Villa Tykhe

Turn off Jalan Kayu Aya, take one of the small gangs running north between the shopfronts, and the noise of Oberoi drops away inside fifty metres. Villa Tykhe opens onto a hall floored in pebble mosaic with a carved sandstone relief panel set into the wall — old Bali, kept deliberately — and then the house does the thing it was designed to do. The wall ahead is glass, and behind it a lap pool runs the entire length of the ground floor between two wings, a mature tree growing straight up through the deck beside it. Everything else in the villa is arranged around that stretch of water.

The living and dining rooms sit along one side of the pool, open to it through sliding glass. A curved sofa in burnt orange faces a low table, a long timber dining table seats eight beneath a cabinet of glassware, and the kitchen behind runs to a stone-topped island with an integrated sink, full-height white joinery and a full-size refrigerator. An open-tread timber staircase climbs from the mosaic floor with nothing beneath it but light. The effect from the far end of the pool at dusk — lit rooms on either side, water running between them — is the reason this villa has kept its guests coming back for as long as it has.

Two bedrooms sit at ground level, each beneath a carved and painted timber ceiling, each opening through a full glass wall onto the pool terrace. Two more sit upstairs on dark timber floors, one screened from its bathroom by a piece of driftwood, the other with a writing desk at the corner glazing, a glass-roofed landing running between them. All four are ensuite. Downstairs the bathrooms take twin stone vessel basins under carved timber mirrors with glass-screened rain showers; upstairs they stretch along long vanities, one with a soaking tub set beside the window. Four rooms, four bathrooms, eight guests, and no argument about who sleeps where.

The roof is the surprise. Stairs lead up to a terrace with a round plunge pool sunk into timber decking, a strip of lawn, beanbags, and a frangipani leaning out over the water, with Seminyak’s rooflines and palms spread out beyond and nothing between you and the sunset. Back downstairs the staff cook a simple breakfast at no charge and will take on the grocery shopping too, cleaning comes daily, and there is parking on the premises — rarer than it ought to be this close to Oberoi. Petitenget Beach, Potato Head and Seminyak Square are each about ten minutes on foot.

Tykhe works for the group that wants Seminyak on foot but not underfoot — dinner on Kayu Aya, back through the gang, and the roof to themselves afterwards. Four ensuite bedrooms spread across two floors mean two families or four couples can share the villa and still have somewhere private to retreat to.