Hotel Review: The Mulia, Nusa Dua, Bali

It’s one of Bali’s most luxurious beach resorts, complete with butler service and a Sunday brunch that’s the stuff of legends. So what’s it really like to stay at the Mulia in Nusa Dua? Danielle Norton checks in.

Details

The Mulia, Mulia Resort and Villas, Nusa Dua, Bali

First impressions

On arrival at The Mulia we’re greeted by a man proffering a bowl of frangipani flowers. He positions one behind each of our ears and then, as we cup our hands in prayer position, he pours frangipani scented oil into them. Rubbing our palms together, we step into the resort, our senses activated as we transition from the outside world to this new one.

At this 30-hectare property in Nusa Dua guests are far from the hectic crowds and bustling streets of Bali’s more tourist-oriented areas. Comprised of the Mulia Resort, the all-suite The Mulia, and the Mulia Villas, this property is refined and elegant, polished like a marble bust in a museum. In fact, it contains huge walls of rare blue marble and it’s the perfect place to escape from the world for a little while. We check in for two nights in the beachfront Earl Suite at The Mulia and two nights in the one-bedroom villa.

Sweeping pool views will take your breath away.

The suites

The Mulia suites are enormous, as is everything on the property. The rooms, the furniture, the grounds; all aspects of the hotel are grand. The suites are like mansions with a foyer, lounge room, powder room, bedroom, walk-in wardrobe and bathroom with separate toilet and shower. There’s also an outdoor balcony with a double day bed, a huge Jacuzzi and a breakfast table.

Sweet treats and fruit await guests in their rooms. After a long day of travelling, slipping into the Jacuzzi (run by one’s butler, of course!), eating macarons and contemplating the idyllic tropical beach and the garden lights twinkling below is just the ticket to refresh weary bones.

The villas

One of five options villa options including the Mulia Mansion, the 500-square-metre one-bedroom villa is completely private and secure. Guests have their own personal swimming pool, an outdoor pavilion, manicured garden, and an enormous house in which to bathe, sleep and relax. The indoor Jacuzzi is in a glass room, surrounded by lush plants and opens onto an outdoor shower.

The suites and villas at the Mulia come with full butler service. The butlers are internationally trained and all are skilled enough to attend to a president or royal who may stay in one of the exclusive pads (for these you must request access and the price is upwards of $20,000 per night).

The food

Each of the five-star restaurants in the resort has an overflowing smorgasboard of cuisines to suit every palate.

Japanese restaurant Edogin has a ramen noodle station as well as a mountain of seafood, sushi, sashimi, rice balls, lobster tails. In the centre of the room stands a spotless teppanyaki grill. On surrounding ledges are plates of fish, clams, mussels, scallops, chicken and beef. Once guests make decisions about their desired ingredients, the fresh delicacies are cooked by highly trained chefs and delivered to their table.

At the ice-cream counter choose from green tea, white sesame, ginger, raspberry, chocolate or vanilla and ask the chef to cut it through on the large ice bench with lychees, strawberries, chocolate sprinkles, toasted flaked almonds, macadamias, sultanas, mango, granola or kiwi fruit.

The Lounge

Despite the enticing doughnut bar and collection of pastries, order one of two signature Mulia breakfasts: crab cakes with eggs Benedict, or wagyu beef on brioche, from the à la carte menu.
Afternoon tea (either a selection of Indonesian sweet and savoury treats, or a classic European high tea of sandwiches and petit fours) is also served here. With a view straight out to the poolside regal statues for which the Mulia is famous, it is a stunning place to enjoy a meal. Indulge even further and choose something from the cocktail list.

The Cafe

This restaurant contains several mini restaurant kitchens. Guests can choose from Indian cuisine, Indonesian curries or noodles, Korean barbecue, Japanese sushi and much more.
The pièce de résistance of this restaurant is the dessert room, which is, in fact, two rooms. One contains a spinning wheel of ice-cream flavours, decadent toppings as well as cookies, cakes and slices. The other has a fairy floss machine next to a coconut pancake cooking station, windows filled with doughnuts and racks of cookies to choose from.

Table8

This Chinese restaurant has authentic, regional dishes, cooked to order. Honey-glazed pork, succulent roast duck, tofu, octopus, stir fries, dim sum, noodles and a selection of yoghurts and toppings to satisfy any craving. Try the oolong tea and watch, mesmerised, as the bud blossoms in the glass.

