Bali's new Chedi hotel features swim-up rooms
Swim-up rooms and ocean breezes are among the charms at this Bali resort, writes Holly McDonald
The latest Chedi hotel is on Tanjung Benoa, a slim peninsula on Bali's southernmost coast stretching towards Serangan (Turtle) Island and Nusa Dua. Once a fishing village - and still offering protection to the remaining mangroves of Benoa Harbour - these days, Tanjung Benoa's main road is flanked by hotels.
The beach here is popular with tourists and locals, who come to either relax on the busy beach or try their hand at jetskiing, parasailing or banana boat riding. This area is just outside the manufactured calm of gated Nusa Dua, but if you head to the northern tip of the peninsula and have a look around, you'll find a friendly village vibe.
The 261-rooms at the Chedi are mostly built apartment-style in a five-storey building, with rooms reached by open-to-the-sea-breeze corridors.
My room looks onto a meandering deep-blue pool dotted with alang-alang roofed swim-up bars. The ground floor rooms have swim-up access themselves and are probably worth springing the extra for. From my balcony, the sound of the various waterfalls is soothing.
Verandas have simple furniture, but lack privacy with no greenery (yet, perhaps).
Rooms have that distinctly stylish, slightly masculine GHM/Chedi look, with warm peripheral touches - think lots of tasteful marbles, softened with textured carpets and materials in hushed, subdued tones. The feel is more urban than beach, but it's refined and spacious, with a complete kitchenette. We liked the single sliding door between the shower and toilet.