Villa Nag Shampa

Villa Nag Shampa is built by hand, in the manner of Bali’s ancestral master builders, and spread across around a hectare of jungle garden in the village of Taro, north of Ubud. Raised boardwalks thread between carved joglo pavilions, rice paddies and towering palms, and from above, the view on a clear morning reaches all the way to the volcanoes. It is a rare thing: an eight-bedroom estate that feels less like a house and more like a private village of your own.

Water is everywhere. A broad main pool, lit up at dusk beneath a soaring open pavilion, is ringed with loungers and umbrellas, and several of the guest pavilions have their own plunge pools tucked into the greenery. The main living and dining pavilion is a vast space of polished timber under a lofty carved roof, with a long table for shared meals, while a light-filled yoga shala and a massage room overlooking the garden turn the estate into a natural base for a wellness break or a slow family holiday.

The bedrooms are some of the most generous in Bali, led by the Istana Suite, an enormous master with a four-poster bed and a carved stone bathtub. Four joglo suites and three kubu rooms follow, all with timber floors, canopy beds and their own bathrooms. A large team looks after the estate, with breakfast included every day and other meals prepared to order. Central Ubud, with its boutiques, cafés and the Monkey Forest, is around 25 minutes away, yet out here the soundtrack is birdsong and running water.