Club Med Bintan Review – Fantastic family vacation for both adults and kids!

At first glance, a stay at Club Med seems more expensive than at similar properties, but after spending 4 days and 3 nights at the beautiful Club Med Bintan, I couldn’t help but look back at my holiday with fond memories. Here’s my thoughts and review of Club Med Bintan. If you prefer to watch videos instead or see the room tour, head over to my Club Med Bintan Instastories highlights.

For the uninitiated, a Club Med resort is an all-inclusive resort. This means all meals and drinks provided, including selected alcoholic drinks. Many activities are also included in the price paid, although there are also premium activities that require an additional payment. And for parents with children, a free kids club for children aged 4-17 years of age. Younger children are accepted into the their Infant or Petite Club, but this is chargeable.

It was our first time ever staying at a Club Med property, and around 2 decades since I last stepped onto Bintan. All of us were looking forward to this all-inclusive holiday because the last all-inclusive holiday we had was on board a Royal Caribbean cruise almost a year ago, which we had enjoyed tremendously. The kids were looking forward to all the fun activities at the kids club. The husband was looking forward to the unlimited alcohol and doing absolutely nothing.

And as for me, I was looking forward to finally enjoying a holiday without having to fuss over any kids, or do much planning! I did make a mental note to make time for relaxation, dial down on the FOMO and at least lie on the bed for more than 4 hours a day. Yes, because that was the average number of hours I spent in bed during my Royal Caribbean cruise.

Getting to Club Med

The journey to Bintan was pretty smooth-sailing, starting from a somewhat upgraded Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal. It takes just over 1 hour by ferry to Bintan, so for parents who have young children and don’t fancy themselves navigating a long flight and lengthy queues at foreign airports, Bintan might be a good consideration. To make it more seamless, get the shuttle transfer directly from Club Med so you don’t have to bother with taxis or touts when you reach the ferry terminal at Bintan.

Aqua aerobics or something happening. Or this might be the sun dance that happens at noon daily.

The 5-star treatment starts after completion of the immigration checks at the Bandar Bentan Telani Ferry Terminal at Bintan. There is a Club Med counter at the ferry terminal where you can hand over large luggages and not have to worry about those. The coach that took us from the ferry terminal was clean, modern and comfortable. The journey to Club Med Bintan took about 15-20 minutes but I was happy to enjoy the change in scenery as compared to what we normally see in Singapore, though a good part of the way was just forests. Still it was calming and I could finally relax, now that we were in the good hands of Club Med Bintan.

As the coach turned into the Club Med compound, we could see a bunch of people cheering away at the entrance. The warm welcome got all the guests on board the coach excited for what would be in store. Each family was greeted by one G.O, who would explain the ins and outs of Club Med. Despite a large crowd arriving at the same time, there wasn’t a need to wait around since each family had a dedicated G.O assigned.

Buffet Restaurant

Our first stop, the buffet restaurant for lunch. The husband and I had actually discussed prior to the trip that we ought not to luxuriate too long over our meals. That was the mistake we made while on our cruise, leaving us with less time for activities. This time round we wanted to cover as many activities as possible. Still, it was difficult to remember this rule because there was such a wide spread at the buffet restaurant! I think we just about managed to limit ourselves to only 1 hour for lunch.

The buffet restaurant has many stations, ranging from Western dishes like pastas and pizzas, to Asian stations such as Korean, Chinese and Japanese food, as well as a local Indonesian food station. This may sound crazy, but it’s actually a bit overwhelming to have such a wide variety of food options for every single meal over several days. There is a tendency to want to try every single dish out there. But I’ve come to realise that what works best for me is to treat it like a normal restaurant, where I zoom in on the dish that most appeals to me. I recall there was one day where the caesar salad looked so appetising, I treated that as my mains and had 2 servings of that and I was duly satisfied.

As with any self-respecting family oriented property, there was a whole section of kid-friendly foods such as nuggets, mashed potatoes and fries. They even had kid sized trays instead of plates. You would think a plate is a plate, but Charlotte always insisted on picking out her tray (it comes in blue, pink and yellow) and filling it with too many nuggets and fries. As it were, adults have been spotted at the kid section, myself included.

Here’s a pro tip. If you want great views of the beach, opt for the tables at the furthest end of the buffet restaurant. You will be able to have a view of the pool as well as an unblocked view of the waves crashing on the beach. I’d never tire of that view, and the best place on the entire property to get a view of the beach is at the bar on the top floor.

