High above Bali’s Jimbaran Bay, Villa Jamalu has an uninterrupted view of the sea. The rooftop makes the clearest case for it, but the rest of the house is built on the same premise — creating a seamless connection to the outdoors.
Being perched above everything else has a way of making a place feel like it belongs only to you. Villa Jamalu has built an entire stay around that feeling — sleeping up to eight guests who’d have very little reason to go looking elsewhere. It offers plenty of reasons to stay in, especially a rooftop terrace where the sunset is the evening entertainment.
Four bedrooms are spread over three floors in this sea-view villa, alongside a 12m pool with daybeds and a balé for lounging, a games room with a pool table, a spa room, and a gym. The villa sits within a gated estate on Temple Hill in Jimbaran, where private houses face the bay. From this vantage point, lush greenery gives way to a fishing fleet dotting the waves, and then to the horizon beyond.
Outside the villa, what Jimbaran Bay offers is worth a few day trips; if you’re ready to finally leave your poolside perch, that is. Visit seafood restaurants that embrace dining on the sand, tour the fish market at Kedonganan, book the hottest tables in Jimbaran, and do a drive out towards the Bukit Peninsula, running south towards the limestone cliffs of Uluwatu.
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The Location: Behind the Gates of Temple Hill
Feel like you’re the king of the hill at Villa Jamalu, a hilltop property looking down at Jimbaran Bay and the fishing boats that go out at dusk. The view is the reason this villa is where it is in Bali, and the height is the reason the view works.
The neighbourhood of Jimbaran keeps a slower pace than Bali’s louder districts, though slower doesn’t mean empty. Beachside seafood eateries line the shore, built for long feasting sessions; the Kedonganan fish market is up and working long before anyone staying at the villa is awake; and the Bukit Peninsula runs south toward Uluwatu, for the day someone in the group wants a temple on a cliff face.
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The Design: Built to Face the Water
Three floors, set on a hilltop, facing the bay — the higher up you sleep here, the better the view, which makes the upper-storey bedrooms extra appealing.
The 12m pool sits at the front of the property, daybeds lined along its edge, with an open-sided, cushioned balé beside it for shade. The rooftop terrace has the best vantage in the house, built for meals eaten outdoors as the sun drops behind the fishing fleet.
Four bedrooms sleep eight guests, each with its own ensuite bathroom. The ground-floor bedroom enjoys direct pool access, while two bedrooms offer canopied king beds; the master bedroom additionally features its own hot tub in the bathroom, perched to face the bay. Two other bedrooms offer queen beds, with a rainshower area in each ensuite bathroom.
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The Amenities: Made for Staying In
There’s plenty to do even if you choose to stay in all day. Fire up the barbecue grill that sits by the pool for a veritable seafood feast. A pool table in the games room is ready for you whenever the group gets competitive. An air-conditioned gym provides the chance to work out, when you’ve run out of excuses. Ask the villa manager about the on-demand massage appointments, best enjoyed in the villa’s spa room.
Trundle beds are available for children, and a smaller group can book three of the four bedrooms and leave the fourth locked, which keeps the pool, the roof, the games room and the rest of it without paying for an empty bed.
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The Service: Anytime, Anywhere, Anything
Daily breakfast, daily housekeeping and a villa manager come as standard, which in practice means the day arranges itself around the time you decide to get up. A private chef can be booked, and on a hill this far above the restaurants that tends to happen by the second night. Bring seven other people, book the chef, and spend the evening lounging on rooftop terrace for every evening you have.
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