The best boutique design hotels · Bali
Capella Ubud
The developer asked Bill Bensley for one hundred rooms. Bensley came back with twenty-two tents and a refusal to cut a single tree. The site — nine acres of Wos River rainforest in the Balinese artist village of Keliki — was left exactly as it was: the tents placed between the trees, raised walkways preserving the forest floor, the rice paddies still working around the camp's edges. The concept is a Dutch expedition making camp in the jungle of 1800s Bali, and the character of Mads Lange — the Danish trader who arrived around 1840 and became the most trusted mediator between the Dutch colonial administration and the Balinese kings — gives the camp its spine. Each tent tells a different story from that era. The hand-carved Balinese doors took craftsmen a full year each. The bathtubs are hammered copper. The furniture in each tent is vintage, sourced to match the character rather than specified from a catalogue. Travel + Leisure named Capella the number one hotel brand in the world three consecutive years running. EarthCheck Gold certified. LHW member. Michelin Key.
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The hotel
Sustainability
THE DESIGN
One hundred rooms requested. Twenty-two tents delivered. Not a single tree cut. The building permit is less interesting than the negotiation that preceded it.
Bensley's approach at Capella Ubud was resistance to scale. The developer's original brief would have required clearing and levelling; Bensley's response was to work with the terraced landscape as it existed, placing each tent on the contours rather than against them. The raised walkways that connect the camp preserve the forest floor. The hand-carved Balinese doors — each taking a craftsman a year — are not a design feature. They are the reason the tent has a character rather than just a room number. The Officers Tent, Bensley's personal favourite, is his description of the concept: "a visual overload of all things Dutch and Balinese. There is no holding back."
THE DESIGN
One hundred rooms requested. Twenty-two tents delivered. Not a single tree cut. The building permit is less interesting than the negotiation that preceded it.
Bensley's approach at Capella Ubud was resistance to scale. The developer's original brief would have required clearing and levelling; Bensley's response was to work with the terraced landscape as it existed, placing each tent on the contours rather than against them. The raised walkways that connect the camp preserve the forest floor. The hand-carved Balinese doors — each taking a craftsman a year — are not a design feature. They are the reason the tent has a character rather than just a room number. The Officers Tent, Bensley's personal favourite, is his description of the concept: "a visual overload of all things Dutch and Balinese. There is no holding back."
THE SUSTAINABILITY
EarthCheck Gold certified. Not one tree cut during construction. The furniture is vintage, sourced to match each tent's character. The forest arrived before the hotel did, and is still there.
Capella Ubud holds EarthCheck Gold certification — one of the most rigorous environmental standards in the hospitality sector. The building process left the surrounding forest intact: no clearing, no tree removal, raised walkways throughout to protect the forest floor. The furniture and objects in each tent are refurbished vintage pieces, selected to carry the colonial explorer narrative rather than manufactured for the hotel. The kitchen sources locally where possible. The Wos River valley and the rice paddy fields that frame the camp are working agricultural land — the hotel operates within them rather than beside them.
THE SUSTAINABILITY
EarthCheck Gold certified. Not one tree cut during construction. The furniture is vintage, sourced to match each tent's character. The forest arrived before the hotel did, and is still there.
Capella Ubud holds EarthCheck Gold certification — one of the most rigorous environmental standards in the hospitality sector. The building process left the surrounding forest intact: no clearing, no tree removal, raised walkways throughout to protect the forest floor. The furniture and objects in each tent are refurbished vintage pieces, selected to carry the colonial explorer narrative rather than manufactured for the hotel. The kitchen sources locally where possible. The Wos River valley and the rice paddy fields that frame the camp are working agricultural land — the hotel operates within them rather than beside them.
