What makes
Bali Retreat different?
Aruba’s only indoor pool, heated and sheltered beneath a timber roof. A private cinema with a 200-inch screen. A natural Buddha cave hidden among tropical plants and granite boulders. At Bali Retreat, these are all part of one Balinese-style vacation villa, reserved for your group of up to 10 guests.
Our story: a Balinese villa built from scratch
In 2011, we bought a beautiful piece of land with majestic granite boulders and the ruins of an old house. The house came down, the boulders stayed, and we began building Bali Retreat from scratch.
From the beginning, we wanted to create a villa that embraced the warmth and beauty of being in the tropics. We chose natural stone and warm timber, open-air living spaces and a lush garden inspired by Bali and Southeast Asia. We wanted you to wander from the house into the greenery without quite noticing where one ended and the other began.
The ambition was to give a private home the variety of a small resort: places to swim and play, to gather for dinner, and to disappear for a while. On January 1, 2015, we welcomed our first guests.
Privacy behind three-meter garden walls
Three-meter boundary walls enclose Bali Retreat, shielding the villa, pools and gardens from outside view. You can swim, sunbathe, dine outdoors or spend the afternoon in a hammock without being on display to neighbors or people passing in the street.
That privacy is part of what makes the open-air living so inviting. You can settle into the garden and feel entirely at home.
Aruba’s only indoor pool – and an outdoor waterfall lagoon
The heated indoor pool runs through the heart of the villa, beneath timber beams and skylights, beside a stone wall where waterfalls spill into the water. Roofed and screened, it brings the pool into the living spaces, with a lounge right at the water’s edge.
When the midday sun feels too strong, you can swim beneath the roof or settle beside the water with a drink. If a rain shower passes through, you still have a pool under cover. This is sheltered tropical living, open to the island air.
When you want sunshine, the outdoor Waterfall Lagoon is waiting in the garden, with five waterfalls of its own. Two more flow into the indoor pool, bringing the property's total to seven.
Beside the lagoon, the Tropical Spa Pool is a small, unheated pool with jets – a refreshing place to linger on a warm afternoon. For a warm soak, there is a separate heated hot tub in the garden. Choose your spot to suit the hour, the weather or your mood.
Buddha cave, Hammock Cove and a garden of hideaways
The garden has its own rooms, made from greenery and granite rather than walls. Follow a path to the natural Buddha cave. Sit for a while in Meditation Hollow, a roofed nook tucked between two boulders. Take your piña colada to Hammock Cove, or bring a book to the garden lounge and see how little of it you actually read.
These places give a group the freedom to spend the same afternoon differently. Some of you can gather by the lagoon while someone else finds a quiet corner to meditate, pray or do absolutely nothing.
The yoga pavilion and open-air gym make room for a more active start to the day, with the garden around you. A morning stretch, a workout, then a swim – all before anyone has decided where to go for lunch.
An open-air kitchen and dinner with your feet in the sand
The fully equipped kitchen looks out into the tropical garden. Open to the air, it invites the kind of cooking that becomes part of the vacation: something good on the stove, a drink within reach, and lunch that takes as long as it likes. A private chef can be booked separately when you would like someone else to take care of the meal.
In the evening, gather beneath the palapa in the outdoor dining pavilion, with white beach sand under your feet. The table is for your group, and the evening can unfold at your own pace.
You can also eat indoors in the enclosed, air-conditioned dining room. For a casual meal or a drink, the Portico Bar beside the kitchen and the Pool Bar by the Waterfall Lagoon each seat four.
A private cinema with a 200-inch screen
After dinner, settle into the private cinema for a film on the 200-inch screen. It seats 12: eight in leather theater-style armchairs arranged in stadium seating, and four at the bar behind them. Movie night can be an occasion of its own.
Or make it a game of billiards, then a last soak in the hot tub. There are evenings here that need very little planning.
Bali Retreat has a connection to the screen, too: it was a filming location for the romantic feature film Love in Aruba (2021). Watch it before your trip and see which corners you recognize when you arrive.
Beach games, giant chess and a study beside the pool
The beach court brings real Caribbean beach sand into the garden for volleyball and badminton. The table tennis alcove invites a quick game that may become a family tournament. Giant chess waits on a marble board for anyone with a more considered approach to winning.
For a quieter afternoon, there is the giant pillow pit and that book you have been saving. The small private study overlooks the indoor pool, giving anyone who needs to work a beautiful place to settle in. You might even find the setting for the first page of a novel.
In the heart of Noord, close to Aruba’s favorite places
Bali Retreat sits in the heart of Noord, with beaches, restaurants and places to explore in several directions. Palm Beach, Eagle Beach, Oranjestad and Alto Vista Chapel are all around ten minutes away by car, depending on traffic and your destination.
It is a wonderful base for seeing the island: a morning at the beach, lunch in town, a visit to the chapel, then back to your own garden for a swim. You can make plans as you go, with so much close at hand.
Airport welcomes, private chefs and spa days at home
You can add as much help and pampering to your stay as you like. Arrange an airport pickup with our own team, a sightseeing tour around the island, or transport for your plans. Often, the person who greets you at the airport is also the person who welcomes you into the villa.
Private chefs can prepare breakfast, brunch or dinner. Massage and spa treatments can come to you, and a private yoga class can take place in the pavilion. It is easy to imagine a slow breakfast followed by a massage in your own garden, with the rest of the afternoon still ahead of you.
These services are optional and charged separately. Choose the experiences you want, and let us help arrange them around your stay.
A whole villa to enjoy together
The difference is having all these spaces in one place, reserved for your group. A swim, a game, a quiet afternoon and an evening at the movies can all happen right here. Everyone can find something they love, then come back together around the dinner table.
Bali Retreat accommodates up to 10 guests across five bedrooms, with 4.5 bathrooms. Pool Suite, Beach Suite and Garden Suite each have a king bed and their own bathroom. Bonsai Room has a king bed; Zen Room has two twin beds. These two bedrooms have lockable doors onto a connecting hallway with a shared shower bathroom and closet. Access to Zen Room is through Bonsai Room. Explore the bedroom photographs and layout to see how the arrangement would work for your group.
Beaches, restaurants and island adventures can fill your plans. Just leave yourselves a few days to enjoy the place you came to stay.