Six months into its opening, Equipoise Resort is already one of Ubud’s most photogenic stays, with bamboo architecture, rice terrace views, and a spa ritual I’m still thinking about.
You might have noticed that most of the new resorts in Bali are opening in Ubud and its surrounding villages rather than on the coast. There are two reasons for this: one, most of the good beaches are already encrusted with resorts that have been in place for generations; and two, and more importantly, travellers are searching for the real Bali, and you simply won’t find it in Seminyak or Nusa Dua.
As the Island of the Gods stumbles its way through a crisis of identity, many regular visitors, determined to immerse themselves in Bali’s ancient Hindu culture, towering volcanic peaks and verdant jungle-clad interior, are leaving the beach clubs and traffic jams to island first-timers and are instead heading north. Gianyar’s recently opened Equipoise, a self-described luxury eco-resort by iNi Vie Hospitality, is the kind of place they’re looking for.
First Impressions: Arriving in Ubud on a Ceremony Day
We couldn’t have timed it better. Our arrival in Ubud coincides with a village ceremony day, and the narrow lanes leading to Equipoise are lined with villagers in brilliant white corsets, some balancing offering baskets on their heads with the ease of a nonchalant tightrope walker. Seated in the back of one of the resort’s luxury electric people movers, we delve through tidy Balinese hamlets before suddenly arriving at the resort’s lobby as Hindu chanting drifts through the air from the nearby temple. It’s the kind of arrival that resets your nervous system before you’ve even checked in.
The first thing you notice about Equipoise is bamboo — an enormous amount of it, used with real architectural confidence rather than as a decorative gesture. The lobby, with its gloriously vaulted ceiling, is intimate and striking, and leads on to Aura, a chic cocktail bar (also partially built entirely from bamboo) that turns out to have one of the best spirit selections I’ve come across in Ubud.
Beyond it, a semi-outdoor lounge overlooks a four-tiered pool wreathed by intimate cabanas and watched over by an imposing statue of Dewi Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge, wisdom, arts, and learning. Beyond the diety, rice terraces are framed by coconut palms that samba gentle in the afternoon breeze.
Before we’ve even seen our room, the rituals of this retreat begin, first with our selection of a signature welcome scent from a curated sollection of seven timeless essential oils, and then with a ceremonial foot wash. Slipping my feet into glowing beaten copper bowls filled with fragapani-infused water while sipping the welcome cocktail (the Jungle Canopy Cooler) makes for a strong opening act.
Location: Rice Terraces, Rural Ubud and a Sense of Seclusion
Equipoise sits in a genuinely rural pocket of Gianyar (the regency that stretches from the northern reaches of Ubud to the island’s east coast), tucked among working rice terraces rather than on the busier resort strips closer to the town centre. That means proper quiet; no traffic hum, no neighbouring construction, just birdsong, the occasional temple bell and the sound of water moving through the subak irrigation channels that thread through the property’s outlook.
The trade-off is that the access roads are a little remote and weathered in places, so this isn’t the spot for guests who want to walk into central Ubud for dinner. It is, however, exactly what you want if the goal is total immersion in rural Bali — verdant, cinematic, and about as far from a beach-club version of the island as you can get.
The Villas: Beautiful, Bamboo-Built, and Slightly Impractical
There are just 19 villas at Equipoise, distinguised by those overlooking the working paddies and those set deeper into the grounds. There’s also a two-bedroom Presidential Villa that’s ideal for families. Every villa shares the same bamboo construction and the same essential layout, which is where the design gets interesting — and occasionally frustrating.
Downstairs is an open-plan living space, with a kitchenette with sink and coffee machine set behind a gleaming rose-gold-hued bar table, and on the other side, a lounge area with twin sun loungers and a couch facing a plunge pool edged by manicured gardens. To one side is the villa’s bathroom, with its twin vanities, Japanese toilet and heavenly outdoor shower. Doors open from the bathroom to a private outdoor jacuzzi positioned by the pool.
