Monday, January 26, 2009

Spotlight: Como Shambhala Estate

There are hotels where you flop down for a night in between flights, which all look basically the same (Radisson, anybody?). And then there are hotels which promise to detox you from daily life, and leave you a better person than when you came in. Bali's Como Shambhala Estate claims to be one of the latter.

Como bills itself as a "residential health retreat," pairing luxury digs with a busy activities schedule for body and soul. On the menu, items like pilates and yoga by the riverbanks, rice-paddy hikes, and talks on vedanta philosophy.

Rates for the Ubud resort range from $300 for a garden one-bedroom, up to $1,600 a night for the three-bedroom private villas. Pricey, for sure. But for a locale that's been named one of the top 10 spas in the world by SpaFinder - and is sister resort to Como's Parrot Cay location in the Caribbean, Conde Nast Traveller's number one spa on the planet - might be worth a once-in-a-lifetime splurge.


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