luxury family travel

What to Pack for Bali with Toddlers and Grandparents: The Honest Packing List

Cloud Kissed Adventures

— 9 min read
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Person on a jungle swing over lush green canopy in Ubud, Bali, multi-generational family travel packing guide
Packing for this began weeks before we ever saw it in person

Nappies. Swimwear. Sun hats for three sizes of head. A bag that somehow needed to fit an entire family's worth of "just in case."

Packing for Bali with three young children felt overwhelming before we'd even left the house. Twin toddlers, a four-year-old, and the quiet dread of a long-haul flight stacked on top of a jet-lagged arrival. I remember standing over the case wondering if we'd made the wrong call going at all.

Then my parents arrived at the airport with their own cases, and the whole shape of the trip changed.

This wasn't a solo parenting trip. It was our first proper multi-generational holiday — three generations, one hotel in Ubud, one pool the twins would not get out of. Watching them splash and giggle together that first afternoon, completely undone with delight, was one of those double-the-joy twin moments that made every overwhelmed packing session before it worth it. We were starting a new chapter as a family. This packing list is what got us through it in one piece.

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In This Guide:

Adult and child walking through lush green Ubud scenery, backs to camera, multi-generational Bali family travel
Three generations, one packing list, more questions than answers at first

What to Pack for Bali as a Multi-Generational Family

Is packing for Bali with toddlers and grandparents actually harder than a standard family trip? Yes and no. The heat asks something different of a 70-year-old than it does of a four-year-old. The rice-terrace paths and temple steps aren't stroller terrain. And you are going to a country where you may not be able to easily find something you left at home.

But here's what nobody tells you: going as a group makes the packing easier, not harder. My parents brought their own kit, their own instincts, their own decades of "we always bring this." Between three generations, we covered gaps none of us would have thought of alone.

This is the honest list — tested across a real Ubud trip with twin toddlers, a four-year-old, and grandparents in their sixties and seventies. What earned its place, what we left behind, and the one nappy mistake we won't make twice.

Sun and Heat: What Actually Works for Both Ends of the Family

Generic Bali packing advice says "bring sunscreen" and stops there. That's not enough when you're protecting a toddler's skin and a grandparent's, and the humidity means everyone sweats sunscreen off within the hour. We swear by these brushes to apply sunscreen, keep them on hand and be prepared apply sunscreen a million times a day.

For the grandparents specifically, a proper sun hat mattered more than we expected. Not a beach-holiday novelty hat — something with real coverage, breathable enough for the heat, secure enough not to need constant adjusting on uneven temple paths. Proper sun hats for the kids too.

Hand held fans are essential as well as your clip on stroller fan. The humidity is real, paired with the hustle and bustle of Ubud there will be times where you are a hot mess. Take the fans.

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Grandparent Note — Sun Protection: A proper wide-brim sun hat earned its place daily. Bali's midday sun doesn't ease off the way a Mediterranean sun does — the coverage needs to be real, not decorative.

Insect Protection That Doesn't Fight the Heat

Spray-on repellent and tropical heat are not friends. Reapplying every few hours in 90% humidity gets old fast, especially with toddlers who won't sit still for it.

Insect repellent patches solved this for the twins — stick them on once, forget about it. For the rest of us, a family-safe repellent that didn't feel like it was suffocating in the heat mattered more than we expected.

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Toddler Tip — Insect Protection: The patches go on first thing in the morning, before anyone's dressed. One less thing to fight about at 7am with three small children.

Carrying: Why We Packed Both a Stroller and a Carrier

The honest answer, same as it was in the Rockies: it depends entirely on the terrain.

Ubud's rice-terrace paths and temple steps are not stroller territory. Central pavements and resort grounds are fine. We packed both, and both earned their place — just never on the same day.

The carrier did the heavy lifting, literally, on the days that mattered most: the walk through the rice fields, the temple visits, anywhere the ground turned uneven underfoot. The stroller stayed folded in the villa on those days and came out for flat resort walks and the evening stretch into town.

Toddler backpack carrier — the one that made the rice-field walk possible.
Lightweight travel stroller — for the flat days.

"We packed both a stroller and a carrier. We never needed both on the same day — but we always needed one of them."
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Cloud Kissed Luxury Tip — Carrying: Pack the carrier as your default assumption for Ubud specifically. The stroller is the backup, not the plan. Rice-terrace paths and temple steps make that decision for you.
Rice terrace landscape near Ubud, Bali, tiered green fields, uneven terrain for temple and rice-field walks
Not a single flat path in sight

Footwear for Rice Terraces, Temples, and Pool Days

Three different terrains, three different footwear needs, and getting this wrong means blisters or bare feet on temple steps that are absolutely not designed for flip-flops.

For the adults, proper walking shoes made the difference on rice-terrace paths and uneven temple ground — grip and support matter more here than you'd think for what looks, on paper, like a gentle walk.

For the kids, Crocs are still the single best secondary shoe, same as they were in the Rockies. Pool to path in four seconds, no fuss, no fighting.

