Staying in a water bungalow in Sulawesi – The Indonesian Maldives
Staying in a water bungalow in Sulawesi – The Indonesian Maldives
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Pulo Cinta was one of these locations I dreamed to see one day with my own eyes. I heard that it is pretty similar to the Maldives but a lot more affordable. I didn’t really know what to expect but I was so overwhelmed when I finally saw the water bungalows and the clear blue water. Pulo Cinta Eco Resort is located off the coast of Gorontalo in Sulawesi, one of the less touristic and more authentic islands in Indonesia.
From Bali we took a plane to Makasar, the biggest city of Sulawesi in the South. Then we took another short flight to Gorontalo to the North of Sulawesi. A driver took us to Boalemo (near Gorontalo) and in the darkness a boat from the resort waited for us at the jetty to bring us to paradise. Only the next morning, when the sun got up, we realized where we arrived the night before.
What to do there?
Around the resort everything you can do is enjoying the view, listening to the waves and wind, laying in a hammock, swimming and snorkeling and taking pictures of this wonderful place. and that’s absolutely enough! It’s a great way to calm down and to really be present in the moment. It really helps, that the signal there isn’t the best ;).
Enjoying Sunrises and Sunsets
The most beautiful thing there is to enjoy every sunrise and sunset from your own private water bungalow. I mean, how often do you have the chance to stay in a water bungalow? Every bungalow has this beautiful wooden terrace with a wooden roof. Put your pillows out there and be kissed by the first sun rays. When we’ve been there in October we had to wake up very early around 5am to see the sunrise, but it’s absolutely worth it!! Around 9 you will then get your breakfast carried to the bungalow.
Lying in a hammock
The staff of the resort gave us this hammock and we could stretch it between these two wooden struts. Looking at the big ocean from this hammock couldn’t feel better! The clean and symmetrical wooden terrace is absolutely perfect and photogenic. From our bungalow we couldn’t see any land, only the ocean. Therefore we really felt like being alone on the water. But it wasn’t scary at all. It was a feeling of being really connected with pure nature. From the wooden bridges between the bungalows you can see some land and mountains of Sulawesi far away in the other direction.
Swimming and sunbathing
You will probably hang around in the water a lot until you have wrinkled skin. You definitely have to be in the water for sunset to enjoy the magical colors. At midday the water looks the clearest because of all the reflections on the surface and under the water. Just experience the riff at every time of the day and watch how the colors change. But be a little careful, around the bungalows are some sharp corals.
Enjoying the water bungalow and going in the water from the private ledder
In Sulawesi there is ebb and flow. One morning there was only 1 meter high water in front of our bungalow and one morning we had almost 2 meters. If the water gets higher you can even jump in the water from the wooden terrace. If you open the doors to the private terrace you can even look at the water or the sunset from your bed, if you feel too sleepy to go outside ;). On our second day it got more windy, but inside of the bungalow it was still warm and windless. Speaking of temperatures, you can walk around in bikini all day long. It’s the perfect temperature there, not too hot due to the cooling ocean wind and not too cold for wearing a bikini.
In the bungalow you will even have a shower, a normal toilet with flush, toilet paper and a sink. There is no hot water but it’s lukewarm anyway. There are bungalows for two people and double bungalows for 4 people. The furniture in the bungalows is pretty basic, but it was enough for us. There was also a lockable wardrobe, if you want to leave your laptop behind while snorkeling around the riff.
Go snorkeling
Around the bungalows we found some corals and a lot of fish. But the best place for snorkeling is to start at the jetty and following the corals along the camp. The riff isn’t as impressive as the Great Barrier Reef in Australia but the corals are still intact and are showing their beautiful colors when the sun is shining. And we saw a lot of fish. The water is really clear and warm, for me, a person who loves to free dive, it was amazing. You don’t have to bring snorkel gear, they will give you everything for free. But we always bring our own snorkel and free diving mask and only rent some fins ( too big for our backpacks).
Just enjoy this paradise – fly a drone
It’s really cool that it’s still allowed flying a drone in Indonesia. When you check your pictures from the drone, it’s even more impressive how this places and riff looks like. These pictures aren’t edited, it really looks like this.
Is it like the Maledives?
