Bali

As Bali goes increasingly upmarket, it now offers visitors access to a buzzing food scene in Ubud, its cultural capital, as well as an island-wide luxury-hotel boom. The Ubud Food Festival, which is in its fourth year, showcases the diverse flavors of the Indonesian archipelago in dozens of events, including cook-offs, demos, talks, food tours, and events in new restaurants. Notable newcomers on the town’s food scene include Spice, a casual Asian-fusion restaurant from Chris Salans, formerly Bouley Bakery’s chef de cuisine and head chef at Thomas Keller’s Bouchon; Room4Dessert from Will Goldfarb, whose now-closed avant-garde New York eatery of the same name won him a James Beard nomination; and Moksa, a vegan café, bakery, and organic farm with its own grocery. Heading up the wave of new high-end hotels is luxury Japanese chain Hoshino Resorts, which unveiled Hoshinoya Bali, 30 thatched-roof villas in the rain forest outside Ubud. Capella Ubud will launch 22 ultra-luxury tents, each with an outdoor saltwater Jacuzzi pool, in early 2018. And Jumeirah Bali plans to debut 123 villas surrounded by tropical gardens in upscale Jimbaran in mid 2018. A two-year overhaul at Four Seasons Jimbaran Bay means its villas will now have bigger bedrooms and better ocean views, while at Four Seasons Sayan in the Ubud rain forest, guests are being offered a new activity: being rocked to sleep in a silk hammock in a bamboo hut by an former Buddhist nun, the resort’s wellness mentor.