The Shrubbery Guide: Finding the Perfect Mid-Sized Family Escape
At The Shrubbery, we have always championed the boutique experience. We love places with character, history, and a personal touch. But as our families have grown, we’ve hit a logistical wall. When you travel with a mid-sized group—perhaps two families together, or a multi-generational trip with grandparents—boutique hotels stop being charming and start being complicated.
You end up splitting the group across four separate rooms. You spend your holiday coordinating meetups in the lobby. You lose the intimacy that made you want to travel together in the first place.
This is where the private rental market shines. Specifically, we have found that for most mid-sized groups, searching for a 4 bedroom villa Bali is the secret weapon. It is the “Goldilocks” size of accommodation: big enough to give everyone privacy, but intimate enough to feel like a home rather than a hotel corridor.
The “Goldilocks” Solution
Finding the right size is the hardest part of group travel. A standard 3-bedroom holiday rental often forces someone to sleep on a sofa bed. Conversely, the massive 8-bedroom mega-mansions can feel empty and cavernous if you don’t fill them.
The 4-bedroom configuration is the sweet spot. It comfortably sleeps eight people (usually four couples or two families with kids). It allows for perfect symmetry. In Seminyak, properties like the Villa Kinaree Estate have mastered this layout. Although part of a larger compound, the estate is designed to be modular. You can rent the specific 4-bedroom wing (Villa Kinaree) and have it entirely to yourself.
This gives you a dedicated master suite for the grandparents, a room for the parents, and two rooms for the kids (or friends). Everyone has a real bed. Everyone has an en-suite bathroom. It solves the “who gets the good room” argument before the suitcases are even unpacked.
Privacy Without Isolation
In a hotel, privacy means isolation. To get away from the group, you have to retreat to your room and lock the door.
In a well-designed villa, privacy is built into the architecture. We loved the layout at Kinaree because the bedrooms are separated from the main living areas. If the adults want to stay up late drinking wine by the pool, they don’t have to whisper for fear of waking the children. If the grandparents want a quiet afternoon nap, they can retreat to their pavilion while the kids splash in the pool.
This separation is vital for keeping the peace on a week-long trip. It allows you to be together when you want, and apart when you need a break, without ever leaving the property.
The Private Pool Dynamic
We cannot stress this enough: a private pool changes everything. In a boutique hotel, the pool is a shared space. You are constantly policing your children to ensure they aren’t disturbing the honeymooners reading on the next lounger.
When you book a private 4 bedroom villa bali, the pool is exclusively yours. At Villa Kinaree, the pool is the heart of the home. It is visible from the open-air living room, meaning you can relax on the sofa with a coffee while keeping an eye on the kids in the water. They can scream, splash, and play games without you having to apologize to strangers. It turns the pool from a source of stress into a source of pure entertainment.
Staff: The Boutique Difference
The reason we usually shy away from “vacation rentals” like Airbnb is the lack of service. We don’t want to spend our holiday making beds and washing dishes.
The high-end market in Bali is different. These properties come with full staff. At Kinaree, you get a dedicated team including a Villa Manager, butlers, and a private chef. This is what elevates the experience from a “rental” to a “boutique stay.”
Having a chef is particularly transformative for mid-sized groups. Getting eight people ready and out the door for breakfast every morning is a hassle. In the villa, breakfast comes to you. The chef prepares it while you are waking up. You eat in your pajamas. It starts the day on a note of relaxation rather than rushing.
Location Strategy
When traveling with a group of 6 to 8 people, transport logistics can be tricky. You often need two taxis to go anywhere. This is why location is paramount. You need to be walkable.
We recommend staying in the “Golden Triangle” of Seminyak. This area puts you within walking distance of the beach, the supermarkets, and the best restaurants on “Eat Street.” Villa Kinaree sits in a quiet lane within this zone. It means that if half the group wants to go shopping and the other half wants to stay by the pool, you don’t need to coordinate transport. The shoppers can just walk out the door.
