In the lobby of The Ritz-Carlton, Bali, the island began to feel familiar again. There was gamelan music, the sound of fountains, and that mingling of frangipani and incense which I had missed more than I realised. I walked towards the ocean view and found myself saying “wow”.
I had lived on Bali before. Returning carried all the unreasonable expectations that come with going back to somewhere you have loved: even the air ought to recognise you. Yet the arrival had felt oddly unfamiliar. The hotel restored something of the island I remembered.
The Ritz-Carlton was new when I stayed in 2015. It had opened after I left Bali, and I was curious about it for a particular reason. I already liked Ritz-Carlton hotels and knew the comfort I could expect. What interested me here was how it would interpret an island I knew well. There are plenty of ways to make a luxurious hotel. Making it feel at home on Bali was the more interesting task.
A room above Sawangan
The resort occupies a stretch of Sawangan on the southern side of Nusa Dua, with the arrival above the sea and the grounds extending down towards the beach. The scale is considerable. This is a place to settle into, with space between the different parts of the day. During our stay, the buggies worked well and made getting around easy.
Our Sawangan Club Junior Suite came with check-in in the room. After the flight, I appreciated being able to go straight there. We were tired enough that dinner on the first evening was room service: Indonesian food, which was exactly what I wanted on returning to the island. It was very good. There was no need to make an occasion of going out.
The suite had a proper living and dining area, a large bed with a wonderfully comfortable mattress, and a generous balcony with a daybed and an ocean view. The Indonesian furnishings gave the room some character, while the space made it easy to enjoy simply being there.
The bathroom was equally spacious, with a separate rainfall shower, a large bathtub, Asprey toiletries and exceptionally soft towels. Those were the details of our room then. For a reservation now, I would start with the current suite choices and be particular about the view: the ocean was a large part of what made ours so appealing.
The pleasure of being looked after
Our opening-year Club package gave the days an easy rhythm. There was breakfast in the lounge, salads and snacks later, afternoon tea, and cocktails towards evening. Tea, coffee and bottled water were available throughout the day. I liked the sense that we could spend time together without having to organise every small meal or drink.
Breakfast service in the Club Lounge was slow. It was my one complaint about the service, and it belongs alongside the praise. The food was well presented and enjoyable; the waiting was less so.
Elsewhere, the care was much more assured. Our room was cleaned twice a day, including an evening turndown. At the beach, the staff were quick to prepare loungers with fresh towels and bring drinks, fruit and small snacks. The greetings were warm, and I felt comfortable with the people looking after us. That ease matters to me more than elaborate ceremony.
The Club arrangement is part of my memory of that stay. Today, the hotel lists breakfast at Senses and afternoon tea at The Ritz-Carlton Lounge & Bar; I would compare the meal inclusions of a new reservation on their own terms. The current dining offer has moved on.
An Indonesian dinner at Bejana
Bejana was the restaurant I was most pleased to have tried. We chose its Indonesian tasting menu and loved it. After coming back to Bali with such an appetite for everything familiar, eating Indonesian food felt an essential part of being there.
The restaurant also offered a cooking class. We were interested, but missed it—a small unfinished piece of the stay.
Bejana now has a new chapter as Bejana by Petty Elliott. The hotel still describes an Indonesian restaurant, with its Culinary Cave devoted to cooking and learning. If I were returning, this is where I would make a dinner reservation. I would also settle the cooking-class plans before arriving, rather than leave them as an idea.
The spa: coconut, water and Balinese massage
The spa offers another way into the island’s gentler rhythms. Set among gardens, it draws on Balinese massage and bathing traditions, with coconut, seaweed and pearl appearing throughout its treatment menu. This is a part of the resort worth leaving an afternoon free for.
For a distinctly Balinese treatment, start with Balinese Ocean Dream: a massage combining aromatic oils, stretching and pressure applied with palms, thumbs and elbows. It comes in hour-long and 90-minute versions. Sea Coconut Secret makes a longer occasion of it. The two-hour ritual moves from hydrotherapy to a coconut-coir foot wash and toasted-coconut scrub, then a Balinese massage and coconut-milk bath. Even the ending keeps to the theme: young coconut served with ice cream.
There is a more unusual choice in Island Symphony, a 90-minute massage performed by two therapists in synchronised movements inspired by Balinese dance. The connection is appealing: rhythm, which greeted me in the lobby through gamelan, becomes the organising idea of a treatment.
The four spa villas offer a secluded setting for time together. Beyond the treatment rooms, the Hydro-Vital Pool has five stations of jets and water features, while the outdoor Balinese Bathing Pool takes its inspiration from Hindu cleansing rituals. Leave time around the appointment for the water, too; the hydrotherapy circuit requires advance booking.
The beach and the island beyond it
The beach was kept clean, but the sea was unsuitable for swimming during our stay because of the low tides. That distinction is worth making before choosing a hotel here. An ocean view and an easy swim are separate pleasures, and a beautiful stretch of coast does not promise both whenever you want them.
I would not choose Bali solely for a beach holiday. I love it for far more than that. Here, the beachfront pool, the beach beds and the attentive service meant we still enjoyed our time by the water. For anyone whose main wish is to swim in the sea every day, the tidal conditions deserve as much attention as the room.
For more time in the sea, I would set aside a morning for a private boat trip from Sanur towards Penida and Lembongan, with guided swimming and snorkelling stops chosen according to the day’s conditions. It makes an appealing excursion from Sawangan, with time to return to the hotel afterwards.
Sawangan also asks for a little intention when you leave the resort. I would arrange a car for an outing and its return, then give the hotel the hours it deserves. The hotel’s location information places it about 17 km from Ngurah Rai Airport and offers airport transfers; I would allow for traffic rather than build an arrival around the quick drive I remember.
For an afternoon of art on a return visit, Museum Pasifika in Nusa Dua would be on my list. Its collection brings Indonesian and wider Asia-Pacific art together with work by artists including Le Mayeur and Rudolf Bonnet. I would go by car. It would be a fitting way to follow the curiosity that brought me to this hotel: how other people have seen and responded to Bali.
Yet the moment I return to most readily happened before the suite, the dinner or the beach. I was standing in a hotel I had never visited, hearing sounds and breathing scents I knew. The Ritz-Carlton had given me a familiar comfort, but the feeling of being back belonged entirely to Bali.