One Week Notice: The BaliSpirit Festival

Paradise, good tunes and tranquility await

By The Editors
March 24, 2016 9:00 am

Because those airline points sitting in your account don’t improve with age, we present One Week Notice, your guide to globetrotting to some of the world’s best and brightest events — on a whim. All you need to get there is seven days and some moxie. Don’t think. Just go. We double-dog dare you.

One perk of traveling: meeting cool and interesting women.

Which is something you’ll find in sun-salutationing excess at an internationally famous yoga festival like Bali’s BaliSpirit, a six-day affair kicking off next week that was still accepting entrants as of press time.

Also: Bali is beautiful and Ubud, in its center, is one of the world’s top healing centers. Expect to end this trip happier than you start it.

Image via Four Seasons Bali at Sayan

WHERE TO STAY

Two suggestions: If you’re looking for luxury, you want the Four Seasons Bali at Sayan, which is five minutes outside of Ubud and surrounded by rice paddies and palm trees. We’re not sure it’s super ahimsa but the Royal Villa offers a “palatial” three-bed residence with views of the Ayung River. Before Airbnb, it was possible to get a one-bedroom villa with WiFi and a pool for under $500 — a month. Now you’ll pay a little more, but you can still easily find similar accommodations in Ubud for under $40 a night.

WHAT TO DO

You’re here for the festival, so prepare “yoga-dance-music,” at least according to the brochure. Expect nightly shows from artists like Nahko and Medicine for the People and during the day, you’ll find a full slate of workshops from international yoga stars (yes, those exist) like vinyasa practitioner Janet Stone and acro-yoga expert Bex Tyrer (this is where the ladies will be). One instructor to look for: Les Leventhal, who left San Francisco to teach full-time at Bali’s main studio, Yoga Barn, and will be around after the festival. And did we mention that Ubud is a famous healing center …. which means plentiful and inexpensive massages?

ADD ON

Bali’s beautiful but it’s by no means undiscovered. For a less hectic take on Indonesian tropical paradise, saddle up for a trip to the nearby Gilis, a cluster of three islands off the coast of Lombok, 20 miles from Bali. From there, head northwest. Gili Trawangan is the party island (think banana pancakes and full moon parties), while Gili Meno is quieter and Gili Air is your Goldilocks-approved mix of the two.

Social image via BaliSpirit Facebook

MEET US AT YOUR INBOX. FIRST ROUND'S ON US.

Join America's Fastest Growing Spirits Newsletter THE SPILL. Unlock all the reviews, recipes and revelry — and get 15% off award-winning La Tierra de Acre Mezcal.