To continue in the pool club theme that we began with our review of Mrs. Sippy, which is, perhaps, the most famous pool club in a beach town in Bali, we thought we’d head to Ubud.
Ubud is home to a lot of pool clubs/jungle clubs (jungle clubs are, as the name suggests, pool clubs that are in jungle settings rather than near beaches or in urban areas), and one of the biggest names in town is Cretya by Alas Harum Bali.
Our team was quite intrigued to visit Cretya as the club looks very interesting on its social media feeds. So, they jumped in a Grab car and headed to their first jungle club, and this is what they learned there.
Introduction – Getting To Cretya Pool Club
Cretya is in Tegallalang, which is just outside the central Balinese town of Ubud. Ubud is reasonably easy to get to from Denpasar, Sanur, Canggu, Seminyak, Kuta and Legian but a bit more of a hike from Jimbaran, Nusa Dua, Uluwatu, Pecatu and Ungasan.
When you add in the complications of Bali traffic, if you’re coming from further afield, you might want to stay in Ubud for the night, rather than try and make a day trip of things, as you could spend 4 hours in a car (or more) on a round trip from Ungasan.
Ubud used to be a fairly sleepy place, but it’s become super popular with visitors ever since it appeared in the movie (and book), Eat, Pray, Love. Generally speaking, you can expect the town to have fairly heavy traffic most of the time.
Once you reach Cretya, there’s plenty of parking available, and your Grab or Gojek driver can easily bring you to the door of this pool club. It’s an advantage of being out in the jungle is that there’s much less in the way of space constraints.
Just make sure that you have arranged a ride home at the end of the day, because otherwise, you might need to wait a while for a Grab or Gojek to come and pick you up when there are easier fares, in terms of pickup, in Ubud itself.
Where Is Cretya Pool Club? Jl. Raya Tegallalang, Tegallalang, Kec. Tegallalang, Kabupaten Gianyar, Bali 80561
Website: Cretya Ubud
Opening Hours: 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, except Nyepi
What’s Inside Cretya Pool Club?
Cretya Ubud is part of the Alas Harum complex but it is a separate and distinct entity. It’s billed as a luxurious restaurant (with bar facilities) spread over three floors in the jungle with a 3-layer pool and exquisite rice terrace views.
Our Review Breakdown For Cretya Pool Club
We follow a standardised method for reviewing each beach club to ensure fair evaluation of owners, management, and staff, and to provide reviews in a uniform format that makes comparing venues effortless.
The review process is structured as follows:
- A team is selected to evaluate the venue.
- Each member is required to visit the beach club, with the flexibility to visit independently and on separate days.
- During their visit, every reviewer completes a scorecard, scoring the club from 1 (least commendable) to 5 (most commendable) in designated categories, while also recording their impressions.
- After all team members have completed their visits and scorecards, they convene to discuss their observations and finalise scores for each category.
- A designated team member then drafts the review, capturing the team’s discussions and final scores, which are later posted on our website.
Pre-Club Advertising
Cretya doesn’t do a lot of advertising, though its sister venue, Alas Harum, does advertise online and offline.
We always think it’s a bit of a shame when clubs don’t advertise because it doesn’t help to get bodies through the door, and because these are very much social venues, you want as many people inside as possible.
However, while we can see why advertising in Ubud for a pool club might have been challenging until the town became popular, now, there’s really no excuse for not promoting this jungle club.
Location
Ubud is a decent enough location, and there are certainly plenty of things to see and do in the local area.
However, it’s a central town rather than a beach town, which means no beaches, no watersports, and no sand.
It’s also colder in Ubud than on the Coast, and that means you may find that nights in Ubud get a little chilly at times.
And Tegallalang is not central Ubud but rather on the outskirts (the village is famous for its rice terraces, in fact), which means it’s not as simple as getting a hotel in Ubud, then walking round the corner to get to Cretya Ubud.
Booking Process & Seating Options
The booking process is somewhat better than many of the other booking processes at beach clubs across Bali.
However, it can be confusing because Cretya tries to disguise its entrance fee as a “First Drink Charge”. So, if you don’t want a comfy seat, you will need to agree to this charge (200,000 IDR) in order to book.
For everyone else, the seating at Cretya incurs a minimum spend, and you will need to agree to this spend and pay a deposit.
Annoyingly, you can only book a seat for half the day – if you want to book for a whole day, you will need to pay the minimum spend twice.
You also cannot pick a specific seat, just a type of seating. Which leaves you at the mercy of the whims of their staff when you arrive.
Entry Fee
The entrance fee at Cretya Ubud is essentially 200,000 IDR if you don’t want to agree to a minimum spend. The entrance fee is waived if you agree to a minimum spend.
