You can now stay in this opulent villa inspired by 17th century Malay palaces

If you’ve ever wondered about the difference between a “villa” and a regular run-of-the-mill holiday home the answer dates back to the Romans.

The early civilisation elites called the often elaborate dwellings in their large country estates villas. The word has since been used in popular parlance, particularly in Europe, to denote a luxury pile, somewhere bucolic or seaside to which city folk might retreat for a little R&R.

House of Terengganu has a private pool.

And of course, it’s been taken up by the resort and hotel industry to denote a standalone style of accommodation a cut above.

Malaysia-based YTL Hotels is one proponent and just opened among its inventory is what the group calls its most opulent villa, the House of Terengganu at Tanjong Jara Resort. The luxury property, on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia at Kuala Dungun in the state of Terengganu, is an almost 25-year-old resort with a spa and romantic architecture inspired by 17th-century Malay palaces.

The new villa for two stays stylistically with that theme, but it is hidden away from other guests in the resort gardens with its own private pool and grand living area.

Privacy is paramount at the House of Terengganu villa.

Globally the independent villa has come into its own, especially at the higher end where bookings are at record highs.

Pundits put this down to several factors, the pandemic, and health concerns around communal spaces being one.

Other reasons are privacy – especially at the top of the price chain.

There’s also the desire to holiday both slowly and immersively – to hunker down in the one destination and experience it as near as possible to how locals do it.

And another: the desire for intergenerational travel. A multi-bedroom villa offers both private quarters and places for the whole clan to congregate.

The Pavarotti Suite at Pangkor Laut Resort.

If you do fancy villa life with a healthy dollop of hotel on the side, YTL also offers an array of luxury pads to suit beyond the House of Terengganu.

It includes the two-bedroom hilltop Pavarotti Suite at Pangkor Laut Resort on the Malaysian West Coast and the Jim Thompson Suite at Cameron Highlands Resort in the cool climate tea fields of Pahang, Malaysia, offering two bedrooms, romance and nostalgia at 1500 metres above sea level.

All come in at about $1500 a night.

See ytlhotels.com