Lombok with Kids | What Suits Each Age and How to Prepare

This information is current as of August 2026. “We’ve done Bali to death; let’s try Lombok with the kids next.” When you think that, the first things that come to mind are probably concrete worries: “Is getting around manageable?”, “Are there hospitals?”, “What do we do about baby food?” Practical information focused on travelling to Lombok with children is barely organised anywhere. Drawing on official information from sources including Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Japanese quarantine stations of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the Japanese Consulate-General in Denpasar, airlines and insurers, this article sets out, by age group, what to weigh when choosing Lombok for a family trip and what to prepare.

Is Lombok better for families than Bali?

First, the points of comparison. Lombok lies just east of Bali, about 25 to 50 minutes of actual flying time away. Bali is the more mature tourist destination, and for the things that give families peace of mind (hospitals, kids’ facilities and fewer crowds), Bali currently has the edge. On the other hand, Lombok has the appeal of a “Bali hidden gem”: fewer tourists, uncrowded beaches and relatively modest prices. For anyone searching for “Bali with kids, hidden gem”, Lombok can be a candidate, but our honest take is that if you choose it with the same expectations as Bali, you are quite likely to feel a gap in medical care and facilities.

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Point of comparison	Bali	Lombok
Resorts with kids’ facilities	Many in Kuta, Nusa Dua and elsewhere	Only some large resorts. Almost none in rural areas
Tourist crowds	Traffic jams and crowds are common around Kuta and Ubud	Generally quieter than Bali

* General trends as of August 2026. Hospital service hours and resort facilities can change, so we recommend checking each facility’s official website before you travel.

So the answer depends on whether you put “quiet beaches and uncrowded sights” first, or “the reassurance of medical care and facilities”. Rural areas like Sekotong, where we are based, show this tendency even more strongly, and we want to be upfront that, in exchange for the quiet, there are bigger limits on medical care and facilities.

What suits each age | Babies and toddlers, pre-schoolers, and school-age children

What suits and does not suit a family trip to Lombok varies greatly with age. We look at four aspects: travel, sea, food and medical care.

Ages 0 to 2 (babies and toddlers): getting around is easier because you can soothe the child with feeding or a baby carrier, and if they sleep on the plane they can sometimes get through a long flight better than expected. But they may complain of discomfort from ear-pressure changes at take-off and landing, so you cannot let your guard down. The sea means playing at the water’s edge or in ankle-deep shallows, and they cannot take part in activities such as snorkelling. For food, baby food is hard to get locally, so bringing it is the basic rule (more on this below). For medical care, this is the age group that needs the most careful preparation on Lombok, where medical facilities are limited, because their condition can change quickly and they cannot explain their symptoms.

Ages 3 to 6 (pre-school) is in fact the age at which the burden of travel tends to be greater than for babies. They have energy but are not good at “waiting”, so connection waits at airports and time confined on the plane are the hardest part. In the sea they can enjoy paddling in the shallows in a life jacket, but the minimum age for activities such as introductory snorkelling differs by operator, so check in advance. For food, choosing less spicy dishes makes local food manageable, but it is still safer to avoid street stalls and ice. For medical care, they can describe their symptoms to some extent, so it is somewhat easier than with babies, but the constraint on the Lombok side, the small number of medical facilities, does not change.

Ages 7 and over can manage themselves better with in-flight entertainment and explanations, and adapt better to long flights. In the sea, the choice of activities such as introductory snorkelling opens up greatly if they meet the age requirement. They can also try many local dishes, which lowers the burden considerably. For medical care, however, even when a child can explain their own symptoms, the fact that medical facilities are limited remains a constraint whatever the age.

Figure: Suitability by age

A guide as of August 2026, based on the explanations in the text. Because “few hospitals” remains a constraint at every age for medical care, it is marked △ even for age 7 and over.

Tips for getting through long flights and connections

Lombok is usually reached via Bali or Jakarta. With children, the practical point is that the connection wait, rather than the flying time itself, tends to be the bottleneck. At the connecting airport, check the airport’s official website in advance for nursing rooms and kids’ areas so you are not scrambling on the day.

