Especially during the Christmas holidays, princes surge through the roof in many places across Asia. We’re not willing to spend thousands of Dollars in a place that is then swamped by tourists, so if you’re looking for a tropical paradise, that’s still rather unknown and where you actually get your money’s worth, then this island off the coast of Aceh is the perfect spot.

Casa Nemo is definitely the best place to stay at on the island. Not only because the resort itself is amazing (review coming up), but also because the beach here is the nicest one on the island. And now I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.

You’ll find various hotels across Pulau Weh, but the largest cluster is in the village of Iboih near the best dive sites. It’s a beautiful place to stay at, but also the most crowded and although the water is crystal clear, the stunning beaches can be found somewhere else.

The crystal clear turquoise water is just one of the highlights of Pulau Weh.

The beach right in front of Casa Nemo on Pulau Weh was one of the most beautiful ones we’ve been to.

White sand, pristine waters, palm treed and no one around is what made Pulau Weh the perfect getaway spot for us.

Pulau Weh is a tropical island in the North of Sumatra.

The beach in front of Casa Nemo is the nicest on on Pulau Weh.

Welcome to paradise.

Location.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Imagine the series ‘Lost’; white sandy beaches, crystal clear water, dozens of palm trees, jungle forest, (almost) no people, wild animals (monkeys, boars, lizards) and the feeling of being lost. All that’s missing at Cubadak Resort is a crazy white bald dude like Lock and black smoke…

Cubadak is the only resort on the island, sharing it only with one little fishing village on the other side.

• Address: Pulau Cubadak, Padang, Indonesia
• Website: cubadak-paradisovillage

Comfort Level.

Rating: 5 out of 5

If I could, I’d give 10 points when it comes to the comfort level at Cubadak Resort! The bungalows are so roomy and comfortable, it’s hard to top that. A great balcony with comfy chairs, a spacious and western bathroom, a cute little working & living room area, plus a queen size bed on the second floor make up the perfect setting. A+!

Big Plus:

• Cubadak Resort only has 15 bungalows (plus one family bungalow and one above the water). This means, that you’ll never have more that approx. 40 people on the islands and with three different beaches, that’s pretty good.

Negative:

• Plastic bags on the beach. The beach is amazing, really. Yet at the far end of it (which was right in front of our bungalow), quite a lot of plastic bags & bottles lied around – not enough to ask them why they don’t clean up but enough for us to notice. They’re not from the resort (everything is very clean there) but the ocean just washes up all sorts of stuff from time to time. It looked like someone hadn’t cleaned up in a while…

My recommendation would be to have one staff member run up and down the beach once a day to collect all the rubbish that the ocean washes up. This shouldn’t take longer that one hour per day (at the maximum) and would make a big difference.

Food & Drinks.

Rating: 5 out of 5

It’s better not to come here if you’re on a diet. You won’t last a day without tasting the delicious food at Cubadak Resort.

This is really the part where Western influence kicks-in. The know-how of combining traditional Indonesian cuisine with Western style dishes is mastered to perfection. You’ll always get a great variety of vegetables, meat & fish, as well as some amazing desert like fresh lemon tart or home-made banana ice cream (dinner only). Yummy! Some of the best food I’ve had in Indonesia!

Tip:

• Try the home-made Sambal sauce – it’s so delicious!

Service & Hospitality.

Rating: 2 out of 5

If you stay at Cubadak Resort for more than 3 nights, a free pick-up service from Padang airport is included. This is definitely a good choice, since the drive to the dock takes about 2 hours, followed by a 15-minute boat ride to the island.

At first, you’re treated like a king/queen and the owners are very welcoming and open; yet day after day, you’ll realise that the vibes on the island aren’t all that good. Especially if you’re not one of those clients who buy alcoholic drinks or spend extra money on something.

Big Plus:

• Scuba Diving Possibility (1 dive US$ 45 / equipment for one day US$ 27) – Try the night dive, it’s definitely the most exciting diving in the area.

Price Range.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Cubadak Resort is expensive … far too expensive for my taste.

The biggest benefit is the fact that Cubadak Resort has the island to itself. This is clearly the only reason why I’d pay such an amount of money anyway, because everything else (nice bungalows, fantastic food, etc.) can be found elsewhere too. Don’t get me wrong, everything was perfect and in general I can’t complain, yet the impression of greed running through the resort – from the owners only – makes up 1 out of 5 points.

Negative Examples:

• For US$ 110 per person, per night, I’d really think that at least a couple of soft drinks would be included. Nope. Definitely a big downer, because cravings for an ice cold Coke from time to time really do arise. If you do intent to spoil yourself a little, be aware that with 195ml you won’t get far (price list below).

