Looking for Bali Bliss? Head East into the magical hills of Amlapura.
Spend a night at The Kayon Gangga Resort, a new bamboo hideaway overlooking the emerald rice fields of Karangasem, and tap into a different rhythm. The views do most of the work at this new eco resort, and the pool deck and restaurant are worth the drive even if you’re only coming for the day.
Driving in Bali can be painful. Anyone who has sat in Canggu traffic knows exactly what we mean. But on the outskirts of Candi Dasa, something shifts. The roads narrow, the scooters thin out, and the views quietly turn magical. You breathe out. This is the Bali the brochures promise and don’t always deliver.
East Bali is a string of villages tucked between the mountains and the sea. Amed and Candidasa feel like a step back in time, Sidemen looks like an old Walter Spies painting that somebody forgot to frame, and over all of it looms Mount Agung, the island’s highest and most sacred volcano, which has a habit of appearing from behind the clouds just when you’ve stopped looking for it.
As we headed up the hill from Candi Dasa, we opened the windows to enjoy the fresh breeze, pulling over more than once to photograph rice terraces that were a brilliant green with the harvest about to begin.
In a picturesque valley in the village of Ababi, a short hop from the royal water gardens of Tirta Gangga, a new resort has set out to capture the spirit of Karangasem. The Kayon Gangga Resort is the latest from The Kayon Hotels & Resorts, the group behind The Kayon in Ubud, and it’s their first venture into Karangasem.
Gently fashioned almost entirely from bamboo, with soaring ceilings and carved Balinese reliefs, it’s built to blend with the local environment and does it gracefully. Its 29 private villas and 12 suites sit on a gentle slope overlooking rice fields that tumble all the way towards the sea. Here the old myths of the Balinese Hindus seem to whisper from every corner. An enormous statue of Kumbakarna presides over the horizon pool, which stretches from one end of the open deck to the other, and gives it the feeling of being watched over, in the nicest possible way.
The resort is built across levels that mirror the stepped rice terraces around it, and even the gardens have a backstory. They were planted according to Dewata Nawa Sanga, the Balinese cosmological system that assigns a deity and a colour to each of the nine directions. We didn’t know this when we stayed. We just thought the frangipani were pretty.
What The Kayon Gangga offers is a gentler kind of luxury. It strips away the glitz and glamour of the big southern mega resorts and replaces it with peace, quiet and genuine respect for local tradition. Life here is soft and slow, and it takes about twenty minutes before you stop reaching for your phone.
Kepitu: the taste of Karangasem
Kepitu is the signature restaurant, an open-air bamboo pavilion laid out over two levels, its gentle curves following the rice fields below. It overlooks the central pool and deck, still under the steady gaze of that statue, and on a clear evening you can see all the way to the ocean.
The menu does Western and Indonesian with equal confidence. You’ll find grilled steaks, fresh fish and the juicy Kayon Beef Burger that is more than a mouthful. But the real reason to come is the dishes inspired by the locals. The kitchen leans on traditional recipes and produce from the surrounding villages, and every dish seems to come with a story the staff are happy to tell.
Tipat Blayag is typical of this region, with compressed rice cakes (tipat) shaped in a unique way, served with a rich, savoury yellow coconut-spice sauce and local sides like shredded chicken or crispy skin. Another signature, Bebek Kayon, resounds with local flavours and techniques: coconut rice cooked in banana leaf, crisp duck and two sambals.
A melting plate of pork ribs arrived with a cone of rice and a spicy urab salad, the Balinese mix of vegetables and grated coconut that cuts beautifully through anything rich. A perfect Caesar salad kept things balanced, and the perfectly cooked nasi goreng came topped with a properly fried egg; this sounds like a small pleasure until you’ve had a bad one.
The chef has just returned home after four years in Australia, and his skills in both Western and Balinese cuisines added real polish to our meals.
Desserts range from Western favourites, like panna cotta with caramelised coconut and a warm chocolate fondant dressed with bright dragon fruit sauce and creamy ice cream, to local classics such as mango sticky rice. We shared. Mostly.
Once a week, Kepitu hosts A Night in Karangasem, a communal dinner built around megibung, the Balinese tradition of sharing food from one vessel. Expect sate serapah, nasi sela and pepes ikan marlin (spiced marlin steamed in banana leaf), with storytelling and live rindik music. It’s top of our list for next time.
Wanna Gangga: East Bali’s new day club
Blending a day club with the tranquillity of this resort is a challenge, but Wanna Gangga, the resort’s new day club, is more than just a place to order a drink. Spread across more than 600 square metres, built around a multi-level infinity pool with a sunken pool bar, a whirlpool and a stage for cultural performances, all facing the full sweep of the Karangasem landscape.
