Bali's most architecturally significant hotel — WOHA Architects' cliff resort on the Bukit Peninsula, 65 pool villas facing the Indian Ocean. The cantilevered cliff-edge infinity pool is the island's most photographed.
Why We Chose It
WOHA Architects' design for Alila Villas Uluwatu (2009) is consistently cited in architecture publications as one of the finest resort designs in Asia — the concrete-and-glass vocabulary taking the limestone plateau's dramatic position and amplifying rather than softening it, with the resort's infinity pool positioned to appear to extend directly into the Indian Ocean below and the villa architecture providing the maximum exposure to the south-facing view while minimizing the visible resort infrastructure. The 65 pool villas (all with private infinity pools, all oriented south toward the Indian Ocean, all using the WOHA vocabulary of concrete, timber, and Balinese alang-alang grass) are arranged on the cliff plateau so that each villa achieves complete privacy from the next while sharing the collective view. The Warung restaurant (casual, with the finest cliff-edge view of any restaurant on the Bukit Peninsula) and CIRE (fine dining, more formal) provide the culinary program. The sustainability credentials are the most developed of any Bali hotel: rainwater collection, solar power, organic waste composting, and the use of sustainable materials throughout. The spa (integrated into the cliff landscape, with treatment rooms positioned to give therapists and guests the same Indian Ocean views) completes the most comprehensive luxury resort experience on the Bukit Peninsula.
What Stands Out
- WOHA Architects' most celebrated design: the sustainability-focused concrete-and-glass resort that redefined how luxury hotels use Bali's dramatic topography
- 65 pool villas all oriented to the Indian Ocean: each private, each with infinity pool appearing to extend into the sea below
- Infinity pool cantilevered above the cliff: the most photographed hotel pool in Bali — the image that changed expectations for what an infinity pool could be
- Sustainability credentials: the most developed environmental program of any Bali luxury hotel — solar power, rainwater collection, zero-waste organic composting
- Warung cliff-edge casual restaurant: the finest casual-dining cliff-edge view on the Bukit Peninsula