Creativity at its best
Bali is already a land of spiritual and natural wonder, but what if a place existed that took that magic and built a city around it? Nuanu is that experiment, a 109-acre eco-city that is part art park, part futuristic resort, and entirely unlike anything you’ve seen before. It insists its unfinished, evolving state is the key to its unique charm, creating a surreal landscape where the border between the built world and the wild one completely dissolves.
1. It’s an “Unfinished” City by Design
The very name Nuanu translates from the local language to “in process,” which perfectly captures its guiding philosophy. Unlike standard urban developments, this $150 million project, backed by investor Lev Kroll, doesn’t aim for a final, fixed state. Instead, it is an ever-evolving canvas. This deliberate, continuous development means visitors are always walking through a city that is actively being created, with new architectural marvels, art installations, and eco-initiatives popping up regularly, making every visit a unique experience and reinforcing the feeling of walking through a dynamic, live installation.
2. Seventy Percent of the Land Stays Wild
Sprawling across 109 acres on Bali’s west coast, Nuanu commits a significant majority of its footprint, 70 percent, to remaining an unspoiled natural habitat. This isn’t just a patch of greenery; it’s a fundamental part of the city’s design, actively integrating existing rice paddies, mangrove forests, and jungle trails into the urban fabric. Instead of clearing the land for construction, the city carefully builds within the forest’s existing ecosystem, a major ecological commitment that allows guests to be constantly surrounded by the raw, living pulse of Balinese nature.
3. The Earth Sentinels Stand as Mythic Guardians
A striking feature of the Nuanu landscape is the collection of massive, often human-like, sculptures known as the Earth Sentinels. These pieces are not merely decorations; they are site-specific works created by international artists and strategically positioned across the land. They are designed to embody the spirit of the place, often glowing and pulsing with light after dark, turning the jungle into a mesmerizing, open-air gallery. They literally define the city’s artistic identity, giving the sensation that you are being watched over by mythic, benevolent figures as you explore the grounds.
4. Luna Beach Club is a Sci-Fi Surf Festival
The Luna Beach Club redefines the typical beach experience by fusing luxury resort amenities with avant-garde design and a festival-like atmosphere. The club features spectacular architecture, most notably massive, twisting bamboo roofs that evoke natural forms like seashells. Its atmosphere is equally unique: imagine dipping into turquoise lagoons while DJs remix traditional Balinese temple gongs into modern bass drops, all capped off by dramatic nighttime fire dancer performances. It successfully blends the relaxed vibe of a surf shack with the high-tech energy of a futuristic stage show.
5. Aurora Media Park is a Jungle Hallucination
Stepping into the Aurora Media Park is an exercise in blurring the lines between nature and digital art. It completely moves past the concept of a traditional gallery, instead turning the dense jungle environment into an immersive, reactive space. Visitors walk along lantern-lit paths while technologies like AI projections ripple underfoot, and holographic fish appear to swim through the air between the trees. The art installations here are designed to surround you and actively respond to your presence, pulling you into a glowing, almost surreal orbit where the artwork literally seems to breathe back at you.
6. Wellness Practices are Elemental and Primal
The approach to health and well-being at Nuanu focuses on elemental and intense experiences rather than superficial spa treatments. The core offerings are designed to reconnect guests with primal, powerful sensations. This includes undergoing deep detoxification in fire-heated dome saunas, achieving total invigoration with immediate plunges into cold stone pools, and participating in group stretching and meditation sessions conducted beneath the stars. The healing is often augmented by sound healers who use resonant drumming and vibrations, making the wellness journey feel less like a temporary fix and more like a profound return to a natural rhythm.
7. Local Children are Investing in the Future of Art
A significant cultural commitment within Nuanu is its active role in supporting the next generation of local Balinese artists. The project offers free workshops to local children, allowing them to engage with and preserve traditional arts. These sessions cover a range of essential skills, including traditional pottery, mask-painting, and weaving. By providing these resources, the city ensures that while adults are enjoying the modern spectacles, the children are simultaneously connecting with their heritage and shaping the future artistic identity of the community, underscoring Nuanu’s role as a promise to the region.
