Club Med Bintan Island review: Luxury in Indonesia

Bintan Island sits at the northern end of Indonesia's sprawling island chain. It feels like a world away from Bali. Indeed, you'll get to it via a 1-hour ferry ride from Singapore. Its proximity to one of the world's busiest business hubs has seen Bintan Island become a hotspot for resorts, offering a tropical escape to the skyscraper dwellers of the famed port city.

In December 2023, my family of 5 (kids aged 12, 10 and 7), jumped the comfortable ferry ride across to Bintan Island from Singapore. We got picked up in a private car and delivered around 30 minutes down the road to Club Med.

It was our first Club Med experience and we were immediately blown away upon arrival. What an experience! Here is my Club Med Bintan Island review.

Cost

Club Med is a luxury stay and it costs a pretty penny, but you get what you pay for. As I break down the various components that make the stay what it is, you'll come to understand its value. From staff to food to cocktails to facilities to location and everything in between, Club Med Bintan Island delivers.

The most common booking is a Superior Room with Sea View. For 2 adults that'll set you back around $5,000 for a week.

As it's an all-inclusive resort, the cost isn't just based on the room and facilities, but the food and drink consumption of each guest along the way. So, adding a kid isn't just adding a rollout bed. It adds about $200 per night. Adding an adult is around $370 per night.

It may seem beyond the reach of most punters. But if you're crunching the numbers and seeing what is possible, do know that we didn't spend an additional cent after our arrival. And we ate, drank and played like champions.

Club Med Bintan Island location

The most common way most people will get to Bintan Island is via Singapore. There aren't a lot of ferries each day, but they're easy to get to. It's only 10 minutes or so from Singapore's Changi Airport to the ferry port and Club Med has been working to sync ferry times with the most popular direct flights from Australia.

Upon arrival, the setting is jaw-dropping. Club Med Bintan Island controls an entire crescent-shaped beach, with jungle on one side and a golf course on the other. It feels extremely private. The sand is beautiful and soft and there were continuous kid-friendly waves rolling in during our entire stay.

The jungle is also home to monkeys, who add an exotic flair. They can get pretty close at times and for Aussies at least, are a sense of wonder.

My only gripe would be that it's not easy to explore Bintan itself. There is a town and a local Indonesian culture to immerse yourself in, but there's no easy way to get to it. Club Med doesn't offer a free shuttle bus and other options are expensive. You don't need to leave, of course, but the option to do so without breaking the bank would be nice.

Decor

If Club Med has a specific theme or charm that it's trying to exude, I didn't pick up on it. There's a luxury feel to everything across the site. Think floor-to-ceiling tiled bathrooms, thick wooden furniture, stainless steel taps and the like. But it's all a bit heavy in tone, considering the tropical environment.

The end result is something that feels expensive, but neither looks modern or steeped in old-world charm. Having never done a Club Med before, I can't comment on its consistency to other locations, but a lighter tone could potentially help modernise it a little.

Staff

The staff at Club Med Bintan Island are awesome. I love, love, love the approach the chain goes for with the way it positions its staff as human beings you're sharing an experience with.

When we arrived, we were greeted White Lotus style by the senior management team, who knew us by name. We were given an (impressive) rundown of everything the site had to offer and how to get involved over a welcome drink. We were then walked to our room where all our bags awaited us. It was a great feeling to be so individually welcomed: the little things do indeed matter.

Happy, friendly, helpful staff are expected. When we were at the driving range, the golf guy came and offered us pro tips. At the trapeze, the patient staff helped kids (and parents) defeat their fears and eventually nail backflips. The bar staff were always up for a chat and offered cocktail ideas. The kids' club crew quickly became besties with our kids and the army of children seeking fun and inclusion.

My highlight

What made the experience at Club Med Bintan Island was the way the staff mingled. Play football on the beach and a few of the staff would join in. Walk past a table tennis table and expect a "Hey, want to play?".

Each night the staff would put on a spectacular show. It's not their day job, but there on stage you'd see the archery coach, the guy who served you a drink and the lady who ran the limbo. The energy and tongue-in-cheek approach they bring make each performance as entertaining as a professional production. Then, you'll find them at the bar, more than happy to have a drink with you and a yarn.

At one point we were having a dinner and we had a spare seat. A young staff member from South Korea came past and asked if he could eat with us. We chatted for 30 minutes and learned about his home and ambitions. He wasn't expected to eat in the dungeons out of sight from guests. He was free to mingle. To be human.

After the nightly performance, the general manager would get on stage and encourage everyone of every age to party into the night. He'd lead a conga line to a pre-prepared space and lead dances while the DJ played beats. The result was an inclusive space for everyone to have fun and we wanted to oblige.

It's just such a refreshing approach: the way the staff integrated with the guests is one of my fondest memories of the stay.

Room

We were lucky enough to acquire connecting Superior Rooms with Sea View in the L block. So, ocean front. The first room featured an extremely comfortable king bed. The other featured 2 singles and a quality rollout bed that fit easily. Both rooms had their own decks overlooking the beach.

I love that both rooms featured separate toilets, meaning the bathroom was more freely available to other family members. The large showers offer great pressure and heat, while the dual basins and suite of amenities provide the right amount of pomp.

