Holiday Inn Baruna.

Kate xx

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Note: We were paying guests of Holiday Inn Baruna and received no discounts or benefits for writing this post.

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