Love the views from the Panorama Bar

After lunch, we got a bit disoriented deciding what to do next. On one hand, we hadn’t actually checked out our rooms yet. On the other hand, there was also the kids club to register the kids for, and the sooner they went for that, the sooner us adults could embark on our own holiday.

Rooms

Ok so we decided we simply had to take a look at the rooms first. The layout of the rooms is quite linear, one section is on the left of the main building while the other section is on the right of it. We were given the left section, which is nearer to the spa and the ala-carte restaurant. If budget is not an issue, I’d highly recommend the rooms facing the ocean for obvious reasons.

View of the flying trapeze from one of the rooms

The non-ocean facing side faces the forest so it might get a tad dark at night. As we had kids with us, we were kindly given rooms on the ground floor and at Block B, which means a shorter walk to the main building. If you take the upper floors, the views of the ocean are better but there is a possibility that you will have to navigate stairs, or walkways that are not sheltered. The right section has better ocean views too, as it is nearer to the beach, but I am not able to comment on the accessibility factor.

As Club Med Bintan opened at the tail end of 1997, it is not the newest property on Bintan by any means. I’ll be frank, the facade of the rooms block is looking its age, but thankfully once you enter the rooms, it won’t be that much of an issue. The rooms are spacious and clean, beds are comfortable.

We got a king for our room and twin beds for the kids

There is ample space for storing suitcases, as well as ample space in the wardrobe. There is no mini-fridge provided even though the website seems to state that there are for certain rooms. Perhaps it is something that can be requested prior to arrival, should you need one. But since food and drinks are inclusive during the stay, this wasn’t an issue to us.

As you can see the kids lost no time turning on the tv while I did my usual photo and video tour of the rooms

The toilet and the bathroom/shower area are separate, meaning you will have to exit the toilet and enter the bathroom to wash your hands. It does make it convenient though if two people want to use the shower and the toilet at the same time.

We also had a small balcony with 2 sitting chairs provided. Depending on the room category you choose, you may even have a bigger balcony that fits 2 lounge chairs. Unfortunately our chairs were not in the best of condition, given the rainy tropical weather, so our usage of the balcony was mainly limited to staring out into the distance to enjoy the ocean views.

The Kids Club

We finally managed to check out the kids club after resting in the room for a short while. This turned out to be the biggest highlight of the holiday for Edward. Think of the Kids Club as some sort of a childcare service where there are dedicated Kids Club staff to chaperone the kids through various activities throughout the day. They will even take care of the children during lunch and dinner. Edward was actually unsure whether to stick with us or to join the Kids Club. But once he joined them, there was no looking back.

The Kids Club G.Os are super fun and friendly and really know how to interact with the kids. And I would think it would be more fun for the kids to play with and participate in all the activities with other similar-aged kids rather than with boring old mom and dad. The Kids Club facility is looking its age though, and in need of a spruce up.

Baby monitor during Charlotte’s nap time at the Petite Kids Club for toddlers

Prior to the trip, I was wondering if we would be “shortchanging” Edward by putting him at the Kids Club. I was thinking if we were to personally take him for the activities ourselves, we could possibly cram in more activities into the same amount of time. The assumption I made was that with so many kids to handle, there might be waiting time, having to wait for other kids etc. It was good to know the Kids Club was just as efficient if not more so, the staff having done this on a daily basis, while me being new to the lay of the land, actually needed some time to figure out timings and locations of the activities and the most efficient way to go about them.

Interestingly, the Kids Club is free for kids aged 4 and above and it’s called the Mini Club. There is a fee if the kids are aged under 4. Since Charlotte is 3, we had to pay approximately SGD$90 per day for Charlotte to be in the Petite Club. You can also pay per hour, for half day or for the entire day. It’s not cheap so we decided to pay for one full day followed by just half a day the next day. The Petite Club has a different programme from the Mini Club since the kids are younger, and it also includes a nap time.

One of the Ranger X Missions

But perhaps the most important thing about the Kids Club is that it freed us from having to mind the kids and actually allowing us to have time to partake in our own activities. As every parent is well aware, when you holiday with young kids, very often the holiday is geared towards kids activities, the parents sometimes being reduced to mere observers, helpers and chaperones. We suddenly found ourselves with so much free time we were torn between what to do next. Another drink at the bar? Relaxing by the beach? Get cracking on the multitude of activities available?

