Located a two-and-a-half hour drive from Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport — a lifetime for those who want to hit the road running — Lost Lindenberg wouldn’t be the first choice for the typical tourist.
Not unless you relish meatless meals, daily surfs and convos with strangers over a bonfire and the dining table. This eight-key treehouse-style boutique is the latest addition of the Frankfurt-based Lindenberg Collective and a member of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World collection. A stay in this leafy paradise, located in the quiet town of Pekutatan along the west coast of Bali, is characterised by misty walks on soft black lava sand, surf lessons and hyperlocal excursions such as a jungle hike to a hidden river and rapids, whose guide lives just down the road.
Being lost takes a new meaning here. There’s the unexpected (step through a colourful neon entrance into a lush garden); the embrace of foliage (the variety of plants range from low flowering bromeliads to soaring coconut trees) and the sense of place (bespoke furniture and antiques made by local artisans decorate the common spaces and interiors with modern plug and USB sockets discreetly blending in). Jackie the puppy wandered in during construction and is now the hotel’s most enthusiastic porter, trotting along as the staff carry my bags up two flights of spiral stairs. If someone had told me that I could go without meat for a few days in the land of crackling babi guling (suckling pig), I’d have laughed in skepticism. Lost’s organic, plant-based meals proved me wrong. Well-balanced cocktails are made with local rum and gin and house-made syrups. The culinary team has over 100 vegan recipes: Think tasty breakfasts of banana bread, fried noodles and broken rice porridge sprinkled with Balinese vanilla and palm sugar; dadar gulung (grated coconut pancake) and chocolate-filled pandan mochi for high tea; and sharing plates of grilled mushrooms with pickled onions, aromatic nasi suna cekuh (garlic and ginger fried rice) and zucchini blossoms tempura at dinner, which is taken over a long communal table with other guests. The latter sounds intimidating, but the food is great fodder for conversations, and we made new friends around the table.