A spiral bamboo staircase leads up to the bedroom, where a circular California king bed the size of a helipad sits beneath an oculus set into another vaulted ceiling and facing full-length French windows and a small private balcony. A projector screen descends from above the doors for in-bed movie nights, which felt like exactly the right amount of indulgence.
The villa is a beautiful, fantastical piece of design, but not always a practical one. To reach the bathroom (to the dismay of my wife, a committed midnight bathroom visitor) you effectively have to step outside and descend to the lower level. It also means your clothes live upstairs in the open-plan wardrobe while your toiletries are downstairs, so expect a fair bit of stair-climbing built into your stay.
Add in a room full of remote controls — I tangled with six before successfully getting Netflix onto the projector — and bedside iPads that are supposed to control the lighting but seem more aesthetic than functional, and you get a room design that clearly comes from the very best intentions but needs a little more polish in its execution. A Wi-Fi boost (Starlink, ideally) wouldn’t go amiss either, especially when you’re trying to stream The Hangover on the projector screen.
The Spa: The Highlight of the Stay
If one experience justifies the trip to Equipoise on its own, it’s the spa. The standalone spa pavilion is set apart from the villas and looks out over even more rice terraces. It’s a genuinely tranquil, softly lit space that feels worlds away from the main pool area (although that space is by no means busy, even with the high occupancy during our stay).
After arriving on our first day, we had sought the spa out for its hot and cold plunge pools, which are located in a hydrotherapy suite that guests have all to themselves. The next morning, after breakfast (more on that in a moment), we return for the indulgent 2.5-hour signature rice paddy treatment.
This little slice of heaven begins, unexpectedly, with an iPad that uses the traditional Balinese Wariga calendar to calculate your specific Urip or life energy score, based on your birth date and day of the week. I score an 11 out of 18 (not sure if that’s good) and with this vital statistic, our therapists blend a completely bespoke oil from a palette of 18 essential oils, including frangipani, sandalwood, champaka and cajeput. A Urip manual gives descriptions of each score, and reading my personality profile, my wife declares it (with a tiger’s grin) to be “spot on”. Again, I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing.
The treatment itself unfolds in stages; after a milk foot bath we make our way into one of the spa’s massive treatment suites, which also double as steam rooms, for a balmy steam followed by a traditional hammam. Soaped and exfoliated, we then enjoy an hour-long Balinese massage, followed by a long soak in a flower bath overlooking the dancing rice stems, with the whole experience stretching close to three hours.
I found the therapists to be attentive and precise throughout, and by the end we are both thoroughly, happily useless (is wellness intoxication a thing?) for the rest of the afternoon. If you do one thing at Equipoise, make it this.
The actively inclined will also find a small but functional gym hidden away above the lobby.
Activities: Silversmithing, Batik and Waterfall Walks
Equipoise runs a rotating programme of cultural activities from the lobby lounge and on the grounds, and they’re an insightful highlight rather than a box-ticking add-on. On our last morning, we join a silver-making class with resident silversmith Nick, sitting at low benches in the open-air lobby lounge as we learn to shape, smoothen and polish our own silver rings. We leave the class with a matching pair that my wife now wears daily, which is about as good a souvenir as a hotel can offer.
Beyond the silver class, the resort offers carving, pottery and batik workshops for guests who want a slower, hands-on morning, along with more active options ranging from guided walks through the surrounding rice paddies with a local guide, who explains the importance of the traditional subak irrigation system, to a trek to the local waterfall (across the road from the resort), ideal for those willing to earn their spa treatment afterwards. It’s a well-judged mix of contemplative and active, and unlike a lot of hotel “experiences,” none of it feels like filler.
Dining: Genuinely Excellent, With a Couple of Missteps
You’ll walk past Aura, the cocktail bar, on the way to dinner, and I would be amiss if I didn’t suggest you take a perch and let bartender Mang Agus craft you a cocktail (or two). On both of our nights at Equipiose, we indulge: classics, dirty martinis made with Bali’s East Indies Gin the first night and magical mezcal marharitas the second. While you’ll be paying a lot more than you will down at the beachfront bars, the cocktails are genuinely perfect.