Ranger Buddies Missions

The Kids Club is not all about playing though. There are some educational activities as well. For example from now until 5 January, families and children can embark on Ranger Buddies Missions to learn more about conservation. This is a collaboration between Club Med and Mandai X, the growth and impact venture-building arm of Singapore’s Mandai Wildlife Group. Both adults and children can tackle various missions through the Mini Club Med+ programme or as part of the daily activities, or explore the Magic Valley app, a digital storytelling app where children can enjoy interactive and personalised stories.

Designed with children and families in mind, the Ranger Buddies Missions make learning about sustainability a fun and engaging part of their holiday experience whilst encouraging participants to care for the planet. I happened to sit in for a Ranger Buddies Mission happening at the Kids Club and saw how recycling knowledge was incorporated into a fun activity which saw the children shrieking away with laughter as they tried to maneuver recyclable items into the correct compartments.

The activities

So what are the activities available at Club Med Bintan? Club Med Bintan is sports centric. There are many sports available such as Archery, Tennis, Golf, Yoga, Squash, Badminton, Rock Climbing, Trapeze Flying etc. You can participate in these on your own, or through group lessons. There are also other non-sports activities like card game competitions, cooking classes, craft sessions, bubble time etc.

The sports activities are available daily, but you have to note the timings that the venues are open for walk-ins because some time slots are reserved for the Kids Club children while other timings may be marked out for beginner/intermediate/advanced lessons or free play. For the fun activities, you have to keep track of the Daily Schedule to see what’s in store for the day.

I find it useful to scrutinise the Daily Schedule online the night before and mark out all the activities that interest you, and create an individualised schedule. This is because there can be multiple activities happening concurrently, so you will have to decide which to go for. It’s best to have it penned down or saved on your phone because with so many activities going on, it’s easy to forget what comes next! Trust me!

Unfortunately, because our visit was during the monsoon season, all the watersports were not available. Alas, I was so looking forward to trying my hand at snorkelling! I was told that if the conditions were okay, seasports such as stand-up paddling or kayaking might be available, but snorkelling would definitely not be available until the end of the monsoon season in end March. It was actually pretty hot on the first two days that we were there, not a drop of rain to be seen! However, the waves were quite choppy, so it was still a no go for seasports.

I initially felt slightly upset not to have had the opportunity to do the one sport that I had so wanted to do. But I have to admit, if I’d spent time on the seasports, I would have had to give up on some other activities that I did eventually do. Archery was one of the sports that I enjoyed so much and I was glad to have had the time to do two sessions of it. I also did a round of golf driving range practice. The last time I did that was more than a decade ago! Other activities I managed to do included several rounds of pool, hoop toss, a cooking lesson and swim.

It was extremely convenient to have all these activities available just a short walk from each other. This means being able to pack in more activities into the same timeframe, which would literally be next to impossible if we had to travel around outside the property.

It’s drinks time!

Even though I said we ought not to spend too much time on eating, we did make time for snacks and drinks. It would be a sin to stay at an all-inclusive resort and not utilise the unlimited alcohol perk. The hard liquor list seems to be pretty extensive but for me, I just stuck to mostly red wine and sparkling wine. Glad to report that I managed to visit all 3 bars at Club Med Bintan. The Main Bar, being most conveniently located on the ground floor of the Main Building, was the one we frequented the most. But I also liked the Panorama Bar for its birds eye view of the beach and the Beach Bar, for being on the beach itself.

Having a drink at the bar by the beach

So the big question. Is a Club Med holiday worth the money?

There’s no denying that a Club Med holiday is expensive. It costs about $800 per night for 2 at Club Med Bintan for Dec 2024, or $600 per night for 2 if you book in advance for June 2025. You will certainly be able to easily find accommodation options on Bintan at a fraction of this pricing if you wanted to. The premium charged by Club Med Bintan is because it’s an all-inclusive property.

In my opinion, there is a cost to having unlimited food and drinks all day, numerous free activities/sports to do on property, plus childcare. If you take these into account, plus the fact you save on time and enjoy the convenience of having everything located on property, the cost of a Club Med holiday starts to become very much more palatable. You could possibly “break even” so to speak.

If the budget were of topmost priority, a Club Med holiday is probably not for you. However if you value having convenience and a stress-free and fuss-free holiday, with lots to do and lots to eat and drink, you really ought to check out Club Med. I would highly recommend Club Med to parents at the very least. Having the freedom to finally enjoy your holiday, while the kids are being taken care of, how do you put a price tag on that?

Scroll down for more photos!

View of the Main Building at night

The Terrace Restaurant – It’s an ala-carte restaurant. You can choose to dine here instead of at the buffet restaurant, at no additional charge. Reservations are required for dinner.