Beaches · Local food · Beach clubs · Cafés · Family fun · Shops | Our story · Our house
LOCAL GUIDE · UNGASAN, BALI
Ungasan: the best place to be with kids
The kid-friendly part of Uluwatu. These are the 25 places within 20 minutes of our house that we actually use with our three kids: beaches, warungs, cliff-top beach clubs, cafés with playgrounds and more.
10 min
by car to Melasti Beach
Short walk
to Ohana Kids Paradise
10 min
by car to GWK Cultural Park
30–45 min
from the airport
WHY FAMILIES STAY HERE
A village, one street from Uluwatu
The middle of the Bukit
The west-coast cafés are about 15 minutes away, the east-coast beaches 15 to 20. Everything on this page is within 20 minutes of the house.
A village, not a party street
We know everybody on our street. No traffic jams, no honking: the people around us are residents, and these are their homes.
The cliff-top treats are closest to us
Alila Villas Uluwatu, Sundays Beach Club and Karma Kandara are all on the Ungasan cliffs, not in Bingin or Uluwatu.
PLAN BY YOUR CREW
Where to start, by who’s coming
Toddlers and prams
Melasti Beach · no stairs
Ohana Kids Paradise · toddler area
Tarabelle · from 6 months
With grandparents
GWK Cultural Park · car-free park
Pandawa Beach · lifeguards, showers
Alila Villas Uluwatu · sunset
Beaches · Must-try local food · Beach clubs and cliff-tops · Restaurants and cafés · Family fun · Shops and grown-ups
WHITE SAND AND ROCK POOLS
Beaches
The Bukit is limestone, so the sand is white and soft. Check the tide the night before: low tide is when the rock pools open and the water is calmest.
Melasti Beach
Drive down to the sand
10 min drive · Pram-friendly · Low tide
The road winds down through the limestone cliffs and you park right behind the sand. No stairs, so it's the easiest beach with a toddler. Rock pools at low tide; the current picks up at mid and high tide, so swim between the flags. There's a Kecak dance on the beach stage at sunset.
For the kids: Count the crabs in the rock pools.
Gunung Payung Beach
Quiet, with a cliff shuttle
15 min drive · Quiet · Water shoes
Quiet and unspoilt, with no beach clubs. Skip the 280-odd steps and take the little shuttle down the cliff. The waves break far out, so it's gentle near the shore. Two-person kayaks on the sand.
For the kids: Ride the cliff "tram" down to the sea.
Pandawa Beach
Wide beach, big statues
20 min drive · Big groups · Showers
The road is cut straight through the cliff, with giant statues carved into the rock. A wide beach with lifeguards, kayaks and the best showers on the Bukit.
For the kids: Five brothers are carved into the cliff. Can you find them all?
Suluban Beach
Through a sea cave
20 min drive · Low tide only · Bigger kids
Down the steps and through a sea cave into a tiny cove below the Uluwatu surf break. Our kids' favourite rock pools. Not for prams, and only at low tide.
For the kids: Walk through a real sea cave.
OUR TOP 5 WARUNGS
Must-try local food
The best food in Ungasan is in the warungs on the main road, full of local families. Bring cash, and say "tidak pedas" (not spicy) when you order for the kids.
Pak Doel 2 Mie Ayam Bakso
Mie ayam bakso
5 min drive · Our favourite · 9.30am–10pm · Cash
The meal we keep coming back for. A plain warung with plastic stools, no menu on the wall and not much English. The chicken noodles are firm and springy in a clear savoury broth with greens and a chilli sauce worth the trip alone; add bakso urat, the beef meatballs, if the children are up for it. Point at what the next table has. Dinner for the family costs less than two coffees in Bingin.
For the kids: Slurping is allowed here.
Lalapan S3
Crispy fried chicken, evenings
Jl. Raya Uluwatu 67 · Evenings only · From about IDR 16,000
A night-time stall on the main road. The fried chicken is fried fresh to order, crispy outside and juicy inside, with coconut rice (nasi uduk), fried tempeh, tofu, aubergine, raw veg and a bright, addictive sambal on the side.