My recommendation would be to have the mini bar filled with 1 Coke and 1 other soft drink and have these drinks free of charge for every day. This would make a great difference in the impression guest get.

• WiFi is not for free. Ok, so I definitely agree that it’s not a bad thing to have a couple of days without the internet. Nothing can be so important that it can’t wait. But when you’re staying 10 days or longer, one might start thinking that a quick e-mail check wouldn’t be a bad thing. We were told that there is an internet line, yet it’s very slow and expensive. Fair enough, I understand this 100%, yet (again) for US$ 110 per person per night; I’d expect to at least have some sort of access for free (also because the owners are on the internet pretty much all the time…).

My recommendation would be to have one hour of internet connection per bungalow per day for free. This way, no one can complain and the owners don’t have to worry about rapidly increasing costs.

• We know our way around Indonesia & Sumatra especially. We’ve been here many times and therefore also know some locals in the area around Padang. We got in touch with our friend Niki to arrange a boat trip (one entire day), since we also wanted to see a little bit of the area. Seems like the owners of Cubadak Resort were not amused about this. Right after arriving back at the resort, they came up to us and asked us what we did, where we were and how we liked it … fair enough, but then they started chatting in Bahasa Indonesia with Niki and of course we couldn’t understand a word. They immediately wanted to know what he had charged us. He told them (1.2 million Ruppees = approx. 100.00 US$) and they asked how he was able to make a business like this – no wonder, have a look at the prices of Cubadak’s boat excursions below – and he told them that this was only because we were friends.

My recommendation would be to get over yourselves! Just because there are other resorts in the area, doesn’t mean that they’re going to steal your customers. We didn’t check into a prison when arriving at Cubadak, and in all my years of travelling, I have never experiences a place where friends are not welcome and you’re not ‘allowed’ to step outside the premises!

Fact: Only about 1 hour away from Cubadak Resort you’ll find places on deserted islands for less that US$ 30 per night – yet the comfort level can’t be compared and you’ll feel more like Robinson Cruiso (also because you need to bring your own food). Still, alternatives around the area can be found…

Here’s a quick overview of the most important prices:

Sleeping.

• 1 night per person (including breakfast, lunch & dinner but without drinks – except coffee and tea): US$ 110.00

Food & Drinks.

• Soft Drink – 195ml (Coke, etc.): US$ 4.00
• Beer: US$ 4.00
• Coffee: US$ 2.50
• Cocktail: US$ 11.00

Internet.

• Per Hour: US$ 4.00

Boat Trip (I’d suggest you sit down now).

• Per Hour: US$ 80.00
• Half Day: US$ 350.00

Overall Feedback & Impression.

Rating: 3.8 out of 5

Cubadak Resort is a great spot on a paradise island without having to travel for a week to get there. The bungalows, food and the location are really perfect – not one thing I could say about this. For short-term visitors, my rating would probably be higher, but since we stayed here long-term, I need to be honest. It’s the little things that count, and at Cubadak, a lot of little things are not up to the standard they should. The owners clearly try to keep their guest from getting in contact with any locals who don’t live on the island (at least this is the impression I got over those 10 days). Why? I’d say business reasons only! (Unfortunately) It’s all about money. Well, all in all lots of small things turn to big ones, therefore I can only give 3.8 out of 5 points.

Cubadak Paradiso Village Beach Resort in West Sumatra, Indonesia. With a maximum of 15 bungalows, Cubadak is a great spot to rest and refill your batteries.

Cubadak Paradiso Village Beach Resort in West Sumatra, Indonesia. This is the view of the dock up from the mountain.

Cubadak Paradiso Village Beach Resort in West Sumatra, Indonesia. Again the view from the mountain – this is the “Family Villa” which can also be used as a “Honeymoon Villa” a bit away from the other bungalows.

Cubadak Paradiso Village Beach Resort in West Sumatra, Indonesia. The view up from the mountain is pretty stunning. Here you can see the mainland of West Sumatra.

Cubadak Paradiso Village Beach Resort in West Sumatra, Indonesia. The hike up the mountain is a real highlight, because you’ll feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere.

Cubadak Paradiso Village Beach Resort in West Sumatra, Indonesia. This is the view from the dock … paradise ahoi!

Cubadak Paradiso Village Beach Resort in West Sumatra, Indonesia. Another view form the dock; sea turtles can be seen all around the resort.

