The Shaba

Jimbaran

The Bay of Jimbaran, with its vast stretches of fine sand beaches, is located at the southern tip of the island of Bali. Although this small former fishing village continues to live off the products of the sea, the site now possesses numerous restaurants and luxury hotels. When night begins to fall and the fishing boats return to port, Jimbaran gets ready to receive its first evening visitors. As thousands of candles light up the shore along the beach, tables are set and filled with shell fish or fish smoked with coconut palms. It’s strongly advised to accompany the meal with a glass of champagne, feet in the water and eyes facing the horizon.

During the day, the Pura Ulu Watu temple is well worth a visit and is accessible after a pleasant stroll along the beach. Perched on top of thousands of year old stones, beware the monkeys that inhabit the site, which will take advantage of a moment of inattention to snatch away any object left unattended!

When romanticism becomes an art de vivre

A hotel with only three suites is a living promise of privacy. Located in an idyllic and remote landscape, halfway between Jimbaran Bay and the tropical atmosphere of inland Bali, this romantic hotel has the feel of a Roman villa. Moroccan interior decorator, Zohra Boukhari elegantly combined decorative Balinese and oriental elements. The designer herself explains this daring blend of genres: “Bali and the Balinese enabled me to fulfill myself, thanks to their refinement and their inner sense of what things go together. I also liked the blend of different cultures. We can blend different fabrics in the same way that we do with people.” Using her North African origins, Zohra Boukhari, combined her furniture with noble and colorful materials, cleverly inserted into a powdery pink décor, creating an elegant and filtered atmosphere. As with all her creations, The Shaba celebrates an art de vivre. Here, intimacy and romanticism take the visitor back into the old fashioned universe of the colonial period.

“During my childhood in Brussels and Casablanca, my mother dragged me to different fabric shops. She began to make my wedding trousseau when I was five years old! It’s she that gave me the taste for shimmering colors.” – Zohra Boukhari, decorator and owner of The Shaba.