Bali, Indonesia

Hotel Tugu Bali

Price per night from$239.43

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (IDR3,768,595.04), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Style

Arty tropical eclectic

Setting

Surfy Canggu Beach

A luxury pioneer on the shores of chic surf spot Canggu Beach in south-west Bali, vibrant Hotel Tugu Bali's romantic mood is enhanced by the owner’s world-class collection of museum-quality Indonesian antiquities. Seductive thatched suites are dotted among lush gardens and lotus ponds by the Indian Ocean, alongside a rich mix of elegantly ethnic restaurants.

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

A one-hour massage for two

Facilities

Photos Hotel Tugu Bali facilities

Need to know

Rooms

Twenty-two, including 19 suites, two one-bedroom villas and one two-bedroom villa.

Check–Out

Noon; check in from noon too. When the resort is not full, management will accommodate early arrivals and late departures.

Prices

Double rooms from £227.79 (IDR4,560,000), including tax at 21 per cent.

More details

Rates exclude breakfast, but include a welcome drink and massage, flowers, tropical fruit and mineral water in-room, and daily high tea at sunset with local delicacies.

Also

The hotel boutique is well known around the island as a destination for serious antique shoppers. Consider bypassing shops around Seminyak and Ubud to take advantage of the Tugu owner’s keen eye and fair pricing.

At the hotel

Free WiFI throughout, spa, library with books, CDs and DVDs, gardens. In rooms: flatscreen TV, DVD/CD player, minibar, complimentary bottled water, own-label eco-friendly toiletries, English-language newspaper.

Our favourite rooms

Dedari Suites are best for beachcombers who can roll out of their four-poster and past the roomy plunge pool straight onto the sand. Spa junkies may prefer the upstairs wood- panelled Rejang Suites under the traditional Balinese thatched roof because of their ensuite massage treatment tables and sunken round bath for two. Couples who want more room for romance should consider the 2,100 square foot red-themed Puri Le Mayeur villa, dedicated to the love story between the Belgian painter Adrien-Jean Le Mayeur de Merprès and local Legong dancer Ni Polok, or the Walter Spies Pavilion filled with the Dutch artist’s own memorabilia in art deco surroundings.

Poolside

The charming palm-fringed pool offers sun and shade in equal measure to guests lounging on padded chaises.

Packing tips

Even if you’re a novice, consider packing a pair of board shorts to try riding some waves. Sturdy shoes (plus some good mosquito spray) are also handy for exploring the splashy surrounding paddy fields.

Also

Rates include private airport transfers, a welcome drink and massage, flowers, tropical fruit and mineral water in-room, and daily high tea at sunset with local delicacies. Smoking rooms are available.

Children

Baby cots are provided for free but must be requested in advance; extra beds for older children can be added for around £29. Hotel Tugu Bali offers a children’s’ menu of Western and Asian options.

Overview

Baby cots are provided for free but must be requested in advance; extra beds for older children can be added for around £29. Hotel Tugu Bali offers a children’s’ menu of Western and Asian options.

Best for

Kids old enough to play independently in the sand and teenagers who will enjoy Tugu’s cultural activities.

Recommended rooms

Two-bedroom Kampoeng Suites make the most sense for families though younger children can be accommodated with an added cot at no charge and an extra bed can be added to any room for US$45 a child a night.

Activities

Hotel Tugu Bali has many activities suitable for kids as well as adults, from cultural immersion in Balinese dance, gamelan and flower-offering classes to horseback riding and surf lessons. Children of all ages will love the hotel’s baby turtle release programme, which includes a short boat ride to a nearby island’s small sanctuary where guests can help usher these adorable creatures back to the sea.

Swimming pool

While there is no dedicated kids pool the main freshwater pool has a generous shallow end to play in, provided parents act as lifeguard.

