Umana Bali, On the Cliffs of Ungasan
By Anna Harding
Images by Anna Harding & Umana Bali
Perched high above Melasti Beach on Bali’s southern peninsula, Umana Bali feels spectacular from the moment you arrive. Open to the sky and ocean, the resort sits on the cliffs of Ungasan. It is a place of expansive architecture, private pools and long, restorative days that move between the water, the spa and the sea.
Arrival is through a vast open pavilion, where the Indian Ocean appears almost immediately beyond the building. It is a striking first impression: soaring scale, warm stone and an uninterrupted line of blue stretching towards the horizon.
From here, the resort cascades down the hillside towards Melasti Beach below. Its 72 private villas are tucked into the landscape, each with its own infinity pool and generous indoor and outdoor spaces, creating a sense of privacy even within the scale of the property.
There is something wonderfully removed about Umana. Close enough to explore Uluwatu, yet set apart from the busier pockets of Bali, it feels like a place you can disappear into for a few days.
The architecture plays a large part in the serene feeling at Umana. The resort has been shaped around its clifftop setting, with buildings opening towards the landscape and views revealed as you move through the property. In the lobby, a sculptural glass and metal chandelier takes its form from the movement of traditional Legong Keraton dancers, a contemporary detail with its roots firmly in Balinese culture.
Our villa was exceptionally spacious, opening onto a private infinity pool and outdoor living area. It was somewhere we could easily retreat to for a few hours in the afternoon with the doors open, children moving between the pool and the villa and the day requiring very little organisation.
Occasionally, a monkey would make its way through the grounds. What I remember most, though, is the warmth of the people.
The hospitality at Umana was incredible. There was a genuine kindness to everyone we met, and a lightness to the service that meant everything felt effortless. Our butler quietly took care of the details around us - arranging experiences, transport and meals without ever making the stay feel overly managed.
It is perhaps one of the things Bali does so beautifully, and at Umana it stayed with me as much as the setting itself.
Nourishment
Breakfast at Commune became another part of our daily rhythm.
The restaurant is open and relaxed, with a semi-buffet breakfast alongside dishes prepared to order. There is fresh fruit, pastries and plenty of local and international choices, and the kind of abundance that makes it difficult to leave the table quickly. Commune puts an emphasis on regional produce and Southeast Asian cooking, something that continues through its lunch and dinner menus.
It was one of the most delicious hotel breakfasts we had in Bali.
More than the choice itself, I loved the unhurriedness of it. Breakfast would stretch out. Another coffee would arrive. Someone would go back for fruit. There was nowhere we particularly needed to be.
For dinner, Oliverra has an entirely different feeling.
Set high on the cliff, the restaurant looks directly out across the Indian Ocean and is particularly beautiful towards the end of the day. The menu draws on Mediterranean cooking, with a focus on seafood and dishes prepared over fire.
There are three different areas, the Dining Room, Bar and Veranda but I loved being somewhere close to the edge, watching the colour of the ocean change as the sun dropped.
The food is generous and made for lingering over: seafood, beautifully cooked fish, Mediterranean flavours and dishes coming from the grill. One of Oliverra’s signatures is its lobster fideuà, a Catalan-style dish similar to paella but made with fine noodles, alongside the restaurant’s selection of locally sourced seafood.
Down below, at Melasti Beach, Uma Beach House feels almost like another world.
Leaving the quiet of the cliff and arriving at sea level completely changes the energy. Uma is more relaxed — somewhere to spend the afternoon swimming, having lunch and moving between the pool and the beach.
The food combines Japanese and Peruvian influences, with bright, fresh flavours that make sense beside the ocean.
I loved having these very different dining experiences within the same stay. Commune for slow mornings, Oliverra for dinner high above the sea, and Uma Beach House for barefoot afternoons at Melasti Beach.
Spa & Wellness
My favourite morning at Umana began with yoga.
I went early, before the heat of the day had properly arrived, and afterwards spent time in the wellness area moving between the hot and cold pools before slipping into the outdoor pool for a swim.
There was no need to be anywhere else.
Umana’s wellness spaces also include an infrared sauna, steam room, hot and cold tubs and a quiet outdoor spa pool, so it is easy to spend much longer there than planned.
