Intrepid Bali Family Tour Review: Dream Trip or Family Chaos?

Travelling around Bali with a group of strangers and their kids… when I put it that way, it sounds like it could be a brilliant idea or a terrible mistake, right?

Earlier this year, our family joined the Intrepid Bali Family Holiday with Teenagers, a small-group tour designed specifically for families with kids aged 10 and over. Over eight days, we travelled through Bali together, taking on everything from cycling and white-water rafting to snorkelling, cultural experiences and, of course, plenty of eating.

But what is it actually like to travel as part of a small-group family tour? Do the kids get along? Do you have enough time to yourselves? And does having someone else take care of the itinerary and logistics really make family travel easier?

In this Intrepid Bali family tour review, I’ll share our experience of the accommodation, activities, food, itinerary and our local tour leader, as well as what it was really like travelling with other families. I’ll cover what we loved, what could have been better and, ultimately, whether we’d choose this style of family travel again.

Our experience travelling with other families

I’ll admit that travelling with a group of strangers was probably the part I was most nervous about before the trip. What if nobody got along? What if the kids had nothing in common? Worse still – what if we were stuck making awkward small talk for eight days? As it turned out, I needn’t have worried.

There were four families in our group. Two families with two adults and two kids (including ours), one mum travelling with her two boys and one dad travelling with his daughter. The kids ranged in age from 11 to 17.

The kids were understandably a little nervous on that first day, but by day two, they were socialising and jumping in the pool together. From there, it became one of the best parts of the trip.

Having other kids around was a huge plus

As siblings, my two aren’t necessarily excited about hanging out together all the time. Add a few other kids into the mix, however, and suddenly they had a little group to hang out with everywhere we went.

They swam together, chatted during activities, and generally kept themselves occupied. One unexpected bonus was how little they cared about their devices. With other kids around to talk to and muck around with, technology took a back seat.

Intrepid offers family tours catering to different age groups, but I deliberately chose the Family Holiday with Teenagers, which has a minimum age of 10. I figured this would ensure that there would be other kids around their ages and they potentially wouldn’t get stuck entertaining much younger children.

Do you have to spend all your time with the group?

No and this was something I really appreciated. You’re not expected to operate as one big family for the entire eight days. There is downtime built into the itinerary, the mornings generally aren’t ridiculously early, and you can opt out of experiences if there’s something you don’t want to do.

Some meals are included as part of the itinerary, but otherwise you’re free to do your own thing. Interestingly, there were nights when we chose to go out for dinner together. Other times, we’d have dinner separately, spend some time as a family and inevitably run into everyone again later when the kids ended up in the pool together.

It felt like a good balance between travelling as a group and still having your own family holiday.

Was travelling with strangers awkward?

Surprisingly, no… and that’s coming from someone who can be a nervous wreck around new people.

I have alopecia and, although I’ve embraced shaving my head, walking into a group of strangers knowing I’ll immediately look a little different can still be daunting for me. So the social side of small-group travel was something I genuinely had anxiety about before we left.

In reality, everyone got along incredibly well and the group quickly became comfortable around each other. There was no pressure to constantly socialise, either, which I think helped. You could join everyone for dinner one night and disappear for some family time the next without it being a big deal.

I suspect that the kind of people that book a family tour with Intrepid are generally open-minded and wanting to connect with other people from all walks of life. For our family, travelling with other families wasn’t the downside I’d worried it might be, it ended up being one of the biggest highlights of the entire trip.

The itinerary: Was the pace right for families?

One of my concerns with joining an organised tour was that we’d constantly be on the move, rushing from one activity to the next with an early start every morning. Thankfully, that wasn’t our experience on the Intrepid Bali family tour.

There is an organised activity on most days, but the itinerary doesn’t generally fill every hour. We often had downtime in the afternoons to relax around the hotel pool, explore on our own or simply do nothing for a while.

If I could change one thing, I’d probably add a completely free day somewhere particularly nice. At one of our beachfront hotels, I remember wishing we could just hit pause on the tour for another day or two. Sometimes when you’ve spent the morning exploring, all you really want to do is claim a spot on the beach and stay there.

What about all the driving?

