The Arma Resort Ubud, a hidden secret in this idyllic village...

The surprisingly beautiful Arma Resort Ubud is part of one of the best museums in Bali, the Arma Museum.

At this museum you can learn about the history of Balinese paintings and the various foreign artists who have influenced the development of art in the 1930s.

 

This is also the place where you can see little Balinese kids learning various Balinese dances i

In the afternoon.

The Arma Open Stage offers several dance performances on certain days of the week.

Arma also offers cultural workshops such as woodcarving, Balinese cooking classes, offering making, painting classes and lots more. It’s located on Jalan Raya Pengosekan, south of Jalan Hanoman.

When you love this cultural museum you will fall in love with the design of the Arma Resort Ubud too. Here the beauty of Bali is emphasized perfectly...

The Bali luxury resort is tastefully situated just around the corner on the slopes of rice paddies and from your verandah you can hear the sounds of a small river running through the hotel grounds.

The Arma Resort Ubud is divided in standard rooms, superior rooms, deluxe rooms, Kokokan suites and 8 private villas, all with large balconies or verandahs. It depends on your taste of course but we found the rooms a bit old-fashioned while the villas are in a league of their own.

The villas at the Arma resort were built in 2000 and can be divided into Superior Villas (4 units), Suite Villas (2 units) and Family Villas (2 units).

One of the standard rooms at the Arma Resort Ubud

 

The villas at Arma Resort Ubud are set in a lush garden with colorful flowers and various plants and it makes the whole holiday picture as tropical as it can get…

The one and two bedroom villas are really eye-catching with their plunge pools, jacuzzis, romantic gazebos, sculpted sandstone statues and spacious beautiful decorated rooms.

The Balu luxury villa rooms are not designed in a way you see a lot these days in Bali.

Unlike many villas that have the Balinese contemporary minimalist style, Agung Rai, the owner of Arma Resort wants the design to reflect Bali as it is with the Balinese alang-alang roofs, Balinese paintings, the use of dark wood and classy furniture.

And I think he has succeeded with this approach, just take a look at the pictures below, mmmm not bad is it?

Balinese design at the Suite Villa

 

However don't expect to find modern audio equipment in the villa rooms. Agung Rai specifically chose not to place a TV or radio in the rooms in order to ensure that visitors will experience a calm mind and return to nature during their stay at the Arma Resort Ubud.

Another nice feature of the villas is the bathroom with its indoor and outdoor shower.The indoor shower is a modern one while water from the outdoor shower ('the Pond-shower' ) comes out of a Balinese stone carving that looks like the one that protects the demons from possessing the area.

You will see these stone carvings often at the entrance of temples and Balinese courtyards.

The outdoor Pond shower

 

Right the jacuzzi at the Suite villa

 

So there you are, butt naked standing in the open-air on rocks under a shower in Bali, isn't this how life should be every day? ;-)

By the way when you book yourself one of the suites at the Arma Villas chances are that you will have a jacuzzi like the one in the photo above, the one that looks out on the rice paddies nearby.

Mmmm, difficult choice isn't, the outdoor shower or the jacuzzi to start your day in paradise?

I'm not surprised if you don't want to leave this villa resort during your stay at all...

Ready to dip in the infinity pool..?

From the bedroom straight into the pool

From the verandah you can also see Balinese men working in the rice paddies together with their ducks. The farmers lead the ducks into the rice paddies to eat the pests and the ducks also provide natural fertilizer with their droppings.

If you have the time and you try to speak a little bit of Bahasa Indonesia they would really like to talk to you.

It is also possible to experience real traditional life by visiting Balinese villages during the Golden Hour Tour with the owner Agung Rai. You have to wake up early though, as the tour starts at 6 am but then again, this is the best time of day...

View from the verandah

The villa resort has three restaurants. One is called the Kokokan Club, which is their Thai restaurant near the resort’s main entrance (there are three entrances). The other one is called Kafe Arma located at the Arma museum entrance where Italian is served.

The Poolside restaurant serves tea and coffee all day, cocktails and light meals such as sandwiches.

The tiles at the stylish resort pool are black and white, something which you can see throughout Bali. The Balinese believe it resembles day and night, good spirits and bad spirits.

Public pool at the Arma Resort

 

The Arma Resort Ubud is as charming as it can be with its many statues, paintings, tropical gardens, gorgeous river and rice field views and above all stunning villas that I'm sure you will have a hard time leaving this place.

Definitely one of those hidden secrets in Ubud and one of our favorites in Bali...

 

Average price per night:
for the Superior Villas (one bedroom) is around $190 USD
for the Suite Villas (one bedroom) is around $240
for the Family Villas (two bedrooms) is around $375 USD
Rates are excluding 21% tax and service. Have a look down here, you might get an even better deal :-)

 

Address:
Jalan Raya Pengosekan
You can give them a call on Tel +62 361 975742