Soleil

The Sunday brunch buffet at this magnificent 230-seat restaurant is booked out weeks in advance. Always extravagant, there is an incredible array of delectable food displayed. Cheeses from around the world, an assortment of breads, and a dedicated vegetarian table piled high with spring rolls, salads, corn cakes, rice paper rolls and quiche co-exist with towers of oysters and prawns, platters of salmon, a carvery, curries, soups, mounds of cakes, slices, jellies, and even a chocolate fountain. Don’t miss the tortellini on the à la carte menu.

There are also a range of bars to discover, including beachfront Sky Bar, which serves up a tapas menu alongside cocktails, spirits and wine.

Soleil is the magnificent 230-seat restaurant where brunch is booked out weeks in advance.

Services

Wellness/The Mulia Spa

The Mulia Spa has 20 plush treatment rooms. Guests can choose from an extensive menu of facials, scrubs, massage styles and beauty services to create their perfect spa day. Therapists are trained to exacting standards and the massage and beauty treatments are world class.

Guests can choose from an array of facials, scrubs, massage styles and beauty services.

All Spa Daymaker program options start with an hour of access to the hydrotonic pools. With distinct zones offering spa jets to different parts of the body, bathers move from cool to heated hydrotonic baths and back again, according to preference. From there they can enjoy the steam room and sauna before cooling off in the uber-cool ice room. Refrigerated to zero degrees, the room has the ambience of a futuristic science lab. The pile of ice on the centre dome, which guests can use to rub on aching muscles, glows as the lights change from pink, through to blue, then to green.

The words Relax and The Mulia go hand in hand.

Pools

Guests have access to six pools across the property; the Oasis Pool and the Aqua Pool are exclusive to guests of The Mulia and Mulia Villas. Resort guests can use the other four magnificent pools which all have poolside service.

Gym facilities

The gym is a state-of-the-art facility open from 6am till 10pm. Yoga, Pilates, Zumba, water aerobics, core classes and a range of other balance and strength classes are available throughout the day.
We start our mornings with yoga on the grass facing the ocean, listening to the waves rolling in. Kundalini and Hatha breathing techniques help us sink further into our poses as we practise. We stretch our limbs then work on our abs. By the end of the session, the sun is bright in the sky and we head to breakfast feeling energised knowing we have already completed a decent workout.

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Children’s facilities

Guests are able to bring a nanny into the resort to attend the fantastic Mulia Kidz club. Alternatively, your kids can be privately minded in their room and around the resort.

Nearby activities/tours available:

Tours can be arranged through butlers or the resort’s reception staff. We took a day trip to Ubud, only an hour away. The real Bali is not far from the luxurious paths and gardens of the Mulia, if you want to discover it.

The IT Verdict:

For privacy and exclusivity, the Mulia is a dream for travellers who want to fly in, enjoy the luxury of an international-standard resort, swim, eat well and jet home again.

Location: 8/10

Beachside but out of town, the charm of this hotel is that there’s nothing else around.

Style/character: 10/10

Every element, from the welcome chocolate treats, to the extravagant, plush decor, to the soft, spongy bath mats, is exquisite.

Service: 10/10

Rooms: 10/10

Food and Drink:10/10

Value for Money: 9/10

Even though you get what you pay for at the Mulia (incredible service, accommodation and food), the prices are a little steep.

Price: (per night)

Mulia resort rooms start from $530, the Mulia suites start from $1049 and Mulia Villas start from $1370.

Best thing

The final touch is the butlers pushing our luggage trolleys to the airport check-in desk, then directing us to the immigration gate. From the first moment to the last, it is this kind of spectacular attention to detail that makes the Mulia so special.

Getting there

Chauffeur service from Denpasar airport.

After youth-led protests in 2025, this year Nepal elected a 35-year-old former rapper as Prime Minister. In a country where tourism is its biggest industry, what’s next for travellers?

In 1986, Nepal changed its clock. It had used India Standard Time since 1920 so, to differentiate, it wound its clock 15 minutes ahead of, not behind, its big-brother neighbour. Boss move. “Nepal is strongly opposed to the idea that our identity is connected to India,” says Community Homestay Network (CHN) guide Bikal Khanal.

Tharu dance is traditionally set to hand drums. (Credit: Kate Lewis)

Today, Nepal is the only independent country with a 45-minute deviation to universal time; an oddity that’s become a symbol of national pride. The quirk is nearly as endearing as Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan airport where carved varnished wood and shiny red bricks rule. One sign points to a ‘Travelator’ and another to a ‘Grievance Handling Desk’ while visas are noisily stamped at customs for US dollars, cash only. When am I?

Spot the endemic Nepal gray langur. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

The 15 or 45 minute anomaly sees me tap out completely on timezone calculations. Why bend my brain calculating if it’s quarter to or quarter past elsewhere when I’m in the honking here and now of Kathmandu where the air is high-altitude crisp, the prayer flags flutter and the street dogs howl?

