An aerial view of the hotel with views of the rain forest
(Image credit: hoshinoya.com)

For its first international venture, the Japanese resort group Hoshinoya could not have picked a more idyllic spot in Bali’s Ubud quarter.

Framed by a palimpsest of thousand-year old temple canals and the Pakerisan River valley, architect Rie Azuma has strung thirty villas along a dense three-hectare stretch of rainforest, rice terraces and shrines.

The aesthetic cleaves close to the Balinese ideal of balés capped by roofs covered with alang-alang grass, wall carvings of flora and fauna by local artisans, and a long stretch of swimming pool that’s evocatively styled as lushly foliaged canal.

A fantasist touch is delivered with trellised gazebos that hang high over the tree line for a literal bird’s eye panorama of the deep green forest canopy. The resort’s Japanese antecedents are recalled in a mod Balinese meets Japanese menu by resident chef Makoto Miyamaguchi that includes carpaccio paired with the pungent heat of sambal.

A view of a guest room in the hotel, showing the bed from the side

(Image credit: hoshinoya.com)

An image of a guest room showing the bed

(Image credit: hoshinoya.com)

INFORMATION

Website

ADDRESS

Br. Pengembungan
Desa Pejeng Kangin
Kecamatan Tampaksiring
Gianyar
Bali

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Daven Wu is the Singapore Editor at Wallpaper*. A former corporate lawyer, he has been covering Singapore and the neighbouring South-East Asian region since 1999, writing extensively about architecture, design, and travel for both the magazine and website. He is also the City Editor for the Phaidon Wallpaper* City Guide to Singapore.