The Story of a Resort Born from Conviction, The Purist Villas

More than fifteen years ago, Yvonne Hulst and Alberto Cortés, the founding duo behind The Giri Destinations, were looking for a place. They had already transformed farmhouses in Ibiza into destinations of discreet luxury. They could have chosen Seminyak or Kuta. They chose Ubud instead: inland Bali, the island's cultural and spiritual centre. Ubad means medicine. It was a decision of conviction, not of market logic.

They called Joost van Grieken, a Dutch architect. His question was simple: how do you build a place that looks as though it had always been there? Eighteen villas rose along the banks of the Tawar, behind Kutuh Kaja, a kilometre and a half on foot from the centre. Each villa carries its own character: alang-alang thatched roofs, volcanic stone walls, glass panels catching the river light.

The centrepiece is the Limason Residence: a structure built around antique teak with glass panels and a bathtub carved from pink quartz granite, with its own infinity pool.

Every villa is furnished with authentic art pieces gathered over years of travel through the archipelago: a sculpture from Sumba, ikat textiles from Flores, a Balinese dance mask. It reads as a traveller's collection, not a decorator's.

The philosophy is drawn from Balinese Hindu beliefs of balance, harmony and purity of spirit, the canang sari offering laid out at dawn, the incense, the quiet attention to ritual. The Purist does not teach this philosophy. It lives it: through local butlers, an Ayurvedic spa, and the light that enters differently every single morning.

Eighteen villas, most with a private pool, set in gardens beside the river. Balisimo, the restaurant, built on a slow food philosophy. An Ayurvedic spa. All a kilometre and a half from the centre of Ubud.

The Purist Villas. Ubud, Bali. Eighteen villas. Available by reservation.