How tourism is changing in Nepal

Bardiya National Park is rich with wildlife. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

India is not the only association many Nepalis would like to shake. With eight of the world’s 10 tallest mountains, including Mount Everest and Annapurna, Nepal has long attracted mountaineers and trekkers, and expedition numbers are continuing to rise.

Tourism is one of the country’s biggest sources of foreign currency, so this growth is not negative, per se. But according to Ang Tshering Lama, who co-founded Phaplu Mountain Bike Club, being reduced to a mere trekking destination is limiting.

“Trekking is just one layer of our identity,” says Ang. “When it becomes the dominant narrative, it limits how we’re seen and how we see ourselves.” Nepal’s recent success, however, in diverting trekkers to less-trafficked areas such as Manaslu mofuntain, where visitor numbers rose by 117 per cent last year, offers hope that tourism can diversify even more radically.

Local men in Bhada village. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

The founder of CHN, Shiva Dhakal, wants that change. “The whole idea of the Community Homestay Network is to promote experiences outside of trekking,” he says. “Community tourism changes lives and helps kids stay home instead of coming to the city or migrating to the Middle East.”

Ang grew up seeing people leave, “not because they wanted to but because there weren’t enough opportunities to stay”, he states. Yet from remote villages to living traditions; food, art, music and emerging subcultures, “there’s so much that’s not being seen.”

CHN is opening some of those doors. It doesn’t own, or fund, any homes. Rather, it promotes homestays to travellers on a single, slick platform, while fostering entrepreneurship in places where women, marginalised castes, Indigenous people and the youth stand to benefit the most.

A new generation demanding more

Dalla Town Hall, where volunteers discuss anti-poaching tactics. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

The future prospects of next-gen Nepalis can no longer be ignored. On a Kathmandu tour with 33-year-old guide Monica K.C, we pass buildings torched in the September 2025 ‘Gen Z protests’, including the Supreme Court and Parliament House. Seventy-two people died. “They were anti-corruption protests,” says Monica. “Politicians’ children are living a lavish life but the airports are crowded with youngsters leaving to find work.”

We stop in ‘little Tibet’ at the wondrous sixth-century Boudha Stupa. “The wheel of life is Buddhism in a nutshell,” says Monica. “Things such as hate, ignorance and anger keep you rotating around the wheel, so you must follow the principles of Buddhism to detach. If you can’t, there’s no nirvana for you.”

Boudha Stupa's prayer wheels — Boudha Stupa’s prayer wheels are used to recite Buddhist prayers. (Credit: Kate Lewis)

In a sun-drenched twist to the usual temple visit, we ascend the stupa’s sloping plinth and roam its whitewashed dome. Tendrils of diaphanous prayer flags stream from a steeple-like structure where the Buddha’s unblinking eyes stare out. No nirvana for you…

bouda stupa prayer flags — Tibetan-style prayer flags embellish the whitewashed dome of Bouda Stupa, a Buddhist temple. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

The dome is delightfully free of guard rails or chiding from security. There is, however, a stern ‘No TikTok’ sign, perhaps in response to the youth’s newly flexed power. The booted-out Prime Minister, K.P. Sharma Oli, was replaced in a resounding election victory in March by 35-year-old Balendra Shah of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) – a former rapper and mayor of Kathmandu. The RSP’s manifesto indicates tourism is a priority, and that Nepal’s cultural identity in areas such as gastronomy will be strengthened.

Boudha Stupa vendors — Vibrant souvenir shops and cafes around Boudha Stupa. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

A more confronting stop awaits at Pashupatinath Temple. Today is Bala Chaturdashi, a Hindu festival where thousands of devotees gather to honour their dead ancestors. Vendors hauling foam mattresses do a lucrative trade as people set up for a night of vigil. This includes burning the bodies of recently deceased relatives on bamboo pyres in the Bagmati River, which flows into the sacred Ganges.

A woman at annual Hindu festival Bala Chaturdashi, in Kathmandu. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Wrapped in a shroud, the bodies are positioned with their heads facing north to the Himalayas where Lord Shiva resides. They’re covered with flowers and straw and set alight by male family members.

Hours later, the ashes are swept into the river where devotees will take a holy dip the next day. As much as Monica assures us it’s not voyeuristic to watch, I struggle to do so. “Here you see the reality of life because everyone ends up there,” she says, gesturing to the river.

Life unfiltered in the Terai region

tharu woman — Tharu woman and master weaver Parbati Chaudhary in Bhada Village. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

The reality of life needs processing time, which the western Terai region delivers in spades. The Terai is largely separated from India by the Karnali River and Bardiya National Park, where elephants, rhinos and the elusive Bengal tiger roam.

