Karimunjannah House — Hotel in Jepara

I stayed in Karimunjannah with my two sons. Overall the homestay itself is very good compared to other similar places. The room is quite clean and the bed is quite comfortable. It's about 300 meter from the coast, and we can access the coast from Mangrove Inn's entrance. The location is around 2 km from city center, so we rented two scooters from the homestay to get around. ||||There are some things that could be improved though:||- Bathroom - water pressure is low and the hot water did not seem to work||- TV - the TV in our room is very odd. The power cable was not long enough to plug into the power plug, and bu Mirah said that she will get an extension cable but she seemed to forgot about it||- Communication - our fast boat was 2 hours late and supposedly there should be someone waiting for us at the harbour with Karimunjannah sign, but nobody was there to pick us up. There were no response when I tried to contact the number, but luckily it's quite easy to find a taxi to take us to the homestay. There are other occasions that the phone cannot be reached. It would be great if the communication can be improved. ||||However, the reason that I gave 5 stars is bu Mirah's hospitality (and the girl at the reception - sorry I cannot remember her name). They went the extra miles to help us anyway they can - scooter rentals, tour booking, etc. Bu Mirah even helped my son to find live bait for fishing! That's something that definitely cannot be found...

This is a great family run place. It is situated on a hill side plot with rooms at the front and the owners premises at the back.||||The rooms are cool, clean, simple and spacious. There is no hot water, which wasn't a problem. There is a communal area/kitchen at the front where you can mingle with other guests. There is small menu but the food is good and breakfast comes with fresh homemade bread.||||All the staff are helpful and friendly but some have limited English. This is not a problem, you just have to work your way through 😀||||Not many places here are beach front but only 50 metres up the road you can gain water access through another property. There is large jetty that goes out through the mangroves (lit at night) to a small swimming platform. Great for taking a dip and watching the sunset.||||The property is about 1km out of town, which is walk able but they do rent scooters (cheaply) which is a great way to get around and explore.||||The owners don't run a travel agency but they will certainly help their guests leave the island. In our case, they booked and collected fast boat tickets for us, as well as arranging a transfer from Jepara. On booking, they also gave us the low down on transport to the islands.||||Chris and Mira are fantastic hosts and we had a great stay with them.||||Any future stay for us on Karimunjawa...

We stayed here for 4 nights in August 2017. ||||Pros - The restaurant area also serves as a reception desk and Chis, his wife or their staff are always around if you need information on places to go or if you fancy a bite to eat. You can book day trips through Chris and rent motorbikes from him; and the restaurant is a nice place to have a night cap and chat to other guests after a day of exploring. ||||I really enjoyed the homemade muesli, yoghurt and honey and fresh bread option for breakfast. Tap water is not drinkable and it's nice that they have filtered water in the restaurant where you can fill your water bottles.||||Cons - Our room wasn't cleaned daily and with the daily beach excursions, the floor started to feel quite grimy after day 3 (I'm sure they would've cleaned it if we asked). I would've also liked a hose / tap / bottle of water outside the room to rinse off my feet after a day at the beach (but even Kura Kura resort did not have this).||||Karimunjawa is not very set up for Western tourists and the accommodation options are not really up to Western standards; but the gorgeous beaches and friendly locals more than make...