Hotel Tugu Bali ★★★★★

The founder of Hotel Tugu Bali is a professional antiquarian with a passion for antiques and artworks from his native Indonesia. He has put his entire collection of furniture, fabrics, artworks and antiques into a boutique hotel and restaurants that are unlike any other. This is the biggest collection of fine Indonesian art and cultural antiquities in Indonesia, and the mission is to bring the art, soul and romance of Indonesia’s history back to life.

We arrived to discover Hotel Tugu Bali located on a romantic, pristine beach facing the Indian Ocean, and surrounded by ancient Balinese architecture, tucked away within lush tropical gardens. We were absolutely mesmerised from the moment we stepped inside. We found ourselves in a high hall with wooden ceilings and columns, a polished stone floor reflecting the intense colours of lights and floating fabrics, and stone statues and creatures. There were bright red and green bowls of water with floating petals on the terrace outside, and everywhere you looked, there was lush greenery with a little gem of a statue or artefact waiting to be discovered.

Our suite held as its centrepiece a large four-poster curtained bed, and sofa and coffee table, and the TV was perched on what looked like a precious cabinet painted in red and gold. A huge intricately carved wood panel decorated one wall, and one side was entirely made of glass, opening to our own pool, tiled with pretty mosaic patterns and surrounded by railings on which perched languorously a couple of sinuous Balinese metal dragons. All of these lovely artworks might have been intimidating, but they weren’t – the atmosphere was simply one of gracious and benevolent beauty. Our bathroom was also a work of art: stained glass windows cast gentle coloured light into the room, the shower head was fixed from an intricate ‘wheel of life’ pattern in the ceramic tiles and the round bath was made of a smooth earthenware-coloured material. We felt we had landed in a strange, beautiful and precious paradise.

In the evening we discovered that the dining experience here was every bit as memorable and unique as the surroundings. There is a huge choice of menus and venues, and we had opted for the Balinese Rajadom Dining. This recreates the 19th century imperial dining of the Balinese royalty. Dish followed dish of the most perfect blends of ingredients, spices and flavours; strangely, even the rice, which you may think is pretty standard, was the best we had ever encountered! All this took place in the most lavish dining room, the Bale Pupatan, decorated with bright multi-coloured metallic imperial dragons, and a carved and decorated wooden triptych. We wouldn’t have missed this experience for the world.

A truly wonderful week followed. My husband was delighted with the golf course while I was equally delighted to be luxuriating in the spa or enjoying a Balinese dance class. Both of us loved lounging on the beach or in our own pretty little pool, and just soaking up the sheer beauty of the one-of-a-kind Hotel Tugu Bali!