Capella Ubud, Bali

"Bill Bensley-designed explorer-tent suites, wellness as theatrical retreat."

Why Capella Ubud, Bali for a wellness retreat

Capella Ubud is the most theatrical resort on this list. Bill Bensley, the Bangkok-based designer behind Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle, designed the property as a 19th-century European explorer's camp in the Bali jungle. Twenty-two one-bedroom tents and a two-bedroom lodge, each themed around a different colonial-era profession (the Naturalist Tent, the Cartographer's Tent, the Photographer's Tent), every one with a freestanding copper bath, a private plunge pool, and full air conditioning under the canvas. The Auriga Spa runs Indonesian treatment programmes that are tied to lunar phases, guests on arrival are given a chart of the upcoming moon cycle and treatments are scheduled to coincide. The signature programme is the Healing Hut sound bath, a private session with a Balinese sound healer in a custom-built bamboo dome. The kitchen at Api Jiwa (the in-house restaurant) is plant-forward and runs a tasting menu that uses ingredients from the on-site garden. Capella Ubud is the right pick for the wellness retreat that wants the Bali jungle experience but in the most-imaginatively-designed setting on the island.

Best room to request

Keliki Pool Tent (the largest, with the longest pool) or any explorer-themed Tent for the design experience.

The wider context

Capella Ubud, Bali sits within our broader Top 20 Hotels in Bali for a Wellness Retreat list. It scored an aggregate 9.7/10 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 Keliki, Ubud and adjacent. For a different city entirely, see the related lists below.

If you have already chosen the dates, our editor recommends booking the room twelve weeks ahead. 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.

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Other hotels on this list

Further reading