Cruise editor Tom Stieghorst is in Bali for a Star Clippers cruise near the Indonesian island. This is his second dispatch. His first can be read here.
UBUD, Bali -- Prior to boarding a Star Clipper cruise through Indonesia, I stayed for a night at one of the newest hotel properties in Bali, the serene Hoshinoya Bali located in the highlands of the island.
Opened in January, the resort has 30 villas arrayed along a trio of 230-foot-long canal swimming pools. The villas, which all have waterside access to a pool, come in three configurations, some better suited for families, others for couples.
Hoshinoya is the flagship luxury brand of Japan's Hoshino Resorts, which also has two other brands. The Bali property is the sixth in the Hoshinoya chain, and the first to open outside of Japan.
The canal pool at the Hoshinoya Resort. Photo Credit: TW photo by Tom Stieghorst
The resort is set into the hillside of a steep ravine leading down to the Pakerisan River. Small canals run through the resort, part of an ancient irrigation and water temple network recognized as a Unesco World Heritage landscape.
The decor of Hoshinoya Bali is a mix of Balinese and Japanese themes. Rooms are equipped with high-tech Toto toilets and beds laid out on low platforms, Japanese style. But over the beds are intricate, full-wall Balinese carved wood screens. And outside on a patio, there is a sitting pavilion roofed in alang-alang thatch. Combined with mountain breezes, the thatch provides shade to keep guests cool in the heat of the day.
There is a Bali Hindu shrine on the property, as well as intriguing dining gazebos that look like bird cages set into the hillside of the ravine. A spa below is reached by a funicular. There is a dining room with a fusion of Japanese and Balinese styles.
A decorative door and gate on the property. Photo Credit: TW photo by Tom Stieghorst
Ideal for a honeymoon, the Hoshinoya Bali doesn't come cheap, with prices in the dry summer season ranging between $750 and $1,000 a night. It is also a draining 70-minute drive from the airport.
But on arrival, guests step into another world, a secluded Zen compound removed from everyday existence. Like the other Hoshinoya resorts, there are no TVs or clocks. A timeless reconnection with nature and self are what these resorts are all about.