Water Parks in Bali

The one everybody means, and it earns the reputation: sixteen hectares of mature gardens in south Kuta with slides running from a gentle lazy river to the near-vertical Climax drop capsule. It is the most expensive park on the island and by some distance the best maintained, with real shade, good food and short queues if you arrive at opening. Half a day is plenty.

A smaller, cheaper park built around a pirate-ship theme and aimed at families with young children rather than thrill-seekers. Slides, a reflexology pool and plenty of shallow water, with lockers and parking on site. It closes midweek, so check the day before you drive out rather than turning up.

Not a slide park at all. This is a cable wakeboarding lake at Denpasar, where an overhead tow line pulls you round a circuit instead of a boat, and most beginners are standing up inside an hour. There is an inflatable aqua park alongside for anyone who would rather just float. The one here for teenagers and adults rather than small children.

A family park inside the Finns Recreational Club at Canggu, built around a 102-metre lazy river with water cannons, climbing forts and tipping buckets. The layout lets parents sit in cabanas within sight of the slides, which is the actual selling point. Day passes are sold to non-members, and it is the closest proper water park to the Canggu and Seminyak strip.

A local park at Uluwatu with slides, lap pools and an artificial creek, priced for Balinese families rather than tourists. It is nothing like Waterbom in scale or polish, but it costs a fraction as much and is close to empty on weekdays. Useful if you are staying on the Bukit and would rather not drive north.

A mid-sized park a short drive from Seminyak, with slides eight to ten metres high named after Indonesian birds, several wave pools and a lazy river. It is the cheapest of the larger parks and the quietest of them, and there is paintball alongside if half your group has no intention of swimming.