Travel days were surprisingly manageable, although Bali’s relatively compact size certainly helps.

The longest stretch we spent in the private minivan was around four hours, and even then we stopped roughly halfway for a long break at an attraction. It never felt like we were losing entire days sitting in a vehicle just to reach the next destination.

Moving hotels wasn’t particularly tiring either. We generally stayed for two nights at each hotel, with only one single-night stay during the trip. And let’s face it, packing for Bali isn’t exactly difficult. When most of your suitcase consists of shorts, T-shirts and swimmers, moving every couple of days is much easier.

A good mix of adventure, culture and downtime

The variety of the itinerary was one of its biggest strengths.

Over eight days we went white-water rafting, cycling and snorkelling, but also tried traditional weaving, visited water temples and experienced a side of Bali that went well beyond beaches and swimming pools. Most of our proper relaxation happened back at the hotels in the afternoons, which worked well for us. More importantly, the itinerary took us to places we probably wouldn’t have chosen if we’d planned the trip independently.

Before this trip, Candidasa and Amed weren’t particularly high on my Bali radar, and we probably wouldn’t have incorporated Sanur either. I’m really glad the itinerary took that decision out of our hands because these destinations ended up being an important part of what made the trip so enjoyable.

Had we organised Bali ourselves, there’s a good chance we would have gravitated towards the same well-known areas that everyone else visits. One of the biggest advantages of this particular tour was being nudged beyond those places.

Activities: What were the highlights?

There is an included activity on most days of the Intrepid Bali family tour, and the variety is one of the things the itinerary does particularly well. We went from cycling through rural Bali and white-water rafting to snorkelling over a shipwreck and learning about traditional village life.

Not every activity was a massive hit for us, but that’s probably inevitable on a group itinerary designed to appeal to different families. There were some we’d happily do again tomorrow and others that were more a case of being glad we’d experienced them once.

Rural cycling

I really enjoyed the cycling portion of this day and actually found myself wishing there was more of it.

The ride takes you through rural Bali, with stops along the way to learn more about local life. I’ll admit that one of the longer village stops lost me a little. I have a fairly short attention span and after a while I found myself zoning out during the explanation of village life. The kids did too.

That’s obviously very subjective – another family might find the cultural component the most interesting part – but for us, I would have happily traded some of that time for a little more riding.

Lunch at a local village was included that day and was a highlight. It was a lovely way to finish off the experience and added another element to seeing Bali away from the main tourist areas.

White-water rafting

This was easily our favourite activity of the entire trip.

There was lots of laughing, splashing and mucking around, with enough rapids to make it exciting without ever feeling genuinely scary. It hit that sweet spot for a family activity where the kids thought it was adventurous and the adults could enjoy themselves without spending the entire time worrying about everyone staying in the raft.

If I had to pick just one activity from the itinerary to do again, this would be it.

Pekarangan Village experience

Unfortunately, this was also the point in the trip when Bali Belly caught up with me, so while everyone else headed out for the day, I spent some quality time staying within very close proximity to the hotel bathroom.

Jason and the kids went without me and reported back that they’d had a good day. The kids made kites as part of the experience and later took them down to the beach to fly them, which they really enjoyed. It was one of the longer activity days on the itinerary, so although I can’t personally review the experience, the rest of my family came back happy.

Rice terraces and Tirta Gangga

I also skipped the rice terraces the following day. I was feeling better, but knowing we had around three to four hours in the minivan ahead of us, I decided not to push my luck.

The rest of the family described the rice terraces as enjoyable, although not necessarily one of the standout experiences of the trip. I did rejoin everyone for Tirta Gangga, which broke up the longer journey, and I’m glad I did.

The former royal water palace was a really pleasant place to wander around without feeling like we needed to rush through another major attraction. The kids wandered off together while we had some downtime with our feet in the fish pond before getting back into the minivan and continuing to our next destination.

Snorkelling in Amed

The snorkelling in Amed was good, although I wouldn’t describe it as spectacular. To be fair, we’ve been very spoilt with snorkelling elsewhere, particularly in places such as French Polynesia and Vanuatu, so Bali had some tough competition.

