It’s one of those dilemmas, isn’t it? The sort of dilemma had by people you would slap if you met them. Namely, do you stay up here in your own private pool, where the drinks are to hand, the views of the Indian Ocean right there, the four-poster al fresco daybed all set up with enough towels to carpet a couple of state rooms in Buckingham Palace and your speaker pumping just the right mix of 70s disco?
Or do you walk down to the hotel pool – infinity, of course! – right there on the cliff edge because there might be cute people (there are! There really are!) and someone else can mix the cocktails. Let’s do both! Start up here, go down there for breakfast, then stay until massage, then come back up for sunset. You see, it’s easy when you put some thought into it.
Bali, the legendarily magical island in the South Seas is a long way away and no mistaking. Unless you’re from Perth in Australia, that is, in which case it’s pretty much there on your doorstep. But at least when you get there, Six Senses and all the loveliness it has to offer, is just 11 miles or so from the airport. Easy. We slept. And once you’re there, you might not even bother to leave, even if the famous Uluwatu Temple is a short drive away and that sea down there has boats that you can go on. Because why would you leave?
The whole place has been carved out of the local limestone of the cliff and that very limestone has been used to create a sleek, modern, sexy resort, so it fits right in. Scattered about – you can take golf buggies but we’re really not quite that lazy yet – our Cliff Pool Villa is uphill from the main areas of the hotel, and the thing is huge, done out in a mixture of sleek modern but with pops of traditional: a wooden wall with a huge TV, natural materials with splashes of ocean blue, floating muslins, inside and out, an ocean-facing bath, an outside shower area, a day bed for drying off before getting right into that private pool again, all so spacious you need never know you’re not on your own.
Then down we go to the public space, space being the operative word as there’s plenty to go round, from the New York gays splashing around in all the latest swimwear at one end of the pool, to the dads teaching their kids to swim at the other. Breakfast is ocean-facing, obviously, at Rocka with a buffet that opens up and up and up… so that just when you think you’ve seen it all, there’s something else to have, whether it’s a regular full English, something Asian or Balinese or just a plate of exotic fruit (well, you’re in swimwear). All this in surroundings you might expect from one of those Japanese party restaurants in Knightsbridge: sexy and expertly lit and opening right out onto the sea and the pool (obviously they don’t have sea or pools in Knightsbridge). This restaurant even has an interactive element to it… but we’re on our holidays, we’re not even pouring our own tea. Oh, and this is where you’d come for sundowners… if you’re not back in your Sky Pool Suite with a bottle of bubbly and Donna Summer. Or at The Cliff Bar, on the other side of that slab of view, where you can order up cocktails and fancy pizzas. And you can book yourself into the Cooking Studio for classes because, this being Six Senses, the focus is very much on health, wellness and the experience.
Speaking of which, you’ll be proud to hear we dragged ourselves out of our Sky Pool Suite for yoga in the incredible Wellness Centre, which you walk out over a reflecting pool to get to. It was worth it: in a room made almost entirely of glass surrounded by water, the down-facing dogs flowed flawlessly. You can even do hanging yoga. Or just use the fitness centre. Or head to the Meditation Pavilion for some shut-eye. Or have a massage in one of their eight treatment rooms. The whole area is so deliciously designed and sun-dappled that you actually find yourself loitering. When you’re not by your own pool or asking the New York gays about their big nights out, because big nights out – very gay, very funny ones – are totally possible in Bali.
But we’re spoilt for choice here: whether it’s a movie looking out over the sea in their outdoor screening area, restaurant hopping or just dangling in the pool, though we do make a resolution to get down to that sea for some surfing or sailing or snorkeling (there are Balinese treasures under the water for you to visit)… If Donna ever runs out of songs and the champagne ever stops coming, that is.
