Ku De Ta kicked off a surge of destination beach clubs, melding sandy-toed suppers with dancing and DJs, while Potato Head brought a new wave of hipsters to the island. In keeping with the Indonesian isle’s easy-going vibe, the rules are relaxed – as long as there are coconut-infused Tiki sundowners, beach clubs don’t even need to be on the beach any more. Whether traditional sandy spots, cliffside watering holes or jungle hideaways, these new arrivals and under-the-radar joints are the places to party in Bali right now.
CAPELLA UBUD, BALI
It’s not like Bali needed another hotel, especially around the island’s teeming spiritual hub of Ubud. But the notoriously inventive architect Bill Bensley envisioned something wholly divergent for this 10-acre patch of jungle north of the city on the River Wos – a fanciful take on a tented camp pitched by early-19th-century spice traders. This is hotel-as-theatre: on arrival, visitors receive a survival kit (SPF and insect repellent, a map) plus a carved cane to help pick their way over the suspension bridges leading to 22 black canvas tents with saltwater plunge pools. Each retreat is a mise-en-scène representing expeditionary characters: the Naturalist’s Tent is hung with binoculars and watercolours of flora and fauna; the Cartographer is home to a mini-museum of compasses and charts. Nor does the food shake the storyline: the Mads Lange, named after a notorious Danish trader, turns out full English breakfasts in cast-iron pans. Bensley’s light-footprint approach (not a single tree was felled) means the camp blends seamlessly into its backdrop, the tent walls porous to the hooting birds of the jungle. It’s ideal for those looking to approach Bali in a more conscious way – staying here is like returning to the island’s former wild self.
Address: Jl. RY Dalem, Keliki, Kec. Tegallalang, Kabupaten Gianyar, Bali
Telephone: +62 361 2091 888
Website: capellahotels.com
Price: Signature cocktails from about £10To find out more and check availability, now go to Capella Ubud, Bali hotel review
La Brisa, Echo Beach, Canggu
Peeling-paint canoes turned plant cabinets lining grassy paths to thatched treehouses, a turquoise pool with comfy daybeds and seats for sundowners looking over the surf. Recently opened La Brisa feels like Robinson Crusoe sipped a few rums and jazzed up some shacks to conceive this barefoot beach escape. There are nautical nods with chairs made from old barrels and antique buoys fashioned into twinkly lights. This place is more than artfully distressed though; the wood used to build it came from 500 disused boats. The result? Plenty of upcycled touches, accompanied by scorching sunsets, Basil Beauty cocktails (vodka, passion fruit, pineapple and basil) and locally caught seafood. The service is laid-back, but with surroundings this funky, island-time service is forgivable.
Address: La Brisa, Jl Pantai Batu Mejan Gg Echo Beach, Canggu, Bali
Telephone: +62 811-3946-666
Website: labrisabali.com
Price: Signature cocktails from about £7
Mario WibowoCOMO Beach Club, Echo Beach, Canggu, Bali
Another fresh hangout on Echo Beach, inside the just-opened COMO Uma Canggu, with the constant push and pull of the waves setting a throw-off-your-flipflops tone. Here, Italian interior designer Paola Navone has created an inviting surf-shack space – a riot of monochrome, with magpie-hued tiles and striped wooden pillars in a high-ceilinged restaurant, jazzy tribal-mask artwork, piles of neon-wave-motif cushions and a Tiki bar where coconut mojitos are served. Surf lessons with on-site experts Tropicsurf can be booked, but most watch the action while rocking on suspended daybeds by the pool. Sunset – when the intricate façade of the temple next door is silhouetted and musicians strum acoustic guitars – is spectacular. At suppertime, families tuck into charcoal-grilled squid on the open-air deck.