Cost vs. Value
Finally, let’s look at the economics. Booking four separate rooms at a luxury hotel in Seminyak is an expensive proposition. You are paying four separate rates, plus the premium for hotel food and drinks.
When you split the cost of a 4 bedroom villa bali across the group, the per-head cost is often surprisingly low—comparable to a mid-range hotel, but with 5-star amenities. You save on the room rate, but you also save massively on food and alcohol, since you aren’t paying hotel markups.
Conclusion
For our money, the private villa is the only way to travel with a mid-sized group. It removes the friction of logistics and adds the luxury of space. If you are planning a trip for two families or a group of friends, skip the hotel block. Find a property like Villa Kinaree that offers the perfect 4-bedroom configuration, and enjoy a holiday where you actually get to spend time together.
h noise as they want in the pool, and enjoy the vacation you actually deserve.
The Classroom of the World: The Educational Value of Travel for Kids
“Don’t take them until they are old enough to remember it.” We hear this advice constantly. It implies that travel is only valuable if you can recall the specific dates and names of the monuments you visited. But at The Shrubbery, we believe travel impacts children on a developmental level, long before they can write a postcard.
Neuroplasticity and New Environments Children’s brains are rapidly developing. Exposure to new environments—new smells, new languages, new climates—stimulates neuroplasticity. Navigating a foreign airport or trying a new fruit in a market builds confidence and adaptability. It teaches them that the world is big and that “their way” of doing things is just one of many ways.
Empathy and Cultural Awareness In a globalized world, empathy is a superpower. When children play with local kids on a beach in Indonesia or share a meal with a family in Italy, they learn that people look different and speak differently, but play the same. This dismantles prejudice before it can even form.
Nature Deficit Disorder We live in an era of screens. Travel forces a “digital detox.” Whether it’s swimming in a waterfall or hiking a volcano, travel reconnects kids with the physical world. It teaches them to respect nature.
Expert Resources You don’t have to take our word for it. National Geographic has published extensive articles on how travel shapes a child’s perspective and aids in their development. It turns the world into a living classroom. You can read their insights on family travel here.
So, book the ticket. Even if they don’t remember the name of the temple in twenty years, the resilience and curiosity they gained will last a lifetime.
The Breakfast Battle: Why We Swapped Hotel Buffets for Private Chefs
If you are a parent, you know the “Hotel Breakfast Buffet” scenario. It is sold as a luxury—”All you can eat! Endless choices!”—but in reality, it is a high-stress tactical operation.
You have to wake the kids up before the buffet closes at 10:00 AM. You have to march them down to a loud, echoing dining hall. You spend the next hour jumping up and down to get juice, stopping toddlers from sticking their hands in the communal cereal, and negotiating with a picky eater who only wants the stale pastries. By the time you sit down to your own cold coffee, the experience is over.
The “Private Dining” Revelation On our last trip, we decided to try something different. We stayed in a villa that offered a private chef service. It changed the entire dynamic of our morning.
Instead of an alarm clock, we woke up to the smell of bacon and brewing coffee drifting into our bedrooms. We walked out to the dining table in our pajamas—no need to get the kids dressed and presentable. The chef asked us what we wanted. The kids asked for pancakes shaped like Mickey Mouse? Done. We wanted a spinach and feta omelet? Done.
The Health Factor Beyond the convenience, there was the quality. Buffets are about quantity. The food sits under heat lamps for hours. With a private chef, the food is cooked fresh. We visited the local markets with the chef the day before and picked out the fruit. The kids saw exactly where their food came from. It turned a meal into an educational experience rather than a feeding frenzy.
Cost vs. Value The surprising part was the cost. We assumed a private chef was a billionaire’s luxury. But in many destinations, you simply pay for the groceries plus a small preparation fee. When you compare that to the inflated per-head cost of a 5-star hotel buffet (where you pay $40 for a child who eats one slice of toast), the private chef option was actually cheaper.
We have officially retired from the buffet line. We prefer our eggs benedict served poolside, in silence, while the kids play in the garden.