#4 in Top 20 Bali for A Wellness Retreat · ★★★★★
Amandari
Original Aman, terraced rice paddies, the wellness retreat that doesn't market itself as wellness.
Original Aman, terraced rice paddies, the wellness retreat that doesn't market itself as wellness.
"The 1989 Ubud Aman: the founding Bali Aman, and still the heritage benchmark for Bali ultra-luxury."
Why this rank: Amandari opened in 1989 in the village of Kedewatan above the Ayung River gorge near Ubud, the founding Aman in Bali and one of the earliest properties in the Aman portfolio. 30 thatched suites and a private villa, laid out as a Balinese village of walled courtyards. The Aman Spa anchors the wellness side, with Balinese Boreh wraps, Lulur scrubs, and treatments over the gorge; yoga is taken in the wantilan, the open Balinese pavilion. The restaurant and bar overlook the pool and the gorge. What sets Amandari apart from newer Bali resorts is that it sits inside a living village rather than walled away from one. Best for the heritage Bali stay at the property that defined Bali ultra-luxury, with the honest caveat that a 1989 Ubud hillside is not the right call for travellers set on a beachfront or a contemporary product.
Best room: Amandari Villa, private pool, three-bedroom
"Original Aman, terraced rice paddies, the wellness retreat that doesn't market itself as wellness."
Amandari was the second Aman property ever built, Peter Muller designed it in 1989 on a Kedewatan ridge above the Ayung, and it remains the most-influential resort in Asia for the way it taught hospitality to dialogue with traditional architecture. Thirty suites, all built as Balinese village compounds (a private bale, a courtyard, a walled outdoor bath, a thatched roof), the highest tier with private plunge pools. Amandari does not present itself as a wellness resort and does not run multi-day protocols, it does not have a Programme menu, but the property's very architecture is the wellness experience. The Aman service standard, the hush of the property at 6am, the 35-metre infinity pool that aims directly at the Ayung canyon, the daily yoga in the open-air shala, the Aman Spa treatment menu, all of it adds up to a wellness retreat of the soft kind, where the recovery happens by virtue of the property rather than because of a programme. Couples and solo travellers who find the COMO clinical-wellness model too structured book Amandari and get the same outcome through different means.
Valley Pool Suite, the river-canyon-edge suite with private plunge pool. Or a Suluban Suite for the entry-level Aman compound.
Walk down the rice-paddy footpath to the Ayung at 6am; the path leaves from the back of the property and ends at a small private river bend. Pre-arrange a Balinese melukat (water-purification) ceremony at the local temple for day three.
Amandari sits within our broader Top 20 Hotels in Bali for a Wellness Retreat list. It scored an aggregate 9.8/10 across the three editorial criteria, competitive against the field but, on a wellness retreat-specific factors, the angle above is what earned its rank. For the alternatives in the same Bali neighbourhood, see Kedewatan, Ubud and adjacent. For a different city entirely, see the related lists below.
Once your dates are fixed, aim to reserve the room about three months out. Rooms with the coveted orientation are claimed first, while popular-month availability runs out months in advance. It is the terrace and plunge-pool suites, the rooms this rank rests on, that book up soonest.
Editorial · #4 on the Top 20 Hotels in Bali 2026 list
Amandari's case for the Bali stay is the heritage Aman setting. The 1989 property is the founding Aman in Bali and one of the earliest in the Aman portfolio; the village layout, 30 thatched suites arranged as walled Balinese courtyards, is what separates it from newer Bali resorts.
The 30 suites and a private villa range from pool suites to the multi-bedroom Amandari Villa. The Aman Spa anchors the wellness side, with Balinese Boreh wraps, Lulur scrubs, and treatments overlooking the Ayung gorge.
Yoga is taken in the wantilan, the open Balinese pavilion, and the restaurant and bar overlook the pool and gorge. Sitting inside a living Kedewatan village rather than walled away from it means guests cross paths with village ceremonies and the daily agricultural rhythm of Bali, which is the heart of the experience and, for some, the trade-off, since this is not a sealed-off resort bubble. The long-tenured Aman staff give it real operational depth. Best for the heritage Bali stay at the property that defined Bali ultra-luxury.
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