Despite only having one bedroom, these four villas at The Layar certainly deserve their ‘villa’ title, and guests can expect a lot more than they might from the average hotel room.  Each has a beautiful garden and good-sized private pool, a small but well-equipped kitchen, living and dining area, big bedroom and indulgent ensuite bathroom with huge outdoor tub, all spread out below the wings of a dramatically sloping ironwood-shingle roof.

The villa’s comfortable, fan-cooled living area is wonderfully spacious, offering semi-open-air living and easy flow between inside and out without the barriers of walls or doors.  The earthy-tones of the soft furnishings soothe the senses and rustic Asian artefacts add interest.  A large sofa faces the satellite TV, DVD player and music centre and a dining table for four sits on a raised wooden floor a step above, alongside the equipped kitchen.

Couples will love the large, light-filled, air-conditioned bedroom with its king-size bed, Flat-screen TV, stylish seating area, window onto the courtyard and sliding doors to the pool deck. In the elegant ensuite bathroom is a foliage-fringed, semi-outdoor rain shower and a twin vanity.  A decadent black granite bathtub takes pride of place in the white-pebbled courtyard garden.

Outside, sun-loungers furnish the wooden deck, and a wide, shallow shelf in the curved 45sqm pool makes a cool place to lie back with a book.