Uluwatu

Uluwatu is a village at the south-western tip of the Bukit peninsula, where the land ends in limestone cliffs above the Indian Ocean. The rock is tertiary limestone, lifted as the Indo-Australian Plate pushes beneath the island, and at the temple the cliff falls about seventy metres to the sea. Compared with the green interior of Bali, the landscape is open and the horizon is wide, and for many people the sunset over the water is the reason to come.

Pura Luhur Uluwatu stands on the cliff edge in Pecatu village, and its main expansion is dated to the eleventh century, when the sage Empu Kuturan is credited with its development. Every evening at about six the kecak dance is performed on the cliffside: a circle of chanting men, a story from the Ramayana, and the sun going down over the sea behind them. Arrive early to find a place on the rock.

Surfers come to Uluwatu for its breaks, which have names known to them: The Bombie, Temples, Outside Corner, Racetracks and The Peak, a reef wave known for closing out. Padang Padang, also in Pecatu, has a fine white beach between tall cliffs and a left-hand break called the Balinese Pipeline. Melasti, in Ungasan village, is a beach of white sand and clear turquoise water below towering limestone cliffs.

When the surf is done, the cliffs fill with people who came for a drink. Single Fin sits on the cliffs below the Blue Point hotel, open daily, and from its terrace the ocean fills the view. Sunset is the hour the Bukit seems to be built around. The light on the water at that hour is the reason many people stay longer than planned.

The Bukit is where the island’s quieter luxury has settled. Bulgari Resort Bali, which opened in 2006, stands on the cliff at Uluwatu, and Six Senses Uluwatu, opened in 2018 on the rugged cliff edge, shares its views with the temple. Alila Villas Uluwatu is on Jalan Belimbing Sari in Pecatu, and Karma Kandara, which opened in early 2008, has its address in Ungasan on the Bukit. Jumeirah Bali, an all-villa resort on the cliffs of Pecatu, opened in 2022, and Mandarin Oriental plans to open a resort with branded residences on the Bukit in 2027, next to the Bukit Pandawa Golf course and not far from the Bali National Golf Club.

For golf, New Kuta Golf is an eighteen-hole course inside the Pecatu Indah Resort, which opened in 2007, and Bukit Pandawa Golf, an eighteen-hole par-three course in Kutuh, is also on the peninsula. Uluwatu School, on Jalan Belimbing Sari in Pecatu, takes younger pupils with an international approach. From the cliffs of Melasti, Ngurah Rai International Airport is often an hour away by car, depending on the traffic.

The Bukit has its own helipad too. Fly Bali operates from Ungasan, on Jalan Pantai Melasti, close to Melasti, and the flight from Ungasan to Ubud takes about fifteen minutes.

Our residence on the Bukit is Villa E2, on a hillside above Melasti, with the Indian Ocean as its view. For more villas in Uluwatu, the cliffs and the sunsets set the rhythm of the day. In the mornings the surf breaks below the cliffs, and in the evenings the sea is the view from above.

Each residence offered here is handled personally by your advisor, with private viewings by appointment.