With kids
This one has a short answer and a long explanation. The jeep trips work beautifully with children: a vehicle collects you, drives to a viewpoint on the caldera floor, everybody watches the sun come up and then everybody gets into a warm pool by the lake. The two-hour climb in the dark does not work with small children, and no amount of enthusiasm the night before changes that. On this site the family-shaped options run from $20 to $60, and this page sets out which is which and what to check in the requirements before you book.
Quick answer
The short answer. With children, book $45: a private 4WD that collects you, drives to the sunrise viewpoint and finishes at the hot spring, rated 4.8 across 4,664 reviews. Private matters here more than anywhere else on this site, because it means no pickup round in the dark and no other family waiting while yours puts its shoes on. If the fare matters more, $20 does the same route in five hours. And if a pre-dawn start is simply not happening, $20 visits the same volcano and the same pools at a civilised hour instead.
How it works
Take the climb out of the morning and what is left is a car journey, a view and a swim. That is a perfectly reasonable thing to do with children, even at an unreasonable hour. They sleep in the car on the way up, which they would do anyway; they stand on the rim wrapped in a jumper for twenty minutes while the sky does something genuinely memorable; and then they get back into a warm vehicle. Nobody has been asked to do two hours of uphill on loose grit in the dark.
Private against shared. $45 and $20 are private. $20 and $20 are shared. With adults the difference is money and company; with children it is also timing, because a shared vehicle collects several parties in sequence and your family may be first in and last out. On a 2 a.m. pickup that difference is felt by everybody in the car.
The pools are the part they will talk about. The natural hot spring beside Lake Batur is warm water with the volcano in view, and it turns a strange early morning into something children describe as a good day. It is named in the fare on $45, $20, $20 and $20, and where it is not included the entry ticket is sold on its own at $8.
And the day version exists. Not every family wants a night at all. $33 is seven private hours in daylight with the caldera view, a waterfall, the water temple at Tirta Empul and Alas Harum, rated 5.0 across 169 reviews. $60 spends eight hours doing the caldera and the village roads in a restored Volkswagen, which children tend to find much more interesting than an ordinary car.
Every trip, current fare
Everything on this site that reaches the volcano without asking anybody to climb it. The cost-per-hour column compares a two-hour afternoon jeep with an eight-hour day honestly, because those are not the same purchase — and with children the hours matter more than the fare does.
| Tour | Length | Price | What is included | Cost per hour | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| From Ubud: Mount Batur Shared Jeep Sunrise & Hot Spring TourFrom Ubud: Mount Batur Shared Jeep Sunrise & Hot Spring Tour | 5 h | $20 | A shared jeep from Ubud to the sunrise viewpoint and a hot spring | $4.00 | 4.8 · 3,857 |
| Bali: Shared Mount Batur Sunrise Jeep Tour with Hot SpringsBali: Shared Mount Batur Sunrise Jeep Tour with Hot Springs | 4 - 12 hours | $20 | A shared jeep over black lava, breakfast with crater views, pools | $2.50 | 4.8 · 501 |
| Bali: Day/Sunset Mount Batur 4WD Jeep and Natural Hot SpringBali: Day/Sunset Mount Batur 4WD Jeep and Natural Hot Spring | 2 h | $20 | A private 4WD at a civilised hour, with the natural hot spring | $10.00 | 4.7 · 575 |
| Bali: Mount Batur Sunrise Jeep Tour with Jungle SwingBali: Mount Batur Sunrise Jeep Tour with Jungle Swing | 8 h | $26 | A small-group jeep sunrise plus the jungle swing afterwards | $3.25 | 4.8 · 343 |
| Ubud: Kintamani, Tirta Empul, Waterfall & Alas Harum TourUbud: Kintamani, Tirta Empul, Waterfall & Alas Harum Tour | 7 h | $33 | A private Ubud day: the caldera view, a waterfall, a temple | $4.71 | 5 · 169 |
| Bali/Mount Batur: Private Sunrise Jeep Tour & Hot SpringBali/Mount Batur: Private Sunrise Jeep Tour & Hot Spring | 5 - 9 hours | $45 | A private 4WD to the viewpoint for sunrise, then a hot spring | $6.43 | 4.8 · 4,664 |
| Bali/Mount Batur: Classic VW Volcano Safari & Hot SpringBali/Mount Batur: Classic VW Volcano Safari & Hot Spring | 8 h | $60 | A classic VW ride around the caldera and the village roads | $7.50 | 4.6 · 1,209 |
Choosing between them
The private sunrise jeep. $45 is what we would book for a family: 5 to 9 hours, a private 4WD across the volcanic terrain to the viewpoint, then the hot spring. Rated 4.8 across 4,664 reviews. The vehicle is yours, so the pickup is direct, the stops are yours to ask for, and if the smallest member of the party decides at half past four that they are done, you have somewhere to put them.
