QANTAS - MAY 2004
Spa Trek
 
Prana Spa and Villas tucked away off the main tourist strip at Seminyak, provides the ultimate in decadence.  A col-laboration between Australian owner Jim Elliott and New Zealand sculptor Stephen Hall, Asia’s first Mogul-inspired spa complex is a departure in both philosophy and design from the usual Asian Zen style spa.  It’s impossible to miss, given the brazen burnt-orange exterior with its gold elephant heads and minarets.  Think architecture and interiors inspired by the sumptuous 16th century palaces of Rajasthani maharajas.  

The existing spa has doubled in size to 1,300 square meters, making it one of the largest on the island, and now forms the centerpiece of the existing complex of 50 luxury villas.  Outside its towering walls is a world of chic boutiques, homeware stores, crowing roosters and tooting taxis, yet inside Prana is an oasis of calm.  Guests enter via a garden, filled with coconut palms and bougainvillea.