Ms Skinnyfat

Bali is known for its island getaway and it draws in the crowd from all over the world. Australians especially love her for the surfs and you'd see all the tanned bodies on bikes scooting around the Kuta area. Weary couples or individuals looking to recharge have found peace and balance in the many secluded villas in the Seminyak area.

This time round, we decided to simply luxe it and went with Alila Villas Soori, an extremely isolated 5 star villa in the SouthWest coast of Bali; a good 1.5-2h drive from Denpasar, Indonesia. We went on dirt tracks and cut through padi fields before finally arriving at the exclusive black sand fronted, Indian Ocean facing villas.

The service and hospitality was warm and impeccable. We chose the Indulgent in villa service: 24-hour personalized butler services to deliver our every whim. The hostess addressed us by our names and showed us around the 2 Bedroom Beachfront pool villa. This is a unique configuration because those that are advertised on their website are the 1,3 and 10BR. You can make your request at a premium of course. A typical 1 BR beachfront villa is 156sqm, each with private pool and outdoor pavilion. There is also direct access to the beach, which is just a few steps away.

Alila really aims to please their guests. All our preferences were noted prior to our arrival. Movies, music and reading materials of our choice were loaded in the living room. S went overboard with his pillow choices and we had 8 pillows on our king sized Ploh bed with 300 thread count linen and duvet.

I really enjoyed the bathroom amenities: a complete range of superior quality locally-sourced organic ingredients Alila bathroom amenities specially made for HIM (lemon grass and black pepper) and HER (mandarin, lemon grass and rose geranium). I thoroughly enjoyed my bubble bath in the huge ass bathtub in the room. It sits 4 comfortably and proved to be a little too big for the petite me.

Sunscreen, tanning oil, cooling gel and moisturizer were nice touches that enabled us to enjoy our beach holiday (though i was still burnt). I carried them around in the nicely woven brown beach bag provided and the pretty huge beach hat provided some respite from the rays.

When one is at such a luxurious villa, there is simply no need to get out. You shouldn't really. A day should be spent lounging at the infinity pool, submerged in the water day beds to escape the heat. We had fun on the black power volcanic sand beach and the grains are like a million speckles of bright lights under the sun. We chased the 3m tall waves far out into the ocean, trying to catch a surf. If you please, get on horseback and ride into the sunset.

Meals are served at the 3 restaurants- Cotta and Ombak for the main meals and the Reading Room for a snack in between. We enjoyed the breakfast tasting menu at Cotta, which made us buttery croissants and fluffy pancakes, along with a good selection of cheeses and cold cuts. They also have the more substantial like Steak and Indonesian mains.

Dinner on the first night was a special BBQ buffet on the lawn. We had an enjoyable time watching the traditional Ramayana performance. The performers were mainly local fishermen, not full time singers. They do it for a token sum but the main purpose is to carry on the traditional arts. We also tried Cotta's dinner on another occasion and it wasn't too bad except for the failed souffle.

If you don't mind spending 500USD a night for a 1BR Beach Villa then this is the place to really get away from the hustle and bustle of the city life. Great place to throw an engagement or wedding as well with the availability of the 10BR private villa. If you prefer a less secluded spot, check out Alila Uluwatu in Bali as well.