Anantara Ubud Bali Resort: A tranquil escape in Bali’s lush heartland
This new resort is far from the crowds and hubbub, and offers astonishing views of one of the island’s most iconic landmarks.
This new Bali resort is far from the hubbub, and offers astonishing views of one of the island’s most iconic landmarks.
Location
Never mind Bintang beers on Kuta beach. There’s a greener, calmer, more soothing Bali. If you consider this beautiful island a place of wellness, then Ubud is its spiritual heart, even though the long drive from Denpasar airport can take a couple of hours, through increasingly built-up areas and ever more traffic that exudes anything but serenity. But as you finally approach the new Anantara Ubud Bali Resort, in the middle of the island, you’re ensconced in a sea of green. Forty-five minutes by car from Ubud, you’re closer to tranquil Balinese villages than busy shopping streets bursting with tourists. Cross one last small bridge, with rice paddies and palms on either side of the single-lane road, and you’ve arrived.
First impressions
Exhaling to the soothing sounds of Balinese music, I feel myself relax as I arrive at the end of a long, lush driveway. A sound-producing sculpture named Gamelatron, created by American artist and composer Aaron Taylor Kuffner from 17 traditional gongs, presents a striking welcome as I step into the resort. Regular performances, based on the traditional gamelan music of Indonesia, set a relaxed, culture-rich tone, which is lovingly reinforced even as I’m being checked in. Along with a welcome drink, hotel staff greet me with some local customs, gently dabbing rice on to my forehead, a Balinese spiritual blessing for success and good fortune, and affixing a small bracelet to my wrist to represent strength.
After that warm welcome, I contemplate the hotel itself. The spacious open-sided lobby, with soaring wooden ceilings, is encircled by rainforest. To one side is an expansive deck with shaded circular lounges overlooking an infinity pool, which in turn looks out over a valley thick with banana trees and the occasional rice field. On a clear day there are stunning views of Mount Agung and Mount Batur.
Design
The hotel is set over seven levels on a long and steep site. Two restaurants, a well-equipped gym and spa are in the main block at the highest level. The hotel’s 50 suites, all with deep balconies and enormous dressing rooms and bathrooms, are also here. Stone-edged villas, each with their own pool, are set further along the slope. Two inclinators, one on either side of the property, ferry guests up and down.
The rooms
The 85 guestrooms, including 35 villas, are modern Balinese in style, with wooden ceilings and ornately carved panels. Full-length windows overlook the foliage, while oversized bathrooms have gorgeous copper sinks and deep baths with views. Villas each have a private infinity pool. My one-bedroom villa has a huge lounge room, with more than enough seating for four people, a generous dining area, an oversized bar and a separate bedroom with a mix of wood and rattan furniture. A cool infinity pool runs the length of the villa. It’s accessed via a balcony, a perfect perch to take in the surrounding forest and its regular chorus of bird song.
Dining
From his open-sided kitchen, Scottish-American chef James Willis presides over Amerta, the hotel’s signature restaurant. Its international menu, tinged with local produce, features dry-aged mahi mahi with a delicious tomato consomme, and a refreshing red dragon fruit-and-strawberry dessert with vanilla creme and rosella granita. All-day international and Indonesian cuisine is served at Kirana. On a coolish Balinese evening, it’s charming to have dinner on the terrace as the sun disappears.
Wellness
The light-filled spa has five treatment rooms that also take in the surrounding rainforest, as well as saunas and steam rooms. There is a gym and two outdoor infinity pools. The idyllic adults’ pool has gunbarrel views towards Mount Agung.
The bar
Sulang Bar, beside the adults-only pool, has a generous offering of tasty cocktails, mocktails and snacks. But its location trumps everything with money-shot views across the valley to three volcanoes. Its logo, “drink in the view”, says it all.
Likes
From the lobby to my ensuite, there are views galore. But nothing is quite as jaw-dropping as the sight of mighty Mount Agung, Bali’s still active volcano, on what seems like the other side of a neighbouring valley. Often hidden by clouds, the volcano reveals itself, striptease-like, in the late afternoon, as low-hanging shrouds of the rainy season lift and the sun beams down from a cleansed sky. One staff member, who proudly shows off a stunning video taken late the previous day, advises that the best views are to be had 15 minutes after the rain stops.
Dislikes
Unless you’re staying in the main block, access to rooms is via one of two inclinators or lots of steep steps. The entrances to villas are covered but the long walkways that link them are not. While there are plenty of umbrellas at hand, the lack of shelter en route to accommodation could be a problem on rainy days.
Tariff
Suites from $US600 ($955) a night plus tax, including breakfast.
anantara.com
Fiona Harari was a guest of Anantara.
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