The shared jeep. $20 at five hours and $20 at 4 to 12 hours both do the same sunrise in company, rated 4.8 across 3,857 and 501 reviews. $20 names a light breakfast with crater views and the lakeside pools, and a female guide can be requested as an add-on. With older children a shared vehicle is completely fine and noticeably cheaper.
The one without the early start. $20 is two private hours in a 4WD at a normal time of day, visiting the natural hot springs, rated 4.7 across 575 reviews. The listing sells itself on exactly that: no early alarm and no skipped lunch. For families with young children this is frequently the right answer and almost nobody considers it.
The one with the swing. $26 is eight hours in a small group: the sunrise, the jeep across the lava field, then the jungle swing. Rated 4.8 across 343 reviews. Swings have their own height and age rules set by the venue, so this is a listing to read the requirements on before anybody gets excited.
The daylight day. $33 is seven private hours with the caldera view, a waterfall, Tirta Empul and Alas Harum, rated 5.0 across 169 reviews. It is the only listing here that involves no unusual hours whatsoever, and with children under about six it is the one we would look at first.
And the vintage car. $60 is eight hours in a classic VW around the black lava fields, the caldera and the village roads, with pickup named in the listing and the hot spring at the end. Rated 4.6 across 1,209 reviews. It is a long day, and it is a car children will remember.
What to check before you book
Operators set their own rules for children, and they are printed on each listing rather than fixed across the mountain. These are the five worth finding before you pay, and what tends to happen when they are left.
| What to check | Where it lives | Why it matters | If you skip it |
|---|---|---|---|
| The minimum ageand whether there is a child fare | The requirements on the listing | Each operator sets its own, and they are not the same across these seven listings | A booking that has to be changed, or a fare you overpaid for |
| Whether the vehicle is privateor shared with other parties | The title and the options at checkout | A shared round means a longer, earlier morning with other people's timings in it | An hour of driving between hotels before anything begins |
| What time the pickup isfor your actual address | Your confirmation | On a sunrise trip it is the middle of the night, and it is earlier the further out you stay | Children woken with less notice than they needed |
| Whether the hot spring is includedand whether there is a child rate | The inclusions on the listing | The pools are the part that makes the morning for most children | Standing beside warm water with nothing booked and no swimwear |
| Whether a swing or an activity has its own rulesheight, age, weight | The requirements, and the venue | Attractions bolted onto a tour set their own limits separately from the tour | A child who watched everybody else have a go |
Book direct
The listings above that reach the volcano without a climb, with the current price, the rating and the number of reviews behind each one. Every tour on this site has free cancellation, which with children is worth more than it is with anybody else.
★ 4.8 · 4,664 reviews
★ 4.8 · 3,857 reviews
★ 4.7 · 575 reviews
★ 4.8 · 501 reviews
★ 4.6 · 1,209 reviews
★ 5 · 169 reviews
What to expect
All of it comes from what the listings themselves describe, or from the shape these mornings have in common on the caldera floor.
The drive into the highlands takes an hour or more in the dark, and almost every child sleeps through it. That is the plan working, not a problem.
Colder than anywhere they have been on the island so far. A warm layer each, packed the night before and put on in the car, is the difference between twenty good minutes and twenty complaining ones.
