Top 30 Hotels in Asia: Readers’ Choice Awards 2021 (by Condé Nast Traveler )

The original article was published in Conde Nast Traveler. Read HERE.

Writer: Conde Nast Traveler

Hotel Tugu Bali

Walking into Hotel Tugu Bali instantly transports you to Indonesia of the past. In the dimly lit lobby, you suddenly realize you’re standing under a massive carved wooden pagoda of sorts, which is in fact a 150-year-old sacred ceremonial hall that was transported piece by piece from a village in central Bali. It is one of literally thousands of priceless pieces that the owner, the biggest collector of Indonesian antiquities in the country, has installed here on the edge of Batu Bolong beach in Canggu. It’s all part of the intention to preserve Indonesia’s near-forgotten cultures (Tugu means “monument”). And it’s just the tip of the iceberg. Rooms are comprised of different villas, many of them based on Javanese wooden houses, and each of them utterly unique. (The Rejang Suite, on the upper floors of a Javanese house, for example, has rich antique wooden floors, a carved four-poster bed, a kind of rustic sun porch lined with wood-paneled windows of colored glass that overlook the garden.)

Hotel Tugu Lombok

The lobby of this intimate resort is a 100-year-old carved wooden house incorporating Malay, Chinese, and colonial influences and stocked with funky antiques; dining is in a soaring pavilion by the pool, presided over by sculptures of Hindu deities. (Tugu Hotels’ founder and designer has amassed quite the collection of fine Indonesian antiquities.) Spacious bungalows nestle around shaded walkways and brilliant tropical gardens, giving the place the tranquil atmosphere of a secluded compound, with hand-hewn furniture and copper tubs in the outdoor bathrooms. The feeling of isolation is maximized by Tugu’s surroundings—farming villages and virgin wilderness—with the only other modern note an adjacent 18-hole golf course.

Hotel Tugu Malang