Maua Nusa Penida

Style

Volcanic bella vista

Setting

Bali deep, mountain h’ai

Maua Nusa Penida’s prime hilltop location is no happy accident. This is a resort that lives for the views, where west-facing villas (and their plunge pools) provide ringside seats for technicolour Indian Ocean sunsets, all rambutan reds, dragon-fruit pinks and papaya oranges. The resort’s clever design is such that you’ll find your gaze drawn to crazy-amazing panoramas of Gamat Bay, Mount Agung and the viridescent jungle canopy from almost wherever you go: when strolling in the tropical gardens, while cooling off in the infinity pool, or when lingering over a breakfast of sugar-sweet mangosteen, fresh coconut and perky Java coffee. Head to the sugary sands at nearby Crystal Bay for a different perspective and – oh, if you insist – an ice-cold lychee martini from one of the bars there.

Facilities

Rooms

There are 23 one-bedroom villas at the resort and a couple with two bedrooms.

Checkout

11am, but flexible up to 12 noon, subject to availability. The 2pm check-in time is also flexible where availability permits.

More Details

Rates include breakfast in Kowhai restaurant, with mountains of fresh fruits and juices, plus pastries, breads, jams and a choice of cooked dishes from the à la carte menu.

Fitness Center

Free Internet Access

Laundry

Pool

On-Site Restaurant

Room Service

Spa

At the Hotel

Restaurant, bar, outdoor pool, spa, gym, free WiFi. In rooms: plunge pool, air conditioning, minibar, cable TV, Nespresso coffee machine, free bottled water, bathroom with shower and Swisscare toiletries. Villa stays also include daily light bites in the afternoon.

Our Favourite Rooms

The whitewashed villas here all favour a simple contemporary design that draws the eye ever outwards through floor-to-ceiling glass patio doors that frame those glorious views: Gamat Bay, Mount Agung and the jungle canopy. All face west, so you’ll want to turn off your TV for sunset, the day’s undisputed viewing highlight, best experienced from your plunge pool with a negroni in hand. Upgrade to a Suite Villa for a little extra space and some of the best views in the resort.

Poolside

Recline in a cabana surrounded by tropical greenery and views of Bali’s volcanic Mount Agung. The infinity pool is open from sunrise to sundown, and the bar here stays open later still, serving up tropical juices and fruity cocktails until 10pm. There’s a smaller adjacent pool for kids.

Spa

Treat yourself to a vigorous pummeling in the spa where, perhaps unsurprisingly, Balinese treatments are the order of the day. Go for the 90-minute Balinese deep-tissue massage and traditional boreh body wrap (and stick around for the cookies and ginger tea). The spa is open from 9am until 9pm.

Packing Tips

Hiking Nusa Penida’s hills is rewarding but can be fairly intense, with most walks involving precipitous climbs down steep steps to sandy coves or up densely forested hills to clifftop temples and viewing points. Essentials for such adventures include solid hiking shoes with reliably grippy soles, a large refillable water bottle, and a decent backpack for stowing camera equipment, snorkels and swimwear.

Also

Working out is rendered approximately 150 per cent more pleasurable by widescreen jungle views from the treadmill and spinning machine, and available classes at the resort include Hatha yoga (held at sunrise and sundown), aqua stretching and Pilates.

Children

Little Smiths are welcome, though child-friendly options here are limited to a small kids’ pool and a pair of two-bedroom villas.

Gallery

Food & Drink

Top Table

You’d be hard-pushed to find a table without a gallery-worthy view here, but the closer to the edge of the terrace you sit, the more completely unobstructed your sunset will be.

Dress Code

Tropical-print cotton kaftans and kurtas for Mrs Smith; cool, pressed linens for Mr Smith. But here be mozzies, so leave ankles exposed (or unsprayed) for al fresco dining at your peril.

Hotel Restaurant

Overlooking the island’s verdant hills and Gamat Bay beyond, Kowhai’s menu has a focus on fruits, vegetables and herbs from the resort gardens as well as fish and seafood caught and delivered by local fisherman that very day. Expect Indonesian classics including chicken satay and nasi goreng as well as crowd-pleasing steaks, burgers and more. Open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Hotel Bar

Poolside Aroha Bar stays open until 10pm, serving light snacks, drinks, cocktails and a range of New Zealand wines to cabana dwellers throughout the day.

Last Orders

Bar, restaurant and room service all wind down at 10pm.

Room Service

Available between 7am and 10pm, with last orders at 9.30pm.

Planes

The nearest airport is Ngurah Rai in Bali. It's around 45 minutes from the airport to Sanur Harbour for ferries to Nusa Penida. The resort can organise transfers on request.

Automobiles

For the most part, Nusa Penida’s roads are very rough and narrow, with little room for vehicles to pass one another and plenty of blind summits and hairpin bends. Not for the faint-hearted, in other words. You can rent scooters and motorbikes for day trips around the island or, if you want to play it extra-safe, book a car with a driver who knows the roads. Taxis are also available for short journeys. Maua Nusa Penida has free secure parking on site.

Worth Getting Out of Bed For

Remote Nusa Penida may be, but that doesn’t mean it wants for things to do. Indeed, for the keen scuba diver, the happy snapper and the nature-loving adventurer this island is something of a hidden treasure. Heck, if you came here seeking a holistic hideaway you needn’t even leave the resort, thanks to dawn and dusk yoga classes and aqua stretching sessions hosted in your own private plunge pool.

Seagrass beds and colourful coral reefs that teem with manta rays, sea turtles and rainbows of tropical fish make for some of Indonesia’s finest snorkelling and scuba sites. Lucky divers might even come face to enormous face with a showstopping ocean sunfish or two. You can’t miss them, really: they’re about 20 times the size you are. Manta Point and nearby Crystal Bay are two of the best spots. Or take a boat trip over to the aptly named Blue Lagoon at neighbouring Nusa Ceningan.

You are of course spoiled for choice here when it comes to palm-fringed white sands and crystal clear waters. Budding photographers will love Broken Beach for its distinctive arch, circular cove scooped out of the cliffs and turquoise waters that, inaccessible to humans, are a playground for manta rays. Prefer your coves a little more… swimmable? Head to Tembeling Beach where, beneath forest-fringed cliffs, lies a huge sea cave with a waterfall and natural pools. Intrepid adventurers will need to channel their inner Indiana Jones or Lara Croft to reach it though – it’s located at the bottom of a somewhat hair-raising cliffside dirt track.

With its signature T-rex-shaped outcrop, Kelingking Beach is one of the island’s most visited (and photographed) attractions. Trek along the top of the beast’s head, from where you can take the vertigo-inducing stairway down to the pristine beach below. Nearby Paluang Cliff affords excellent t-rex views minus the crowds. There’s also a Hindu shrine up here, commonly known as the Car Temple due to two monolithic stone sculptures that appear to have been modelled on the vehicles from Wacky Races.

For a more traditional but no less religious experience, head out east for a hike up to Goa Giri Putri Temple. You’ll find it up a steep staircase and through a hole in the mountainside, where worshippers gather for Hindu ceremonies inside a huge natural limestone cave.

Earn or Redeem Points with World of Hyatt

This Mr & Mrs Smith hotel participates in the World of Hyatt loyalty program. As a member, you can earn and redeem points and enjoy exclusive benefits for qualifying nights. .