From there I went to Lohma Spa for a Balinese-style massage.
The treatment itself was deeply relaxing — long, grounding movements and that particular sense of being completely looked after that comes with a really good Balinese massage. Lohma’s signature Indonesian massage uses rolling and kneading strokes, palm pressure and massage oils selected around different gemstones.
By the time I left the spa, most of the morning had disappeared.
Yoga, hot and cold water, a swim, then a massage. It was the most blissful morning of the stay.
I liked that wellness at Umana did not have to become a programme. You could take part in as much or as little as you wanted. There are daily yoga classes, sound healing, breathwork and longer spa rituals for those wanting to go further, but I was happy simply following the morning where it went.
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Culture & Experiences
One afternoon we did an Indonesian coffee tasting, which ended up being one of my favourite experiences.
Indonesia has such a rich coffee culture, but it is easy to drink coffee every day without giving much thought to where it has come from.
Here, we tasted a selection from different origins and learnt about the various brewing styles, from deeper espresso flavours through to lighter, more delicate profiles.
I loved the simplicity of it.
Sitting around a table, smelling and tasting each coffee slowly, noticing what changed from one cup to the next.
Travel often becomes filled with the things you feel you should see or do. This was the opposite — small, quiet and unexpectedly memorable.
Another day took us outside the resort.
We joined Umana’s cultural walk through Ungasan Village, setting off in the morning to explore some of the local streets and temples close to the property.
The full walk takes you through the village and its traditional market, past local homes and temples, with the opportunity to visit a Balinese family compound and learn a little about the philosophy behind its architecture.
It was beautiful to see this side of Uluwatu.
We walked through the village while people went about their morning, stepping inside temples and seeing everyday life beyond the resorts and beaches the area has become known for.
For me, experiences like this add something important to a stay.
Umana is a very considered, very beautiful world of its own, but I appreciated being encouraged to step outside it too. The village walk, coffee tasting and massage all offered small points of connection to the place we were actually in — its food, rituals, architecture and daily life.
A restorative family stay
What surprised me most about Umana was perhaps how naturally it worked as a family stay.
It feels calm and grown-up, but never precious.
The villas give you an enormous amount of space and having your own pool changes the rhythm of travelling with children completely. There is always somewhere to go without actually having to go anywhere.
There is also Anjali Kids Club, while the resort’s main infinity pool and Uma Beach House give families several different places to spend the day.
What I appreciated most was that the family side of the resort never seemed to take over.
You could have breakfast together, spend the afternoon swimming, head down to Melasti Beach, and still find time for yoga or a massage in between.
A family holiday that still feels restorative can be surprisingly difficult to find.
Here, it felt possible.
Perhaps it came down to the physical space. Perhaps it was the way everything was taken care of so seamlessly. Or perhaps it was simply the warmth of the staff, who seemed to make even the smallest things easy.
Looking back, my memories of Umana are made up of moments rather than a list of things we did.
That first view of the ocean through the pavilion.
Early yoga.
Floating in the wellness pool before my massage.
Long breakfasts at Commune.
Coffee poured slowly into small cups.
Walking through the temples of Ungasan.
An afternoon beside the water at Uma Beach House.
Dinner at Oliverra with the Indian Ocean stretching out below us.
And returning to our villa at the end of the day, with nowhere else we needed to be.
For a few days on Bali’s southern cliffs, that felt like exactly enough.
Our villa was exceptionally spacious, opening onto a private infinity pool and outdoor living area. It was somewhere we could easily retreat to for a few hours in the afternoon with the doors open, children moving between the pool and the villa and the day requiring very little organisation.
Fields Notes
Try not to over-plan your stay. One of the nicest things about Umana is having enough time to actually enjoy the villa, the pools and the slower rhythm of the property.
Set aside an entire morning for wellness rather than fitting a treatment between other plans. Yoga, the hot and cold therapy, a swim and a massage made for one of my favourite mornings in Bali.
Spend at least one afternoon down at Melasti Beach. Uma Beach House feels quite different from the resort above and gives you the chance to experience both the clifftop and beachside sides of Umana.