The fee does include your first drink, which is charged at 150,000 IDR no matter what drink you choose, and thus, the actual entry fee is “only” 50,000 IDR ($3 USD or $5 AUD).
While we don’t think that’s a lot of money, we do think it’s a bit of a cheek, and we believe that the best beach clubs in Bali don’t charge entrance fees and neither should the pool clubs.
Minimum Spend
For a comfortable seat, you will need to agree to a minimum spend of at least 2 million IDR. This does cover, at least, two people, which is fair enough.
We feel that this charge is very much in line with other beach clubs and pool clubs in Bal,i and while it doesn’t represent the best value for money, it’s certainly not bad.
We are big believers in minimum spend arrangements as it ensures that you can reserve a seat in a venue and that the venue will keep the seat for the period of your booking.
Welcome And Security
There’s a warm welcome at Cretya Pool Club, and we felt that the staff were happy to see us. However, if you’ve not booked a minimum spend seat, you may find that the entry process is not hassle-free here.
We were also pleased to note that they do carry out basic bag checks, which help to promote safety and security in any venue.
Inclusions
This is a mixed bag, while the minimum spend customers get a comfy seat and a towel as well as use of the changing facilities, the entrance fee customers get an additional charge for a towel!
Yes, it’s not enough to pay a premium for your first drink and a fee to walk in the door; if you want to swim, you have to pay an additional fee of 50,000 IDR to use a towel.
And no, before you ask, you can’t bring in your own towel from outside the venue. If you try, your towel will be confiscated or you will be refused entry.
That’s a pretty poor show, and it feels like a bit of a gouge. Sure, the easiest thing to do is book a seat and agree to a minimum spend to avoid this, but you shouldn’t really have to – it ought to be included in the entrance fee.
Service
The service at Cretya Ubud is what we’d classify as very good local Balinese service; it’s not quite as polished as at the big-name clubs or 5-star hotel venues, but it’s more than good enough to ensure you have a great time and everything you need while you’re there.
Bali has a wonderful reputation for hospitality, and the people who work at Cretya Ubud are a credit to their establishment.
Entertainment
It depends on what day you’re there as to what entertainment you get. They do have live DJs most evenings, but rarely during the day.
Overall, we enjoyed the party vibe when it kicked off, and we found that most people in Cretya were happy to get up and dance and have a great time.
However, when you compare Cretya to a venue like FINNS, there’s still a lot more they could offer in the way of entertainment, such as dancers, Harleys, magicians, etc.
Pool Quality
The pool is fabulous at Cretya, and it is the club’s biggest selling point. This three-tier layered infinity pool is gorgeous, and it’s going to look great in your Instagram feed.
The area is kept clean, and we found that the water was more than clean enough to spend plenty of time in the pool here.
The only downside is that despite being a pretty big pool, it’s the central feature of the club and as the day progresses, more and more people jump in the pool, which can lead to it feeling a little cramped and hard to swim in.
Menu/Drinks Pricing
We felt that the pricing in Cretya Ubud was on the high side. Ubud is traditionally a bit less expensive than the beach towns, and yet, there’s no evidence of this in Cretya’s food menu.
The drinks, on the other hand, were more reasonably priced and matched our expectations of what we’d spend at a high-quality establishment in this part of Bali.
Food And Drink Quality
We thought that the food was very good, though the portions were a touch on the small side given the high prices.
The drinks were well presented, your Instagram feed will love them, and when necessary, they seemed to be strong enough, too.
There’s nothing worse than an expensive cocktail that is mostly water, and they have avoided that at Cretya.
Sunset View
Sunset in the jungle just isn’t the same as the dramatic sunset over the ocean that you get in places like Canggu, Seminyak and Kuta.
Yes, Bali’s sunset is always nice (as is the sunrise, which far fewer people seem to witness on the island), but without the water to reflect the light show, it feels a little muted at Cretya Ubud.
It’s not bad, but it’s not the best, either.
Music And Ambience
The music during the day before the DJs start to play is sort of middle-of-the-road dance music. It’s not bad, but it doesn’t really distinguish itself, either.
That’s probably no bad thing. It’s better than being in a place where the music gets on your nerves.
Payment Options
You can pay by cash or card throughout the club, and in our experience, the staff are very quick to bring the bill and handle any change-making process that you might need.
However, we didn’t see any adverts for QRIS, and that’s a shame as it’s our favourite way to pay here on the island.
Exit Process
Leaving Cretya Ubud is straightforward enough, you just go back the way you came in until you reach the car park/exit.
The staff will offer you a cheery farewell as you go.
Transportation
Ubud’s not that difficult an area to get a ride share from, but Tegallalang is just far enough out of the centre that you may need to wait a while for your ride, particularly at the busiest times of day.
