Capella Ubud Opens as a Tented Camp in the Balinese Forest

Capella Ubud opened in June 2018 in Keliki, a village among rice terraces and rainforest about twenty minutes north of Ubud, in the centre of Bali. It was Capella’s first property in Indonesia, and it has no rooms in the usual sense: guests stay in 22 tents and a two-bedroom lodge, spread over nine acres of steep, wooded ground above the Wos River.

The camp was designed by Bill Bensley, who persuaded the owner to abandon an earlier plan for a conventional hotel that would have required clearing the site. The tents were instead placed among the existing trees, raised on platforms and linked by paths and rope bridges, so that the forest was left standing. His story for the camp is that of the European travellers who arrived in Bali in the 19th century, and each tent is furnished around a character from an imagined expedition: the cartographer, the naturalist, the photographer, the captain’s wife. All have a small saltwater pool on the deck, hand-carved doors, antiques and a freestanding copper bath.

At the centre of the camp is the Cistern, a saltwater pool some thirty metres long with a view down the valley. The main restaurant is named after Mads Lange, a Danish trader who lived in Bali in the 19th century, and serves food that combines Indonesian and European influences. Api Jiwa is a small counter where a tasting menu of Asian grilled dishes is cooked over fire in front of the guests. In the evening, guests gather around a campfire. The Auriga spa and a tented gym, the Armory, complete the facilities.

The camp was built to fit a part of Bali that has kept its temples, its shared irrigation system and its sacred places, and it organises walks through the terraces and villages with local guides.

Capella Ubud has since been ranked among the best hotels in the world by several travel publications. It shares the Ubud area with Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan and Amandari, two earlier landmarks of resort design. Our Bali guide has more.