The staff were wonderful, and a pool villa hanging over the jungle here costs about a third of what you'd pay at the Four Seasons or Mandapa. But it's a long drive north of Ubud and the stairs down to the villas are hard work. Dinner was the weak spot too. Book a villa and plan to spend most of your time at the hotel. See pictures ↓
Service
The service is why I'd go back. There are only 30 rooms, so the staff get to know you within a day and most of them were using our names by the second morning. Nothing we asked for was a problem. Our bags went down to the villa ahead of us, and getting a later check-out was easy.
Morning yoga is free and worth getting up for, even if you've never done it. The teacher works with whoever turns up.
Book the Melukat. It's a purification ritual led by a priest from Sebatu village, using water from the local temple, and the hotel first checks the Balinese calendar to make sure the day is a good one for it. Most of the other trips, like the jeep tours, rafting and Mount Batur at sunrise, are run by outside companies, so book those early in the busy months.
Rooms
There are 20 suites in the main building and 10 villas down the slope, and the villas are what you come for. They're 142 square metres, built from wood and stone, with carving done by craftsmen from the village. The bed is a four-poster under white netting, and the bathtub opens straight onto the deck. The private pool is heated and runs right to the edge, so you swim out over the tops of the trees.
Getting down to them takes some effort. The paths are uneven stone steps, and there are a lot of them if you're in one of the lower villas. The staff will carry your bags, but you'll be climbing back up after dinner. If stairs are hard for anyone in your group, say so when you book and ask for a villa near the top.
The Valley Suite is the cheaper way in. It's 66 square metres and reached by lift, with a balcony and daybed looking over the forest and a tub with the same view. You share the main infinity pool, which is long enough to swim proper lengths. If you can stretch to a villa, I would, mainly for the private pool. Everything was spotless, apart from a few ants, which you get anywhere out here.
Food and drink
Breakfast is at Tangelo, ordered from a menu and brought to the table, which I much prefer to a buffet. The Indonesian dishes are the ones to go for.
Dinner is less even. Tangelo calls itself semi-fine dining, and on some nights there's a set menu with Balinese dancing. The room and the view are lovely, but the menu tries to do too much and some plates were short on flavour. The hotel is far enough out that you'll eat most dinners here, so it matters more than it would in town. The simpler dishes were the better ones.
Our welcome card came with a sundowner for two on the Tangelo deck and an afternoon tea for two at Verdant, the pool bar, with Balinese sweets and savouries. Both were lovely. The sundowner deck is also where the smokers go, so pick your seat.
Setting
The hotel sits in Sebatu, in the green hills north of Ubud, and the view down the river valley is the best thing about it. Early in the morning there's mist in the valley and you can hear the river below. The Tegallalang rice terraces are ten minutes away by car, and the water temple at Tirta Empul is close too.
The location is also the big drawback. You're well outside Ubud. The free shuttle goes into town four times a day and takes anywhere from 25 to 45 minutes, so a spur-of-the-moment evening in town doesn't really work. From the airport it's about two hours in daytime traffic, so I'd plan to arrive in the evening.
The public areas are fairly plain. The gym is small, and there's not much shade around the main pool at midday. The resort opened in 2023 and joined Marriott's Autograph Collection in 2024, so it all still feels new.
Value
The price is the big draw. The suites usually cost around USD 350 to 430 a night, about the same as COMO Uma and Viceroy, and roughly a third of Four Seasons Sayan, Mandapa or Capella Ubud. It's part of Marriott Bonvoy, so you earn points, and you can spend them here too.
Those three hotels have better restaurants and are much closer to town. But for a private pool over a jungle valley and staff this good, I don't know a better deal in the hills around Ubud.
Who it suits
It suits couples, especially Bonvoy members, and anyone on a second trip to Bali who wants a quiet villa in the jungle and is happy to stay in most evenings. It's not for anyone who struggles with stairs, or who wants to walk out to Ubud's cafés. For the top end, closer to town in the Ayung valley, I'd book Four Seasons Sayan or Mandapa. To stay in Ubud itself for a similar price, look at COMO Uma Ubud.
