
Had a spaceship landed in the middle of the Bali rainforest?
Crossing a teak-and-steel footbridge over a dramatic gorge, we stared at what looked like a three-tiered spaceship that had stopped beside the rushing Ayung River.
But no, it turned out to be the reception, spa and main restaurant building of the Four Seasons at Sayan, located on the edge of Ubud, Bali’s artist colony.

You have to walk across this bridge 65 feet high up above the Ayung River gorge to reach the reception – photo Four Seasons Sayan

It’s a spaceship? No, it’s the main reception, restaurant and spa building for the Four Seasons Sayan
Four Seasons at Sayan villas
The resort’s 42 villas are equally eye-catching. (The resort also has 18 suites, but the villas are where you want to stay – and where we stayed.)
They’re cleverly carved into the hillside, which keeps them cool. From the path to your villa, all you see is a lotus pond and a patch of tall grasses (actually your own shaded meditation area).
A spiral stone staircase leads down to your villa door.
Open that, and you see that your indoor/outdoor villa has been cut into the hill in an L-shape – two walls are snug up against the hillside.
All villas have a small private pool outside. Each has an expansive wooden deck with cushioned couches and chairs (under the shade of a roof with ceiling fan) plus a teak dining table with umbrella.

Our villa by the Ayung Rvier, with our own private little pool

Your own pool not big enough? Walk on over to this main pool – photo Four Seasons Sayan
Watching the river from our deck was quite hypnotic (we’d inevitably doze off), and we could hear the water tumbling over boulders in the riverbed at night.
What’s this? A mother-of-pearl bathtub!
Inside, the air-conditioned bedroom has warm polished wood floors along with a writing desk and bedside tables inlaid with mother-of-pearl tiles. A giant carved wooden screen behind the king-size bed features a delicate pattern of leaves and birds.
No Four Seasons Sayan review would be complete without mention of the huge bathroom. It has green marble floors – and get this – an egg-shaped bathtub, also inlaid with mother-of-pearl tiles. Totally striking!

The tubs and sinks are inlaid with mother-of-pearl tiles
What to do at the Four Seasons at Sayan?
The outdoor setting of our villa was so inviting that we really didn’t feel the need to do very much during our stay, other than laze about and eat.
Speaking of eating, we enjoyed the resort’s weekly buffet feast, which celebrates Indonesian food – and we got to try local suckling pig and crispy fried duck.
Babi Guling or suckling pig is one of Bali’s most famous dishes. Traditionally, the pig is stuffed with spices like lemongrass, coriander, turmeric, black pepper and garlic, then roasted on a spit. The crackling skin is the best part (so long as you don’t worry about all the fat!).

And this little piggie is one fine suckling pig
The spa also won us over with its lovely couples spa villas overlooking lotus ponds.
Our feet were first bathed in a wooden bowl of water with floating rose petals. Then we were scrubbed down with Himalayan salt crystals before giving ourselves up to a languorous Balinese massage. The Balinese know how to do spa treatments right!
Now, if only Scottie could beam us back up to the Four Seasons again…

We watched Balinese dancers from Sayan village perform the Legong and other Balinese dances in the Four Seasons’ airy lounge – photo Four Seasons Sayan

Learn “Rice 101” on a complimentary guided walk through the resort’s rice paddies – photo Four Seasons Sayan
Thinking of visiting?
- Award-winning: The Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan has made Conde Nast Traveler’s Gold List for the past five years.
- Goodies: Complimentary resort perks include authentic Balinese dance performances, guided rice field walks, village bike rides and a shuttle to the artistic center of Ubud five times daily.
- More information: See the resort’s website.
Our published Four Seasons Sayan review
We stayed as media guests for the purpose of our Four Seasons Sayan review. Our impressions of both this resort and the Four Seasons Resort Bali at Jimbaran Bay were recently published in Cruise & Travel Lifestyles’ Fall/Winter 2015 issue. (Click on the image below to read a PDF of this article.)
Love this post? Read another!

We’re Janice and George Mucalov, professional award-winning travel writers, sharing tales of luxury travel with a twist of adventure.
Congratulations on your article in Cruise & Travel! Great post, it does look a bit spaceshipy! :)
Thanks! We write frequently for Cruise & Travel Lifestyles (a nice Canadian magazine).
AMAZING! As hotel entrances go, that has got to be one of the most dramatic around.
Wowww…. an amazing place !!!
Bali offers the traveler extraordinary places …
Thank you
Wow this place looks seriously stunning! Bali has some extraordinary places to stay!
For such a small island, Bali does indeed have loads of luxury hotels – can be hard to choose :-).
We didn’t get to Sayan on our Bali trip in September but this hotel looks amazing. I love the drawbridge and the mother of pearl bathtub
That drawbridge was pretty amazing! Talk about an entrance, eh? (We like how many Four Seasons resorts create a wow sense of arrival.)
We stayed in the Four Season property in the Serengeti. Like that one, this one really has a wonderful sense of place.