Reviewed by Tanya Joslin
Overview
Couples are at the heart of what Puri Wulandari does, and it does it brilliantly; but the feeling this place produces on arrival, the one no photograph can quite do justice to, gets everyone. At least, it has gotten everyone I have ever brought here.
I have been coming for close to a decade and have lost count of the visits. Each time, as the car turns down the long driveway with working rice fields running along both sides, something settles inside me. The open-air lobby gives you the view the moment you arrive: the Ayung River valley, layers of palm and tropical canopy that disappear into mist on cool mornings or after an afternoon shower, the whole resort stepping down the hillside toward the river below. Not far from the lobby, a small Balinese temple sits within the grounds, and you will often catch staff pausing there for their daily offerings. It is, in the most luxurious possible sense, old Bali.
The Location
Puri Wulandari sits in the Ayung River valley, a short drive north of Ubud’s centre; Ubud’s traffic is now well known, so travel times vary, but the resort runs complimentary shuttles into town at 10am, 1pm and 3pm daily, with returns at 1:30pm, 3:30pm and 5:30pm. Private transfers can be arranged outside those times.
Look and Feel
There is nothing cookie-cutter about Puri Wulandari: the sense of place is so total, so completely and unapologetically Balinese, that it settles over you almost before you have put your bags down. Thirty-four private villas step down the hillside, among the most generously proportioned you will find at any resort in the region, connected by pathways of beautiful Balinese stonework set against deep tropical green. It is not part of a large hotel chain, and many of the staff have been here for years; once inside the gates it feels less like a hotel and more like staying in a luxurious Balinese compound, the jungle pressing in on all sides, the Ayung River gorge falling away below.
Best Room for Two
Each villa is entered through a traditional Balinese Angkul-Angkul gateway, its Gebyog doors hand-painted in deep teal, crimson and gold.
The bedroom carries the same generosity of scale; a four-poster king sits beneath a soaring thatched ceiling, its mosquito netting billowing from the bedposts all the way to the apex of the roof, with louvred timber shutters opening directly onto the terrace and the pool beyond. The walk-in wardrobe leads through to a bathroom that would not look out of place in a much grander property: double vanity, twin mirrors, and the outdoor shower visible through a glass door at the far end. That shower, set against an aged stone column within the walled courtyard, a thatched pergola overhead and tropical planting at its base, is open to the sky and completely private. The bath is a deep sunken marble tub set into the floor beneath a wide picture window, the jungle filling the glass from edge to edge.
Villas on the lower tiers have one further advantage: from the outdoor living area you can hear the Ayung River running below, a sound that arrives through the trees first thing in the morning and last thing at night. In-villa dining and romantic dinner menus are available on request, with 24-hour butler service to arrange either.
Spa & Wellness
A couple of hours after arriving, I did what I always do at Puri Wulandari: booked myself an hour’s massage at the Lila Ulangun Spa, a small personal tradition, a way of telling my body that the deadlines are behind me and I am here now, with a couple of days to drink in one of Bali’s most magical locations. The treatment rooms are open-air under high thatched roofs; during my massage it began to rain, and I could hear it arriving on the thatch above me, the birdsong continuing around it, the breeze moving through. I did not get wet. Treatments draw on traditional Balinese healing, using herbs and natural remedies passed through generations; for couples, the Honeymoon Haven combines a Bali Rejang massage, Javanese Lulur body scrub, yoghurt rub-down, tropical flower bath and natural Indonesian facial, while the Romantic Hideaway pairs a full body massage with a sea salt scrub, milk mask and aromatic elixir. The spa also includes a sauna, jacuzzis and hydrotherapy pools, available for an additional fee.
One yoga session at the Garden Temple, which looks out over the Ayung River gorge, is included per stay, across Hatha, Ashtanga and Vinyasa styles; additional sessions can be booked at the resort. Yoga mats are provided; the Garden Temple setting, with the gorge falling away below, makes for a morning practice that is hard to match anywhere in Ubud. For those wanting to go further, Ubud’s Yoga Barn runs a comprehensive programme of daily classes, seminars and workshops with visiting global practitioners, a short shuttle ride away.
Food & Drink
The Barong Bar and Janger restaurant share the upper level, one flowing into the other, both open to the valley and the Ayung River gorge below. The bar is the place for a late afternoon drink as the mist settles into the folds of the hills; the tapas menu runs from beef tartare in vol-au-vents to udang goreng tepung, golden prawns with a fragrant ginger dipping sauce. Janger moves into fine dining after dark, serving contemporary global cuisine, and on the evening I looked up from Legong Terrace below, a couple had the space largely to themselves: rose petals, champagne, views across the canopy. If you are planning something special, you will know where to go.
Legong Terrace, open-sided beside the main pool, is where breakfast and lunch are served, and where I had dinner on my last evening; the views are nearly as spectacular as upstairs, the atmosphere a touch more intimate. My grilled Australian tenderloin arrived cooked exactly as requested, medium-well without a trace of dryness, served with potato purée and crispy onion, and the naughty chocolate brownie that followed, caramelised banana, mango curd, butterscotch and vanilla ice cream, earned its name entirely. In-villa dining is available throughout the day, and a floating breakfast in your private pool can be arranged on request.
Venturing Out
The resort can arrange white-water rafting on the Ayung River, cycling tours, trekking through rice paddies, a Jeep excursion to Mount Batur’s black lava fields, cultural tours, cooking classes, silver jewellery making and batik painting; the complimentary shuttle makes Ubud town accessible throughout the day. For those wanting more spa time beyond the resort, Ubud delivers: Putri Spa is a local favourite, where an Ayurvedic yoga massage, galvanic facial and creambath came to just over A$100 for four hours.
Couples Will Love
The sheer scale of what you get here: villas of this size, with a private pool, a sprawling open-air living compound, a four-poster bedroom beneath a soaring thatched ceiling, a deep soaking bath with a jungle outlook and an outdoor shower open to the sky. The staff, who appear in guest review after guest review for exactly the right reasons, are warm without being intrusive; the food, across both restaurants, is a genuine pleasure. It is not unusual for a couple to check in, make one outing into Ubud, and find they have no desire to leave again.
Bali has changed, of course it has, but you do not have to go far to find what it used to feel like. A short drive from Ubud’s centre, surrounded by working rice fields, with the Ayung River running below and the jungle close on all sides, Puri Wulandari is still that place.
Book via hotelpuriwulandari.com
Tanya co-founded Holidays for Couples with her mother Rhonda in 1996. For more than 25 years, the magazine defined romance travel in Australia before Tanya reimagined it as a digital platform with a strong SEO and social media presence. Tanya has lived in Canada, Japan, Abu Dhabi, Macao and now Saudi Arabia. When not in the office working on Holidays for Couples magazine, she is either planning her next trip or already boarding the plane.
