We stayed here 3 nights to rest (our second stay here, 4 years ago we stayed here too). This hotel is very beautiful located close to the sea, in the middle of nature, but far away from town. The hotel has a free shuttle which goes daily (to order little bit in advance) to the shopping mall in town, arriving around 5 pm, and leaving town around 7 pm. We stayed in a bungalow-room in the middle of a big and very beautiful garden, with a lot of old trees. A long wooden walkway above mangroves separates the hotel from the sea. There is a big swimming pool, garden furniture is old (some broken). The room is big, and clean; the bathroom is old and needs to be renovated, although everything is still working well and there is hot water. No internet in the rooms. Comfortable beds. The lobby and restaurant don't have windows or doors (open air). No non-smoking area. The food is good. Service, although not perfect, is not bad: they do their best to fulfill the requests of customers. I wanted a quiet room, which I have got, and although there were 2 groups, we slept well.

First impressions were that the hotel was somewhat run down. After a few days, this did not seem to matter. Everything worked - we had no problems with electrics, plumbing, locks etc as others seem to have done. Our room was always clean and the huge bed was comfortable. All the staff were very friendly and helpful - yes, their English was limited but then our Indonesian was non-existent! By the end of 2 weeks all we could manage was 'good morning' and 'thank you'. We worked our way through the 'Local' menu, experiencing some very interesting offerings. For the less adventurous, the 'European' menu was delicious. Desserts were not their forte though and coffee always took an age to arrive! Several times a month for a couple of days at a time the hotel is fully booked - they cater for a lot of large group bookings. At other times, there were only a couple of tables occupied at meal times. On these evenings, when the staff had little to do, some of them took to the little stage to play guitar and sing - which they did delightfully. It would have been nice to have a beach to walk on, but the Mangroves were interesting to walk through, with lots of little critters to spot if you looked carefully.
The main reason for our stay was the diving and the Thalassa Dive Centre was excellent. They went out of their way to accommodate guests' needs and the food they provided at lunchtimes was excellent.
I would commend the actions of our dive guide, Saiful, and owner, Simone, in dealing calmly and efficiently with my husband's head injury when he was attacked by a Titan Trigger Fish.
All in all we had a wonderful holiday in a very friendly hotel and the diving was fantastic. What more could you ask for. If we had unlimited funds, I would love to come back, but there are so many other places in the world to visit.

A friend and I stayed for 1 week at Santika Resort after spending the previous 9 days at Kasawari-Lembeh Resort so we were a little bit spoiled.

At check-in it was apparent that the staff had little English and it continued to be an annoyance during the week. Except for simple, direct requests there was little comprehension of the more nuanced questions. Staff was always courteous when available but sometimes hard to find.

The hotel was nearly empty when we arrived, filled for a convention on one or two days but aside from a couple of weddings was mostly quiet all week. We stayed in a "Garden View" room (which was one of several 4 room bungalows on the property) which was nice but had only 2 electrical outlets. As divers we need outlets to charge batteries for cameras, strobe, lights, and computers and for me a CPAP machine. Neither outlet was near the bed. Their wireless internet connection worked about 60% of the time and was verrrry slow. We never got 2 door keys that worked even when maintenance worked for 1/2 a day and succeeded in getting a new key to work they rendered the original key useless.

Food was very good. Breakfast was buffet style with both Western and Indonesian offerings and a chef to prepare fresh eggs any style. We ate lunch at the Thalassa dive center which was always Indonesian. Dinner offered a complete Western menu including rack of lamb, steak, pasta, pizza, and several chicken dishes, most under $10. There was also an Indonesian menu which was very complete offering vegetarian as well as meat dishes.

They were having some problems with the pool pump and filters when we arrived but straightened them out after a few days. The swim up bar was never manned.

The spa offered a full range of services at reasonable prices.

Thalassa Dive Center is on the hotel grounds (a very short walk from our room) and offers 5 star PADI services. Simone, the owner runs a very tight ship and the dive guides are very knowledgeable and find lots of good stuff. Most of our fellow divers were from Holland and most did not stay at Santika. If you book through Santika you can get a package which includes diving. If you book through Thalassa they offer a range of accommodations which includes Santika but also has other choices which is what most of our fellow divers did.

All in all, Santika was pleasant and quiet but I probably wouldn't go back.

From the moment that we were picked up from the airport until we were dropped off three weeks later we felt a very warm friendship from virtually all the staff. For us it was the celebration of our 12 1/2 year wedding anniversary and the staff really made it a memorable day. Our bed was decorated with flowers, the BBQ at night was # excellently organized and the day we left, the staff was singing us a farewell complete with guitar, drums and cymbals. Many thanks in particular to Maria and Edwin.
Diving with Thalassa was a wonderful experience. We made three dives a day and were guided by professional dive masters throughout. Simone Gerritsen (owner) and her crew really stood for their slo9gan "Come as a guest and leave as a friend". We certainly will come back!