Address: COMO Beach Club, COMO Uma Canggu, Jln Pantai Batu Mejan, Echo Beach, Canggu, Bali
Telephone: +62 361 302 2208
Website: comohotels.com/umacanggu
Price: Signature cocktails from about £9
Ulu Cliffhouse, Uluwatu
Atop rugged limestone cliffs, with soul-massaging Indian Ocean vistas, Ulu Cliffhouse opened last year in surf spot Uluwatu with a Beastie-Boys-led bang. At this hillside haven, wave-riders laze on pastel-striped cushions on the smart, cantilevered terrace, toe-tapping to an endless-summer soundtrack overseen by Neil McLellan, who has produced for The Prodigy. The leisurely pace – creatives dipping in the 82ft infinity pool, or sipping mangosteen-infused Piscoteen Sours from the rattan- and tropical-print-filled al-fresco bars that bookend it while nibbling on calamari and snapper ceviche by culinary whizz Diego Muñoz – ramps up on nights when big-hitters such as Carl Cox take to the decks. Keep your eyes peeled for off-duty DJs who have been laying down tracks at the on-site music studio making their way to the exclusive lower-level deck and private-beach cove.
Address: Ulu Cliffhouse, Jl Labuan Sait No. 315, Padang-Padang, Bali
Website: ulucliffhouse.com
Telephone: +62 813-3881-2502
Price: Cocktails from about £8.50Ulu Cliffhouse also features in our round-up of the most beautiful restaurants in the world.
Martin WestlakeOMNIA Dayclub Bali, Uluwatu
Bali hasn’t always pulled in superstar DJs in the same way as Ibiza, but that’s all changed with the arrival of OMNIA Dayclub Bali in Uluwatu, masterminded by the team behind the Vegas mega-club of the same name. Situated 300ft high on the cliffs, the Balinese take has views of the rippling Neptune-blue sea, sunken infinity pools, cool cabanas and an outpost of Japanese restaurant Sake no Hana. It also had opening parties headlined by Richie Hawtin and Marshmello. Music aficionados marvel at, and clink raspberry and elderflower Rock Pearl Martinis under, the WOHA Architects-designed stainless-steel and glass-cube-topped bar jutting out over the ocean. The atmosphere is mellow – seafood platters are served under white parasols – but it gets a little wilder on Sundays.
Address: OMNIA Dayclub Bali, Jl Belimbing Sari, Banjar Tambiyak, Desa Pecatu, Uluwatu, Bali
Website: omniaclubs.com/bali
Telephone: +62 361 8482 150
Price: Cocktails from about £8
Jungle Fish, Ubud
Jungle boogie? Yes, please. Just outside artsy Ubud, in a ravine in the leafy Osh Valley, is Jungle Fish, a club with a bar-pool-deck combo that spills down, steppe-like, with the tree canopy above. The slick surrounds come courtesy of owner Niki Nasr, a successful Danish furniture designer and long-term Bali resident, and include mid-century modern chairs of his own design. Beautiful people sporting feather-fringed ankle cuffs and batik-print sarongs laze in cabanas and pose by the bar’s striking Koi-carp-inspired, recycled-glass wall nursing tequila-laced Pomelo Palomas and calamansi Negronis. It’s unpretentious fun in the forest, with kids whooping in the pool and chef Wuisan Chandra serving Mediterranean mezze platters, wood-fired pizzas and gargantuan ice-cream sundaes. This summer, a new restaurant will open and live DJs will up the fiesta feel.
Address: Jungle Fish, Jl Raya Se Bali, Keliki, Ubud, Bali 80561
Website: junglefishbali.com
Telephone: +62 361 8989102
Price: Cocktails from about £8Keep scrolling to see more pictures of brilliant Bali beach clubs.
Like this? Now read:
Dinner at Sake No Hana, Bali
The pool at Ulu cliffhouse
Martin WestlakeThe Cube bar and infinity pool at Omnia
A mezze at Jungle Fish
Jungle Fish
La Brisa, Canggu
The pool at Jungle Fish
Dinner at Sake No Hana, Bali
Martin WestlakeThe lounge at Omnia