Thalassa Dive & Wellbeing Resort Manado

Second visit to this area. This is the new resort with a very different feel to the previous resort. Excellent dive staff and the diving was brilliant. Great skipper and dive guides. The food at lunch on the boat was delicious. The coral reefs very healthy. So much sea life and so many relaxed chill turtles. The water was a beautiful 28C with mostly excellent visibility. The resort isn’t near the water so it’s a quick five to ten minute trip to the boat each day which isn’t a huge problem. Gives you a chance to view the local area which is fascinating. A few things could have improved my stay - the single rooms were up very steep stairs and they were really quite small and pokey. I didn’t enjoy staying in the single room at all compared to my mates that were couples staying in the lovely villas. I would pay more next time to have a villa! The single rooms were also next to the dive shop so there were shenanigans, tanks banging and the compressor running until late and starting early. I wore my headphones to bed. If you book a single room take ear plugs. The food was quite repetitive - I don’t eat seafood but I’m quite happy to eat vegetarian and the vegetarian food turned out to be acceptable most of the time. The fresh fruit for desert was great but otherwise the deserts were an adventure. I would have liked to have more of the local dishes which they cooked at the Lembeh resort. The restaurant was just so hot in the evening - more fans would improve the eating experience vastly - or vents in the roof to let the hot air out. The massage was excellent but if they did them down in the pool pavilion away from the traffic noise it would be so much more relaxing. Overall a good value holiday with everything you need. A couple of tweaks and upgrading to a villa would make all the difference. I will definitely visit again - the diving is really spectacular.

A little gem in the Sulawesi paradise This place is a little gem in north Sulawesi - Simone is a wonderful dutch woman living here for more than 25 years know how to run a diving school with the hotel and villa bungalows. She also sponsors a local school in the village. Arjan is also dutch and helps running the hotel and city tours. Food is great, it’s local and international, huge pool is awesome and the massage is a bonus. We love the place, it was chill for our long weekend (3 nights) including 2 days dive in Bunaken- there you can go up to 25 meters deep and see lots of school fish, huge turtles napping or swimming and beautiful corals. By the way Simone is a dive Instructor ! After exploring Wakatobi in south Sulawesi, we could not be happier: we strongly recommend their place if you want to chill and enjoy a relaxing time not crowded by fancy tourists. Here everyone eats together at one long table (or not if you choose so) and on Sunday evening : you can enjoy the local traditional music (Unesco heritage) of the region.

We had a lovely time at Thalassa dive resort. Staff were super kind and welcoming and always had happy smiley faces. The diving was great with really competent dive staff. Simone and Arjen have done so much for the local community and their passion for the island really shows. They are happy to organise tours for you. We did the Tongkoko national park tour which was amazing, we saw the Tarsier and the Bear cus cus which was a real highlight as well as the Highland tour which was nice to see. Bunaken marine park was incredible, amazingly healthy reef which is hard to find now! So many turtles (huge), soft corals and a wide array of life. Very much looking forward to returning.

It has been a fantastic experience. Excellent and super friendly staff, the best food in Sulawesi. We did a Padi open water course with our kids. The Padi course was professionaly managed, the diving experience has been great!!!! Bunaken is a great place for diving. All with all: Well done to the team!

We spent three days here after a week long dive liveaboard that was magnificent. Manado was recommended for the diving and Tankoko national park, so I spent quite a bit of time checking TripAdvisor reviews. I’m glad I found this lovely hotel. Firstly, our inbound flight was quite delayed. It was a lovely thing to see the Thalassa driver still at the airport to greet us. It was quite late and dark as we drove to the resort with winding roads and we got there at 830pm. The buffet dinner was still open, the staff had told the kitchen there would be some late guests. It was really nice to be able to be shown our gorgeous villa so quickly and not be bogged down by check in paperwork. That was a very thoughtful courtesy. The next day in the light, we saw how lush the gardens are. It’s truly beautiful and amazing to see the variety of flora. We actually didn’t spend much day time at the resort as we already had activities planned before we arrived. We saw they have a wide range of facilities ranging from diving and a well equipped dive center, a massage room, yoga, swimming pool and off resort guided tours. The first day we were there, as we embarked on a visit Tangkoko with a local friend, I realised I had forgotten the day was a special anniversary for the family. I sent a WhatsApp message asking if there was an option for a special meal. As I didn’t have signal after, we went on with our day. When we returned, we went to dinner and to our delight and amazement, after dinner, the lovely ladies at the restaurant brought out a cake for the anniversary. It was so thoughtful. They did this with no complaints even though I gave them so little notice. This level of attention and care is what makes the team at Thalassa special. We appreciated the briefing from Arjun the first morning. It helped us understand how the hotel is laid out and what to expect. They are very accommodating and told us that if we needed anything to let them know. We have a member with a shellfish allergy that is quite severe and cross contamination is an issue. The kitchen staff and the restaurant staff were excellent at answering questions I had when in doubt. The villa is gorgeous. We find it challenging as a family of five to fit us into one space. The resort accommodates us beautifully with an extra bed in one room. We liked the high ceilings in the villa. It feels very spacious and there is a lot of room to spread out. The stone walk way into the villa is a nice touch as are the gorgeous koi in the water. Reviews are really important to me as I rely on them to make decisions on hotels. I can’t recommend this lovely place with the incredible people enough. The location is peaceful, the grounds are beautiful, the people are special. We enjoyed returning from a long and busy day exploring Tangkoko and the highlands to a tranquil villa, with delicious food at the restaurant and warm hospitality.