Bulgari Resort Bali

There is one way down to the beach under Bulgari Resort Bali, and the resort owns it. An inclined lift runs from the clifftop, about 160 metres above the water, to a kilometre and a half of sand between the cliffs of Uluwatu and the Indian Ocean. Up top, Antonio Citterio built a Balinese village with Milanese interiors, open since 2006: roofs of alang-alang thatch, walls of hand-cut lava stone, bangkiray hardwood within. Every villa has a plunge pool and a garden of its own, which makes the shared pool a matter of choice. It is clad in green sukabumi stone and stops at the cliff edge, with nothing beyond it but sea. At dusk, lanterns are set out on the floor of the open pavilion, between stone columns and under woven thatch, and the horizon does the work of a back wall.

Recommended for couples who want the south of Bali at its most private, and for a party big enough to fill one of the mansions, of three bedrooms or five. Children are welcome, though there is no kids club to hand them to. Guests praise the views from the villas, and the butlers, some of whom they come away able to name. The lift sets the shape of the day: down to the sand and La Spiaggia, the restaurant on the beach, then back up to the pool for the afternoon. Uluwatu Temple is four kilometres along the same cliffs, for its Kecak dance at sunset, and the surf breaks of Padang Padang and Bingin are a short drive north. Dinner is Italian, at Il Ristorante. A car is needed for the rest of Bali: there is no village within a walk, and nothing past the gate that a lift will reach.