One of the snorkelling spots was over a shipwreck, which was very cool and certainly made the experience worthwhile. Unfortunately, the wind picked up for our second snorkel and the visibility wasn’t particularly good that day.

Despite the conditions, it was still an enjoyable outing and another nice change of pace within the itinerary. You don’t need to arrive expecting some of the world’s best snorkelling to have a good time.

Turtle Conservation Centre

The Turtle Conservation Centre was probably one of the weaker activities for me. I didn’t dislike it, but I didn’t love it either. The facility felt a little run-down during our visit and, admittedly, by that stage I was tired and fairly ready to just get to our hotel.

It’s not something I’d consider a reason to choose this itinerary, but nor did it detract significantly from the trip. For me, it was simply one of those activities that was okay rather than memorable.

Our favourite activities overall

For our family, white-water rafting was the clear winner, followed by the cycling and some of the more relaxed cultural stops along the way.

What I liked most wasn’t necessarily any single activity, though. It was the variety. We weren’t doing temples every day, nor was it eight days of high-energy adventure. Active days were mixed with cultural experiences, food, swimming and downtime, which helped keep both the adults and kids interested.

And perhaps most importantly, having all of these experiences already organised meant we actually did them. Had we booked Bali independently, I’m not convinced I would have voluntarily scheduled cycling, village visits, white-water rafting, snorkelling and temples into the same week and we would have missed some of the best parts of the trip if I hadn’t.

Accommodation: What were the hotels like?

The accommodation was probably one of the biggest surprises of our Intrepid Bali family tour… in a good way.

Intrepid describes the accommodation on this trip as hotels with a minimum three-star standard, so I wasn’t expecting much. In reality, the standard was much higher than I expected, with some really charming boutique-style hotels along the way.

Every hotel we stayed at was clean and comfortable, and all had swimming pools. It’s something Intrepid deliberately tries to include on its family trips. Trust me, after a hot day cycling, walking around temples or exploring Bali, having a pool to come back to makes a difference. It also became one of the main places where the kids in our group would congregate during downtime.

The locations were good too. Depending on where we were staying, we were either within walking distance of places to eat and explore or right by the beach.

The one thing I didn’t love? Separate rooms

My biggest issue with the accommodation was actually the room configuration. Rather than staying together in a family room, we were given two separate hotel rooms. One for us and one for the kids. Predictably, the kids thought this arrangement was fantastic. Their own hotel room without Mum and Dad? Best idea ever. I wasn’t quite as enthusiastic.

Although our rooms were right next door, I would have felt more comfortable in a family room, particularly one with a combination of a main bed and bunks or separate beds for the kids. How comfortable you are with separate rooms will obviously depend on the ages and independence of your children, but it’s something I’d want to know about before booking a family tour.

Our favourite: Hidden Paradise Cottages in Amed

Our standout accommodation was Hidden Paradise Cottages in Amed. This was the hotel I mentioned earlier where I desperately wanted Intrepid to hit pause on the itinerary and give us another day or two.

The individual cottages had loads of character. I loved the semi-outdoor bathroom, and the beachfront setting made it very easy to slip into holiday mode. Even the food stood out – relatively simple, but absolutely delicious. It was exactly the kind of smaller, character-filled accommodation I would happily return to independently.

Was there a weak link?

If I had to choose one, it would be the larger hotel we stayed at in Candidasa, although calling it a weak link is probably unfair because it was still a perfectly nice hotel.

Compared with the smaller boutique properties, our room simply felt a little bland and lacked some of the character we’d enjoyed elsewhere. We also had some issues with the power going out in the kids’ room during our stay. It wasn’t a bad hotel by any means. It just suffered by comparison because some of the other accommodation was so charming.

Overall verdict on the accommodation

Overall, the hotels exceeded my expectations.

I’d gone into an Intrepid “Original” style trip expecting accommodation to be considerably more basic than what we’d normally choose for ourselves. Instead, every property was clean and comfortable, all had pools, the locations were convenient and a couple were places I’d happily book again.

The separate room arrangements were my one genuine reservation. Otherwise, accommodation ended up being one of the aspects of the tour I was most impressed by.