Meals

A separate kids' menu is available in the restaurant and from room service. With such a large range of meals on offer here, specific requests can usually be accommodated for younger eaters and packed lunches can be made up for family outings. High chairs are on hand in the restaurants and staff can heat up baby milk or food on request.

Babysitting

Babysitting can be arranged with 24 hours' notice for about US$8 an hour with hotel staff.

No need to pack

Baby cots, which are supplied for free, but must be booked in advance.

Also

Tugu Bali’s staff are extremely kid-friendly. You’ll feel like the entire team is looking out for your young ones no matter what their official role. Although the hotel may seem geared more towards romance, children are welcomed into the Tugu Bali clan so while there is no kids’ club, the whole place has a family-friendly vibe.

Sustainability efforts

Hotel Tugu Bali minimizes its impact on its stunning coastal environment by recycling avidly, including reusing water where appropriate. It spearheads regular beach clean-ups and supports the local community with English classes.

Food and Drink

Photos Hotel Tugu Bali food and drink

Top Table

Nothing beats dining on the beach but gourmands should also set aside a night to try the 12-course rijstaffel rice platter on Bale Puputan’s enormous marble-top dining table.

Dress Code

Guests run the gamut here from Asian honeymooners in matching Polo jerseys to Versace-clad Europeans but most dress beach-casual by day, covering up with smarter attire to dine at night.

Hotel restaurant

Tugu Bali boasts five restaurants but guests are equally encouraged to take their meals in numerous romantic nooks around the verdant grounds or dine privately in their chambers. Bale Sutra is a 300-year-old Chinese temple reconstructed on- site where guests dine on Chinese Peranakan specialities in a flirtatious crimson dining room. The artwork inside the ornately carved Bale Puputan commemorates 19th-century Balinese heroes and the eatery is renowned around Bali for its multi-course Grand Rijstaffel dinner. The chef at the more relaxed open-air Waroeng Tugu learned to cook classics such as nasi goreng from her grandmother, and shares her secret family recipes with guests. Wantilan Agung attracts diners who prefer Western fare, served under a dramatic pitched roof. Sunset Beach is the go-to spot for Tugu’s full moon barbecues known for their signature grilled snapper with caramelized fennel and vegetables.

Hotel bar

You’ll find the Keraton Bar inside the high-ceilinged Wantilan Agung Ballroom, making it a convenient after-dark spot to rev up or wind down. Expect lounge music of the Buddha Bar variety but no DJ and a generous drinks list that spans the signature Canggu Romantic (made with vodka, lime juice with a splash of ginger ale) and the Guavatini (a magic mix of vodka, guava and lime juice topped off with liquid sugar).

Last orders

The restaurants are open until 11pm, as is the bar.

Room service

Available non-stop. Wake up to tropical fruit, European coffee or Balinese jamu herbal remedies. There's something deliciously decadent about gorging in your room on Bali’s famous spiced duck bebek betutu, 12 hours in the roasting.

Location

Photos Hotel Tugu Bali location
Address
Hotel Tugu Bali
Jl. Pantai Batu Bolong - Canggu Beach
Bali
80361
Indonesia

Hotel Tugu Bali is located on Bali’s south-west coast, set just back from Canggu Beach, surrounded by fertile paddy fields yet only 20 minutes north by car from Seminyak’s hip boutiques and non-stop nightlife.

Planes

Fly into Ngurah Rai International Airport, just south of capital Denpasar; you can buy a visa on arrival, which costs US$25 for 30 days and is payable in cash. Lines can be long and painfully slow at peak arrival hours such as mornings and late at night, so make sure your iPod, Blackberry or book is easily accessible for the duration. Call our Smith24 team to organise and book your flights.

Automobiles

Hotel Tugu Bali is a 45-minute drive from the airport and private car transfers cost IDR243,000 each way. Travellers planning to explore beyond the resort, our Smith24 team of travel experts can arrange a set of wheels for you to pick up at the airport; but be warned Bali’s traffic can be terrifying and the roads aren’t always smooth sailing particularly as you drive further up the coast from Canggu and into Bali’s interior. Fortunately, you can hire well-maintained cars with excellent drivers for as little as US$30 a day. They know Bali well and will take you wherever you want, then happily wait while you swim at the beach, enjoy a meal or go shopping.

