#5 in Top 20 Wellness Retreat Hotels · ★★★★★
Capella Ubud, Bali
Bill Bensley-designed explorer-tent suites, wellness as theatrical retreat.
Bill Bensley-designed explorer-tent suites, wellness as theatrical retreat.
"Bill Bensley's all-tent Ubud property, the most-photographed tented wellness retreat in Asia."
Why this rank: Capella Ubud opened in 2018 in the Ubud rainforest near Keliki, designed by Bill Bensley as a tented camp drawn from the 19th-century explorer tradition. Twenty-two one-bedroom tents and a two-bedroom Lodge, 23 keys in all, each with a freestanding copper bath and a private plunge pool under canvas. Auriga Wellness, the spa operation, schedules its programmes against the lunar cycle in line with Balinese and Hindu tradition, weaving in massage, sound healing and the herbal apothecary. The two restaurants are Api Jiwa, an intimate Asian barbecue, and Mads Lange, the all-day venue named for a Danish trader. The Bensley design sets it apart from the more conventionally Balinese Mandapa or COMO Shambhala. Best for the design-led Bali wellness stay where the tented architecture is itself part of the experience.
Best room: a valley- or river-facing one-bedroom tent for the longest private pool and the best jungle outlook
"Bill Bensley-designed explorer-tent suites, wellness as theatrical retreat."
Capella Ubud is the most theatrical resort on this list. Bill Bensley, the Bangkok-based designer behind the Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle, conceived the property as a 19th-century explorer's camp pitched into the Bali jungle. Twenty-two one-bedroom tents and a two-bedroom Lodge, each with a freestanding copper bath, a private plunge pool, and full air conditioning under the canvas. Auriga Wellness schedules its treatments against the lunar cycle: guests are given a chart of the coming moon phases on arrival and sessions are timed to coincide, drawing on Balinese and Hindu tradition. Dining splits between Api Jiwa, an intimate Asian barbecue, and Mads Lange, the all-day venue named for a Danish spice trader. Capella is the right pick for the traveller who wants the Bali jungle in its most imaginatively designed form, rather than a clinical medical spa.
A valley- or river-facing one-bedroom tent gives the longest private pool and the most immersive jungle outlook; the Lodge suits a family or two couples travelling together.
Book the Auriga Wellness lunar-phase consultation on arrival so the rest of the trip's treatments align with the moon cycle. Ask for a sound-healing session early in the stay, then schedule the deeper bodywork for the days after.
Capella Ubud sits at #5 on our Top 20 Wellness Retreat Hotels list, the global ranking, and it also features on our Bali-specific wellness ranking. It scored an aggregate 9.7/10 across the three editorial criteria; on the wellness-specific factors, the design-led angle above is what earned its place. For more Ubud and Bali options, see the all-Bali list below; for a different setting entirely, see the related rankings.
If the dates are locked in, secure the room around the three-month mark. Expect the best-positioned suites to go early; in the busy season the lead time is months, not weeks. It is the terrace and plunge-pool suites, the rooms this rank rests on, that book up soonest.
Editorial · #5 on the Top 20 Wellness Retreat Hotels 2026 list
Capella Ubud's case for the wellness retreat is the Bensley-designed tented architecture. Bill Bensley conceived the property as a 19th-century explorer's camp in the Ubud rainforest near Keliki: 22 one-bedroom tents and a two-bedroom Lodge, 23 keys in all, each with a freestanding copper bath and a private plunge pool under canvas.
Auriga Wellness runs the spa programmes across half-day, one-day and multi-day formats, weaving massage, sound healing and the herbal apothecary into a schedule timed to the lunar cycle in line with Balinese and Hindu tradition. Treatments are mapped to the property's daily rhythm, from sunrise movement to sunset meditation.
Dining splits between Api Jiwa, an intimate Asian barbecue, and Mads Lange, the all-day venue named for a Danish spice trader. The Bensley design sets it apart from the more conventionally Balinese Mandapa or COMO Shambhala; the tented architecture produces a sensory register some guests prefer to the pavilion-based Bali properties. The honest caveat: this is theatre and design first, not a clinical medical spa, and the steep valley paths suit the mobile. Best for the design-led Bali wellness stay where the tented architecture is itself part of the experience.
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