Inside Bali Retreat Aruba

Step into the entry hall and the first thing you see is the full length of the heated indoor pool, beneath timber beams and skylights. Two steps lead down to the wooden deck beside the water. From here, your days can move easily between the water, the cool of a glass-walled living room and the open air of the kitchen and garden.

Pool lounge

Beside the indoor pool, with two waterfalls spilling from its stone wall, the pool lounge gives everyone a place to settle while someone else takes a swim. The water is part of the room, close enough to become the backdrop to an ordinary conversation – and a fine excuse to interrupt one.

Study

The small, air-conditioned study overlooks the indoor pool, so even an hour with a laptop comes with a reminder of where you are. It's a place to read, write a postcard home or catch up on work, and the villa has mesh Wi-Fi.

Living room and dining table

A glass door leads from the pool deck into the villa's living room: the giant pillow pit and, beside it, a dining table for all ten of you. With glass walls on both sides and air-conditioning, this is the place to cool off when the afternoon heat sets in.

Illustration of the giant pillow pit and dining table together in the glass-enclosed living room.

The pillow pit makes a very convincing case for an afternoon with no plans. Kick off your sandals and sink in for a long talk, a card game or the kind of nap nobody planned. At the table, breakfast can linger, and dinner can become a proper gathering with everyone together. When you'd rather eat outdoors, the palapa in the garden puts white beach sand under your feet.

Kitchen and Verandah Bar

A second glass door leads out to the open-air kitchen. The full-size kitchen has a stove, oven, refrigerator, dishwasher, pots, pans, utensils and dinnerware. And it opens straight into the garden – no door, just greenery.

Cooking here doesn't mean disappearing from the group. The four-seat Verandah Bar sits beside the kitchen, so someone can pull up a seat, pour a drink and keep the cook company. It's also the easy spot for a quick breakfast or a cold drink after a day at the beach.

If cooking isn't on your vacation wish list, a private chef can prepare breakfast, brunch or dinner, booked and charged separately.

Illustration of the open-air kitchen and four-seat Verandah Bar beside tropical planting and granite boulders.

Verandah and billiards

Step down onto the fully covered Verandah and the billiards table comes first, close to the kitchen and bar, so a game can start while dinner is still cooking. An afternoon match can easily turn into an evening rematch, with the winner choosing the movie.

Farther along, past the Garden Suite, two seats and a small table offer a place to pause. And just before the open-air gym, a door opens into the Private Cinema.

Illustration of the billiards table on the fully roofed Verandah, beside the kitchen and bar.

Private Cinema

Inside the air-conditioned cinema, a 200-inch screen faces eight leather armchairs in stadium seating, with four more seats at the bar behind them. That's twelve in all, so everyone in a group of ten has a place, with two to spare.

Choose a film and settle in. It might be the only part of the evening that everyone agrees to sit still for.