Villa Gambar

Villa Gambar takes its name from the Indonesian word for picture, and it lives up to it. Mint-and-white checkerboard terrazzo runs underfoot from the living pavilion to the pool’s edge, warm recycled timber lines the walls, and bright splashes of colour, from cobalt-blue chairs to carved and painted panels, turn every corner into something worth a second look. Behind its carved wooden entrance door in Umalas, it is a small house with a big personality.

The long pool is the centrepiece, running the length of the garden past palms and frangipani, with loungers lined up on the terrazzo and an arm of water reaching right up beside the open-sided living pavilion. Inside that pavilion, deep timber armchairs and sofas face the pool, while a dramatic green-stone kitchen island with bar stools sits beside a dining table laid with colourful chairs. A cook can be arranged for breakfast or other meals, and guests regularly praise the warm, flexible service.

Each of the three bedrooms has its own bathroom and television, and the master opens straight onto the pool. Bathrooms are finished in pebble and stone mosaic, with garden-planted wash areas that feel half outdoors. From Umalas, the rice fields, cafés and boutiques of the neighbourhood are close by, and Seminyak’s shops and restaurants are a short ride away.