Bunaken Indonesia – Best Places to Stay in All Price Ranges

Bunaken is a famous island for one very simple reason – diving. The opportunities to view and engage with some of the most vivid, untouched and truly brilliant sea-life sends foreigners the world over to Bunaken’s shores.

What to expect

While one’s priority here is getting their tank on getting themselves into the deep blue, one should be wary to not miss the rest that the island has to offer. One such thing that shouldn’t be bypassed while you daydream about the dives you’ve done and the dives you will do is the accommodation you’re staying in. By and large, the resorts on the island are superb. Offering beach-side cabins and villas, incredible pools, fantastic entertainment wonderful food, you’d be silly to pass up the opportunity to be fully present.

Budget accommodation

Because the island does not really attract the masses of uber-conscious travellers who seek out hostels, cheap nights on the town and places with no entrance fees, there are less options on the island for a low-cost experience. You won’t find any hostels here. However, that is not say to the island and its gems cannot be experienced without a good deal of zeros in your bank account. While you’ll need to spend more than you may be used to or more than you would need to while exploring the Ubud countryside, you’d regret not parting ways with your money here. There are several simple, but great options for a cheap night’s stay in Bunaken.

Several of the lodging options aren’t listed online and just take bookings from walk-in customers. This may be your best option on the island as you can often find a more competitive rate on the spot than you can by booking online. If this all seems a bit uncertain to you, then you should check your options online.

One of the more popular budget places that you can find online is Ernie’s Homestay. The rooms are very basic and have nothing special about them. But, it’s a bed to rest on between your dives and is but a few minutes’ walk from the beach. Things could be worse. Expect to pay around 150, 000 IDR for a night’s stay.

Still very much in the realm of budget properties is the Bunaken Lodge. Because of the one too many times that we have all been burned, their offer seems too good to be true at first. But we’re here to tell you that they’re legitimate. Moreover, they’re fantastic! They receive constant praise online and are rated very highly by booking websites. The peace and comfort of all-inclusive need not only be available in the more fancy resorts for prices far beyond what the average tourist is prepared to pay. Featuring their own private beach area, and really great food at the on-site restaurant, the hotel is for those who want the bones of a luxury experience without the frills. The rooms are comfortable, but simple. There is no air-conditioning in most rooms. However, it is hard to be bothered by this when you’re looking onto the sea when you wake. There are options to book a room without the ‘all-inclusive’ package. These rooms usually go for just under 300, 000 IDR. It seems well worth upgrading to the benefits of ‘all-inclusive’ though, as you need only pay an extra 170, 000 IDR.

While we don’t prefer it to Bunaken Lodge, Arto Moro Bunaken provides a good alternative for a night’s stay. Similarly priced at around 300, 000 IDR, you’ll get much of the same here. Unfortunately the property does not have its own stretch of beach, and you’ll be expected to share a bathroom with people you don’t know. However, it does have a special breakfast included in the price that we thought was quite exceptional. If you didn’t know about Bunaken Lodge or found out they were full, then this place would indeed satisfy the needs of the budget traveller for a night or two.

Mid-range accommodation

A good mid-range property is Lorenso Beach Garden. Offering all-inclusive packages for a minimum of three nights, you’ll pay around 1,500,000 IDR for the three days. Per night the resort is similarly priced to the superb Bunaken Lodge. However, the fact that you must spend at least three days here forces the lodge into the mid-range bracket. The resort is basic, but very, very comfortable. The rooms are spacious and private. The views are, of course, incredible.

Our favourite mid-range property was Happy Gecko Dive Resort. The resort is based right on the beach, so much so that the waves crash against the wall of the restaurant in high-tide. Speaking of restaurants, the food here was sensational. While they offer very similar things to the other resorts the small touches that they added, their presentation, and the service that came with it all dramatically improved our experience. The resort comes complete with a beach-side bar – you know, the kind you see James Bond hanging out in after he’s defeated the short-sighted bad-guy. The rooms have been really well decorated and exude a clean, beachy feel with accents of white, blue and brown. The resort again requires that you stay for three nights at the minimum. The price for such should be around 2,700, 000 IDR.

Now, if you’re about ready to live the life you’ve read about in dusty travel books and seen in movies and other people’s seemingly perfect lives, then Thalassa Resort is ready to welcome you. The resort comes complete with two outdoor pools, a tennis court, a beach side bar and restaurant, water sports facilities, BBQ facilities, in-room massages, a beach side spa and a host of other delightful things not mentioned here – mostly for the sake of brevity, really. The resort is located at the edge of the national park, just minutes away from the dive sites. Enjoy the fact that every meal you will eat is already catered for and that every dive you do is already organised and waiting for you to say “Yes”.

Top end accommodation

Goodness gracious, this next spot is tough to write about. Our current experience is being made to feel extraordinarily bland when thoughts drift to experiences at Kuda Laut Boutique Dive Resort. Almost as if someone has created this place from dream they’ve had, everything from the entrance hall to the all-wooden rooms, to the room accessories - the place is divine. An all year-round outdoor-pool, their own private beach area, rain showers in your room, a house reef for snorkelling, ‘all-inclusive’ meals, a games room, room service, amazing pool loungers, and all-round amazing views give the property an almost surreal feeling. It is so popular that you’ll need to book at least four to five months in advance. Strange, people seem to like it here!The resort requires that you book at least three nights at property. For three nights at the property with everything you need catered for, you’re looking at around 7, 500, 000 IDR. So, not especially cheap. Worth it? Undoubtedly. Absolutely. Yes.