A one-night stay in Bali over the weekend would typically be an unfathomable itinerary for my husband and I, but the phrase “never say never” comes to mind in this particular instance. As he really wanted to catch the finals of an e-sports competition, we pulled together to somehow make this trip happen 😀 Thanks to a $100 Agoda promo code from a DBS livestream, we got to try out this relatively new hotel perched atop Jimbaran Bay at a discounted price!
Opening its doors in November 2022, AYANA Segara is the latest addition to the expansive AYANA Estate, a 90-hectare piece of land that comprises 3 other hotels and 1 luxury residence.
The first was AYANA Resort built in 1996 and has 294 rooms that combine classic elegance with Balinese-inspired decor.
AYANA Villas was also constructed in the same year, boasting 78 luxurious villas with private plunge pools.
The 403-room Rimba Hotel was then added in 2013, with facilities catering more to families with young children.
AYANA Residences, comprising luxury apartments and villas for private ownership, was completed in 2014. More recently in 2025, a new residential offering, Alamanda Tower, was launched as part of the AYANA Residences collection.
- Inclusions:
- 1-night stay in One Bedroom Ocean View Room (upgraded from One Bedroom Resort View Room)
- Breakfast
- Spent: SGD$375.26
- Contents of this review:
Check-in
The open-air reception area was an inviting space, with soothing brown and beige hues and loads of natural light pouring in. We were greeted by Albina, the reception staff, who was all smiles when welcoming us. She informed that we’d been upgraded to a room with ocean views and accorded a 4pm late check-out, courtesy of the AYANA Rewards Platinum membership, yay (: Our room was understandably not ready yet as we arrived fairly early in the morning.
Room
Once we got to our assigned room on level 4, the highest floor of the property, we were wowed by how modern, bright and spacious it was! It almost felt like a junior suite with enough room for a good-sized sofa and dining table for two. My requested firm pillows were placed on the nicely firm bed ready and waiting, along with a towel monkey. Additionally, the balcony came with a super comfy daybed and an amazing panoramic view of the ocean ❤
In the roomy bath, there was a freestanding tub (filled with fresh petals and flowers when we arrived) and an adjacent shower area. They even provided a bath bomb, which I happily utilised that night for a pampering soak.
Mini-bar items and the welcome fruit amenity were complimentary (: Remember to request for evening turndown service and you just might receive a little treat like we did!
Facilities
Guests can access the facilities of the other hotels on the estate (except for AYANA Residences), as well as Kubu Beach, via a complimentary tram service. This made it really convenient to explore the restaurants and activities at other hotels. A minor point of contention was that the tram timings displayed at the stations were never accurate during our stay and functioned more as a rough gauge. Even the supposed live tracking of the trams’ locations in the dedicated AYANA app offered no sense of predictability since it didn’t reflect its actual location.
Aside from this aspect, the tram drivers were very helpful and readily offered clarification to guests who were confused about the routes. Some even got off at the more crowded stations to ask if anyone was headed in the direction they were driving towards to ensure guests don’t miss their ride, so kind of them!
With a plethora of dining options to choose from, we did our best to try as many as we could during our short stay. We began with lunch at Sami Sami restaurant around 12pm. Alighting from the tram at AYANA Resort (as that was the closest stop), we undertook a long, unsheltered walk towards the edge of the cliff as that’s where the restaurant was located.
As I made an advance reservation requesting for a nice view, we were ushered to a table right at the end with an unobstructed view of the Indian Ocean! A wait staff promptly brought us a starter of bread and tasty sauces.
I ordered a non-spicy version of the spaghetti vongole (IDR220,000++) and a fresh coconut drink (IDR70,000++). The Manila clams in my dish were big and juicy, plus they tasted pretty fresh. However, the sauce was lacking and a little too oily.
My husband had a delicious and creamy spinach and ricotta ravioli (IDR190,000++) and a freshly brewed coffee (IDR75,000++), which he unfortunately found too acidic for his liking.