Cubadak Paradiso Village Beach Resort in West Sumatra, Indonesia. We organised our own boat trip and the owners were not amused about that…

Cubadak Paradiso Village Beach Resort in West Sumatra, Indonesia. If someone asked me where paradise is, my answer would be simple: West Sumatra!

Cubadak Paradiso Village Beach Resort in West Sumatra, Indonesia. This is the nicest rainbow I have ever seen … especially with this paradise as a surrounding.

Mozambique had a civil war going on for many years (starting back in 1977) and still isn’t back to square one and this can make things a bit tricky. With only about 2 weeks on our hands, we couldn’t afford to take up too many challenges, like for example going overland for long distances, therefore – after flying into Johannesburg in South Africa – we took a plane to Vilanculos, which is a town right in front of the beautiful Bazaruto Archipelago.

Where to stay:

• The resorts on this archipelago were out of question, because they were simply too expensive and a bit too much out of the local action. And also, only a beach near by is not enough for our taste because we love to look above the blade’s edge. So we decided to stay “Aguia Negra” – which was a fantastic choice.

Aguia Negra hotel in Vilanculos, Mozambique.

At the adjoining diving facility, we booked trips out to the various islands. It’s not a long trip but of course you still need a boat … The scuba diving there is truly fantastic! The area is well-known for whale sharks and we were lucky enough to see one as well. After returning from the underwater world, we settled on the sandy beach for a while. It didn’t take long and some locals walked by. It turned out, that one of the resorts was not too far away and the locals used this stretch of the beach as “station”. They simply waited until a fishing boat spotted them and picked them up to sail back to the mainland.

The beach in front of our hotel was always sort of busy; whenever you walked down there, some fishing activity went on – which wasn’t a bad thing btw. Some really huge fish or lobsters were carried past us and one day a group of men came running towards the beach spot. It was the local running club, maybe exercising for a place in the Olympic team ;) These guys are really tough because it had about 40° Celsius in the shade.

Men running on the beach near Bazaruto Island in Mozambique.

Vilanculos itself is a sleepy coastal town which is a bit stretched out and with more or less non-existing public transport – one is confined to walk the area. The center is small, with a market, a pharmacy, a few shops and a bus station where minibuses depart to other villages.

One thing to be a bit cautious about are drunks or druggies, who wander around the area. During the daytime it didn’t bother us at all but going out at night would not be advisable … we really felt some sort of weird tensions and were told to rather not walk alone as soon as the sun went down. But other than that, our vacation in Mozambique was more than relaxing with great food, scuba diving and fantastic beaches.

Ladies walking along Bazaruto Island in Mozambique.

Fishermen near Bazaruto Island in Mozambique.

Fisherman around Bazaruto Island in Mozambique.

Waiting for the next ferry off Bazaruto Island in Mozambique.

Sailing boats near Bazaruto Island in Mozambique.

Fisherman on the beach near Bazaruto Island in Mozambique.

Fishermen at sea near Bazaruto Island in Mozambique.

Sailing along Bazaruto Island in Mozambique.

Of course I would only want to stay there during the dry season (yes, I’m picky when it comes to rain & snow haha). I know what it can look like if it rains for days … during our visit to Thailand in 2011, we left the tropical island of Koh Kood after four straight days of thunderstorms. Rain & beach is definitely not fun!

Anyway, back to my wanderlust fantasy of the day: Tropical beach paradise … all you need for this fantasy to come true is the time to stay and the money to get there :)

After diving trips to Komodo Islands and Alor (both in Indonesia), it almost seemed that our list could not be topped with a better (dive) vacation. We got curious after reading an article about the discovery of unknown species and the hidden skulls on the islands around Raja Ampat. After getting together all available information, we finally bought the tickets to Sorong in West Papua (also known as Irian Jaya). You have to know, flying in Indonesia is not always the smoothest (plus I’m a little scaredy-cat when it comes to planes) and getting to Sorong needed a change of planes in Makassar. We stayed in Makassar in Sulawesi for a two day stop-over until we continued our journey.

Arriving with Merpati Nusantara Airlines in Makassar.

The Merpati flight to Sorong was quite bumpy and you couldn’t see much because the sky was covered with thick clouds. No land could be seen during the descent, therefore the landing approach was going to be difficult (I might add at this point that Sorong Airport does not have landing lights, so if the pilot can’t see he even won’t be guided by those lights). After circling for half an hour, the pilot braced himself and went down through an air pocket that opened up – it was one hell of a hard landing!