For the kids: Pick your own fried sides: tofu, tempeh or aubergine?
Warung Bu Oki
Nasi campur
Jl. Raya Uluwatu 44 · 9am–6pm · About IDR 25,000
Bali's famous mixed rice plate: rice with chicken cooked three ways, a braised egg, vegetables and fresh sambal. They ask how spicy you want it. Bu Oki started in 2011 and Balinese families still queue for it. No parking, so go by driver.
For the kids: Tell them "tidak pedas" and watch them smile.
Ikan Bakar Jimbaran Pan Juwet
Charcoal-grilled fish
Jl. Raya Uluwatu · 3pm–11pm · Charcoal grill
Jimbaran-style grilled seafood without the drive to Jimbaran. Choose your fish, prawns or squid, and it's grilled over charcoal with a smoky spice paste and served with rice and vegetables. Very local, very smoky, very good.
For the kids: Choose your own fish from the ice.
Sate Sesep Aroma
Balinese pork sate
Jl. Pura Batu Pageh · 10am–6pm · Closed Sundays · Pork
Balinese pork sate grilled on the roadside: sweet, lightly spiced and charred, with peanut sauce, chilli sambal, lontong rice cakes and a light pork soup. Order by the 10 or 20 skewers.
For the kids: How many sticks can you finish?
THE LUXURY END OF THE BUKIT
Beach clubs and cliff-tops
The luxury cliff-top places are closest to Ungasan, not to Bingin or Uluwatu: Sundays Beach Club, Karma Kandara and Alila Villas Uluwatu.
Sundays Beach Club
Cliff train to white sand
10 min drive · Entrance fee · Low tide
White sand below the Ungasan cliffs, with good food and consistently good service. A little funicular takes you down the cliff, which alone gets our kids hyped. At low tide the rock pools are full of shells.
For the kids: Ride the cliff train all the way down to the sand.
Karma Kandara
Lift down the cliff
In Ungasan · Day pass · Check the lift
A private cove at the bottom of the Ungasan cliffs, reached by an inclinator lift down the rock face. Calm, clear water and a beach club on the sand. A proper treat day.
For the kids: Watch the sea get closer as the lift goes down.
Before you go: Ask whether the inclinator is running before you go: when it isn't, it's a long way down by stairs.
Alila Villas Uluwatu
Breakfast at Cire, The Warung
Next door to Ungasan · Breakfast · Indonesian dinner · Sunset
The cliff-top resort next door to Ungasan. Breakfast at Cire is amazing. The Warung at Alila is the best Indonesian restaurant we know: totally worth the money, and not expensive compared with the rest of the cliff-top places. Go early for the sunset.
For the kids: Spot the moment the sun touches the sea.
PLAYGROUNDS, PIZZA, GOOD COFFEE
Restaurants and cafés
Kid-friendly restaurants with playgrounds, Eric's favourite pizza, and the grown-ups' first coffee of the day. Ohana and Tarabelle give our guests 10% off.
Ohana Kids Paradise
Playground and restaurant
Short walk · 8am–9pm
A big shaded garden with a supervised playground: climbing frame, sandpit, a huge trampoline, a race track and a toddler area, with nannies watching while you eat. Simple, good food, an indoor movie room, and breakfast delivered to the villa. Our 4pm fix.
For the kids: How high can you bounce?
10% off for our guests
Tarabelle
Café and kids' club
5 min drive · Indoor · 7am–10pm
An all-day café with a kids' club attached: a bright indoor playroom from six months up, a small outdoor playground, and real coffee for you. Our pick for rainy or very hot days, and the first morning after a long flight.
For the kids: The pancakes come with ice cream on top.