Once a nomadic tribe, the Indigenous Tharu people are now the largest ethnic group here. “They didn’t know their daily life was interesting for international travellers but they’re starting to understand now,” says CHN founder Shiva.

Take a Jeep safari through Bardiya National Park. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

We fly Buddha Air to Dhangadhi airport and drive five hours to stay in Tharu homes. The journey to Bhada village is a blur of roadside fruit stalls, traffic-stopping sacred cows and fields sown with wheat, rice, mustard, spinach, cauliflower and potatoes. Nepal’s agriculture feeds only Nepal.

Marigolds are an important part of Hindu rituals. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

“The only thing we export is young people,” says our guide Bikal. As the light dims and we plunge evermore rural, mysterious mounds of compacted hay – some house-sized – loom like the creatures from Where The Wild Things Are. Even our trusty driver gets flummoxed by a dirt road that abruptly ends and we find ourselves hurtling across a paddock.

On arrival, some are ferried to mud-walled cottages greened by gourd creepers, with thatched roofs and rustic-chic mosquito nets. Myself and two others are ushered to the home of corner store owner, mechanic and mushroom farmer Man Kumar Chilaruwa and his wife Rajkumari.

community homestay entrance — A warm welcome at a community homestay. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

They escort us to a bunker-esque back building with steel doors and a folding security gate, behind which is gleaming linoleum, dolphin-printed tiles and a shower cavity that must be gingerly stepped through to reach the toilet.

The ceiling lights emit a rainbow of colours (the bathroom light gets stuck in, frankly, a quite frightening red). We’re nevertheless touched that our hosts invested in all this bling when the average salary is around $275 a month.

In the coming days, we participate in Tharu traditions such as making moonshine, dancing, weaving straw handicrafts and gold-panning. We’re fed well with staples of rice, mustard greens, lentil pancakes, daal, curried chicken and tomato chutney served on antibacterial saal leaves.

food at community homestay — Dig in. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Sonara community homestay president Indradevi Tharu tells us river snails are often served, and the boiled and pickled flesh of rats hunted in the rice fields. “Perhaps next time?” we say and all have a laugh.

The power of community homestays

community homestay owners in Nepal — Barda community homestay owners Parbati Chaudhary and Ram Krishni Devi Chaudhary. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

Immersing Western visitors in foreign cultural practices is not new. But with the Tharu, I never get that uneasy sensation that I’m being performed for. Despite being the only tourists, there’s no ‘othering’; just warm, composed and ultra-dignified welcomes. Like we’ve always been here.

“I love to have travellers in my village so I can see the world,” says local woman Parbati Chaudhary. “Why would I travel the world when the world comes to me?”

The graceful acceptance the Tharu offer, as well as the slow pace, works miracles on my frazzled nervous system. One day I even take a nap on a vacant homestay bed.

Sonara community room — An authentic stay in the Sonara community. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Roosters strut and goats bray as we sit on the ground in al fresco kitchens, rolling rice flour into cylinders steamed to make dhikri (dumplings). When water is needed, we fetch it using a hand-operated pump as a family of ducks strolls by, side-eying us like curious neighbours.

Animal lovers will delight in Tharu villages. Kind and resourceful inventions are everywhere, such as snacking stations where two posts lean together, with leafy boughs dangling on rope for baby goats to forage from.

CHN’s CEO, Aayusha Prasain, nods knowingly when one in our group says she cried when she left her host, Shayam Chaudhary, in Bhada. Shayam’s 17-year-old son, Prashant, had translated, which deepened the connection.

“Community tourism turns travel into a relationship, not a transaction,” says Aayusha. “It places decision-making power in the hands of local communities, especially women and youth.” Since 2018, CHN has hosted more than 4000 travellers from 52 countries in 408 households, and estimates women’s participation has increased by 381 per cent.

In the Bardiya community, where vexing human-animal conflict has been a balancing act for decades due to elephants raiding crops, long-time homestay operator Salik Ram Chaudhary says young people keep the older ones on their toes.

“We can’t keep homestays stagnant,” he says. “We have to upgrade our service and redefine our product or young people won’t see it as an attractive business. If we can keep evolving with this travelling trend we’re confident the youths will stay and continue it.”

Back in Kathmandu, Monica explains that after the deaths of young protestors in September, a determination had spread to not let their sacrifice be in vain. “We want to keep holding the government accountable,” she says. “We don’t know what situation we’re facing, but we’re ready to face it.”

Interested in Nepal but prefer to experience it in total comfort? Read our guide to luxury travel in Nepal.

Hotel review: The Mulia, Nusa Dua, Bali