Kuda Laut Boutique Dive Resort — Hotel in North Sulawesi

Siladen is the smaller island in Bunaken national park. Choose this one if you prefer to be away from tourist stuff.|We were picked up on the mainland by a boat from the hotel. Our luggage was carried onto the boat. After about 15 minutes we arrived at the beach, right out front of the hotel. And then, our absolutely fabulous stay began… read on!||We were welcomed by Heartly, the assistant manager himself. A great guy who has lots of interest in you having a great experience. A lady from the staff served us a (non alcoholic) cocktail while we were still standing in the surf on the beach. A very nice touch. Upon checkin, we were given details about the hotel, dinnertimes and such. All with no rush at all. ||Then, our room. We received a complimentary upgrade to a beachfront bungalow. That was one of many amazing things we encountered here.|The room had a terrace with two comfy chairs and a small table. Also a hammock.|The bedroom was spacious and clean. There was a kingsize bed and enough furniture to put all your stuff. The lighting gave the room a cosy feel. Towels were arranged in a beautiful way, a scent candle was lit, the airconditioner already working. We hadn’t expected this much luxury… behind a door was the bathroom. Also large and with an open air shower. Brilliant!|One more door revealed a room with shelves to put your bags. The safe box was here too. Although we never felt the need for it here.|The wifi works flawlessly throughout the resort. ||The beach was some 20 meters away. Real close, as was everything, because this is a mall resort. You’ll find sunbeds free to use. In the main building, you can sit down in one of the many corners. The whole place breathes “relax” and that is exactly the feeling we got. There is a pool table, a small library, a small shop with diving essentials. Also the office and there is always someone present for issues of some sort. There’s even a small infinity pool. And on the second floor, you find a few additional seats overlooking the sea. |All the meals are served in this building also. And trust me, you will be surprised. Especially after weeks of travelling as we did, prior to staying here. I don’t know what chef they have, but each and every time, there was something special. The menu has several options for the menu items and it all tasted so excellent. |I didn’t mention the beachbar yet, which is right next to the pool. You’ll find many cocktail options, all prepared perfectly. I suggest you try the “Celebes divers special” which contains captikus, a local liquor. ||Is there nothing to whine about then? Well… NO! |Where do you get an amazingly friendly staff making you feel so welcome, living on flipflops, snorkling right off the beach right into an aquarium of coloured fish, getting on a boat trip snorkling or diving amongst dozens of huge turtles, late afternoon drinks watching daylight fade…||Sadly, we had to leave at some point. They extend their service not only taking you back to the mainland by their one of their boats, but also by providing a taxi to the airport. And after our luggage was picked up in our bungalow and carried onto the boat, we were even given a lunchbox. Because you will be hungry before your flight leaves, they said. Speechless we were. The boat left the beach and the assistant manager and his staff all waved us goodbye. Leaving us with tears in our eyes. |Yes, you arrive as strangers, but you leave as friends….||After reading this, it must be obvious to you that I cannot recommend this place high enough. You will want to go back. As do we…|If you found this review helpful, please vote helpful, so I know I was of help to you....

Kuda Laut Boutique Dive Resort is a fantastic place for a family vacation. We had one of the most relaxing vacations we've had since having kids during our stay there. The beach is fantastic, much better than any I've seen on neighboring Bunaken and perfect for relaxing on or playing in the water with your kids. The house reef offers fantastic snorkeling including nice coral, a variety of fish and a nice drop off to the right hand side of the resort. The best snorkeling is actually over to the right, not directly in front of the resort, but the whole thing is great and it's best to just head whatever direction the current is going when you jump in the water. But what set Kuda Laut apart was really the quality of the resort itself and it's staff. Oli, the manager will go out of his way to make sure you have a fantastic stay. No request we made was too much for him, he arranged babysitting for us so that we could go off on a snorkeling daytrip and called ahead to check with the airport on the most up to date COVID requirements to make sure that our departure would be smooth. He runs a fantastic place and had everything running fantastically even though the resort had only been reopened for about a week when we visited. The rooms are fantastic with comfortable beds, cold A/C, hot showers and plenty of space. They offer a wide variety of well run tours for reasonable prices if you want to leave the resort but really you don't have too. They have everything you could need for a great vacation right there: crystal clear water, soft sand, a fantastic pool and great food! The bar is well equipped as well with a wide variety of beverages. We loved spending our days staring at the beautiful blue ocean from the pool, snorkeling and playing on the beach with our kids. I highly recommend Kuda Laut because it offers a much more complete experience than the resorts on Bunaken which are pretty much exclusively focused on diving and rarely have any real beach. Siladen is gorgeous, the reefs are grand and the beach is stunning. The exquisite service provided by Oli and his staff at Kuda Laut is the "cherry on top" to make a perfect vacation. If North Sulawesi isn't on your list it should be and you should stay at Kuda Laut while...

This resort could be so much nicer than it is! Such a beautiful location and a perfect spot to have a dream vacay but unfortunately, not everything is great about this place:

It starts with the welcoming which at first seems nice because you’ll get a nice drink, but it comes with a card reader in the other hand and negatives vibes such as “don’t steal the bottle from your room” - okay.

I mentioned beforehand and during check in that I’d like vegan/vegetarian options but every time I entered the restaurant, they didn’t remember (there were max 10 guests at the time). The veggie option on the menu was mostly pasta with greasy sauce and it seemed difficult if I just wanted to have rice and veggies (“I have to ask the manager”).

We passed by the dive center on our first day to check equipment and to understand the plan for the next days but the staff seemed rather annoyed and unfriendly. We were not told where we’re going before hopping on the boat. The dive guides don’t respect the wildlife underwater but were poaching and harassing the underwater creatures. We told them several times that this is not what we want and to please stop it.

My advice to the management: stop acting like this was a resort in Europe but start treating it more like a local resort: offer more Indonesian dishes, empower your staff to make decisions and stop trying to rip off your guests the way you do. And please please get better coffee, the machine is a nightmare and people would rather drink the powder coffee on the boats 😂

If I wouldn’t have met so many wonderful people, I wouldn’t have enjoyed my stay at Kuda Laut.

P.S.: the rooms are super nice and housekeeping comes 2x per day which is...