10% off for our guests
Eric's pick
Pizzeria Italia
Eric's favourite pizza
Jl. Raya Uluwatu 200 · 11am–2am · Wood-fired
My husband Eric has spent more than four years trying to make the best pizza in the world. He worked for Costa Cruises, the Italian cruise line, back in our Shanghai days, and our Italian friends ruined him for any other style. We have our own pizza oven at home; he has tried growing his own tomatoes and basil, and he is one step away from making his own cheese and flour. Every time we land in Bali, he has to go to Pizzeria Italia. That's how good it is. I'm not a pizza expert, so please go and tell us, especially if you're Italian: is my husband's obsession justified?
For the kids: Watch the pizzas go into the oven in the open kitchen.
Jayne's pick
Sanhose Coffee & Bites
Jayne's morning coffee
Opposite the temple, by SDN 1 · 7am–5pm · Hole in the wall
The best coffee in Uluwatu, and super cheap. It's a hole in the wall, and I stop there every morning before I go surfing on the east coast. Get a cinnamon roll too.
For the kids: Grown-ups need their coffee before the beach. Be patient.
SODA Café
Breakfast, 5 min walk
5 min walk · 7am–10pm · Breakfast
Our breakfast café, about five minutes' walk from the house: big breakfasts, smoothie bowls, pancakes and good lattes. Easy for the first slow morning when nobody wants to get in a car.
For the kids: Smoothie bowl or pancakes?
Nourish Ungasan
Café, bakery, gelato
Short walk · 7am–10.30pm · Bakery
Ungasan's branch of Nourish, for when you do want the Western café: open-air seating, a bakery, wood-fired pizza, gelato, and colouring for the kids.
For the kids: Salted caramel gelato after the beach.
HALF-DAY ADVENTURES
Family fun
Half-day adventures within 15 minutes of the house: GWK, pottery and the surf-skate park.
GWK Cultural Park
The giant Garuda
10 min drive · In Ungasan · Half a day · 9am–9pm
The giant Garuda statue is 121 metres tall: you see it from all over the Bukit, and from the plane as you land. The park around it is gated and car-free, with huge plazas and lawns where children can run while you keep them in sight. Entry is IDR 150,000, free for children under 100 cm, and includes Balinese dance shows between 11am and 3pm. A buggy runs between the plazas for IDR 40,000 each way. Shade is limited, so we go after 3pm with hats and water and stay for the evening.
For the kids: Garuda is half bird, half man. Look for his wings.
Cintalam Surf Skate Park
Indoor surf-skate, 10+
15 min drive · Ages 10+ · Closed Tuesdays
An indoor surf-skate park in Kutuh, built so surfers can practise on land: a ramp shaped like a wave, a long wall for turns and a soft landing for airs. It works in the rain, and there's a garden café. Helmets, wrist guards and pads on.
For the kids: Surf a wave without getting wet.
Waves of Clay
Pottery for little hands
5 min drive · Pottery class · 8am–6pm
A pottery café with hand-building classes for kids, with equipment made for little hands. The teachers are patient and great with children, and they fire your piece so the kids take it home. Good coffee and matcha for the grown-ups while the clay dries.
For the kids: Make a bowl with your own hands and take it home.
BABY SHOP, MARKET, MASSAGE
Shops and grown-ups
A baby shop, the supermarket, the village market, and a massage for when the kids are at Ohana Kids Paradise.
Bali Bubs
Kids' concept store
5 min drive · Jalan Toya Ning · 8am–9pm
The kids' concept store on Jalan Toya Ning, for anything you forgot to pack: nappies, swim goggles, baby carriers, clothes, books and toys, with lovely gift wrapping.
For the kids: Pick one new beach toy.
Fresh Mart
International supermarket
5 min walk · 7am–11pm · Groceries
The best-stocked international supermarket on the Bukit: cereal, milk, fruit, a proper bakery and the snacks from home.
For the kids: Find the snakefruit (salak). Its skin looks like a snake.
Pasar Ampera (traditional market)
Traditional market
5 min drive · 5am–8pm · Cash
Ungasan's traditional market: fruit, vegetables, flowers for offerings, and fresh meat and fish early in the morning. Nothing fancy, but it's where the village shops.
For the kids: Try a fruit you've never seen before.
