The very best of Balinese luxury is within surprisingly easy reach.
There’s a reason why Bali never wavers as one of Australia’s favourite escapes. A single flight can whisk you to a place of such different energy that it feels like you’re on holiday the second you step out of the airport and catch the first scent of frangipani.
For many visitors, that first giddy rush is tempered by the prospect of battling Bali’s notorious traffic up to Ubud, or facing the crowds of Seminyak, Kuta or Canggu. It’s why the quieter arc of Jimbaran Bay, just south of the international airport, has become a haven for those seeking an accessible destination to unwind.
The fishing village is one of the more peaceful enclaves on an island that welcomes millions of tourists a year; with traditional seafood restaurants sharing the sand with some of Bali’s best hotels – and none is better situated than Jimbaran Puri, A Belmond Hotel.
The resort
On absolute beachfront, removed from the cluster of properties on the headland toward the Bukit Peninsula, Jimbaran Puri is one of the only Asian offerings from luxury international hotel group Belmond, which prides itself on creating properties that embrace their surroundings. The expansive resort sits in tropical gardens green thumbs could only dream of tending, with lotus ponds and mossy statues shaded by palms. Hindu shrines are dotted around the grounds, with colourful canang sari offerings replenished daily by the Balinese team.
The vast, lagoon-like main pool is tiled in Javanese stone, surrounded by deep cabanas where cocktails can be summoned from Puri Bar. At The Beach Spa, in open-sided pavilions draped with sheer curtains, Ayurvedic and Balinese-inspired treatments harness spices, aromatic herbs from the kitchen garden and native stingless bee honey, harvested from on-site hives.
The rooms
Villas and cottages sit surrounded by high walls, with vaulted thatched-roofed rooms opening onto private compounds. The materials reference familiar Balinese textures – warm teak woods, island-quarried stone and marble, bamboo and alang-alang thatch. Pool villas sleep up to four, with deluxe rooms starting from an indulgent 350m2, encompassing private gardens, cabanas and living spaces that, in many cases, open directly onto in-ground pools. A butler service completes the offering.
The restaurants
Jimbaran Puri’s executive chef Adi Wijaya gives Indonesia’s excellent cuisine rightful prominence on his resort menu. It begins at the abundant breakfasts in Tunjung Restaurant: a vast, thatched space overlooking the lily pond. In between continental pastries and cold cuts, there’s earthenware pots of coto ayam makassar – a nourishing soup from the island of Sulawesi – and stations piled with tropical crops like dragon fruit, rambutan and snake fruit.
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At the beachfront Nelayan Restaurant, under a high bamboo ceiling hung with wicker pendant lights, lunch and dinner features local seafood like snapper, mahi mahi and bamboo lobster (‘nelayan’ means ‘fisherman’), spiced and grilled. Exploring the menu is like crossing the archipelago, from the beef rendang of West Sumatra and the ceremonial roasted duck of Bali’s Klungkung Regency to the nasi campur found at warungs around the nation. Wijaya’s signature is a take on jukut gedang be pasih – young papaya seafood soup – subbing the classic coconut milk for fresh coconut water in a lighter broth swimming with squid, prawns and tender papaya, served in a hollowed-out green coconut.
Food-motivated travellers can book into the four-night Island Chefs package. It includes an early trip to Jimbaran’s famous seafood market – Bali’s biggest – to see what’s been brought in by the colourful jukung outrigger boats that crisscross the horizon all day in front of the resort. At a cooking class back at Nelayan, Wijaya and his team share staples such as the spice paste base genep and aromatic sambals that form the basis of so much Balinese cuisine.
The area
Jimbaran Bay’s position on the west coast makes it a perfect gateway for exploration of the slightly under-the-radar Bukit Peninsula. While Uluwatu is hardly the secret surf spot it once was, the southern peninsula still offers patches of jungle and sheltered beaches, with beach clubs and clifftop bars dotted along rugged cliffs. Jimbaran Puri offers morning and sunset boat trips from out front to popular Bukit surf break Balangan Beach or Uluwatu Temple, perched on its sea cliff.
With the in-house car-hire service (or convenient Uber equivalent, Grab), the property is also well situated for forays to famed spots like Rock Bar at AYANA Bali or Single Fin; or to Bukit day clubs like Locca Sea House or Sundays Beach Club. Come dusk, though, there’s still not many better places to be than feasting out front of Nelayan Restaurant, watching the sun sink into the Indian Ocean with sand beneath your feet.
Find Jimbaran Puri, Belmond Luxury Hotel, at Jalan Uluwatu, Yoga Perkanthi Lane, Jimbaran, South Kuta. The lowest room rates are available between October to March, with the highest around July and August. For more information, visit belmond.com
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