Plataran is an Indonesian hospitality company that operates hotels, restaurants, and event venues around the country. Self-proclaimed as a luxury and eco-conscious brand, I was intrigued and had been meaning to check out a Plataran hotel for myself. Its Canggu property specifically, opened in 2000. Along with Hotel Tugu, it is amongst the first upmarket hotels to open near the area, way before Canggu became a trendy area. With only 19 villas, the resort is small and intimate. Despite that, the resort occupies a relatively large plot 3 hectares in size; that’s certainly a room count-to-space ratio that’s much lower compared to any other hotel in or near Canggu.

Location

Legally speaking, the Plataran is ironically not located in Canggu, but instead in the neighbouring Kerobokan village. It is, however, 5 minutes away from the border of Canggu, and 20 minutes away from the beach by car. Popular venues like Berawa Beach and Finn’s Beach Club can be reached in a 20-minute drive as well.

Note that the resort is located at the far end of a village road. As such, I would recommend having a vehicle at one’s disposal. There doesn’t seem to be anything interesting within walking distance either, apart from a few local warungs and home goods stores. As such, location isn’t a strength of the resort.

Arrival and Check-in

Following the long drive into the resort, we went past what looked like a barren, dirt parking lot, before arriving at the lobby. Being the only guests checking in that day, we were personally greeted by name. I was surprised by how empty the resort was, especially compared to other places we’ve stayed at. During our stay, I believe we were one of the only two rooms occupied.

The lobby itself is a small pavilion with a couple of sofas and a few books on the shelves. Right across it is an interesting statue of three Hindu angels. Nevertheless, check-in was quick and we were invited to take a seat whilst they did final checks on the villa. We were served a welcome drink that oddly looked and tasted like Coca-Cola (hmmm) and was offered some cold towels. Soon after, we were driven to our villa by buggy.

Our Private Pool Villa

We originally booked a Garden Villa, but we were upgraded on arrival to a One-Bedroom Private Pool Villa, which I certainly wasn’t expecting. The villa is circled by enclosed by a narrow perimeter yard with a grey mortar fence. The featured private pool was relatively sizeable, although I wasn’t inclined to use it during my short stay. There are also two sun loungers by the pool.

There is an open-concept living room out on the porch of the villa. The living room has a nice antique-looking sofa, along with a small dining table setup with two chairs. The floors are timber, which I thought is a very nice touch.

Bedroom

Directly past the porch is the bedroom; it consists of a large four-poster bed, a desk, two armchairs, and a closet. The room itself looked quite nice, between the thatched roofing and the hand-painted wall ornament. The green tegel flooring especially reminded me of the excellent Tandjung Sari hotel, which I’m very fond of.

There is also a large speaker system by the television, which I thought looked out of place in the otherwise quaint-looking room. The room itself was relatively comfortable, and I especially loved the armchairs which were very well-padded and very nice to read a book on. Waiting for us on the desk is a small fruit platter left in the bedroom as a welcome amenity.

Along with the fruits was a welcome note, thoughtfully written on a leaf! Additionally, continuing with the brand’s eco-conscious ethos, all the in-room drinking water came in bottles with tags labeled ‘HOTEL PROPERTY’. Not particularly the most welcoming sign, but I guess they’ve had issues with guests taking them(?) While I had no issues with the hotel packaging its own water, they did taste rather odd, with a slight tinge of saltiness.

Bathroom

Behind the bedroom is the open-air, marble bathroom, which I did not realise the room had when booking. The bathroom had two sinks, a tall terrazzo bathtub, as well as a dimly lit shower. I personally do not like open-air bathrooms, as it is easily susceptible to various insect and plant debris (which is an issue anywhere on the island).

Echoing my experiences at Kayumanis Jimbaran and Pita Maha Ubud, insect debris consistently cluttered all over the bathroom. However, unlike Kayumanis, this bathroom did not look very beautiful, as the small garden behind it has become quite arid. The grey brick fencing and dark lighting design surely didn’t help either. As such, I frankly wasn’t too fond of the bathroom situation at the Plataran.

Dining

The resort has one all-day restaurant located next to the reception area. Called Teras Canggu, the restaurant is neatly set inside an antique Joglo house that featured many antique curios. On top of breakfast, afternoon tea is served every day for all guests free of charge. Being a free amenity, it was surprisingly much better than I had anticipated. It featured a nice, fresh seafood ball, a vegetable and egg finger sandwich, along with an onde-onde peanut dumpling.

Breakfast was similarly pleasant. I tried their Plataran Egg Benedict, which was better than I expected it would be. Everything tasted balanced and well-flavoured. We also had a fruit plate and some croissants, all of which were rather simple but very much edible.

The orange juice was also very fresh, although they, unfortunately, added a bit of sugar as evident by the undiluted sugar in the bottom of the glass. Granted, this wasn’t the best breakfast we’ve had in Bali, but it was certainly nice and not something I would skip.

Resort Grounds and Pool

The resort has a spa and two pools, along with what looked like an event space. The first pool was a classic, blue-tiled pool, located next to the restaurant, which didn’t particularly look inviting. The second was an infinity pool located by the riverside, which I thought looked much more inviting. In particular, its teal tiles blended very nicely into the resort’s forest setting.

Near to the riverside pool is a small library or lounge area, housed within a traditional open-air bale. Again, I really liked the quaint and traditional look of the space, especially with its nice green tegel flooring.

The resort also has a large event space that is referred to as their ‘Mini Jungle’, accessible past a cool suspension bridge.

Sure enough, it looked like a jungle, with many large trees and a few traditional-looking huts. I was at first rather puzzled at the amount of space they allocated to this event area. This quickly made sense when I learnt that the brand maintains a strong focus on events and functions.

Finally, the resort also has a small and quaint bar, called the Tiga Dari, set under a ceiling of grape vines. Located near the villas, the bar is named after the statue of the three Balinese angels presiding over the garden. Like the rest of the resort, it was deserted during our stay.

Service

For one, I thought the service at Plataran Canggu was quite attentive. This is probably by design, given the size of the resort and that there were at most four guests staying at the time. Despite that, the friendly resort manager was frequently present to ask us how we were, and whether everything was fine. In that sense, I felt that everyone was friendly and well-intentioned.

Overall

Even though I wasn’t very fond of the room’s design or layout, I thought that it was comfortable enough. That said, I do have my biases due to my dislike for open-air bathrooms, so the rooms can be very wonderful to those who like or don’t mind such bathrooms. The hotel’s service is relatively good and the same could be said about the food. This first time at a Plataran hotel was a fine introduction to the brand, and I would be happy to try staying at other Platarans, particularly in more interesting locations like Komodo Island.

While the hotel surely isn’t exempt from flaws, it definitely has its merits. I especially thought that the Balinese village-like event space is an especially strong interesting selling point of the hotel, along with its quite and forest-like setting which differs greatly from the rest of Canggu. Either way, although I’m personally fond of the hotel due to my reservations about the bathroom setup, I wouldn’t hesitate to try other Platarans in the future.

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