Raffles is a hotel in Bali just outside Jimbaran. The hotel consists of 32 private villas which means that by design it’s a small intimate hotel with lots of opportunities to cater for each guest.
When you arrive at Raffles you drive what feels like a few minutes from the gate to the main building.Already with that you feel isolated from the rest of the world. That is a feeling that stuck with me through with me through out the stay. I love the privacy of our private villa with our own pool and pool house. As a kid could spend hours by and in the pool but now it’s just not my thing. However when its small private one which you can literally jump in from your villa and walk 5 steps to get back after you are done its just something else. Especially since all the villas are build on the hill overlooking the ocean.
The villa in it self is naturally is built around that same view. Built in natural but luxurious materials. The room has all the nice elements that you expect from a high end hotel such as a big walk in closet, a bathtub with a view and a Japanese Toto toilet which if you don’t know let me just say that you are in for a treat. As mentioned previous the pool and the pool area in front of the villa is for me the main attraction. Watching the sunset there or just enjoying a dinner is obvious. For that reason the bar is also well stocked with everything from local beer to Krug champagne.
It’s a hotel where people usually spend 5-7 days so a series of intimate and interesting dining options is one of their big selling points. One of these is the casual restaurant Lola Beach Bar & Grill. As it is their casual restaurant it naturally serves a menu that is wide and accessible including local dishes, grilled seafood, pizza and burger. The food is delicious and nice but for me the view impressed me the most.
Besides this they have 5 different private dining options such as gazebo right by the ocean, a barbecue restaurant on the beach, a hidden garden restaurant and finally the cave. All places that cater to just one booking whether being a couple or max 4 people. These are all additions to the main restaurant Rumari. We would be at the hotel for our anniversary and therefore dine in the cave to celebrate. The location and design is very romantic with live candles, overlooking a mix of the cave and the stars and its overall made for a private intimate experience with focus on romance. The menu is a short 5 course tasting menu with a focus on vegetables from under the ground. It shares a lot of the same traits as the main restaurant Rumari but naturally a bit less technical as the cave is located a short walk from the kitchen which means it has to be just a bit simpler. Simpler doesn’t mean less delicious though.
It you are a foodie the main restaurant Rumari is naturally a destianation on its own. So much that I wrote a separate post about it. If you want to read it go to this page. A brief summary is that it’s a classic top hotel restaurant. This means a restaurant that serves both tasting menu and a la carte. All dishes delivered with high technical precession and lots of local flavors and ingredients. It’s an attraction on its own.
It’s the same place where you have your breakfast. Unlike other hotels here it’s not buffet but a la carte. This means less food waste and a more sustainable approach but it also means that everything is made fresh. Every dish is quite small so you can still try a lot of different items as you would had it been a buffet. The quality is just higher.
Our stay wouldn’t only be about food and relaxing at out villa. We would also get a nice massage. Whenever I am in Asia I always have a series of massages, but this was at another level then I am used to. This already started when we arrived with a cup of tea and a foot massage/bath. This would be the most relaxed massage I have ever had. I am used to it having to be a little painful to have effect but not here and I left in a state of zen.
The villas are spread out over a big area so you end up walking a bit or taking the small golf carts. This also means that you end up meeting and talking to a lot of the staff whether in one of the restaurants cocktail bar or just out in the area. One of the things that would strike me was how everybody knew our name wherever we went and most of them also knew what we would going to do. They knew when we were going for lunch, massage and where we would be having dinner. That is incredible and something which is only possible with a small hotel like this.
That’s also why the key words to describe this hotel is personalization, exclusivity and dining experiences. We truely loved our 2 days at the hotel and as a sign of a great hotel we were sad to leave and already before we left we talked about when we could come back.
Next time we come back in reality I think we will do much less. We will enjoy our villa doing the day doing absolutely nothing which sometimes vacation is all about. Then I would put in a relaxing massage every once in a while and naturally try the different dining options they have at night whether being at Rumari, barbecue by the beach or the gazebo by the beach and most importantly I would not stay for just two days.
Practical information
Location: Jimabaran Bali
Website: www.raffles.com/bali/
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