Other

Helicopter transfers from Bali's airport to the hotel can be arranged at additional cost.

Worth getting out of bed for

Long walks on Canggu Beach are romantic any time of day and surfers will rave about the breaks. Even the uncoordinated will get a kick out of the hotel's Balinese dance classes, particularly the Barong who represents good versus evil. Tugu’s much loved female chef Ibu Soelastri leads budding cooks into the local fish and vegetable market, then through her family’s recipes. Ride gentle horses along the beach or make even less effort by hopping aboard the vintage horse drawn carriage that can be arranged for romantic sunset rides on the sand and into the paddies. Try all six spa pavilions, as each works best for a different type of restorative treatment. Fitness fans can take advantage of nearby treks and private Yogalates sessions, a hybrid yoga and Pilates work-out, while those seeking to build spiritual strength will find Tugu’s environment ripe for meditative contemplation. The owners of Hotel Tugu Bali share their Balinese and Indonesian heritage with guests not only through their extensive on-site art collection but also through the many unique activities which bring you into personal contact with local traditions. Private tours to Bali’s royal palaces can be arranged as well as trips to explore little visited museum gems such as the Subak Museum, focusing on Balinese traditional life, and the Manusa Yadnya, full of local ritual adornments. Five different types of Balinese dance classes are also on offer as well as lessons in Balinese cooking and herbal drink preparation.

Local restaurants

Plants hang from the ceilings, vibrantly-coloured posters adorn the walls and a classic car is parked in the centre of Attarine in Berawa – the younger sister-restaurant of the hugley popular Potato Head Beach Club futher along the coast. The kitchen is headed by chef Jacob Burrell (previously of Big Sur and The Post Ranch Inn in California), who's whipping up a feast of fresh local fare; the menu includes many a mouth-watering dish, such as slow-cooked duck, pan-roasted fish fillets and wagyu beef short ribs. 

Local cafés

Monsieur Spoon is a family-run French bakery/café serving a tempting range of handmade pastries and cakes, artisan breads and anitpasti platters. Take a seat inside or out – with floor-to-ceiling windows you can enjoy the Balinese sun while sipping a coffee or fresh fruit juice, wherever you choose. One of the best spots for breakfast in Berawa, Milk & Madu's menu is full of yummy snacks, so tasty, you won't realise how healthy they are. Stop by for a colourful-cup of coffee or a juicy smoothie with a crispy salad, brioche burger, or flatbread pizza.

Local bars

Have a cocktail on the coast at Finn's Beach Club. This popular beach-front bar serves up a wide variety of drinks from wines and beers to ciders, smoothies and super juices. Try one of their signature cocktails, such as the Chénola (made with light rum, peach licqeur, passion friut and lime juice), before heading to one of their waterfront restaurants for dinner. 

Reviews

Photos Hotel Tugu Bali reviews
Anne Kornblut

Anonymous review

By Anne Kornblut, Political reporter

Descending into the darkened lobby of the Hotel Tugu Bali, the sounds of traditional Balinese gongs floating in the air, we are welcomed by the most unlikely of figures: a giant, two-storey wooden statue of a beaked eagle, wings outstretched.

As our eyes focus, we quickly realise that the dramatic work – a rendering of the Hindu divinity Garuda – is merely the centrepiece of a hotel devoted to paying homage to Balinese art and sculpture. Neatly crafted teak furniture, a staple of Bali, hints at the quality of the decor in this small, quiet property: scattered everywhere are wooden display cases full of artifacts, each selected from the personal art collection of Tugu’s owner Anhar Setjadibrata.