On ANA international flights, children aged 8 days or more and under 2 can fly on an infant fare without a seat, at about 10% of the adult fare. The child fare for ages 2 to 11 is 75% of the adult fare (as of August 2026, per ANA). The basket-type bed (bassinet) provided on board is for infants up to 10 kg and must be booked at least 48 hours before departure. Low-cost carriers and other airlines differ, however, both in the minimum age at which a baby can fly and in the infant fare system (such as flat rates). Always check the actual fare and bassinet availability on the official website of the airline you plan to use when you book. Formula can sometimes be prepared on board, but brands and quantities are limited, so it is safest to bring the one you normally use.

As for passports and visas, children are subject to the same electronic visa on arrival (e-VOA) set by Indonesia’s immigration authority as adults. The immigration office’s official site does not show any age exemption, and the application fee is listed as Rp500,000 (about US$28). Rules can change, so check the immigration office’s official site for the latest information just before you travel.

Should you bring a stroller? | Where it works and where it does not

Whether you need a stroller is decided almost entirely by the road conditions where you are staying.

Figure: Should you bring a stroller?

Will you mainly stay in an urban area with mostly paved roads, or a large resort?

▼

YES

A fold-up stroller comes into its own

Good for getting around on paved roads and inside resorts in places like Mataram and Kuta Lombok. You can also fold it and check it in at the airport.

NO

A baby carrier will be your main tool

Rural, beach-centred areas like Sekotong have many unpaved roads and sandy beaches, so using a stroller throughout is not realistic.

Inside a large urban resort, a stroller is useful for getting to the lobby and restaurants. On a stay with a lot of walking on beaches and village roads, though, it is realistic to make a baby carrier or sling your mainstay and treat the stroller as little more than a luggage rack.

Resorts with kids’ facilities, and the reality of areas without them

Kids’ facilities such as kids’ pools, cots and kids’ menus exist in a fair number of the large resorts near Mataram and in Kuta Lombok. We recommend checking the individual facilities and, before you book, asking the property directly whether they can provide a cot, allergy-friendly meals and the like.

In rural and outlying areas such as Sekotong, on the other hand, there are few large resorts to begin with, and properties built around kids’ facilities are still limited. We have to be upfront that, as the flip side of being “quiet and uncrowded”, many areas have not yet invested in family-oriented facilities.

Can you buy nappies, formula and baby food locally?

The biggest concern on a family trip is whether you can buy consumables locally. Supermarkets in Mataram and Kuta Lombok are said to often stock nappies and formula from major brands, but the sizes and brands are not as varied as at home. Children’s sunscreen can often be bought at pharmacies and supermarkets in urban areas, but tends to be pricey. On the other hand, products like jarred or pouch baby food are almost not distributed, and in reality it is hard to buy the same thing locally. For everyday medicines (paracetamol-type fever reducers, stomach remedies and so on), the ingredient labelling and doses of local products can differ from what you are used to, so bringing your own is the basic rule. For mosquito protection such as repellent and mosquito nets too, bring ones that suit your child’s skin from home to be sure.

Figure: Quick guide to what you can buy locally for kids

A guide as of August 2026, based on the explanations in the text. The range of goods varies greatly by store.

Some hotels can soften local ingredients into baby food on request, but if you want certainty, we recommend bringing retort-pouch or freeze-dried products from home. The range at supermarkets and pharmacies varies a lot from store to store, so it is reassuring to check soon after arrival in the area where you are staying.

Water, food, and protection against mosquitoes and dengue

According to Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ overseas safety website, tap water in Indonesia is not suitable for drinking, and it is recommended to avoid ice wherever possible. For a child’s milk and drinks too, always use bottled mineral water or thoroughly boiled water. For food, the basic rule is to eat food that has been cooked through, while it is hot; raw vegetables and street-stall food call for especially careful judgement for children.

Sunburn and heat illness

Lombok is close to the equator and the sun is strong, and children’s skin is more affected by ultraviolet light and heat than adults’. Combine sunscreen (a child’s, low-irritation type) with a hat, thin long sleeves and frequent drinks of water. In particular, do beach activities in the morning before the sun gets strong, and plan a break indoors or on a terrace around noon, which makes it easier to reduce the strain on the child.

Activities to enjoy with kids, and those to avoid

Activities such as playing in the shallows at the beach, swimming with a life jacket and strolling through a village are relatively easy to include at any age. From around age 7, introductory snorkelling also becomes an option if the child meets the age requirement.

On the other hand, serious climbs of Mount Rinjani, long offshore trips by boat and introductory dives for children below the age requirement are activities best avoided with children, for reasons of physical strength and safety management. When you sign up, always check the minimum age and the range of life jacket sizes with the operator.