Women's walking shoes — grip that actually holds on uneven temple ground.
Crocs (kids) — the four-second shoe change.

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Toddler Tip — Footwear: Crocs for the pool and resort grounds, proper shoes for temple visits and rice-terrace walks. The transition between the two takes seconds and saves you the meltdown over wet, uncomfortable feet.
Hotel pool in Ubud surrounded by tropical greenery, family-friendly resort setting for toddlers and grandparents
Where the twins refused to be anywhere else

Swimming and Pool Safety

The pool was where the twins were happiest, full stop. Watching them splash and giggle together, completely undone with delight, is one of the moments I keep coming back to from this trip.

For the twins, a baby pool float seat gave a bit of independence in the water without losing the safety net. For our four-year-old, a proper swim vest meant he could be in the water confidently without either of us hovering over every stroke.

UV rash vests covered the sun side of pool days — hours in and out of the water add up fast, even under shade.

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Toddler Tip — Pool Safety: Bring the float seat and the swim vest from home. Villa and hotel pools in Ubud don't reliably stock kids' swim safety gear, and you don't want to be sourcing it on day one.

The Nappy Reality Nobody Warns You About

This is the honest bit. We underestimated how many nappies three young children actually go through across a trip this length, and Ubud's baby-changing facilities are not what you'd hope for — most places simply don't have them, and you end up improvising on a car seat or a hotel bed.

The fix, once we'd learned the hard way: reusable swim nappies for pool days specifically. They saved genuine suitcase space compared to packing disposable swim nappies for every pool session across the whole trip, and they hold up fine to daily rinsing in a villa bathroom.

We did not get this right on day one. We got it right by day three.

Staying Hydrated in the Heat

Bali's heat is a different proposition to the Rockies' dry mountain air — the humidity means everyone is losing water constantly, even standing still in the shade.

Soft water pouches did the same job here they did on mountain trails: light enough for small hands to manage, easy to refill throughout the day, no bulky bottle taking up bag space. Given how much more everyone drinks in this heat, they mattered even more here than they did in cooler climates. Keep your big hydro flask full of ice cold water and refill the pouches as and when you need.

Multi-compartment snack box packed for a long-haul flight, practical travel essential for young children
The one thing that bought us twenty minutes of peace

Long Flight Essentials

For some reason a multi-compartment snack box is far more appealing to my kids vs the same snacks packed separately. And Who am I to question their snack logic? Not only does it keep them fuelled, it seems to be an activity in itself for my kids, and let's be honest, a long haul flight requires as any activities as we can get.

An iPad cover with headrest straps helps pass some time when the inflight entertainment isn't quite enough. Make sure you get some wireless headphones too unless you want the whole plane to hear "Let it go" for the umpteenth time.

LED writing pad, on the plane, in the security line, at the restaurant, hours of entertainment, small and light and not an ipad, don't go without it.

Compression socks for the grandparents. Long-haul flights and swollen ankles are a real combination, and this is the simplest fix available.

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Grandparent Note — The Flight: Compression socks on, on the plane, every long-haul flight from now on. My parents didn't own a pair before this trip. They do now.

The Bali Belly Kit Nobody Talks About

Every Bali guide mentions "Bali belly" in passing and moves on. Nobody actually tells you what to pack for it, especially for a toddler who can't always tell you something's wrong until it already is.

We packed kids' upset tummy relief as a precaution rather than a reaction, and were glad to have it on hand. Worth packing for the adults too, though we didn't need it ourselves this trip — better in the bag and unused than needed and missing.

First aid kit always, especially in a none English speaking country.

The Master Packing List

Sun and Heat

Insect Protection

Carrying

Footwear

Swimming and Pool Safety

Nappies

Hydration

Electronics for Every Trip

Long Flight Essentials

The Bali Belly Kit

Top Tips

  1. Pack the carrier as your default, not the stroller. Rice-terrace paths and temple steps make the decision for you.
  2. Reusable swim nappies, not disposables, for pool days. The suitcase space saved is real.
  3. A proper sun hat for grandparents, not a beach novelty one. Bali's midday sun asks for real coverage.
  4. Crocs for pool and resort, proper walking shoes for temples and terraces. Don't try to make one shoe do both jobs.
  5. Insect patches over spray for the kids. One application, no fighting, no reapplying every few hours in the heat.
  6. Pack the swim vest and float seat from home. Villa and hotel pools don't reliably stock kids' swim safety gear.
  7. The Bali belly kit is worth packing even if you don't end up needing it.

Practical Information

  • Best time to pack for: year-round tropical heat and humidity — this list applies regardless of season
  • Nappy-changing facilities: limited in central Ubud, plan to improvise
  • Laundry: widely available and cheap across Ubud, reduces the need to overpack clothing

Planning Your Trip

If you haven't already, start with our COMO Uma Ubud review or the full Ubud guide for toddlers and grandparents for the wider trip picture.

And if flying with twins is the part you're dreading, the dedicated long-haul survival guide is coming soon — built entirely around exactly that.

This post contains affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through them, at no extra cost to you. As always, we only recommend what we'd pack ourselves.

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