Hot spots: The Mulia, Bali

The Mulia hotel (111 suites), Mulia Resort (526 rooms; top centre) and Mulia Villas (108 of them) together range over 30 Indian Ocean-facing hectares in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia. Jakarta's Mulia Group opened for business at this seaside zipcode in late 2012 and the Mulia made it on to Conde Nast Traveller's list of best new hotels in the world last year.

The place has a lot going for it, certainly. It's vast and palatial; sleek wood and blue marble frame the resort's open-air lobby (right), which yields to a harmonious vista of ponds and pools (some of which you can swim in - others look as if any attempt may well be met with a blast from an attendant's whistle), parterres, rows of those statues of nondescript-yet-comely women landscapers seem to like and, beyond all that, the beach and the ocean. Everything is manicured and polished, and the contemporary sculptures and other artworks they've stuck everywhere add to the tone.

Well, you can get married - the complex has a ballroom and conference facilities capable of accommodating 5,000. There are also tennis courts, a gym and a truly stupendous spa, home to an idyllic hydrotonic pool, a bar serving all manner of healthy concoctions, something called an "emotional shower", Asia-Pacific's "only" ice-fountain room (top) and 20 treatment rooms. Serenity really does top the order of priorities here, but you can also have staff arrange diving excursions or trips to visitor attractions such as the 11th-century Uluwatu sea temple, or the local markets (if you for-get to bring your swimming togs, insist on a visit there; otherwise you'll pay US$140 for a pair of shorts in the Mulia shop). If you can't bear the thought of leaving the Mulia, tastes of Balinese culture can be had on-site, including in a family owned temple and through regular kecak dance performances. Many of the 2,000 or so staff are Hindus and leave offerings of food, flowers and cigarettes around the place.

The hotel offers Baron, Earl and Marquess suites, the last of which boast "noble surrounds dedicated to eloquence", so Lord Byron (though he was only a baron) might have felt reasonably well at home here. All suites come with a dedicated butler, trained, the management are keen to stress, by an English chap. Even the resort's standard rooms are elegantly appointed, and those on the ground floor open onto secluded lagoons. The villas range from one-bedroom bungalows (above left) to a six-suite mansion.

There's an embarrassment of options for the gourmand. The Cafe offers all-day brasserie-style buffet nosh from around the world; the beachfront Soleil (top) has both pan-Asian and European Mediterranean menus and serves an excellent Sunday brunch; there's Edogin, for Japanese; and a Chinese restaurant, Table 8, is due to open next month.

The staff are either effortlessly pleasant and welcoming or extremely well-trained. Or possibly both.