Buahan – A Banyan Tree Escape

In the Payangan highland above Ubud, Buahan – A Banyan Tree Escape occupies a hillside overlooking two rivers and a valley of rice terraces and coconut palms, with the architecture taking the concept of openness to its most committed expression: some of the 16 pool villas have no walls on the valley side, with a gauze of bamboo screening and a private infinity pool as the only separation between the interior and the Balinese landscape below. The design by HABITA was developed around a single idea — that the guest should be exposed to the natural environment of highland Bali as directly and completely as possible while maintaining the level of material comfort that defines the Banyan Tree brand. The result is a retreat that functions simultaneously as an architecture experiment and as one of the most genuinely immersive nature experiences available in a luxury hospitality context in Bali.

The wellness programme, which forms the core of the property’s offering, draws on Balinese healing traditions and the specific botanical resources of the Payangan highland, with herbal preparations, traditional Balinese massage, and hydrotherapy using water from the rivers below the property. The restaurant’s menu draws on the organic farming community of the Ubud highlands and the spice gardens immediately adjacent to the property, with a culinary approach calibrated to the restorative intentions of the guests’ stay. The cultural programme connects guests to the Balinese ceremonial and artistic traditions of the Payangan and Tegallalang villages within walking distance of the property.

Buahan’s escape philosophy extends to an intentional absence of some of the technological infrastructure that has become standard in luxury hotels — no televisions in the villas, limited connectivity options — creating a framework for a quality of withdrawal from habitual life that the property’s setting supports and that the Balinese concept of taksu, the special energy of a place, reinforces.