One of the complimentary activities available was the Farm Tour, with two timings to choose from (11am or 4pm, I opted for the latter). I met Andika, the tour guide, at AYANA Resort’s main lobby before taking a buggy ride to the garden nearby.
Andika was also the person in charge of running this completely organic farm onsite. He shared cool fun facts about how they use natural means for pest control, like having yellow flowers such as magnolia to draw pests away from the other plants, as well as surrounding lettuce plants with pungent-smelling, insect-repelling spring onions.
Many of the plants here can be used as natural remedies for common ailments. He also explained techniques they used, like cangkok (air layering) to propagate new plants, and showed me their experimentation with hybrid plants like the cucumelon (cucumber + watermelon)! I was very impressed how every plant had a purpose in contributing to this farm in place of chemicals and pesticides (the team’s aim is for the farm to be carbon neutral).
On our way back to the resort, I was curious to know Andika’s field of study that enabled him to be so innovative with his methods. He told me he simply kept learning from whatever sources he had access to (like the internet) and constantly experimented to find out what works (occasionally to the frustration of his wife and family). That is some inspiring level of passion right there!
Right after the Farm Tour, I rendezvoused with my husband at Rock Bar for our 5pm dinner reservation. I only found out about it whilst here but this award-winning bar has been named one of the world’s best bars, famous for its glorious cliffside sunset views!
It’s open to public (subjected to minimum spending and non-sunset time slots) but hotel guests enjoy exclusive reservations for sunset time slots, plus a separate queue to take the inclinator (an inclined elevator) up and down the cliff. A compelling reason to be a staying guest indeed.
The seating areas spanned quite a distance along the side of the cliff, with certain spots specially reserved for hotel guests. Despite there being an apparently vast number of physical seats, the place was still packed to the brim! We were seated right up close to the oceanfront (which can be pretty intimidating during high tide as the ferocious waves can tower over and crash onto the decks). But it was certainly a fantastic vantage point to admire the beautiful sunset. One staff told us that the past few evenings had been rainy and overcast, so it was a pleasant surprise that the skies finally cleared up the day we were there.
As I made this reservation via the hotel’s enquiry email, they mistakenly thought we were there solely for drinks and bar snacks. This meant seating us at the daybeds section far away from the kitchen with no “proper” table to dine at, which we were perfectly fine with. However, the staff stationed there were super sweet and offered to seat us in a different section, expressing their worry that we’d have to wait very long for our food and dine uncomfortably from the tiny table. We assured them it was all good (:
Our first dish was the black cod and mash (IDR230,000++). I’m not sure if it was cod done two ways but both the seared ones and the fried-in-black-batter ones were so succulent and delicious! The mash was creamy and divine too.
As for our second dish, the beef sliders (IDR150,000++), they tasted rather average so we ended up just eating the patties and leaving the carbs.
We sipped on our refreshing and spicy turmeric ginger splash drink (IDR120,000++) while watching the sunset turn the sky all sorts of mesmerizing hues. The staff were truly gems, checking in on us from time to time and bidding us a fond farewell as we got up to leave ❤
Our last venue for the day was DAVA Steak & Seafood, a romantic dinner spot located at AYANA Villas. During our visit, they even had a live band playing chill pop music through the evening.
Although we told the staff we were only here for dessert, they still brought us a complimentary bread starter in a cute sack! We ordered two desserts to share. The Dava chocolate soufflé (IDR145,000++) was perfectly risen and moist on the inside. However, it was very rich, and when combined with the chocolate cream and ice-cream, it got a tad too much by the halfway mark.
Sadly, the strawberry mille feuille (IDR120,000++) was also unimpressive. The well-executed caramelized puff pastry was the only thing we finished on that plate. As for the chocolate milkshake (IDR85,000++), it wasn’t mind-blowing but it had just the right sweetness to make it a decent post-dinner treat.
Check out what happened in Part 2! 🡲
If this post helped you in some way and you’d like to buy me a coffee, I’d be incredibly grateful (:
Dania Experiences 