Food: What’s included and what do you pay for yourself?

Not all meals are included on the Intrepid Bali family tour and I actually think that’s a good thing.

Breakfast is included every morning except day one, which technically begins in the evening when you meet your tour leader and the other families for the first time. Depending on the hotel, breakfast was either buffet-style or ordered from a menu, and we genuinely enjoyed every one. Both Indonesian and Australian/American breakfast options were available.

Two lunches and one dinner were officially included in our itinerary. We actually ended up with an additional dinner courtesy of one of the hotels, which had some beach works happening during our stay and offered the meal as an apology for the disruption to the view.

The included lunches and dinners tended to be more traditional Indonesian/Balinese meals, and the quality was consistently good.

What about fussy eaters?

If you have a child who isn’t particularly adventurous with food, the included meals may require a little flexibility.

One of our kids has some anxiety around food and found a couple of the traditional meals challenging. As parents, we’ve learnt to keep a packet of something familiar in the hotel for occasions like this. What I really liked was seeing both kids try foods they probably wouldn’t have ordered themselves. They didn’t necessarily love everything they tasted (and that’s okay), but travelling as part of the group encouraged them to at least give different things a go.

Finding your own meals in Bali

Finding somewhere to eat on our own was incredibly easy. All the hotels we stayed at had their own restaurants, and our tour leader was also great at recommending nearby places. In many locations, we could simply walk from the hotel to find somewhere for dinner. Meals in Bali are also relatively inexpensive, so having to pay for most lunches and dinners didn’t feel like a major additional expense.

I actually preferred having fewer meals included

Before the trip, having more meals included might have sounded like better value. After doing the tour, I’m glad they weren’t.

Having most lunches and dinners left open gave the itinerary breathing room. After spending the day doing an activity together, sometimes we wanted to join some of the other families for dinner. Other nights, we wanted to wander off, choose exactly what we felt like eating and have some time to ourselves.

For me, the balance was just right. Breakfast was taken care of each morning, we had a few included meals that introduced us to more traditional food, and the rest of the time we had the freedom to choose for ourselves.

Our Intrepid tour leader

I think the tour leader can make or break a small-group trip, particularly when you’ve thrown a bunch of kids and teenagers into the mix. Thankfully, ours was one of the highlights.

Our Intrepid leader was Guna, a Balinese local with a family of his own and plenty of experience leading family tours. From the beginning, he was friendly, welcoming and incredibly easy to travel with.

His local knowledge was fantastic. Rather than feeling like we were being given a rehearsed commentary at every stop, interesting little snippets about Balinese life and culture would naturally come up as we travelled. I came away feeling like I’d learnt far more about Bali than I would have if we’d simply visited the same places independently.

Travelling with kids didn’t faze him

Where Guna really shone was with the kids. He knew they would probably need a day or so to warm up to each other and didn’t try to force it. Once they did, he encouraged the fun. At one point, the kids were given the option of travelling together in a separate “kids’ minibus”. Guna promptly jumped aboard with them and ended up singing karaoke. Needless to say, he was a hit.

He was also very accepting of the different personalities within the group. Some kids were more outgoing, others quieter, and there was never an expectation that everyone had to participate or interact in exactly the same way.

Having someone local in your corner

Guna was equally good with the practical side of travelling.

He recommended restaurants, helped organise the day-to-day logistics and seemed to take itinerary changes or little hiccups completely in his stride. There’s some flexibility built into the tour, and he would adjust things where appropriate to make the day run more smoothly rather than rigidly sticking to a schedule.

I particularly appreciated this when I came down with Bali Belly. Guna checked in to make sure I was okay and, when we needed a doctor, helped make sure everything was organised and that we weren’t being overcharged.

Did having a local leader change our experience of Bali?

Absolutely. For me, one of the biggest advantages was getting a more personal insight into Balinese culture without it feeling like another packaged tourist experience.

You can book hotels, transfers and activities yourself relatively easily in Bali. What is much harder to organise independently is having someone local travelling alongside you who can explain the little things you notice, recommend where to eat, solve problems as they arise and give you an insight into what life in Bali is actually like.

