We arrived at our Hotel Karma Kandara in the very south of Bali in the early evening and were welcomed like family, the Balinese people are undoubtedly the kindest, friendliest, happiest people I have ever met. Their love for children is immediately obvious. We were welcomed by Agustu and the staff at the hotel and they immediately made my daughter feel very special.
Our day of arrival was Christmas Eve and we have a two bedroom villa with its own pool for the duration of our stay. My daughter walked into her bedroom and there was a cry of delight, on her bed is a little Christmas stocking filled with Chocolate Santa’s and Balinese gifts from the hotel. A very nice start to our stay.
We were on an extended 3 week holiday and family-friendly Karma Kandara Bali is everything it promises to be and more. We wanted lots of time together as a family, we wanted the freedom to keep up to date with our work on days we did need to work online, we wanted to start the year on a fitness buzz, we wanted to relax, we wanted to have some fun and we wanted to explore Bali.
The Villa
Wow waking up to this view every day never got dull, even on days where the rain poured it looked beautiful. The hotel is made up of 80 villas from 1 to 4 bedrooms all carefully positioned in a way that makes you feel you have wonderful amounts of privacy but in minutes you can be at the buzzing areas of the hotel. Our villa had two bedrooms and my little one was really happy to have her own room, it was easy for her to get into our room in the night and she felt safe and secure at the villa.
There were monkeys in the garden most days which we were advised to not feed and we ensured our doors were closed when they were around as apparently they like to steal the nuts from the minibar and will happily take sunglasses and other items if left around. Over the 3 weeks each time we saw the monkeys in our garden, my daughter was as excited as the first time.
We have very resisted TV access at home in Ibiza but on holiday I am more relaxed and the TV had 4 channels of kids TV and films and a kid’s room service menu which was great on a rainy day.
A huge bath with lovely paraben-free own label Karma Kandra products meant bath time was the best it has ever been.
3 Monkeys Kids Club
As wonderful as it is having lots of undivided time with your child on holiday, it is also very nice to have some child-free time, an hour in the gym, a massage (oh the spa is something else – pure adult time bliss) or even just date lunch without your child in tow. The 3 Monkeys Kids club meant that my daughter enjoyed her time without us as much as we did!
Each day the kids club is open from 10 am to 4 pm and you can drop your child off for a long or as short as you or your child want. There were times when I went to collect my daughter at say 1 pm and she told me to come back in the afternoon as she was having so much fun! Each day different activities are on throughout the day from kite making to Balinese dancing.
The three Monkeys club area is in it’s own villa with an indoor and outdoor play area, and a main room filled with crafts and fun things to do. The child carers wear fun colourful uniforms and clearly love spending time with kids. As well as spending time in the main 3 Monkeys Kids Club the kids also go down to the Beach Bar (by cable car) to make pizza, go crab racing explore rock pools and even met some mermaids.
My daughter probably used kids club about 10 times in the 18 days we stayed at the resort and she loved it, some days she went for 2 hours for others the whole day. What I love about kids club is the kids have to really want to be there, the minute the child says “ I want my mum’ they call you and ask you to come right away. One day they called, I went at once, as soon as she saw I was nearby my daughter said” ok I don’t need you now” As a parent, it makes you really happy when you know your child is having a good time.
She made T-shirts, joined Zumba classes, made jewelry, made honey pops, enjoyed the soft play, was read too, and made friends from all over the world.
Because we were there over the Christmas period 3 Monkeys Kids club also gave the kids a gift each day for the 12 days of Christmas, if you were not at the club they delivered them to your room. My daughter received wind chimes, beads, instruments, boxes, toys, and lots of lovely little gifts all just the right size to pack and take home.
The Food
The restaurant was about a 8-minute walk from our Villa which is nothing on the way to dinner but with a tired child on the way back it could be a problem but not at Family-Friendly Kara Kandara, they have buggies that will drive you anywhere you want on the resort at any time day or night so when it rained (we visited at the end of the rainy season but the rain did not get in the way of us having an amazing holiday) or she was tired there was always a buggy available to take us to the villa.
The 3 Monkeys kids menu is reasonably priced with a wide selection of food each served with a side of veggies and fruit juice. My daughter gladly ate all the food that was available to her. There are lots of food making opportunities for children which I really liked.
A cable car from the Di Mari restaurant takes you down to the beach bar. The cable car will be something my daughter remembers forever and with a view like this me too!
A stunning beach club is a great place for kids to play whilst you have lunch, then take a family day bed and enjoy the afternoon chilling on the beach. When the tide is low the beach is super kid-friendly with lots of shallow water, rock pools, and areas to explore. High tide has a strong current so just good to be aware of that.
Exploring
We did some amazing exploring near Karma Kandara, Uluwatu temple is under 30 minutes away, we visited the temple and attended the traditional dance. 1-hour sitting still is not easy for a 6 year old but the dancing, performance, and singing had her captivated the whole time. Nusa Dua beach is 30 minutes away, we took the boat to the turtle farm, a breeding program for turtles where you can encounter local wildlife including bats. snakes and owls. I am not a huge fan of animal tourism it has to be said but my daughter loved it.
We had a driver collect us from the hotel who we had used on a few occasions and he told us he had an 8-year-old daughter so we invited his family to join us for the day our treat which was really nice as the kids played together happily despite not speaking the same language.
We also did exploring much further north of the island where we went to Batik workshops, watched woodcarving visited rice fields, the Green School Bali and generally soaked up the culture.
On the whole family-friendly, Karma Kandara was the perfect family Christmas holiday destination and we really did not want to leave. Visit their website to find out more.
