The Holiday Bolthole Test15 October 2010, 18:20:34 - (333 hits) WHEN I arrive for a 10am facial at the Jimbaran Puri Bali's Beach Spa, the attendants are setting up for the day. This doesn't mean unlocking the door, switching on lights or airconditioners but an altogether more organic ritual. One therapist is placing armfuls of magenta and white bougainvillea in stone urns while another scatters frangipani flowers in foot bowls and on folded towels. A tray is set out with the ingredients for body scrubs (coffee grounds, powdered spices, pounded herbs) arrayed in little dishes and massage oils (with labels promising bliss, serenity, peace and other such holiday objectives) lined up in stoppered bottles, like magic potions. My check-in takes place in the open air as butterflies drift past.
There are many more glamorous spas in Bali but this little arrangement of four pavilions - open sided, with rattan blinds and latticed panels that filter the light - and a terrace with a decadent whirlpool feels like the real deal. Ceiling fans circulate beach breezes and there's the sound of the surf and of birds.
The spa is at the end of the resort's beachside estate on Jimbaran Bay, which is itself a botanic wonder of lotus ponds, lily pools full of well-fed koi, beds of heliconia and hibiscus, tall palms and terracotta pots and carved stone urns brimming with flourishing tropical flowers.
Exotic gardens are thick with frogs, birds, geckos and stone statues into the hands of which offerings of food and flowers on palm-leaf plates have been gently inserted.
The orientation here is all about the sea; beach and garden furniture is grouped for the sun and for the sunset, which is celebrated with coloured drinks and chilli-spiced krepek chips at the decked Puri Bar, some guests all but lying down on beach loungers to toast the sky's gold-and-orange theatrics.
This Orient-Express property is particularly popular with European guests for whom a bungalow just 20 or so paces from the beach is a big selling point.
Increasingly, visitors from the Australian market are eschewing the surf and sand (we are the ones in swim shirts and big sunhats, smothered in SPF35+) in Bali and opting for villas with private pools and courtyard gardens, swimming in the cool of early morning or late afternoon, napping under shady thatch-roofed bales in our personal patch of holiday paradise.
The new deluxe pool villas at Jimbaran Puri Bali thus seem custom-designed for our market. Tucked away at the rear of the property in a village-like compound, past the resort's beachfront and garden cottages, which are also nicely hidden via gated entryways and walled gardens, the 22 pool villas almost feel like a different resort. They have bumped up the total inventory to 64, so for a beachside spread in such a prime location this is a small low-rise resort, aside from a few two-storey family villas, which are nonetheless unobtrusive.
Even finding Jimbaran Puri Bali is a challenge; it is hidden off the main street, reached down an unpromising side street that narrows to an alley, then the resort entrance suddenly appears as if you've popped out of a funnel.
The pool villas cover a lavish 350sq m and are encircled by white rough-stone walls with proper big pools edged with oiled teak decks. There's a thatch-roofed garden bale for lounging about and grassy lawns so it's like a little holiday house, if only such places routinely came with butlers bearing trays of chilled towels seemingly glued to their person.
There's separate living and sleeping rooms, flat-screen televisions, plenty of storage and a rather groovy bathroom with black stone sunken tub and big shower (also an outdoor shower); a tiny but nonetheless lovely little detail is the most delicious banana blossom shampoo and conditioner that scents the villa each morning like a fruit bowl after our showers. With marble floors and sliding wooden doors, soft furnishings in pale citrus and coffee colours, and a canopied bed, it's a very comfortable, light and spacious nest in which to retreat.
Two-bedroom villas have 8m pools and plenty of room for, say, two couples or a family to spread out (and importantly, for the sake of guestroom envy, the bedrooms are about the same size).
Jimbaran Bay is close to the airport and within a taxi ride of Bali's hot spots for dining and drinking. The local fish restaurants along the beach, for which Jimbaran Bay is famous, are great fun with their seating on the sand and seafood grilled over coconut husks (walk five minutes towards the airport for basic eateries or take a 15-minute stroll along the sand towards the Four Seasons to find more upmarket beach warungs).
Jimbaran Puri Bali's food is very good, too; its Tunjung Cafe does an excellent nasi goreng while the Nelayan restaurant on the beach, which is lit by flares at night, specialises in seafood with a French Mediterranean twist and has a lobster menu that includes a delicious lobster and heart of palm salad drenched with lime juice.
On our last morning we head to Tunjung Cafe for breakfast, then wish we had done so each day. A gamelan group is playing on the lawn, tiny birds are skimming the dark-tiled main pool, the buffet is good, the thick yoghurt is made in-house, the sweet pineapple juice freshly pulped and the delicious jams offered with toast are in flavours such as banana or guava.
As well as indoor seating, there are tables set up on the beachside lawn so we toss off our shoes and dig in our heels. It is pretty clear this is a statement that we don't want to leave.
Checklist
Deluxe pool villa accommodation includes butler service, in-villa breakfast or full buffet breakfast in the restaurant, afternoon tea from 4 to 6pm, complimentary fresh fruit and bottle of wine, and one 20-minute jetlag massage a person at the Beach Spa, limited free laundry, welcome gift and return airport transfers.
Jimbaran Puri Bali's sister property in the Orient-Express portfolio is Ubud Hanging Gardens and there are partner holiday deals available. New from theaustralian.com.au
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