Where you can get paediatric care | Limits worth knowing

The medical facilities listed by the Japanese Consulate-General in Denpasar as able to provide Japanese-language service are four: BIMC Hospital (Kuta and Nusa Dua), Kasih Ibu General Hospital (Denpasar), Kyoai Medical Services (Kuta) and Takenoko Medical Care (Kuta), all of them on Bali. No medical facility on Lombok appears on the consulate’s list of Japanese-speaking facilities. On the Lombok side there are private general hospitals such as Siloam Hospitals Mataram, but you cannot count on service in Japanese, so we recommend preparing key words for describing symptoms in English or a translation app. Each hospital’s paediatric clinic hours and on-call cover change, so confirm directly with the facility before you travel, or through your insurer’s emergency support desk.

If you stay in a rural area such as Sekotong, the travel time to the nearest medical facility is longer than from Mataram or Kuta Lombok. If you are taking a child with a chronic condition, or a baby who falls ill easily, to a rural area, we strongly recommend deciding specifically in advance on emergency contacts and how you would be transported.

Get travel insurance, ideally a family plan

There are no vaccinations required for entry to Indonesia. However, when arriving from a country with yellow fever, an international certificate of yellow fever vaccination is required (Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare quarantine stations). Because access to medical facilities is limited, treat overseas travel insurance as essential. Many major non-life insurers offer a “family plan”; with one major insurer’s plan, for example, up to 5 people including the policyholder can be covered (the policyholder, spouse, relatives living together, unmarried children living apart and so on), and its feature is that cover for lost or damaged belongings, personal liability and delayed baggage can be shared across the family. For a family with a baby and little luggage, this is a design with less waste than taking out a separate policy for each person. Premiums, cover limits and the treatment of pre-existing conditions in each company’s family plan differ at the time you take out the policy, so we recommend comparing several companies before deciding.

Pre-departure checklist

As we have seen, the things most likely to cause real trouble on a family trip to Lombok are three: “medicine you cannot get locally”, “the distance to a medical facility” and “mosquitoes”. The pre-departure checklist is cut to five items to deal with those three before you leave. We recommend going through them from the top once your trip is decided, not just before you leave.

Five things to check before a family trip to Lombok

• Have you brought a children’s fever reducer (acetaminophen) from home?
• Have you brought your child’s vaccination and health records?
• Have you taken out a family plan of overseas travel insurance (including treatment costs)?
• Have you prepared mosquito protection such as repellent and mosquito nets?
• Have you checked the nearest hospital and emergency contacts for where you are staying?

Of the five items, getting a fever reducer and taking out insurance may not be possible at the last minute. Tackling them as soon as your trip is decided makes the rest of the preparation much easier. For choosing where to stay and when to go, see the following articles too.

Frequently asked questions

We have gathered five questions that often come up when people consider Lombok with kids, based on official information.

Summary

A family trip to Lombok can be a realistic option depending on the child’s age and where you choose to stay. A combination of a child aged 7 or over and an urban resort is likely to let you enjoy a family holiday in a less crowded setting than Bali, whereas with a baby or toddler aged 0 to 2, or when staying in a rural area, you need to prepare your belongings, insurance and emergency contacts specifically, on the assumption of long journeys and few medical facilities. Lombok as a “Bali hidden gem” is appealing, but we recommend planning with the honest understanding that part of that appeal comes at the cost of fully developed facilities.

Sources

• Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Overseas Safety website, “Indonesia: Basic Safety Data”
• Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare quarantine stations (FORTH), “Indonesia”
• Japanese Consulate-General in Denpasar, “Safety Information”
• Japanese Consulate-General in Denpasar, “Medical Facilities, Lawyers and Interpreters”
• Takeda Pharmaceutical, “Approval of QDENGA (tetravalent live attenuated dengue vaccine) in Indonesia” (August 23, 2022)
• Mustiana A. et al., “Owned and Unowned Dog Population Estimation, Dog Management and Dog Bites to Inform Rabies Prevention and Response on Lombok Island, Indonesia”, PLOS ONE 10(5): e0124092 (2015)
• ANA, “Customers travelling with small children [International flights]”
• Indonesian Immigration Directorate General, official eVisa site, “eVOA information”
• AIG General Insurance (Japan), “Overseas Travel Insurance, Family Plan”
• Siloam Hospitals Mataram (official)