Yes! Definitely yes! Even if I haven’t been on the Maldives yet, this place had everything I saw on the pictures from the Maldives. The water is absolutely clear, you have a private bungalow with a beautiful terrace and you can snorkel around all day. Only the service and the food might be more basic compared to a resort in the Maldives, but the location itself can easily keep up! And you have to keep in mind that this place is a lot! more affordable than a water bungalow in the Maldives.
How to get there?
The days before, we stayed in Bali, so we took a flight from Denpasar (Bali) to Makasar, he biggest city in the South of Sulawesi. Sulawesi isn’t far away from Bali, a little further North and the flight is only around 45 minutes. The airport in Makasar was bigger than expected. Sulawesi is a huge island, it would have been a lot of hours driving with a car all the way up to the North. Therefore we took a cheap national flight from Makasar to Gorontalo in the North.
Arriving in Sulawesi – the car ride
The owner of the resort will ask about your arrival time at the airport and organizes a driver waiting at the airport. Then you have to drive in this car for 2 hours, which was a great possibility to ge a quick impression of Sulawesi. The driver will drop you at a small jetty. The owner texted us back via whats app within minutes every time.
Boat ride to the bungalows
From there a motor boat from the resort will bring you to your bungalow in 15 minutes. Keep in mind that there is no shopping facility around the resort, so bring everything you need with you!
What about the food?
When it comes to the food we honestly expected a little more, it’s wasn’t that great. We had no problems with our stomaches, but the food was pretty basic and not that much. But maybe the reason was, that we told the staff about our plant based diat. They were a little overstrained what vegan food is. We saw other people with lots of plates with fresh fish. Spaghetti were okay but cornflakes without any milk or dry pancakes were a little difficult for us. Most of the time we ate water melon. Next time we would bring some food to the resort which we can eat in between the meals. Most of the stuff couldn’t speak English, only a few people and the owners, who weren’t on the island at this time. But this little deficiency shouldn’t hold you back from visiting this place. Again, the water bungalows and the location itself is incredible!!
The private bungalows are located around the little sand bar in the middle. On this sand bar you will find a restaurant and the kitchen. But most of the time they will bring you the food to your bungalow. The bungalow near the jetty is the office and rental station for snorkeling gear.
How much does it cost?
The whole package is around 240 US-Dollar per night and includes the 2 hour drive from Gorontalo to the jetty, the boat ride to the resort, breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as snacks and the private bungalow. You have to stay at least for two nights, everything else wouldn’t be worth the long journey to this place. If you stay longer, like three nights you can ask for a discount. 240 Dollars sound like a lot, but if you think about how much a 2 hour car drive or all the food would cost you, and compared to a 2000 dollar or more water bungalow on the Maldives, it’s absolutely okay. For us the experience of having a completely private water bungalow was worth the price. There aren’t a lot of places with affordable water bungalows around the world.
What is the best time to visit and how long should we stay?
We would recommend to stay three nights at the resort, it’s the perfect amount of time. We needed a whole day to get from Bali to this resort in Sulawesi. We arrived in the evening, therefore we hadn’t a lot of this first day around the bungalows. The last day we had to take the boat back in the morning. In total we had 2 whole days and three nights and that was perfect. For more than three nights there isn’t enough to do. If you arrive in the morning and leave in the evening, two nights might also work for you. You can visit the resort all year long, the weather there is pretty consistent.
Eco Resort? How eco-friendly is it?
The entire resort runs on solar power, therefore we had natural power all day longer. Sometimes around 11pm the power went off, but at this time you sleep anyway. Also the soap was friendly for the ocean. We found no rubbish or plastic around the resort or riff. It’s amazing that this resort tries to change something, maybe they even could do a little more. Compared to the mainland of Sulawesi it’s a big change! When we drove from Gorontalo to the jetty, our driver actually threw an empty plastic bottle out of the window, also he put some rubbish on the beach and seemed to feel cool doing that. On our drive on the mainland we saw a lot of plastic everywhere but also very poor conditions and no other tourists. I guess they just need more time and resorts who are a great example. Nevertheless, Sulawesi is still a very authentic place with almost no tourists.
*Anzeige/ad We collaborated with Pulo Cinta Eco Resort and got a discount in exchange for content creation. However, this blogposts represents our own and honest opinion!
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