Obviously, your experience on any small-group tour will depend somewhat on the leader you’re assigned. We can only speak about our experience with Guna, but he set the bar very high.

Getting around Bali

Transport was one of those parts of the trip I didn’t have to think about, which was a nice change from the usual. Our group had two private minibuses and two drivers for the duration of the tour. The vehicles were clean, comfortable and well maintained. Definitely not the questionable old tour buses you might picture when you hear “group tour”.

Our drivers helped load and unload the luggage whenever we changed hotels, so moving between destinations was painless. With two buses, there was plenty of room for everyone (so you have some free seats on each bus), and having two vehicles also gave the group a little more flexibility.

The drivers were fantastic, too. One evening I’d simply had enough of being social and was ready to call it a night, so one of them dropped me back at the hotel early while everyone else carried on. It’s a small thing, but I really appreciated not feeling as though I had to stay out simply because I was part of a group.

As mentioned earlier, the driving distances on this particular Bali itinerary aren’t excessive. Our longest journey was around four hours and that was broken up with a lengthy stop at an attraction roughly halfway. Bathroom and rest stops weren’t an issue either.

Having all the transport organised was definitely one of the advantages of travelling with Intrepid. We never had to negotiate with drivers, work out transfers between towns or worry about how we’d get four people and our luggage from one hotel to the next. We simply packed our bags, climbed aboard and let someone else worry about it.

How much free time do you get?

If the thought of joining an organised tour has you imagining a guide with a clipboard scheduling every minute of your holiday, don’t worry, there’s considerably more freedom than that. Most days had an organised activity, but they weren’t generally packed from morning until night. We would often have a couple of hours free in the afternoon, which usually meant heading back to the hotel, jumping in the pool or simply relaxing for a while.

The evenings were even more flexible. With only a small number of dinners included in the itinerary, most nights were ours to do whatever we wanted. Sometimes we’d choose to eat with other families from the group, while other nights we’d head off on our own. You can also opt out of activities if you need a break. I did exactly that when I was unwell, while Jason and the kids continued with the group.

For me, as someone who detest following a holiday schedule, I would have liked a little more free time here and there, but in general, the trip wasn’t overly structured and Intrepid organised all the stressful things like transport, accommodation and acitivites.

What we loved about the Intrepid Bali Family Tour

• Everything organised for you
• Great standard of accommodation
• Kids having other kids to travel with
• Adults having someone else to talk to
• Variety of experiences
• Getting beyond Bali’s main resort areas
• Local leader
• Small groups

What could have been better?

• Family rooms instead of separate rooms
• It would have been nice to include a day at the beach with no activities planned

Is this Bali Family Tour good for teenagers?

Absolutely. With a teen and a tween in our house, I know for a fact that they need to do something active every day. This tour provides that for them. And while it’s active, it’s not so strenuous that parents can’t easily keep up. A pool is included in every hotel as well, which was a huge highlight for the kids, especially as there were other kids to muck around with.

Who is this trip best for?

Great for families who:

• Want adventure without organising everything themselves
• Have active kids aged 10+
• Want to see more than Bali’s resorts
• Like meeting other like-minded families
• Want cultural experiences alongside beaches

Think twice if you:

• Prefer five-star resorts
• Want lots of pool/beach downtime
• Have children who dislike active experiences
• Prefer complete control over your itinerary

How much does the Intrepid Bali Family Holiday cost?

The price varies by departure date, but in general ranges from $1516 to $1616 per child and $1895 to $2020 per adult. It’s one of Intrepid’s most cost-effective trips but you will have to factor in flights on top of this price.

Given that Intrepid takes care of all the details from the moment you arrive, I thought it offered pretty good value for money.

Would we travel with Intrepid again?

I wouldn’t do a small group tour for every holiday, but certainly for destinations where I feel it could be a bit stressful to manage on my own (like India), I would definitely go with Intrepid again. We actually kicked on in Bali for another week after the tour and I felt that combining both ways of travel was a great way to experience a destination.

Would we do this particular Bali itinerary again? Probably not. This has nothing to do with Intrepid though, it’s more that I’m not a huge fan of Bali as a destination when compared with other destinations.

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