COMO UMA CANGGU
Five-star resort Como Uma Canggu opened earlier this year in the surfers’ paradise of Canggu on Bali’s southern coast. We find out how it’s changing the game
LOCATION: Until only a couple of years ago, Canggu was relatively off the radar, a low-key village with some budget accommodation for surfers and a handful of luxurious holiday homes hidden in the surrounding jungle. But that’s all changed. Canggu is now flooded with hipster cafes, juice bars and beach clubs, so much so that some now refer to it as “Brooklyn on sea.” Como Uma Canggu is at the tip of Canggu’s picturesque Echo Beach. Guests can step straight out of the hotel onto the sand. It’s a short walk into buzzing Canggu itself in the daytime, but the lack of str eetlights means it can take longer to find your way back by torchlight in the evening (especially as scooters zip past dangerously close). The resort is roughly an hour’s drive from Denpasar airport, although with traffic it can take longer.
ROOM & DESIGN: Not all rooms are created equal at Como Uma Canggu, though they’re all lovely in their own ways. There are 11 different categories for just over 100 rooms, which roughly divide into rooms (in one wing) and residences (in a second). Go f or one of the residences, which range from one-bedroom apartments to three-bed penthouses and are located in the wing closest to the pools, Como Beach Club restaurant and Echo Beach. All rooms have been given a beach-chic feel by designers Koichiro Ikebuchi, Paola Navone and Giacomo Passera, who have succeeded in making them plush but not fuss y— you don’t need to worry about walking through to your shower in sandy swimwear. If you’re looking for a room with a certain wow factor, splash out on one of the 12 penthouses, each of which has its own private pool nestled beneath a dramatic curving roof.
FACILITIES: Como Uma Canggu has all the facilities you would expect from a five-star resort—gym, Pilates and yoga studios, a kids’ club and tw o pools—but one that stands out is the Surf Shack, a surfing school within the hotel operated by international experts Tropicsurf. This Surf Shack is managed by Carl, a Swede who left chilly northern Europe behind in 2012 to move to the tropics and pursue his love of the sport. Unusually, Tropicsurf
teaches beginners in the hotel’s 110m-long lagoon pool rather than in the ocean. This turns out to be a wise choice, seeing as the waves were nearly three metres high on the day of our lesson.
SPA: A wide variety of pampering, including massages, facials and beauty treatments, is available at the hotel’s spa, the Como Shambhala Retreat. All eight treatment rooms are elegant and airy, and nothing is too much trouble for the unfailingly polite staff. However, Como Uma Canggu’s spa caters more to casual spa-goers—guests who want a massage after a surfing lesson and before dinner, for example—rather than wellness aficionados who line up treatments from morning to night. If you’re looking for an all-encompassing wellness retreat, we’d recommend visiting the resort’s sister property, Como Shambhala Estate, in Ubud.
FOOD & DRINK: Como Uma Canggu has only one restaurant, Como Beach Club, but it does most things so well that we never wished for alternatives. The dinner menu is split into three sections: Ocean (which features seafood options such as miso-cured kingfish), Earth (meat-based dishes such as a tender Balinese spiced pork chop) and seasonal vegetarian dishes (roasted goat cheese from Java was one of the most popular choices when we stayed). There’s an extensive drinks menu and the freshly mixed Como Shambhala juices make for the perfect accompaniments to any meal—the Culture Shock and Muscle Mylk are particularly recommended. Como Beach Club is perfectly sandwiched between the lagoon pool and the beach, so make sure that you arrive early if you want to get your hands on a beachside table at breakfast.