For those staying nearby in Amed or Candidasa, it’s a reason to climb a little higher, enjoy expansive views, music and a menu of tapas and local bites throughout the day.
Its mood changes with the day. Mornings are for wellness breakfasts, healthy bowls and loloh, Bali’s traditional herbal tonic. In the afternoon it becomes a house of culture, with activities like canang-making (the little palm-leaf offerings you see on every Balinese doorstep), Balinese painting, egg painting, rindik sessions and dance, all led by people from the surrounding villages who do these things every day. By evening it’s acoustic sets, storytelling and a long, unhurried sunset.
The food is Balinese tapas built on traditional flavours, alongside western favourites including an excellent club sandwich, burgers and salads. The drinks come in two collections. The Wellness Collection reimagines traditional herbal drinks for modern palates; the Spirits of Bali Collection blends fresh fruit with local spirits into signature cocktails that taste exactly like where you are.
We dipped into the tapas menu and enjoyed crisp coconut prawns, a rich pasta dish with slow-cooked ragu, a club sandwich and tender chicken satay; perfect poolside bites, washed down with mocktails blended with citrus and passionfruit. Simplicity wins over pretension here, and we were very happy to let a whole afternoon disappear by that pool.
Coming for the day?
Here’s the good news, if you can’t stay the night: you don’t have to. Wanna Gangga is open from 10 am to 10 pm, and Kepitu serves all day until 11 pm, which makes The Kayon Gangga one of the best excuses we know for a trip east.
Our suggestion is to leave early, stop at Tirta Gangga’s water gardens on the way (they’re just down the road), and arrive in time for a long lunch at Kepitu. Or plan a day trip to Wanna Gangga for an afternoon of swimming, grazing, a cultural workshop if one is running, and a cocktail as the light turns gold over the fields. Stay for sunset before you head home, or book dinner and make a proper evening of it.
Day access to Wanna Gangga is offered in four tiers, priced nett: Standard at IDR 200,000 per person, Silver at IDR 500,000 per person, Gold at IDR 2,000,000 for two, and Platinum at IDR 3,500,000 for up to four guests.
Fair warning, though. Day-trippers have a habit of becoming overnight guests.
Our pool villa
We stayed in a spacious garden pool villa, the kind of space you walk into and just stand for a moment, taking in the breathtaking views, the pretty pool and the architecture. The villas are generous, polished yet organic, with soaring bamboo roofs and gentle curves throughout. Wi-Fi, a flat-screen TV and a coffee machine are the only real nods to modern life, and we put them all to good use.
The private horizon pool gently reflects the sky and the countryside, but the bathtub was the real star. In the spacious bathroom, beside a perfectly positioned window, I had an indulgent soak after a long dinner. An herbal tea in hand, candles lit, aromatic bath salts lingering, I simply enjoyed the quiet as the valley below twinkled in the moonlight. This is what holidays are supposed to feel like.
The next morning we woke early for a swim and watched the mist lift off the vast green rice fields from our terrace and searched for Mt Agung. Breakfast at Kepitu skips the buffet in favour of the Karangasem Heritage Breakfast: jaje Bali (traditional cakes), laklak, bubur injin (black rice pudding) and local honey, with fresh loloh made at the table.
We also dived into a crispy eggs benedict with the egg expertly fried and served with locally smoked salmon, creamy hollandaise, and a fresh green salad. Breakfast here is a highlight, complete with freshly baked bread, croissants and fresh juices. It was one of those quiet, golden mornings that stays with you long after the drive home.
The verdict
The Kayon Gangga Resort doesn’t try to dazzle you. It just lets East Bali do what it has always done, and gets out of the way. Whether you come for a night in a pool villa or a long lazy day between Kepitu and Wanna Gangga, you’ll leave a little more relaxed than you arrived. We drove back west with the windows down and the traffic thickening around us, already working out when we could come back.
- Where: Ababi, Abang, Karangasem, East Bali, close to Tirta Gangga. Allow around 3 hours from Seminyak or the airport, depending on traffic.
- Day-trippers: Wanna Gangga, 10 am to 10 pm. Kepitu, breakfast 7 to 11 am and all-day dining 11 am to 11 pm. Priced from Rp 200,000 per person.
- Also on site: Teppanyaki & Iori for dinner (6 to 10 pm), 24-hour in-villa dining, and Serayu Wellness spa.
- Stay: Six villa and suite categories, from the 75 sqm Kayon Gangga Suite to the Royal Pool Villa with Jacuzzi. Rates from IDR 3,600,000.
- Nearby: Tirta Gangga water gardens, Taman Ujung, Lempuyang Temple and Virgin Beach.
- Book: thekayonganggaresort.com
