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Is Alila Villas Uluwatu the Most Luxurious Hotel in Bali?

When we grow up, we want to live in a house just like our Alila Uluwatu villa.

Alila Hotels manages almost 20 luxury hotels in Asia, India and the U.S.

The view from Alila Villas Uluwatu at dusk...
The view from Alila Villas Uluwatu at dusk…

But it’s probably garnered the most ink – in prestigious travel mags like Conde Nast Traveler and the Robb Report – for its ultra-sumptuous, private-pool villa resorts in Bali.

Specifically, we’re talking about the Alila Villas Uluwatu.

Alila Villas Uluwatu

Alila Villas Uluwatu
Now this is a very cool lounge – it’s suspended way out over the cliff’s edge

Alila Villas Uluwatu clings to a clifftop on Bali’s southern coast.

It cranks up the wow factor for boutique villa resorts, making you wish you could replicate their fab architectural features in your own home. (They sure gave us serious villa envy.)

Alila Uluwatu accommodation

You want big?

Then get this – the 65 extraordinary Uluwatu villas are all larger than 3,000 square feet! Our living room was touching distance from our L-shaped pool.

The one-bedroom villas are larger than 3,000 sq. feet - photo Alila Villas Uluwatu
The one-bedroom villas are larger than 3,000 sq. feet

We could push back glass wall-to-wall windows and almost jump right into the pool.

In fact, most of the window walls around the villa opened up to the outdoors to allow the sea breeze in.

alilavillasuluwatu-pool-villa-cabana
To be a seriously deluxe hotel in Bali, you need villas with private pools, right?

The bathroom boasted an indoor and outdoor shower, together with his-and-hers, leather-and-wood amenity boxes with organic products – scented pillow spray anyone?

Bring your friends or family! The three-bedroom villa comes with its own 24-hour butler

Pool and lounge

Nothing is cookie-cutter.

Wood design materials have been recycled from railway sleepers and telephone poles.

And a huge birdcage (aka, a sunset lounge) is cantilevered over the cliff edge beside the resort’s main infinity pool – from here, the Indian Ocean looks as if it stretches forever beyond the horizon.

Go on, stay at another fabulous Bali hotel too! see more luxury Bali hotel reviews here!

Dining

Alila Villas Uluwatu restaurant
Who wants smoked grain-fed beef tenderloin?

The hotel’s secluded location means that you’ll likely eat in (unless you don’t mind hefty taxi charges to try an outside restaurant).

Mind you, it’s not a hardship to eat the food at the hotel!

Alila Villas Uluwatu
What should we order for breakfast?

Alila Villas Uluwatu review: Bottom line?

We’ve stayed at many gorgeous, five-star Bali hotels.

And it’s possible, just possible, that the Alila Villas Uluwatu is the most deluxe hotel in Bali.

Sailing on the Alila Purnama

After this amazing stay, we wondered how the Alila group could possibly impress us on our subsequent week-long Indonesian expedition on the Alila Purnama (a stylish sailing vessel modeled after a traditional phinisi).

Well, they did!

The beautiful “Alila Purnama” is a deluxe phinisi

Read next: The Alila Purnama – it’s all about sailing, diving and, oh my, Komodo dragons!

Our top travel tips and resources

Here are our favorite travel resources:

Hotels: Booking.com is great for scoring a “wow” hotel – or at least a decent one. (We especially like their flexible cancellation policy!)

Vacation homes, condos and rentals: We prefer and use Vrbo (Vacation Rentals by Owner).

Tours: For the best local food, walking and other guided tours plus skip-the-line tickets to attractions, check out GetYourGuide and Viator.

Car rental: Renting a car is often one of the best ways to explore off the beaten path. Discover Cars searches car rental companies so you get the best rates.

Travel insurance: SafetyWing is designed for frequent travelers, long-term adventurers and digital nomads. It covers medical expenses, lost checked luggage, trip interruption and more.

Travel gear: See our travel shop to find the best luggage, accessories and other travel gear. (We suggest these comfy travel sandals for city walking, the beach and kicking about.)

Need more help planning your trip? Check out our travel tips and resources guide for airline booking tips, ways to save money, how to find great hotels and other crazy useful trip planning info.

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Alila Villas Uluwatu is possibly the most luxurious hotel in Bali!

Photo credits: 3, 5 and 8  © Janice and George Mucalov, SandInMySuitcaseOther photos courtesy this Alila hotel


About the authors

Luxury travel journalists and SATW, NATJA and TMAC “Best Travel Blog” award winners, Janice and George Mucalov are the publishers of Sand In My Suitcase. Between them, they’ve traveled to all 7 continents. See About.

Find destination guides, global food-and-wine stories, luxury hotel reviews, articles on cultural explorations and soft adventure trips, cruise reviews, insanely useful travel tips and more!

James Linville

Thursday 11th of February 2016

We seem to be in many of the same destinations lately and coming away equally impressed. My wife and I were in Bali earlier this and stayed at the new Alila hotel in Seminyak. We have been to Alila hotels in Ubud and Manggis, as well, but the Uluwatu facility certainly appears to be a step above. I remember seeing renderings of the proposed Uluwatu villas on another trip and the developers seemed to have exceeded their luxurious intentions. My family also visited Tulum and Chichén Itzá in late 2015 and felt your post about Tulum captured well why one should visit these historic sites.

Janice and George

Thursday 11th of February 2016

Thank you so much for taking the time to comment :-). Glad to hear the new Alila hotel in Seminyak is appealing. We stayed in Seminyak as well (in a couple of different villa properties) and the Seminyak vibe is definitely different than what you get at Soori and Uluwatu! (as in more happening!) The good thing about the Seminyak location would be the close access to all sorts of great restaurants, nightclubs, art galleries, etc., which you don't get when you're coddled in the private cocoons at Soori and Uluwatu.

Aparna

Wednesday 10th of February 2016

Whooo!!!! What am amazing place to be, just looking at the pictures made me stunned, I think this is the perfect place I have to visit with my fiancee ;-) and yeah the pool villa over the rice paddies towards the mountains is just perfect. Truly Awesome.. (kiss) Janice and George really thank you for sharing this lovely post. keep posting... :-) Cheers!!!

Janice and George

Thursday 11th of February 2016

Both of these Alila villa properties in Bali are honeymoon-worthy, so yes, you and your fiancee would be sure to love them :-).

Shikha

Wednesday 10th of February 2016

I adored every minute of my time in Bali so am always up for hearing about great places to stay there and the Alila properties sound so relaxing and remote :) That body mask sounds utterly aromatic and wholesome as well!

Suze

Tuesday 9th of February 2016

We had an incredible stay at Alila Ubud and I would have loved to visit their Uluwatu property if we'd have had time - that birdcage lounge looks really unique

Janice and George

Tuesday 9th of February 2016

It's hard to do everything on a trip, isn't it? Maybe you'll just have to plan another visit to Bali :-)

Irene S. Levine

Monday 8th of February 2016

These Alila villas look amazing---and a great setting and bespoke service to boot! Would love to visit someday~