For those who parked at Cretya, you can easily retrieve your vehicle and get going.
Social Media Presence
For a place that is essentially famous as a social media hotspot for photos that you’ll always remember from your time in Bali, it’s peculiar to us that their own social media is only OK.
It gives you some idea of what it’s like inside and what the food and drinks will look like, but it doesn’t really capture the vibe of Cretya Ubud.
However, it is regularly updated, and things like special offers and promotions do appear in their feeds, which is handy.
Other/General Comments
You can get access to the Alas Harum site from this pool club, but it comes at a substantial cost premium, and it may be one of the most excessively priced experiences in Bali.
When you’re shelling out hundreds of thousands (or even millions) of Rupiah for nothing much more than posh selfie opportunities, it’s hard to see this as a good use of your cash.
Overall, we struggle to see the value for money in a lot of what this pool club and its associated businesses do, and that’s a real shame because this is a pleasant place to hang out for a day.
Our Overall Opinion Of Cretya Pool Club
Cretya is a nice place, and the service is good, and the views are excellent. However, it’s a bit on the expensive side for Ubud and beyond the infinity pool, there’s not much going on here.
We can see why they run their furniture in shifts, spending a whole day here would be a bit of a challenge, unlike at some of the beach clubs.
Overall, we enjoyed our time here and would go back if we were in Ubud, but we won’t be making a special journey for it.
FAQs
Can You Just Walk Into Cretya Ubud?
Yes, Cretya accepts walk-in guests. Though we’d note that it’s probably easier to book online. Security is very strict at this club, and they regularly confiscate banned items at the door too, so make sure to read up on their rules before you go.
Is There A Dress Code At Cretya Ubud?
The club says, yes, and they say it’s “casual chic” which isn’t a lot to go on, really.
Does Cretya Have A Minimum Spend?
Yes, and it varies based on seating. Expect to pay at least 200,000 IDR to get in and a minimum spend of at least 2,000,000 IDR for a nice seat.
Can You Hire Towels At Cretya Ubud?
Yes, there’s a charge of 50,000 IDR to rent a towel in addition to the entrance fee. However, if you have a daybed with a minimum spend agreed, the towel is free.
Is Cretya Ubud Suitable For Solo Travellers?
Yes, it’s a place where social interactions happen pretty naturally and solo travellers are welcome.
Can You Swim At Cretya Pool Club?
Yes, as long as you are an adult, you can swim in the infinity pool at Cretya Pool Club. There’s no doubt that this pool is the big draw of this club as it has wonderful views out over the rice paddies and into the jungle.
The pool does get very busy, however, as the day moves on, and if you’re committed to swimming rather than lounging around with a cocktail in your hand, we’d recommend getting there around the time that it opens.
What Can You Do At Cretya Pool Club?
You can eat, drink and swim in the pool at Cretya Ubud. You can also gain access to the rest of the Alas Harum complex from this spot, but there are additional fees for this (which are substantial) and they are beyond the scope of this review, which is only concerned with the pool club.
They occasionally host day parties and regularly have live DJs and party vibes in the evenings but most days this venue is about relaxing during daylight hours.
Is Cretya Pool Club A Family-Friendly Venue?
Sort of. Cretya Pool Club bills itself as a family-friendly venue, but they do stress the importance of children being accompanied by their parents all the time.
However, children are only allowed into the Cretya Lite experience, which does not include the dramatic infinity pool area. Given that most people visit Cretya for its infinity pool with the rice terrace views, this seems like a very severe restriction that many families won’t appreciate.
We would note that there are no special facilities for children with the Cretya Lite compound either, which means that they will need to make their own entertainment, and you will need to ensure that it doesn’t involve interfering with the experience of other guests.
Who Owns Cretya Pool Club?
Cretya Pool Club is part of the Alas Harum Bali setup, and it was founded by and is owned by Mr. Made Suardana. His bio says that he always dreamed of being a CEO in the hospitality industry.
Made Suardana appears to be a self-made man from humble origins with no particular educational or financial background to speak of. He is proud to create jobs for locals throughout his business.
Final Thoughts On Cretya Pool Club
Cretya Ubud is a nice facility, but as with everything in the Alas Harum portfolio, it’s not great value for money, and there’s a lot of nickel-and-dime stuff for those who don’t want to commit to a minimum spend in advance.
The infinity pool is lovely, and the views out over the jungle make it worth seeing if you’re in this part of Ubud, but we wouldn’t travel to Ubud just for this club.
And we would note that if you want a great party venue, FINNS Beach Club in Canggu remains the place to beat. Cretya is not in the same league, though it’s certainly more expensive than FINNS.