U. Massage Ungasan
Massage and nails
5 min drive · 10am–9pm · Book ahead
Our local massage spot for an hour off after a beach morning: Balinese and deep-tissue massage, manicures and pedicures, and a cup of warm tea after. Take turns: one parent here, one at the playground.
OUR STORY
What is Ungasan? A modern Bali village
Ungasan feels like home. It's a village, a modern Bali village. Most of the people who live here came from other parts of Indonesia to set up their lives, and they brought their food with them. So you don't just eat Balinese food here, you eat food from all over the country.
Uluwatu and Bingin have become very gentrified. Ungasan is one street away and still has that village feel. We know everybody on our street, and I don't think many villa owners in other parts of Uluwatu can say that.
You didn't come to Bali to eat the same avocado toast and smoothies you can get at home. That's why we settled here. If you do want the Western cafés, Ungasan has its own branches, like Nourish, and Bingin and Uluwatu are a stone's throw away. We're just not in the middle of the traffic, the honking and the motorbikes. It's a peaceful holiday with the kids.
Jayne, Eric and our three kids
The official story
The name
Ki Agung Maruti fled south after a 1652 rebellion against the Gelgel kingdom and found the nose-shaped ridge at the southern tip of the island. That hill became Bukit Ungasan.
The village
A desa in South Kuta, Badung, home to about 16,700 people in 15 banjar, the neighbourhood councils that run village life. GWK's giant Garuda stands inside Ungasan.
Melasti Beach
The village's 38 temples come to Pura Segara on the beach for melasti. The 2024 ceremony was paid for from the beach's own revenue, so your ticket goes back into Ungasan.
Kid fact
Ungasan is named after a hill shaped like a nose. You're staying on top of it.
QUESTIONS PARENTS ASK US
Ungasan with kids: quick answers
Is Ungasan good for families with kids?
Yes. Ungasan is the kid-friendly part of Uluwatu: a quiet village one street from Bingin and Uluwatu, with no traffic jams, beaches with rock pools like Melasti and Gunung Payung, GWK Cultural Park, playground restaurants such as Ohana Kids Paradise and Tarabelle, and local warungs.
What is there to do in Ungasan with kids?
Rock-pooling at Melasti Beach at low tide, the cliff shuttle down to Gunung Payung Beach, GWK Cultural Park, pottery at Waves of Clay, Cintalam surf-skate park, and playground restaurants like Ohana Kids Paradise and Tarabelle.
Where to eat local food in Ungasan?
Pak Doel 2 for mie ayam bakso, Lalapan S3 for crispy fried chicken in the evening, Warung Bu Oki for nasi campur, Pan Juwet for charcoal-grilled fish and Sate Sesep Aroma for Balinese pork sate.
Is there a kid-friendly villa in Ungasan?
Endless Summer Villa is a four-bedroom family villa on Jalan Pura Tangi in Ungasan, with a 1 m pool and a 0.5 m ledge for little ones, a climbing wall, and baby gear set up before you arrive.
STAY WITH US
Come home to Endless Summer
Our family's house on Jalan Pura Tangi in Ungasan. A pool 1 metre deep with a ledge at 0.5 metres, so little ones can stand. A climbing wall next to the kitchen, four bedrooms with their own bathrooms, and baby gear set up before you arrive.
For the kids: ask our team for the treasure map. There are chops to collect around the house.
Times, prices and opening hours are what we found in October 2026. Warungs sometimes close early or take a day off, so check Google Maps before you go. Drive times are by car from our house. Photos: our own unless noted. Venue photos are from each venue's own website or its Google Maps listing. Beach photos are Creative Commons: Melasti by Bayu Stiawan (CC BY-SA 4.0) and dustiv (CC BY-SA 2.0); Gunung Payung by Rhani Lilianti Kata and Yosep Sasada (CC BY-SA 4.0); Pandawa by Anastasia R (CC BY-ND 2.0). Sources: Desa Ungasan official website; Bali Bercerita on the 2024 Pura Segara ceremony.