Kamandalu Ubud — Hotel in Pulau Bali

After one year of planning and organizing our group Yoga Retreat at Kamandalu, the day finally arrived with participants from California, Texas, Mexico and Jamaica.|Seeing photos on social posts is one thing: arriving at Kamandalu is another…I mean next level…knock me off my feet…take my breath away moments. First, walking into the lobby area. Helloooo!! Look up at the chandelier…look at the modern touches and the aesthetics blended with the 360 degree view out into the lush greenery. Wow! Wow! Balinese style blended in with modern touches - every detail meticulously design to make your arrival into the space like you landed into the ethos of a never-before-seen landscape. Then the receptionists welcome you with such professional warmth and Balinese charm followed up with warm towels to wipe your hands; a refreshing, cool freshly squeezed juice coupled with a neck & shoulder massage. Yes, you read that clearly!! |After, we were individually escorted to our very private villas. So, I have led about a dozen yoga retreats: Costa Rica (7 times), Mexico (once), Jamaica (2 times), Cuba (once), Bali (once before) - but these villas are your own hotel. You opened the front doors and you walk into your own verandah with walls and trees to give you all the privacy from the next villa. You can have the option to lock your front gates - “don’t bother me!” Then after, you open your front door to be welcomed by a huge canopy bed with beautiful sheer mosquito and insect protection (not that I have seen any) ; mounted wall television; beautifully designed Balinese furniture and all the fine touches that make your eyes pop. Hold on - pls stay with me - you have a wall made purely of glass with its door leading you to your secluded backyard with your own covered cabana surrounded by the natural green vegetation - birds chirping and one morning I had the pleasure of a monkey visiting. You must stay with me ok - because the bathroom is its own paradise! Uhmmmm!! Seriously!! An indoor shower with quality warm water and as you step out, you have your outside standing shower and wait…wait…a deep, sunken bathtub that says, “you have arrived and you are not going to leave!” Hand me the bubble bath!!!! |…And that’s only my villa until you see the Yoga Shala facing out to the abyss of nature offering free daily yoga classes and the infinity pool with its own bar. But tour around this magnificent Hotel and look at its design and the other world class pool with its swim-up bar where you can just chill and soak up the tropical sun. Lounge chairs encapsulate the space giving you room for your own groupy. Tour around to find so elements of surprises: private deck to just hide away and chill; the coy pond; the two massage spas and while everyone hustle to Tegallalong for a Balinese swing, enjoy your own private swing at Kamandalu facing out to nature. |Im returning to Bali in November - yes, Scorpio season - birthday bliss with friends - and we are right here. No other hotel, but KAMANDALU. You have not only taken my breath; you have won my heart, love and respect! Thank you so much to the wonderful Management team; the chef; the restaurant & front desk staff. Thank you to the drivers and those who came to clean my villa - not once like most hotels - but twice daily. We say in Jamaica: Yeah Mon! One...

Arriving at Kamandalu feels like stopping time. The noise of the world stays behind, and suddenly you find yourself surrounded by rice terraces, green hills and that dense humidity that, instead of bothering you, caresses your skin. A place designed to whisper in your ear: “you’ve made it to Bali, now breathe.”||We were six. A family that travels together, laughs together, sometimes argues, but always seeks space for each other. That’s why we chose three identical villas without private pools. A deliberate choice. We wanted comfort, privacy, and room to breathe. What we found were sanctuaries: spacious, silent, with beds that embraced you at night and bathrooms where the water itself seemed to pray.||Kamandalu has something profoundly Balinese: the ability to offer luxury without noise. A luxury that doesn’t shout, but envelops. Walking barefoot along stone paths, opening the shutters to the forest, sitting on a terrace overlooking the valley… here, the ordinary becomes extraordinary.||Mornings always began in the same place: the open-air restaurant overlooking the jungle. Breakfast wasn’t just food; it was a ritual. Strong Balinese coffee, fruit sweet as candy, fried rice competing with flawless eggs benedict. All of it served with genuine smiles, at an unhurried pace, under the light of a soft tropical morning. Breakfast at Kamandalu was nothing less than magical.||Then came the pools. Or better, the pools. That infinity pool that dissolves into the valley, pretending to meet the river. The quieter one, with its swim-up bar, where cocktails taste different when you sip them half-submerged, body floating, sun melting into the horizon. Those afternoons, all six of us together, were when the word “family” felt most alive.||Evenings gave us something else. We dined at the resort three times. Each dinner memorable, each with good wine and no rush. One night, however, was extraordinary: a Balinese dance performance in four acts, and only twelve of us in the audience. The music of the gamelan, the costumes, the hand gestures telling centuries-old stories. It felt private, like being let into a secret.||And then the spa. The outdoor massage. If I had to choose a word, it would be: mystical. Not only for the skill of the hands, but for the jungle soundtrack: birds, water flowing, the forest breathing around us. It wasn’t a treatment, it was a journey inward.||Of course, there are the details — the kindness of the staff, candles flickering at dusk, the faint trace of incense drifting along the walkways. But what truly makes Kamandalu unforgettable is the invisible: its way of making each day feel eternal, each gesture personal, each moment impossible to forget.||What we carried home was more than memories. It was a certainty: that there exists a place in Ubud where luxury is a state of mind, not a price tag; where Balinese culture is lived with respect, not spectacle; where a family of six felt not like guests, but like part of something rare and beautiful.||Kamandalu Ubud is simply one of those places that stays with you long after you’ve...

Please do not book the romantic forest dinner here. I booked the dinner for a wedding anniversary. It was the worst dinner experience I have ever experienced.

I do not usually write reviews, but I would not feel right if others had their special occasion ruined like mine.

To start, the location of the 'romantic' deck is next to the swimming pool area. They provided one mosquito coil and the candles offered no lighting.

The server provided was a trainee. They did not speak English well, but we overcame this by using a translation app.

Unfortunately things got worse very quickly. It took 35 minutes for the bread and a drink to arrive. When we asked for an update on food and drinks, the server did not understand.

We kindly requested to move to a location with more lighting and less bugs. They moved us to the alternate location which is the yoga studio, with 2 chairs and table.

A further 40 minutes later, the appetiser arrived. Unfortunately the food was covered in bugs. We explained this to the server, so he decided to change the table cloth and spray the table with insect repellant. This took another 20 minutes. We then asked to speak to the manager and then requested to forget the appetiser and move to main course. Please keep in mind, this dinner was sold as a 6 course intimate dining experience.

After further 20 mins, we asked again for the manager and asked if we could simply eat in the hotel restaurant. The server barely understood the request and then we decided to look for the manager ourselves. A further 45 minutes of walking around the hotel and being asked to walk to different locations, eventually the duty manager appeared. We asked for a refund and alternative food arrangement. His response was, "I cannot authorise any refund, I can only take your story and tell my general manager". We left the hotel and ended up having dinner in our room in our own accommodation.

Safe to say, this is the worst dining experience I have experienced. Please avoid booking this.

The general manager then confirmed via WhatsApp that they would refund the dinner fee I already paid. I asked to be compensated for the alternate dinner costs I had to pay for. His response was to offer us a 1 hour spa complimentary!

This hotel is not 5 star. We saw many angry guests when walking to find the manager, as the staff were unable to guide them with simple...