Villa Anantya

Brightly painted outrigger boats bob just offshore, and on a clear day the silhouettes of Nusa Penida and Nusa Lembongan sit out on the horizon. Villa Anantya fronts the water on Bali’s peaceful east coast at Candidasa, a five-bedroom beachfront retreat where the ocean is in view from the pool, the lawn and the living pavilion alike.

At its heart is a curving twenty-metre pool, framed by palms and stone terraces lined with sunloungers, with a timber deck bridging across the water and an island of planting in the middle. The living pavilion is open-sided and breezy, with long sofas facing the sea, a TV, a big timber dining table and a sleek kitchen alongside. Garden paths of stepping stones wind between the pavilions, past carved statues and tropical greenery, to quiet corners for reading in the shade.

The five bedrooms are set apart in their own pavilions, each with beds under billowing mosquito nets and an ensuite bathroom, many of them half open to the sky with pebble-stone walls and deep soaking tubs. Breakfast is included, a team of eight looks after the villa, and kayaks are ready for paddling along the shore. Beyond the gate, East Bali’s water palaces at Tirta Gangga and Ujung, temples and snorkelling spots are all within easy reach.