Location: ★★★★☆
Zen: ★★★★☆
Luxury: ★★★☆☆
Sexytime: ★★★★☆
In a nutshell: If you buy into what the resort has to offer the mind, body, and spirit, you’ll come away feeling like a more vibrant and genuinely refreshed version of yourself.
What I liked about The Samata
‘Samata’ is a Sanskrit word meaning ‘authentic wellness’, or to bring alignment to the mind, body, and spirit. So naturally, this is what The Samata is all about.
The food is clean and organic with a number of raw items on the list, plus fresh cold-pressed juices and a whole list of power shots. The facility itself has a full tennis court, yoga bungalows, two lap pools on top of the private pool in your villa, and literally the biggest gym I’ve ever seen, that even has it’s own boxing ring.
My favourite part of the Samata is it’s location. The property overlooks a field of rice paddies that only come to an end way off in the distance where they meet the beach and the Indian Ocean. You can sit in your villa and watch farmers tend to the fields at sunrise, and it’s quite literally living art that makes you feel tranquil af.
Unfortunately, one of the shittiest things that happened on my trip happened here at The Samata – this was the site of my first drone accident. To make a long story short, I flew the Phantom a bit too long and the ‘return home’ autopilot was initiated, and as the drone came down, it looked to me like it was going to land in the pool. I basically panicked, blacked out, and then my own autopilot decided a mid-pool leap-jump-drone-grab was the only way my PIII would live to see another flight. All I really did was leap into a body of water holding the drone and the drone controller with my iPhone 6 though. And apparently the drone would have landed perfectly fine not in the pool had I just sat there and done nothing at all instead. The ol’ bag of rice trick worked for my iPhone and there was no damage to drone or camera despite being submerged under water, but the controller was irreparably fucked, and I learned my lesson that when droning gets intense, sometimes the best course of action is just taking a simple deep breath.
Shoutout to the staff here at The Samata because whoever was working the front desk that day not only helped me source enough rice for the camera drone and remote controller and iPhone, but he spent at least an hour scooting me around to different Apple and electronic repair shops looking for someone who knew DJI equipment. Super grateful for that, and PS – they’re all in Jakarta.
Things to note
The Samata was acquired by property management company Lifestyle Retreats shortly before I arrived and the place wasn’t officially open to the public yet, so I was literally – literally – the only person staying on the whole entire property. I couldn’t get a good idea of how the place will feel once more of the villas are occupied, but I imagine it’ll feel pretty much the same given that there are only 10 villas and property itself is open concept and breezy.
I also wanna note that I gave this place five stars for location because it’s sitting on a field of rice paddies that lead up to the beach and the Indian Ocean. It’s a dreamy Sanur view with astounding sunrises, maybe 30-40 mins from the airport.
Worth it?
Definitely, yeah.
TripAdvisor review: The Samata
Website: thesamata.com
Full resort album: flickr