Tasik Ria Resort

Tasik Ria Resort is a 35-room resort on the coast of Pineleng, built for days that move between the sea, the pool, the spa and the dinner table. English is spoken by the hotel team, alongside Indonesian, so you can handle the practical parts of your stay without resorting to underwater sign language on dry land.

The mood is unhurried rather than over-designed: a garden, terraces, a sandy beach and a large freshwater pool give you several places to sit down and do very little. That is useful after a run of early starts. The resort also has a spa, sauna, massage treatments and a restaurant, so the evening does not depend on finding transport into town.

The resort sits in Pineleng, Indonesia, on the coast with direct access to a sandy beach. Sun loungers and parasols are provided, giving you somewhere to stop between the water and the room without having to turn the whole afternoon into a logistical exercise.

Pineleng is 12 km from the town centre. The setting is coastal rather than urban, with the resort itself providing the main concentration of food, drinks, swimming and relaxation. From the Sunset Jetty Bar, you look across towards Manado Tua Island as the light drops.

The airport is about 30 minutes away by car. An airport transfer is available, and the resort can also assist with vehicle hire and excursions when you want to explore further inland.

The room choice is mainly about the view and the amount of breathing space you want around your stay. Standard rooms cover the practical basics, while pool-view and sea-view versions let you wake up to something more useful than a corridor. For two people, the standard double room with a double bed keeps things straightforward; the balcony option adds an outdoor seat and a pool view for the price of a little more room to spread out after the beach.

Sea-view rooms, suites and cottages suit you if the outlook matters as much as the bed. The resort also has larger categories, including sea-view versions, so couples who prefer a more generous base can look beyond the standard room without changing hotels. Family rooms are available, although the individual room capacities are best checked when choosing the category.

Air conditioning is available in the standard rooms, along with a minibar, television, tea and coffee-making facilities, a safe, a private bathroom with bath and shower, telephone and toiletries. A fan is also listed for the balcony pool-view double room. In practical terms, that gives you somewhere cool to put your feet up, cold drinks close at hand and a proper wash after salt, sun and sand have had their turn.

The Bunaken Restaurant handles breakfast, lunch and dinner, with both indoor air-conditioned seating and an open-air setting. Its menu moves between international and Indonesian cooking, which is handy when one person wants something familiar and the other is ready to investigate the local side of the menu. Breakfast is available as a buffet or à la carte.

The kitchen combines European and Indonesian influences, from homemade burgers and pizzas to Fish Tinoransak and nasi goreng. That is the sort of range that works well on a diving holiday: familiar food when you are tired, local dishes when curiosity wins.

Breakfast is also served at the Jetty Grill, which has a terrace and leads neatly into the start of a diving day. There are two bars. Pool Bar serves tea, coffee, tropical drinks, cocktails, beer, wine, spirits and snacks throughout the day; Sunset Jetty Bar looks towards Manado Tua Island and is the obvious place for a drink as the sun goes down.

The large free-form outdoor freshwater pool is the main answer when you want water without putting a mask on. The direct beach adds another option, with loungers and parasols already in place. A pool bar means you can stay close to the water when the afternoon calls for a drink rather than another excursion.

Matana Spa offers massages and facials, while the resort also has a sauna. For something more active, there is table tennis, and the coast provides opportunities for snorkelling and boat excursions. The garden and terraces give you quieter places to sit when conversation has run out but going to bed feels premature.

Further outings include volcano trekking, Tangkoko jungle trekking and white-water rafting. Golf, hiking, wildlife observation and cultural excursions are also available among the resort activities. In other words, a non-diving day can be as slow or as busy as your legs allow.

Check-in starts at 14:00 and check-out runs until 13:00, giving you a little more time on departure day than the usual early handover. The reception operates around the clock, and express check-in and check-out are available. Wi-Fi is available throughout the resort.

Airport transfers are available, and the resort can help arrange excursions or vehicle hire. A laundry service, dry cleaning and ironing are available when salt, dust and travel clothes have begun to form their own ecosystem. There is also a safe at reception, on-site medical assistance, a souvenir shop and parking.

An ascensor and wheelchair-accessible facilities are available. The resort also has a lift, meeting and conference facilities, a concierge service and a currency exchange desk. Payments can be made in cash or with Visa, Mastercard and American Express.

The resort’s local approach focuses on people and practical environmental awareness. It supports job creation and career development for local staff, with ongoing education for the team.

Beach clean-ups and field trips are carried out with local schools, colleges and resort staff. It is a straightforward way of connecting the business to the coastline outside the hotel fence, where the view is rather more important than the brochure.