A 5 star experience like no other. This is coming from a couple that has experience big western 5 star chains ( EG Marriot, Intercontinental, Sofitel, etc). The view is amazing as expected, however the standout pleasure was the personal touch from all the staff. All staff were passionate with their care and genuine with their attention. I believe that is what parted this resort from others that may even cost more.

A special shout out to all the butlers and waiters/waitresses. An even bigger shout out to Ngurah from reception for extra attention at all hours to make sure him and his staff goes above and beyond for our experience. Again, this is an experience we have never had before and certainly sets the bar high.

We stayed in a Garden Pool villa for 4 nights on the first part of a trip to Bali.
The best part of the Como Uma Ubud is the amazing staff, they are so friendly and go out of their way to greet you, check on you, make sure you have absolutely everything you need.
The villa was beautiful, keep in mind the bathroom and bedroom are in separate areas, so you have to “go outside” and then across to visit the bathroom from the bedroom. The wardrobe etc are also located in the bathroom area.
Breakfast daily was absolutely delicious and cannot be faulted. We also ate at the italian restaurant on our arrival evening (Uma Cucina) which was great. Food at the bar by the pool was also fantastic. We ate at Kemiri for the Comos weekly Indonesian night (complete with dancers) and were not really thrilled with the food there unfortunately.
We also had appointments at the spa for treatments/massage and everything there was professional and a great service.

The pool in our villa was unfortunately absolutely freezing cold and we only used it once, therefore if we were to return we would not bother with the expense of a pool villa. The main pool was still cold but tolerable for a decent swim. There were always plenty of beds available around the main pool to relax, just getting a bit busy in the late afternoons.
Heating of the pool villas would be a great idea, as Ubud is quite cool with jungle areas.
The gym is quite small and one treadmill was out of order. Visiting early in the morning means you may have to wait to go in.
The shuttle to town is a great idea, but we found ourselves wishing it was more often, particularly if you wanted to head out for dinner, the timings were quite off.
Grab is fortunately easy and cheap to use in Ubud.
Ubud town is about 20-25min walk away – however the streets can be difficult to negotiate which makes a short walk more lengthy (Watch carefully where you are walking) and theres a hill to walk up when you are coming back to the Como.

Mandapa is the newest ultra-luxury resorts on the island, and is one of three Ritz-Carleton Reserve properties in the world. In our 3 1/2 weeks in Java and Bali, this was our final stop before returning home to the US. We spent 6 nights here in a beautiful one bedroom suite with separate living room and large terrace high up on the property which cascades down through rice fields to the river, with a gorgeous backdrop view of tropical rainforest. (Now that we have experienced Mandapa, rather than staying in one of the suite buildings next time we will stay in a rice field view pool villa. Some of these provide more privacy than others, so best to check when booking.)

Notable are the crisp and luxurious bed linens and fluffy sumptuous towels, and the beautiful site-specific Balinese paintings.

On day 5, Resort Manager, Reka, came to my table at breakfast and apologized for not meeting us before but she’d been away at a Women’s Leadership retreat. Other staff whom I’d like to call out are Ade – front desk manager, and Ari – main restaurant manager, who greeted us at breakfast every morning. Also, we both participated in the “Disconnect to Reconnect” program which is apparently something new at Mandapa. While every resort we stayed at on this 3 1/2 week trip offered at least occasional yoga, this extensive program has a wide array of cultural, spiritual, and physical offerings that occur during the day. We loved yoga and singing bowls with Wayan and participated in several of his sessions.

A few minor things of note, as a lap swimmer, I had difficulty with the freeform pool and kept running into the undulating walls, though it’s lovely to look at. Also, lighting in the suite, particularly in the bathroom is insufficient. Though there’s a stylish countertop makeup mirror, it is useless; replacing these would be an easy fix. Finally, when I am in Asia, I prefer to listen to Asian music; quite incongruous and somewhat disconcerting to hear “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” while gazing out over rice fields and tropical forest in Bali. In my view, the main negative is that because of the hillside setting, lobby accessibility by foot is nearly impossible. As one who enjoys walking and exercise, I wasn’t fond of needing to depend upon someone to drive me there via “buggy” when I wanted to go into Ubud. That said, accessibility into Ubud is quite easy and quick via Grab (app similar to Lyft or Uber), and because of Mandapa’s location north of town.

Staff went above and beyond expectations in every way. We were almost always greeted by name, and our preferences in all things were remembered. Our French patih (butler), Louie, was delightful, leaving gorgeous flower arrangements, facilitating gifting of items I’d admired and had wanted to buy, and everything was with a hand-written note. We even received a lovely note from our housekeepers.

Mandapa is truly a cut above and provided a most wonderful ending to our first trip to the magical island of Bali.