Bringing baby to Club Med Bintan

In my earlier post on Bringing Baby to Perth, I mentioned about baby’s first trip to Club Med Bintan. We travelled there for a short holiday in February for Valentine’s day weekend. The short getaway is just what we need – a  family trip to enjoy bonding with baby, eat great food and relax by the sea.

On our way to Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal

Club Med Bintan

Just in case if you haven’t been to Club Med, it stands for Club Méditerranée and it’s a French company which runs self contained resort in various exotic destinations around the world. You pay a fixed price per person and enjoy unlimited meals and drinks at the club. There are also free activities throughout the day which you can sign up for – water sports, yoga, dancing, handicraft etc. It is like you are on a cruise, except this is on land. Each Club Med has their own niches, and the one at Bintan is known for being family friendly.

Our room at club med

Towel shaped into a dog

Inside baby cot

Prior to arrival, we have informed the staff that we would be bringing along a baby for our trip. They prepared a baby bathtub, a milk bottle steriliser and a baby cot for us. If you need a baby sitter, they have someone look after your toddler while you join the adult activities – however we didn’t leave him with the baby sitter since he is still so young and we feel it is best to bring him along.

For older children, they also provide a full day programme to occupy them while the parents busied themselves with their own activities.

Enjoying his cocktail by the beach

Drinks are free flow, including alcoholic cocktails. Daddy is enjoying his cocktail by the beach.

Me with my mocktail

Yes, are you looking for me?

Baby is enjoying himself, ogling at pretty babes who walk past his pram. The cute sunglasses is from Daiso, my favourite $2 store! Mummy knows best where to hunt down the good bargains.

In his swimming gear at the baby pool

There is an activity area for children at the topmost level of the resort. Here, he is playing with water at the wading pool. There is a children’s slide at the other corner but he cannot do the slide yet.

Food galore

Enjoying buffet at Club Med

Food is plentiful at Club Med. You will never need to go hungry even though there are only two restaurants – one indoor and one outdoor. The indoor WATERFALL restaurant serves international buffet and the food is of reasonable standard. The outdoor TERASSE restaurant serves barbequed food and provides a romantic ambience for that starlit dinner. The club med staff will also mingle and chit chat with you to make you feel at home.

You will be able to find Heinz bottled baby food at the buffet. Preparation for baby’s meal is a breeze.

Relax at the spa

I had the opportunity to visit the spa for a relaxing massage. The room is quietly nestled along the coasts so that the window opens out to a spectacular sea view.  I paid around SGD 70 for a 1.5 hour massage.

Me and my Valentine

Beach along Bintan Club Med

It’s nice to spend a long weekend at Club Med. The ferry ride from Tanah Merah Terminal is a short 1.5 hour. All the staff at Club Med speaks fairly good English and Mandarin (a good mix of international folks) and we felt quite secure in a self contained village, with no worries on transportation and meals.

Every night, there is entertainment at their open air theatre and weekends always end with a late night mass dancing at the beach – sounds fun right? but baby needs his beauty sleep. Unfortunately, we are not party owls and such heavy dancing is best left to the youngsters and the new millennials who have more energy to burn.

Club Med pricing is considered rather steep if you compare it against other resorts such as Mayang Sari (Nirwana Gardens) and other similar resorts at Bintan. We stayed at Mayang Sari a few years back before we had our baby – the huts were very old and rustic. These resorts do not provide food and activities so you may need to book transport out to the city to get your meals and do your shopping. With a baby in tow, we find that Club Med is easier for us.

Would we do Club Med again? Yes, we will bring him again when he is older.