You arrive before the light and then stand about. Something to eat and something warm to sit on both buy you time.
Some mornings the caldera is clear and some mornings it is not. We cannot promise a sky here and neither can any operator, so it is worth framing the outing to children as a trip up a volcano rather than a guaranteed photograph.
Warm water at the end of a strange early morning is remarkably effective. On the listings that include it, this is the part that gets described at dinner.
With children the case for $45 is not comfort, it is control of the timing. That is worth the difference for a lot of families and not for others.
It applies to every tour on this site, and with children, plans made weeks ahead are the ones most likely to move.
When to take them
The volcano is the same at every hour. What changes is what it asks of a child, and that varies far more than the view does.
Before dawn, by vehicle
$45 and $20 both reach the viewpoint by car. With children over about six who can be persuaded into a coat at 2 a.m., this works.
Daylight
$33 at seven private hours and $60 at eight do the caldera, the villages and the water in ordinary daytime. For younger children this is the honest recommendation.
Late afternoon
$20 is two hours with the hot spring, and the listing says plainly that it exists so you do not have to wake up early.
Before dawn, on foot
Two hours of uphill walking in the dark on loose ground is the one version of this mountain we would not book for a young family, and we would rather say so than let you find out at three in the morning.
The verdict
For a family that wants the sunrise, book $45. A private 4WD to the viewpoint and then the hot spring, 5 to 9 hours, rated 4.8 across 4,664 reviews. The private vehicle is the part that matters here.
For the same morning at the lowest fare, book $20. Five hours from Ubud in a shared jeep with the pools, rated 4.8 across 3,857 reviews.
For no early start at all, book $20. Two private hours in a 4WD with the natural hot spring, rated 4.7 across 575 reviews.
For young children, book $33. Seven private hours in daylight with the caldera view, a waterfall, Tirta Empul and Alas Harum, rated 5.0 across 169 reviews.
For a car they will remember, book $60. Eight hours in a classic VW around the lava fields and the village roads, rated 4.6 across 1,209 reviews.
And for older children who want the swing, book $26. Eight hours in a small group with the sunrise and the jungle swing, rated 4.8 across 343 reviews — after reading the venue's own height and age rules.
Warm water at the end is what makes this work with children. The pools beside the lake, the listings that include them and the ticket that does not, are all on one page.
See the hot springs→Common questions
Older children who walk happily at home manage it, and families do it. Small children do not: it is roughly two hours of uphill in the dark on loose ground, and the descent afterwards is harder again. Each operator sets its own minimum age in the requirements on the listing, and that is the figure to go by rather than any general rule.
It is set by each operator and printed in the requirements on the listing, so it differs between $45, $20 and $20. Read yours before you book. What is common to all of them is that nobody is asked to walk up anything.
Yes. $20 is two private hours at a normal time of day with the hot spring, and $33 is a full private day in daylight. Neither involves a night-time start.
The pools beside Lake Batur are a swimming place and families use them. Child rates and any rules are set at the springs themselves and shown on the listing that includes them, or on the entry ticket at $8 if you are going independently.
A warm layer each for the rim, closed shoes, and swimwear with a towel if the pools are in your fare. The temperature difference between where you are staying and the caldera at dawn is the thing families are least prepared for.
More often than not. It removes the pickup round, it lets the morning run at your pace and it gives you a vehicle to retreat into. That is the honest case for $45 over $20, and it is a case about timing rather than luxury.
Go deeper
Twenty-three ways up Mount Batur, by how you get there and what it costs.
Sunrise hikeThe 2 a.m. start, the two hours up, and what you see at the top.
Jeep toursRiding to the viewpoint instead of climbing in the dark.
Hot springsWhat the pools are, which tours include them and what the ticket costs.
Without hikingFor anyone who wants the light but not the climb.
ATV & quadThe lava field on four wheels, morning or after sunrise.
Bali/Mount Batur: Private Sunrise Jeep Tour & Hot Spring
★ 4.8 · 4,664 reviews · Free cancellation 24 h