Five of the best hotels in Bali

Waka Gangga

The design of this recently refurbished 27-room beachside resort near Canggu is inspired by the dwellings typical of traditional Indonesian villages, says Amanda Linfoot in The Sunday Times. Guests stay in "spacious bungalows, each set in their own lush walled garden, with a plunge pool and raised seating area from which you can watch the sea". You can watch the sun set into the Indian Ocean over dinner at the restaurant on the beach, then sink into "beds fit for a princess" in your room.

From £136 a night (wakahotelsandresorts.com).

Como Shambhala Estate

Como Shambhala was voted Cond Nast Traveller's best destination spa of 2013 the resort "delivers on every level". Dramatic scenery surrounds it "Balinese jungle with giant arching bamboo; trees as tall as skyscrapers and cicadas as loud as police sirens". But the resort itself is located "in a sheer, calm expanse with grass so perfect it appears to have been manicured with nail scissors" and you can bathe in natural waterfalls and swimming pools created by sacred springs.

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But do be aware that this is a proper spa intent on improving your wellbeing "the big cleanse happens on a digestive level" so this is not the resort for you if you'd secretly rather gorge on Balinese cuisine and slob out by the pool.

From £512 a night for a double room, half board (comohotels.com).

Fivelements

"In Bali, it is believed that healthy, happy beings are in harmony with divinity, humanity and nature," says Anna Pasternak in Cond Nast Traveller. Fivelements a spiritual retreat has been built by award-winning local architect Ketut Arthana with these principles in mind. "The results are simply gobsmacking." It's made "entirely out of bamboo There isn't a jarring inch of concrete anywhere." It means the bedrooms are "a tad basic" imagine sophisticated bamboo yurts "but you'll adapt".

The spa hugs the river bank, glimpsed through "floating muslin curtains and little decks where tea is sipped to the... soothing soundtrack of the pounding Ayung River". Post-consultation, you'll be given a treatment programme, with "every conceivable energy-healing, negativity-clearing... emotional rebalancing available."

From £136 per night (fivelements.org).

Villa Sungai

Villa Sungai is a haven of peace and privacy, off the beaten track in beautiful rural Bali, says Olivia Parker in The Daily Telegraph. The "bedrooms are lovely and light, with large four poster beds" to go with the usual mod cons, such as iPods and televisions, while "a night watchman is at the other end of a walkie-talkie should you need him at any hour". Try for the master bedroom, as it has a "much larger outdoor bathroom, where you can bathe or shower under the stars (wildlife from the surrounding jungle is mostly a charming addition, as long as it's not the biting kind)".

£458+ a night (bali-villasungai.com).

One Eleven Villas

This "intimate, exclusive-feelingproperty in Seminyak" hasnine private residences "withswimming pools, in-housespa therapists, and a first-rateJapanese restaurant", says LeeCobaj in The Daily Telegraph.

The villas are "shrouded behindhigh walls", yet offer "palmdottedgardens, stand-aloneglass-encased spas, vast openairliving rooms, and properswimming pools".

From £350 a night, withbreakfast (111resorts.com).