The sounds of lapping waves on Bali's coast are swapped for those of lowing cows and crickets in the hilly country of Ubud. Far from the madding beach crowds, nature remains raw and abundant up here and the spas adopt an earthy ambiance in tune with the powerful landscape surrounding them.

There cannot be many swimming pool spots in the world that take your breath away quite like this. A stunning slab of black water teeters on the brink of Bali's most dramatic river gorge. The silence here is almost busy with a sense of spiritual activity.

This mood au naturel continues as you lie under a grass roof of cathedral-like proportions before an audience of big banana branches and flapping palms. Outdoor bathing diverges from the spa norm and takes on a whole new meaning: your bath is sunk into a loamy lotus pond twice the size of the double spa villa, making any presidential suite seem meagre by comparison.

These soap bricks are mild and gentle to smell and to touch thanks to their 100 percent natural content. they are exclusive to Mandara Spa

The much photoghraphed Ayung River gorge in Ubud is often cited as one of the most beautiful in the world and one of the many benefits of visiting the Mandara Spa atThe Chedi Is Its dramatic setting on the lip of this valley, hundreds of feet above the river.The whole hotel, including the imposing infinity-edge swimming pool, seems to tumble Into the sheer leafy jaws of the gorge, made soft by a landscape stepped with trees.

Even that nostalgic Image of maidens bathing naked at the water's edge is realized by the local village girls. So just setting off for a spa treatment down a leafy pathway of moss- covered stones, kickstarts that back-to-nature feeling before you even disrobe.

The famous floral bath in action! In this context the flower symbolize cleansing : they wash away bad luck. For asian people flowers are part of everyday life, right down to ablutions.

The piece de resistance here is the Mandara signature massage, an other-worldly combination of five massage techniques. It is rhythmically performed, like a dance over your body, by two therapists working together in synch. Book it.