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Looking for help choosing or for a property we don't list? Message our Private Rates Concierge on WhatsApp for member rates and insider knowledge on the right stay
The landmark 1992 Aman on the East Bali cliffs: a cascading three-tier infinity pool, a black-sand private beach and stilted suites beneath sacred Mount Agung.
Collection:
Need To Know
- 34 suites and villas on a hillside above the sea
- An Aman, opened in 1992; designed by Ed Tuttle
- The cascading three-tier infinity pool, and a Beach Club pool
- A private black-sand beach below the resort
- Daily breakfast, afternoon tea and airport transfers included
- Several restaurants; sailing, diving and temple tours
- In Manggis, East Bali — around 90 minutes from the airport
Check in - Check out
Check in from 14:00; check out before 12:00.
We Love
- The pool — the three-tier infinity pool that cascades down the hillside towards the sea, among the most recognisable pools in Asia and the image the resort is known for.
- The beach — a private black-sand beach reached by a winding path, with a Beach Club and a 41-metre pool, quiet and all but empty most of the day.
- The suites — stilted pavilions with alang-alang thatch and carved teak, walkways through the treetops, terraces facing out across the Lombok Strait.
- The setting — high on a hillside beneath sacred Mount Agung in East Bali, the island's quiet, royal, far less developed eastern coast.
- The dining — Italian at Arva by the main pool, Indonesian at Sandikala, grilled fish at the Beach Club, and a royal dinner staged at the nearby Ujung Water Palace.
Key Features
Book Your Stay at Amankila
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Location
Address
Jl. Raya Manggis Jl. Amankila Resorts, Manggis, Kec. Manggis, Kabupaten Karangasem, Bali 80871, Indonesia
Travel Info
Amankila is at Manggis, in Karangasem on Bali's quiet east coast, around 90 minutes from Denpasar airport, the drive winding past rice terraces and coastal villages under Mount Agung. Tirta Gangga water palace is about 30 minutes on.
Nearby Places
Tirta Gangga Water Palace
30min
Besakih Temple (Mother Temple of Bali)
1h
Last Updated: 2026-06-23
Expert Review
Origins
Amankila was conceived in 1992 by Adrian Zecha, the founder of Aman, in partnership with the local landowner Franky Tjahyadikarta, and designed by the architect Ed Tuttle — the same hand behind several early Amans. Tuttle took his cues from the nearby Ujung Water Palace, the royal bathing complex of the Karangasem kings, and the lineage shows: this is a resort that reads as a Balinese palace set into a cliff rather than a hotel dropped onto a beach.
The form is the famous part. The resort steps down a hillside above the Lombok Strait in tiers, connected by walkways through the treetops, with stilted pavilion suites under alang-alang thatch and carved teak, each facing the sea. At the heart, the three-tier infinity pool cascades down the slope towards the water — among the most photographed pools anywhere in Asia, and deservedly so. Below, reached by a winding path, a private black-sand beach and Beach Club with a 41-metre pool sit almost always empty.
The location is East Bali — Manggis, in Karangasem, the island's quieter, royal, far less developed east, under sacred Mount Agung. That setting shapes the experience: this is a place to settle into rather than a base for the south's bustle. Dining runs from Italian at Arva, beside the main pool, to Indonesian at Sandikala and grilled fish at the Beach Club, much of it from the resort's own garden; the standout is a royal dinner staged with the Karangasem family in the grounds of Ujung Water Palace itself. Sailing on traditional outriggers, diving, and guided temple tours fill the days. It is, more than three decades on, still one of the benchmarks against which Bali luxury is measured.
Top Secret
Sail at dawn. Amankila keeps traditional wooden outriggers at the Beach Club, and taking one out at first light — before the heat, the strait glassy, Mount Agung catching the early sun behind you — is the quiet highlight most guests save for too late in the stay. Ask the night before; the crew will have one ready, and you will have the water to yourself.
The Review
Amankila is, more than thirty years after it opened, still one of the properties against which Bali luxury is measured — and the reason is the setting and the design rather than novelty. An early Aman from 1992, designed by Ed Tuttle to echo the Karangasem royal water palace, it steps down an East Bali hillside in tiers, its stilted thatched suites facing the Lombok Strait, its three-tier infinity pool cascading towards the sea.
What it does, it does at the top of the field. The three-tier pool earns its fame; the private black-sand beach and Beach Club are genuinely quiet; the suites are restrained and beautiful rather than flashy; service is anticipatory and unobtrusive in the Aman way. Dining is strong, and the royal dinner at Ujung Water Palace is a real occasion. It suits couples and design-minded travellers above all, with families well looked after.
The honest notes are few but worth stating. This is a 1992 resort, elegantly maintained but not the newest or glassiest in Bali, which is the point for its admirers and a drawback for those chasing the latest thing; the tiered hillside means a great many steps, with buggies to help; and East Bali is a real 90 minutes from the airport, so this is a settle-in stay. But for those who want the original Aman feeling on Bali's quiet eastern coast, Amankila remains close to peerless.