Threaded with winding stone pathways, the hotel gardens lead from one arty nook to the next, a library packed with antiques opening up into a candle-lit shrine full of statuettes, followed by an ornate dining room lined with black-and-white photographs of ancient Bali. Taking an exploratory tour of the grounds, discovering one exhibit after another, we can’t help but wonder: have we accidentally stumbled into a quirky museum?

We get our answer as soon as we reach our Dedari Suite, nestled behind a wooden door at the end of one of the pathways. Far from feeling like part of an untouchable display, the room, painted bright green with a jungle-enclosed plunge pool outside, inspires us to kick off our shoes and fling ourselves down on the massive canopy bed, which is enveloped in white flowing curtains. ‘Can we bottle this moment?’ my new husband asks, a refrain I would hear several times on our honeymoon over the next few days.

Unexpectedly, our bathing area – because it is not, in truth, anything as mundane as a bathroom – provides several such memorable tableaux. Built partly outdoors, a stone bath tub sits next to large wooden windows that swing open over the private courtyard. A day-bed, thoughtfully arranged next to the bath, along with incense and candles, gives us a perfect excuse to spend hours lying about in plush towels. The hotel’s shampoo, conditioner, bath foam and gels, set out in small, black ceramic pots, add another earthy touch.

‘Ask and ye shall receive,’ has clearly been conveyed to the Tugu’s staff as the hotel’s credo. Request an 11am couple’s massage at 10.30am, and you will not only get one, but you will also be fetched from your room at precisely that hour and led to an outdoor canopy, the sound of crashing waves in the background.

Ask about a dinner reservation in a nearby town – the fashionable Ku De Ta in Seminyak, in our case, a 20-minute drive to the south – and you will get in at your desired time and have a car waiting to take you. The hotel offers a long list of other activities, including a cooking class that starts with a dawn trip to the food market. And it was clear from our passing inquiries that more or less any request, be it about sightseeing or laundry, would be met with an enthusiastic offer, by at least three staff members, to satisfy our desires.

Two soundtracks play on a continuous loop throughout the Tugu: traditional Balinese music; and running water, pouring from fountains in the cold-water swimming pools. After a long day dodging motorbikes on the streets outside, the quiet spa noises were soothing, virtually rocking us to sleep just after dinner each night.

Still, this hotel may not be for everyone. It is slightly more rustic than advertised, in keeping with the surfer sensibility that dominates the Canggu beach area on the south-western shore of Bali. Getting to the beachfront itself requires a short walk across a field; once there, guests are encouraged to recline on a four-poster wooden bed that has been tucked into the sand, or on a handful of lounge chairs.

Some of the best features of Tugu, however, are not within the property walls but just beyond. An easy stroll down the shore leads to an enclave known as Echo Beach, a wonderfully rugged surf spot with low-key bars, restaurants and an inexpensive (but divine) nail salon and massage parlour. Closer to the hotel, just a few steps from the entrance, sits a delightful organic restaurant named Om. Open-air, with bamboo furniture and thatched roofing – and, of course, free WiFi – Om offers a view of the ocean that is, unfortunately, harder to come by at Tugu itself. And the food is a nice respite from some of the heavier Indonesian fare at the hotel.

But what Tugu lacks in subtlety, it more than makes up for in attentiveness. Our first encounter with the hotel's spectacular service had been at Denpasar airport, where, emerging in a jet-lagged daze, we were greeted by a grinning man who ferried us past the long queue for Customs and into a waiting SUV. From that moment forward, every member of staff recognised us on sight. Curious about the origin of a particular statue? Someone will write out an explanation for you. Want to watch a movie? The staff will offer you a library of hundreds of international and Indonesian DVDs.

Feel like sitting in the lobby, gazing up at a winged Hindu divinity, drinking tea? No problem, and would you like us to light some candles for you as well? Because that, really, is the point of this place: to sit and do nothing and let the Balinese spirit sink in.

 

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Price per night from $239.43