8. The Magic Garden is a Stage for Nature
The Magic Garden is much more than a simple botanical collection; it is an intentionally curated, vibrant, and interactive natural space. Protected glass domes house thousands of swirling butterflies, while ponds attract dragonflies, and carefully chosen plants, like orchids, burst with color. The garden is designed to feel enchanted, a characteristic amplified at dusk when the space hums with palpable energy. This intentional design creates the sensation that the plants and insects themselves are putting on a subtle, continuous performance, placing the visitor in a uniquely intimate, front-row seat to nature’s spectacle.
9. THK Tower is a Light-Show Beacon
Dominating the skyline is the THK Tower, a monumental structure constructed primarily from reclaimed timber. Its name is derived from the Balinese philosophy of Tri Hita Karana, which advocates for the harmony among three entities: God, humanity, and nature. By day, the tower acts as a massive, beautiful sculpture and an ecological statement. By night, it is transformed into a spectacular cosmic light show, serving as a glowing, unforgettable beacon that signifies the city’s spiritual and artistic core. It functions simultaneously as a shrine, a landmark, and a visual signal for the entire complex.
10. Mobility is Designed to Be Silent and Intentional
Nuanu actively rejects the motorized chaos and scooter congestion that defines much of Bali’s popular areas. The city prioritizes a slow, deliberate, and calming movement experience. Transportation within the complex is limited to silently drifting on electric buggies, or by foot across thoughtfully designed paths, such as bamboo bridges that span the mangrove ecosystems. Even the simple act of traveling from one point to another is a curated part of the experience, ensuring that every journey is as tranquil and beautiful as the destination, fostering a pervasive atmosphere of calm.
11. The City Transforms with Neon After Dark
The experience of Nuanu fundamentally changes once the sun sets, initiating a full-scale nighttime transformation. After dark, the Earth Sentinels and architectural structures ignite with light, jungle projections bloom across the canopy, and bonfires roar by the beach. This period is a sudden and dramatic shift from the day’s serene atmosphere into one of high-energy electricity. The city seamlessly transitions from quiet, star-gazing contemplation to a vibrant, immersive dance environment, creating a continuous cycle where the night restarts the magic with a new, neon-drenched pulse.
12. Dining Is Staged as Full-On Theatrical Performance
At Nuanu, a meal is rarely just a meal; it’s an immersive, staged performance that engages all the senses. Guests can expect to dine in highly imaginative settings, such as biting into fresh Pacha alpaca prepared right on the alpaca farm, or sipping cocktails beneath towering, goddess-shaped sculptures. The atmosphere is further enhanced by beer gardens filled with the aroma of smoke and exotic spices. Every dish and every setting is intentionally designed to be visually stunning and contextually rich, ensuring that the culinary experience is as memorable as any other spectacle in the city.
13. Buying In Means Investing in the Dream
Nuanu represents a high-end, significant investment, a fact reflected in its financial backing and real estate prices. The project has attracted over $150 million in funding from global investors, including Lev Kroll. This level of investment is mirrored in the property costs, where villas are priced well past one million dollars and apartments begin at approximately $145,000. The expense signifies that guests and residents are not merely purchasing a place to stay, but are literally buying into the exclusive, high-concept lifestyle, sustainability mission, and ambitious dream the city represents.
14. It’s an Attempt to Make Festival Magic Permanent
Nuanu is a deliberate, permanent synthesis of elements borrowed from famous cultural phenomena: it has the high-energy spectacle of Coachella, the deep spirituality and retreat-vibe of Ubud, and the contemporary surf-and-digital buzz of Canggu. The ambition is to create a living, breathing city where the magical, transformational feeling of a world-class festival is simply the everyday atmosphere, rather than an event that packs up and disappears after a single weekend. The project’s success hinges on maintaining this delicate, high-energy, spiritual balance over the long term.
15. It’s a Tropical, Permanent Burning Man by the Sea
Perhaps the closest cultural cousin to Nuanu is the Burning Man festival, sharing its core ethos of radical self-expression, community, and large-scale, ephemeral art. Like the Nevada desert event, Nuanu features massive, glowing art installations and an entire environment that transforms after dark, always feeling joyously unfinished. The key difference, however, is the setting: here, the ocean is steps away, the surrounding environment is lush and tropical, and the experience is permanent. It offers all the transformative, artistic freedom of a temporary city, but with the luxury of being able to stay as long as you like.
What part of this evolving, futuristic jungle city are you most curious to see built next?
This story 15 Surreal Reasons Bali’s New City Nuanu Feels Like a Dream You Can Walk Through was first published on Daily FETCH
