Luxury Bali-style
From Kempinski to Kem-Pinch-Me: Bali’s Luxury Goes Full Fantasy
Berlin, 1872. Successful wine merchant Berthold Kempinski opens a restaurant as a natural extension to his business, unwittingly becoming the progenitor of a succession of luxury hotels bearing his name – currently 77 five star properties across 35 countries – renowned for their opulence and quality of service. This chain of events has somehow culminated in me lying face down in a bowl of rose petals while the soothing tones of a Tibetan singing bowl do circuits of my inner ear. In Hinduism, Bali’s prevalent religion, the four stages of life are (according to the spa brochure): teenage, adult, married, and post-adult. I’d be more curious as to my own classification except I’ve been in a semi-permanent food coma since I arrived.
Is this the best hotel in Nusa Dua?
And what an entrance! (Not me; the hotel.) The three storey Pendopo lobby with its pyramidal ceiling is adorned with hand-carved wooden gebyok panels and other artisanal crafts from each of Indonesia’s provinces, including spirit houses, wayang kulit shadow puppets and other decorative flourishes. At the far end of this grandeur the floor falls away in increments, known as the Grand Staircase, to the beach nine levels below. AK’s location on the east-facing cliffs of Nusa Dua lends the hotel a terraced architecture reminiscent of the area’s stepped rice fields, a clever use of topography which ensures all 176 Cliff Suites have sweeping sea views as well as private plunge pools. The 43 luxury villas also boast exclusive pools, while the 48 Grand Deluxe Rooms are adjacent to the main swimming lagoons. The whole structure interleaves perfectly with the rest of the resort’s Indo-inspired décor.
A hotel gym, Versailles-style in Bali
While exploring somewhere around level 8, I come across an atrium where paving slabs thread between shallow, pebble-lined pools. Golden light from underwater lamps shimmers back and forth across the walls like the contents of Marcellus Wallace’s briefcase. ‘Where can this magical pathway possibly lead?’ I ask myself. A shrine to Buddha? The Presidential Suite? Not quite; it’s the hotel gym. Speaking of priceless lightshows, at dusk the hotel’s whole magnificent façade lights up like the Palace of Versailles. Nowhere is the translation of Apurva – ‘unique and magnificent’ in Sanskrit – more applicable.
[At this point I should mention some of the hotel’s impressive list of green credentials, from being the first in Indonesia to receive the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) certification to being named Best Sustainable Hotel at the ULTRAs (Ultimate Luxury Travel Related Awards) but I don’t want to risk the reader’s interest waning. Trust me – they’re legit.]
One AK philosophy we take to heart is minimising food waste, and nothing that appears before us is left undevoured. This explains the food coma – eight first-class dining options divided by two days would fell an elephant. And that’s not even counting the world’s best breakfast buffet, where the Bubur Ayam, traditional rice porridge with broth and myriad toppings, is insanely delicious. The pinnacle of opulence here though is the whole honeycomb from which I carve hexagonal portions of raw, chewy sweetness. (This probably reveals my naïveté regarding hotels that have more stars than I have arms, but that one stopped me in my tracks.)
Bai Yun Cantonese restaurant
At Bai Yun Cantonese restaurant we plough through dim sum and hotpot, the latter served with a side order of dry ice which flows across the table like the White Cloud of the restaurant’s title. We do admirably well at the Reef Beach Club, including a very drinkable IPA from local brewery Black Island. However, it’s the six-course seafood degustation at Koral, Bali’s first aquarium restaurant, that finally breaks us.
Rays, reef sharks, and a host of colourful coral denizens watch intrigued from behind the glass as we take photos of asparagus carpaccio with mushroom jelly, and other works of art disguised as food. The teeming tank-dwellers are presently joined by a scuba diver who poses for photos with groups of diners. I note the hotel’s logo prominent on the chest of his wetsuit and thus in everyone’s holiday snaps – a stroke of marketing genius. It’s at Koral we meet Agus Utama, the resort’s Restaurant Operations Manager. Agus typifies all AK staff by being genuinely welcoming and apparently deeply interested in our visit. So charming is he that we return at closing time to take up his offer of espresso martinis which, predictably, culminate in midnight swims to infinity and beyond.
Private plunge pools at the Apurva, Kempinksi
The suite’s private plunge pool would be our favourite amenity – nothing beats floating in silence as dawn imprints a sky the colour of vermillion orchids on our eyeballs – but it’s by no means a clear winner. Close contenders include the welcome cornucopia of fruit, cakes, nuts and chocolate, the use of recycled materials in the toiletries, and the loan of a Tempur neck support pillow. Suite residents also have access to the Cliff Lounge’s private check-in area, with its hydro pool and pre-cocktail cocktails every evening. And whoever decided on Japanese toilets throughout really hit the bullseye!
Which brings us back to the spa and its motto rupasampat wahyabiantara – ‘true beauty is achieved when outer beauty is in harmony with inner beauty’. It’s hard to achieve outer beauty while wearing disposable mesh underwear, but after an hour being scrubbed with flower petals and lemongrass oil I feel I’m getting close. It’s only as I’m strolling out through the spa’s stunning main corridor that it clicks – with its suite of sustainable initiatives, the slogan could apply equally to the Apurva Kempinki itself.