The TV didn't have amazing reception, but offered a broad range of channels, with a suitable amount in English. There's ample storage space, a large desk and plenty of power point options, including in-wall USB-A ports.

There's a fridge, too, but being that Club Med Bintan Island is all-inclusive, it does seem a little redundant. And the included internet worked without fault across the entire resort.

I was delighted to arrive and find a work of art on the bed, with leaves shaped into a welcome message, an intricate towel display and petals. It was so well done it was a shame to have to ultimately disturb it. I never heard a peep from any of the surrounding rooms either, although I was on the top floor.

Any issues?

As for complaints, they're hard to come by. The pillow selection isn't quite right. They're luxe pillows, but only come in super soft and hard varieties. I couldn't quite get the medium feel I was seeking. And I do wish that the trapeze lighting was turned off at night when it's not in use. Its glow took away from the ability to sit on your room's balcony and look out over the ocean. But this would only affect a handful of the sea view rooms.

My only other gripe was with the layout of the resort. To get from your room to the dining hall, kids' club, sports centre or reception is convoluted. It took me a couple of days to work out the best route and even then, it required going down stairs, then up stairs, then down again. It's not friendly to non-mobile guests, although they'd likely offer you a ride in a cart if you asked for it.

Club Med Bintan Island facilities

Where to start? Club Med Bintan Island has so much to do for every age group that you'll wonder how to find time just to sit by the pool and relax.

There's a sprawling sports complex. It's a bit of a walk to get to, but in being distant from the accommodation, you're never inundated with the sounds of bouncing balls or cheering kids. Here you'll find archery, rock climbing, squash courts, tennis, basketball, football, a large gym, yoga studio and more.

On the beachside, there's a golf driving range and a green on which to practice putts and chips. There's the aforementioned trapeze, which is operational at multiple intervals during the day. A pair of relatively small pools sit near the beach, but they're still big enough to allow for kids to play and swimmers to mingle.

You'll also find a beach hut, offering kayaks, paddle boards, catamarans and jet skis, the latter the only one with an additional cost (roughly $80 for 15 minutes of fun). Sadly, there are no surfboards and the few ragged boogie boards I found cost extra for some reason. Considering how kid-friendly the wave conditions were, the lack of surfing equipment is a great shame.

A large theatre area saw nightly performances, with good seating, sound and lighting.

Great for kids

Inside the main resort complex is a large kids' area, featuring pool, ping-pong, chess and a range of board games. The children loved this space and the kids' club staff were excellent. My kids were having the time of their lives through the whole stay and I barely had to lift a finger. In fact, I barely saw them.

That said, I did think that the way the 2 kids' clubs were split – 1 group for 10 and under, 1 for 11 and over – missed the mark. It left my 10-year-old daughter in the cold. A girl group for 9- to 11-year-olds (or so) would be worth considering.

For an extra cost, there are a range of excursions – think fishing trips, mangrove tours, cultural visits – that can be taken up. These were quite expensive for a family of 5, but I'm sure are affordable for much of Club Med's clientele.

There is a spa offering a large number of massages, as well as beauty and wellness treatments. It's a tad pricey, but the position is stunning, perched over the rocks at the northern tip of the resort, allowing you to look out over the ocean as you relax. My wife indulged in a basic 1-hour body massage for around $115 and described it as a "lovely, private, proper massage experience bespoke to my needs".

Incredible food

The dining experience at Club Med Bintan Island is the best I've ever experienced at a resort. Or possibly anywhere.

The massive, varied buffet opens 3 times a day and meal times were grounds for great excitement. You were guaranteed to be rewarded with 8 or so chef specials, each delicious and exotic, to choose from. These would reach across many cultures: Australian, Italian, Japanese, Indonesian, Indian, Greek and more. This on top of a range of staples and classic kid fare like chips, burgers and ice cream.

If only your stomach was big enough to sample everything on offer! I can't over-emphasise how blown away I was by the dining experience at Club Med Bintan Island. Every meal was an epic adventure. And the main restaurant overlapped its timings with a smaller, beachside restaurant so you could always eat, regardless of time.

Add in bar staff that make you any cocktail you can think of, alongside quality wines, beers and kid-friendly shakes and mocktails. I quickly saw the appeal of all-inclusive accommodation, despite the cost. You could even pull your own Bintang beers! This is living!

Verdict on Club Med Bintan Island

Club Med Bintan Island was one of the best stays I've ever had. From 7 years old to 44 years old, all 5 of us had an absolute ball. It's expensive, there's no doubt, but if you can stretch your budget far enough to make it your destination, I feel you'll get your value. Even when we copped a few days of solid rain, the fun and good times didn't stop. It's always warm, it's always beautiful.

A comfortable, quiet and spacious room is to be expected when you spend this kind of cash. But the quality of the food, the exceptional staff and the dearth of things to do really did exceed my expectations. As a result, I've gone from someone who never really thought of Club Med as a stay for me, to a traveller incredibly keen to try out the chain's other offerings around the world and compare the experience.

It's that good.

Disclaimer: Chris Stead and his family stayed as guests of Club Med Bintan Island.