Great service, beautiful setting, but rooms can be improved.

The Pita Maha Resort and Spa is the Royal Pita Maha’s much smaller sister hotel. Placed in a similar, valley viewing setting, the resort is made up of 24 bungalows (or villas, if you will), some with pools. Compared to Royal Pita Maha, Pita Maha is much closer to downtown Ubud, being located on Campuhan hill. The hotel is marketed as a boutique, more intimate offering compared to Royal Pita Maha.

View from lobby

We arrived at the hotel's small but intricately carved entrance to be greeted by the resort’s exceptionally friendly general manager. After exchanging a few greetings, we were promptly checked in by his colleague whilst another person brought us a juice (of some fruit I can’t identify) for us to sip on whilst viewing the beautiful scenery of the valley.

Pita Maha Entrance

We were shortly brought to our villa as someone else took care of our luggage.

We were booked into a Garden Villa, which I’d say felt a lot like a premium, yet very traditional-looking Balinese bungalow. The style of the interior very much reminded me of that at Amandari, albeit decidedly less upmarket. I felt that the room itself looked spacious and had a nice old-world charm to it. Either way, I definitely preferred this room to the one I had at The Royal Pita Maha. There were large windows that overlooks the courtyard (and a bit of the beautiful Campuhan Valley). 

Villa Entrance

Villa Courtyard

Villa Porch

Garden Villa

Garden Villa

Garden Villa

Garden Villa

The villa felt to be adequately maintained, and nicely appointed. This had to be one of the most Balinese-looking hotel rooms I've seen in Bali; with the ornate carvings at the entrance and the Kamasan paintings on the bed's headboard, the hotel isn't shy to show its Balinese roots and doesn't pretend to be modern or stylish. I did have doubts about cleanliness though, particularly with the mosquito net and curtains. 

Sink and Wardrobe

Sink

Despite my mostly favourable impressions of the room, I did not like the bathroom setup at all. Whilst the sink and wardrobe are conveniently part of the room, the set up of the toilet and wet room left much to be desired. The toilet frankly had seen better days; its glassless window viewed a dark, unlit area which made nighttime trips to the toilet a lot less pleasant. 

The shower and bathtub setup was much less pleasant. The open-air setup ensured that the bathtub is always covered with various insect and plant debris, no matter how diligently it is cleaned. What made the least sense was the slightly tilted drain that made it difficult to flush out said debris using the shower hose. The shower was at least usable, although it wasn't very pleasant to use. The toiletries were in reusable glass containers, and were okay.

Garden Villa bathroom

The staff at the hotel are friendly, warm, and well-intentioned, although the service did seem inconsistent (in a good way). Service at the restaurant, particularly by the considerably more senior members of staff was unbelievably polished, and I was frankly very impressed by that. Service in other areas instead felt very casual and in which people aren't shy to chat. The hotel's general manager frequently checked upon us to ensure that everything was okay. If anything this overall made the place feel like a relatively nice, family-run bed and breakfast.

I'm frankly unsure how to summarise the food here. Our rate included breakfast, and it was objectively mediocre at best. We offered fresh juices, although it didn't take a second guess to know that the artificial-tasting orange juice was anything but fresh. We also sampled their croissants, which tasted great as a bread-roll, but definitely weren't croissants (aside from their shape). The shell was thick and crusty and the inside was like bread.

'Croissants'

The fruit platter was fresh and inoffensive.

Fruit plate

We also sampled the Bonnet Breakfast plate and their Eggs Benedict. The former is said to be what's served to guests at the Ubud Palace back in the days. It was interesting, although the 'Balinese special Banana crepes' on the right were strangely sour... 

Bonnet Breakfast

The Eggs Benedict was mostly fine, although there was too little Hollandaise sauce, which made the dish blander than it should be. It was amusing to hear the neighbouring table questioning the lack of the sauce, to which the staff replied that it is supposed to look like that.

Eggs Benedict

Service is surprisingly very polished and attentive though as previously mentioned; that and the beautiful view from the restaurant frankly took our minds off the flaws.

The hotel has a single infinity pool, which overlooks the valley. The setting and design again reminded me of the pool at Amandari, although Amandari's does look nicer. It was nevertheless still very beautiful.

Pool

Pool

Pita Maha is located on Campuhan Hill, and it is theoretically possible to walk 20-minutes down to Central Ubud. There are various art galleries nearby along with many restaurants, including the famous Indus Restaurant and the temporarily closed but acclaimed Mozaic restaurant.

The hotel also offers a shuttle to central Ubud at irregular intervals.

Despite its flaws, Pita Maha's character and background undoubtedly make it one of the most authentically Balinese hotels on the island. The feel of a place is very hard to fake, and the feel of Pita Maha can't be mistaken for any other place in the world. Whilst the food and the bathroom setup aren't ideal, this hotel is a good choice for those seeking to be immersed in a Balinese sense of place without making the jump to staying at a local homestay.