Sorong is a prospering jungle town focusing on upcoming oil findings. We booked into the hotel opposite of the airport (because it was first of all the “nicest” place and we would be picked up from there the next day) and started to explore the area.
We were lucky because on this day, the town hosted a national motorbike event … a little bit like the local Formula 1. It was a 125ccm motorbike competition and everybody (male) between the ages of 8 to 80 was there to cheer for their favourite racers. It really was a great thing to watch these guys dressed in full gear, racing on their tuned and chipped up scooters. Quite entertaining.

Getting ready for the race in Sorong…

The crowd is watching the race carefully.

Who will be the winner?

Even with these “little” bikes, a crash can happen.

After that we (of course) walked around the local market and I think that we must have been one of he few white people there to do so (ever). The market was as colourful as elsewhere and the busiest place in town. The minute we arrive, we were the talk of the day and we were followed by a huge crowd.

On the next day our boat was ready to leave. It took about one hour to get to Pulau Kri. Back then, there were not that many resorts in Raja Ampat but we booked ourselves into a very beautiful resort, which was run by a Dutch, called “Kri Eco Resort“. It really turned out to be a great choice; everything was organized, all the dive gear (I only brought my own Octopus & BCD) and dive boats were in order, the staff was fantastic because they looked after everyone’s well being all the time and the food was delicious. The bungalows where also very nice – simple, but nice. They were built right above the water as you can see in the picture. It was wonderful!

The resort on Pulau Kri in Raja Ampat.

Diving around the islands of Raja Ampat is … how can I describe it … simply breathtaking! Literally, after the first dive you want to immediately do the next one or never even leave the water at all. I was busy diving 3-4 times a day, always with one dive guide and group of maximum 4 people (nice!). I did cave dives, current dives (where you get sucked through small waterways between islands) & night dives. It was simply an unforgettable experience to dive with great Manta rays, sharks, or turtles. The reef is untouched and I couldn’t explain what kind of colour explosion happened down at 40 meters. Truly fantastic!

Diving with a school of Baracudas in Raja Ampat.

Diving in these “lake-like” surroundings was fantastic.

But not only the underwater scene of Raja Ampat was magical; we went on boat tours to uninhabited islets, walked along untouched beaches, ate freshly picked coconuts by our dive guides and we visited villages hardly ever seen by western people. If you know hard-core divers you’ll know that they are usually not very interested in things above water but we wanted to get to know the paradise we stayed in for three full weeks. The villages were surrounded by virgin jungle and the locals were more than friendly. Everyone greeted us with open arm, smiled and especially the kids were so excited that we were there with our video- & photo equipment. They had a blast when we showed them their pictures. But, even at these remote places we met one Chinese man who traded for coffee, exotic birds, sea cucumbers, and other strange or protected animals (that have a high price and are used as Chinese medicine). He was definitely not happy to see us wandering around there…

Uninhabitated islands can still be found in Raja Ampat.

The kids got so excited when we showed them their own video.

This is just one of the many fantastic beaches in Raja Ampat.

Me with a bunch of kids in tow.

With the boat we also passed strange looking rock formations with little caves where human skulls were places … nobody really knows how and by whom they were brought there. The people of Raja Ampat are afraid of the dead and therefore cemeteries are far away from the villages. The graves are usually covered with a little house and these constructions really did look a bit spooky even to us…

Human skulls in Raja Ampat.

A typical graveyard in Raja Ampat.

All in all, the trip there was one of the most memorable ever. Whether you’re a diver or not, Raja Ampat will take your breath away.

If you want to see more photos of Raja Ampat, check out our set on flickr.

Just off the coast of Sumatra lie thousands of beautiful (pretty much uninhabited) islands. We’ve been here many times before (first time when I was just 9 years old). Why? Well, check out the photos below; they pretty much speak for themselves anyway…

Caution: Wanderlust danger!

Sumatra offers many islands for which “Beach Paradise” is the only right wording.

Cubadak island is one of the beach paradise island off the West coast of Sumatra.

Island hopping by boat is just one of the things you can do in West Sumatra.

Beach paradises can be found all over Indonesia. And Sumnatra is definitely a great place for a real beach holiday.

Double rainbows are nothing out of the ordinary in West Sumatra.

Also the beaches on the mainland of Sumatra are not to be underestimated. Here you can see fishermen pulling in the catch of the day at Bungus beach.

We’ve seen many many amazing beaches during our years of travelling but Sumatra’s coast (plus the Mentawai Islands) truly is one of the best places for a beach adventure.

The islands off the coast of West Sumatra are often hit with meter-high waves.

Walking along the beautiful beaches in Sumatra can is something well-worth to remember.

…on which you can play “Robinson Crusoe”.

Walking around the island is no problem…all you need is time.