Arumdalu Private Resort

9.2 ExcellentAnonymous, Mar 2024

We stayed @ Arumdalu for 4 days as a family getaway vacation at the end of February. The point of the trip was to stay somewhere remote and quiet but at the same time experience a bit of what the island had to offer. Location: The location is pretty remote with nothing except the jungle and palm oil plantations around. It took about 1.5 hours to get from the airport to our villa. The resort is situated in a lovely white sand bay, with water as clear as crystal. We were the only ones there at this time of the year where usually it rains but we had lots of sunshine and warmth with periods of some overcast. The Resort: Hidden under the canopy is the reception building that fits into the jungle landscape perfectly. We were welcomed with drinks and some information about our stay. The staff was extremely polite and helpful and tended to our every need. Some spoke English and the ones that did not used Google translate to communicate. The villas look beautiful, spacious and clean. There were condiments waiting for us, which were refilled every day. Every villa has a private pool that got used heavily by our children. The beach was also beautiful and we spent a lot of time there. There are beautiful rock formations near the resort to climb or discover by kayak. However, we found out the hard way that there were also hordes of sand mites that left a blanket of itchy bumps on our skins. Amenities: There is a fair bit of things to do at the resort since it is very far from "town". Also, the town is not really a beach tourist destination as it does not(from what we saw) have much touristic infrastructure such as beach bars, restaurants and shops. We did not see much of it though so take this comment with a pinch of salt. We engaged with a few of the activities offered by the resort like TokTok printing, beach barbecue, kayaking, local honey making, biking to the highest rock, and seashell and coral curtain making. We enjoyed most of these as they were just about the right duration and difficulty, and helped to break apart the day. We tried to go on an island hopping tour and drove 2h to the North of the island to get on a boat but that idea was ruined by a thunderous storm. That was another 2h back. We felt sorry for the driver who had to do all the driving for nothing. But we did get to see the landscape of the island a bit more. The Food: As said before, the resort is far away from other potential restaurants and shops, so we ate 2 times(breakfast, which was included and dinner) per day at the resort's restaurant. The restaurant is a pleasant building by the sea with a terrace. There was also an option to have breakfast as a picnic near the beach, which we tried once but because it was so hot already in the morning we decided to have our remaining breakfasts under a more shaded area. The food was tasty, plentiful with an average selection. The dinners though were another matter. They grow some of the food one the menu or source the ingredients locally from fishermen, which is great. However, and this was our main concern, the amount of food was very small. Most nights, when we did not decide to have the barbecue, we left the restaurant hungry and had to top up in our villa with snacks after having paid around $130 at the restaurant... The portions were very small and extremely expensive for what they were. Maybe I eat too much but even my 11y old daughter was left hungry. We also had to wait for about an hour for the food, which itself was delicious and simple. I did bring it to the attention to the staff but the portion sizes did not change next time around. This is one of my recommendations. If people are staying at the resort and there are so few options for eating outside the resort, then the portions need to be much bigger. The barbecues on the other hand were a different story. There was fish(whole), calamari, prawns, chicken, beef, rice and more. It was expensive($300) but at least we got our stomachs full while w

8.8 ExcellentAnonymous, Sep 2019

Everything was great but little bit need to be increase: restaurant staff should gain more knowledge about their products