Bali: island of harmony

Those seeking better to understand this precious inner life should make a beeline for Ubud, Bali’s cultural and spiritual capital, which sits amid rainforest, temple sites and shrines, high up in the island’s verdant interior. Ubud has long been a source of wellness on the island, a place where healers known as balians practise their intuitive treatments using medicinal native plants.

Mandapa, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, holds true to Bali’s promise of wellbeing – both in the experiences the luxury spa resort curates for its guests, and in its evocative atmosphere and closeness to local spirituality. Mandapa means “temple” in Sanskrit and, as guests wind up and around the mountains near Ubud to arrive at their destination, the brick gates of a truly peaceful enclave await. 

Hugged by the jungle, traditional tiered rooftops map out the confines of the resort from the quasi-sacred space of a hilltop open-air meeting pavilion, or wantilian, dotted with thatched pavilions and floating platforms. Guests make their way down through the property via a maze of floating walkways and walled pathways to discover lush terraces with secluded villas and pools, restaurants, and a boutique, spa and temple on the steep hillside below. The temple actually predates the existence of the resort, and thus is used by locals, who make frequent offerings of flowers and incense – something guests can also do if they wish.

Mandapa also brings guests into continuous contact with the natural world, through the sights and sounds of the rainforest and the fast-flowing Ayung River, which curves around the resort and, like all water, is considered holy and cleansing by locals. Filled with Balinese artwork, wall murals and textiles, the private villas combine traditional and contemporary design details with panoramic windows and indoor-outdoor dining and living areas, as well as swimming or lap pools to complete the immersive experience. 

Nurture through nature

Ubud is named after the Balinese word for medicine, and this heritage is reflected in the resort’s spa treatments, which embrace the region’s ancient healing techniques and philosophies through the use of indigenous ingredients, or usada, to help rebalance body and mind. Tucked quietly away, overlooking the river, the spa’s private treatment pavilions are linked with leafy wooden walkways, dotted with stone idols.

The spa can call upon the gifts of a number of renowned local healers to help to ease guests’ physical or emotional discomfort. One such is Ketut Mursi, a blind healer who works with a sighted therapist, using four-hand massage, reflexology, and touch, alongside a special mix of herbs, to cleanse the body from head to toe, realigning the body’s energy flow during a Mandapa Spa Balinese Healing Touch Treatment.

For guests taking part in a Balinese Blessing Ritual, guided by Mandapa’s own priest presiding over the resort’s Hindu temple, purification begins with chanting and meditation over burning fire or water followed by offerings to symbolise letting go of negative habits or feelings to restore a positive consciousness. A plunge under the water jets of the vitality pool or an open-air yoga session bring the chance of uplifting contemplation across the rainforest canopy. 

Beach blessings

Far down the valley, along the southern coast to the exclusive enclave of Nusa Dua, the beachfront St. Regis Bali Resort offers the perfect counterpoint, embracing the Indian Ocean and the Balinese concept of nyegara gunung. Designed by Bill Bensley of Bensley Design Studios, the resort also takes inspiration from the work of the Japanese-American artist and landscape architect Isamu Noguchi. In keeping with nyegara gunung, it features a Fire Garden lined with coconut palms, representing a river flowing from the mountain to the sea, where guests can enjoy the resort’s secluded beach, considered the loveliest in Nusa Dua.

At the resort’s Iridium Spa, a calmness pervades, thanks in part to the butterflies that appear to flit throughout in a delicate light show inspired by the 15th-century Indian poet Kabir, who wrote “The Moon Shines in my Body”.  Authentic details play an important role in the spa’s local treatment menu, while more modern treatments hint at the heritage and luxurious character of the St. Regis resort itself. Try, for example, a Bloody Mary-inspired ritual, which uses the spices of that famous vodka cocktail, first mixed at The St. Regis New York in 1934, for its detoxifying and invigorating massage, clay wrap and salt bath treatment. All spa treatments conclude with a therapeutic dip in the turquoise-blue waters of the Aqua Vitae Pool, which promises to further destress and detoxify.

For the last word in pampering, choose the Luxury Champagne Treatment, during which champagne is used as a balm, before a circulation-boosting grape-seed body scrub and grape-seed oil massage, followed by a champagne and white clay body mask. Sipping champagne within the relaxation pavilion after a peaceful flower bath, guests will wonder whether they can take a Bali moment home.