Breakfast and dinner is served upstairs from the lobby in the Terra Verte restaurant, an impressive airy space of polished, aged-jade-toned floors under soaring bamboo eaves. During dinner a guitarist strums through a few classics, setting a romantic tone. However, be sure to bring industrial-strength mosquito spray if you’re prone to a nibble, as there are plenty about.
The menu at Terra Verta blends Indonesian and international dishes (leaning Mediterenean during the evening), and, since our recent visit, has been joined by the intimate Riserva – Fire & Smoke Steakhouse downstairs.
During both of the dinners that we had at Terra Verta, our waiter, Raka, looked after us with the kind of warmth that has made Bali world famous. The two-layer confit duck ragù lasagne is a standout, rich, silky and well-balanced, as is the tuna tartare (above) with anchovy and zesty harissa yoghurt; and the hummas with sweet, heady lamb and aubergine ragù and smoked paprika oil.
The Wagyu skirt steak, on the other hand, is best avoided; both Wagyu cuts we tried across two nights (skirt the first, a Sir Harry Wagyu MB-5 cube the second) were disappointingly tough, which felt at odds with the menu’s confident descriptions. For something as forgiving as the spa, opt instead for the beef ragout pizza, a symphony of braised short rib, mozzarella, rocket, and caramlised onion.
Breakfast, taken on the same terrace bathed in early morning light over the rice terraces, is consistently excellent so ensure you leave enough time to make the most of it. The fresh juices are to die for (try the Balinese jamu), the chorizo on eggs is enough to make me move to Madrid, and the mezze plates are packed with flavour and innovation. The one quirk: pastries and toast arrive pre-cooked (and cold) on a large shared tray, so if you want warm, fresh, soft slices, it’s worth asking for a do-over.
Another inconsistency worth flagging is the water. The drinking water in the villa is glass bottled Equil (a local Indonesian brand) and while housekeeping happily supplies my wife with additional bottles (hence those midnight staircase adventures), the same bottles are charged for at the restaurant. It’s an odd disconnect for a resort that otherwise leans into an eco-conscious identity, and one that would be easily solved with in-house filtered water like many other Bali properties now offer.
The Small Kinks of a Six-Month-Old Resort
Equipoise is refreshingly honest about being new, and it shows in a few operational wrinkles rather than in the design or hospitality itself. Guest communication runs through WhatsApp, and messages were often responded to slowly, misread or simply missed. My thought is, if it’s not faster than a phone in the room (there isn’t one), it isn’t really working. Ask the same question of three different staff members and you’ll often get three different answers, though every single cheerful staff member delivers it with genuine warmth and enthusiasm, even when they haven’t quite understood the question.
There’s also no “do not disturb” option beyond hoping for the best — we fielded several knocks for (unreqwuested but appriciated) extra water bottles and turndown during downtime in the jacuzzi, and on our second night, a private candlelit rooftop dinner (absolutely worth booking, rain notwithstanding) was interrupted by a string of missed calls from housekeeping, asking us to open our villa’s electric wristband-locked door. With only 19 villas on the property, it’s a fair expectation that staff (or at least your designated villa host) should know exactly where their guests are, especially when it’s at a dinner they booked.
None of this derails the stay; if anything, the thoughtful touches far outweigh the friction. Balinese folk stories, including the legend of the subak irrigation system, are left on the bed during turndown, and poolside guests are brought sorbet and sunscreen unprompted. These are the details of a team that clearly cares, even while the back-end logistics catch up with the ambition of the property.
The Verdict
Equipoise is a genuinely beautiful, thoughtfully designed retreat. with elegant bamboo villas, manicured grounds and some of the best rural views Ubud has to offer, anchored by a spa experience that alone justifies a stay. It’s not without its rough edges — some impractical villa layouts, patchy tech, and communication niggles needs tightening — but for a resort only six months into its life, these are fixable growing pains rather than fundamental flaws.
For travellers wanting a contemporary, design-forward take on old Bali settings and new Bali amenities, this is very much the place to be. Just be sure to pack mosquito spray, download WhatsApp, and manage your expectations around the remote controls.
