Video: Behind the Mask for Siladen Resort & Spa
The northern tip of Sulawesi, in the heart of the Coral Triangle: the coral walls of Bunaken National Marine Park, the soft coral pinnacles and black sand of Bangka Island, and volcanic highlands and rainforest a drive away.
Now in North Sulawesi
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Indonesia · The Coral Triangle
North Sulawesi is the long arm of Sulawesi reaching north toward the Philippines, a few degrees above the Equator and in the heart of the Coral Triangle. Manado is the gateway, and the sea off it is the reason to come: the coral walls of Bunaken National Marine Park to the west, and the soft coral pinnacles, black sand slopes and seagrass of Bangka Island at the northern tip.
We keep two stays here, one in each sea. Siladen Resort & Spa sits on a small coral island inside the marine park, its 600 metre white beach facing the volcano of Manado Tua. Coral Eye, on Bangka, began as a marine outpost for biologists and still hosts visiting scientists. They are just over an hour apart by private boat, and our North Sulawesi dive journey joins them, with two dives along the way.
Ashore, the Minahasa highlands rise behind Manado, with volcanoes, the changing colours of Lake Linow and the wooden house builders of Woloan, and to the east the rainforest of Tangkoko, home of the tarsier and the black crested macaque. See our Indonesia guide, Southeast Asia, and the Sportfishing & Adventure and Island Sanctuaries collections.
Elsewhere in the archipelago, the reefs of Moyo Island and the private sailing routes of Indonesia Voyages carry a week on the water further across Indonesia.
Why visit
Featured properties
Houses we know by name, the ones we would open for this landscape.
Siladen Island · Bunaken National Marine Park, North Sulawesi: twenty-three villas on a white beach facing the volcano of Manado Tua
A dive resort of twenty-three villas on a small coral island inside Bunaken National Marine Park, North Sulawesi, with a 600 metre white beach, a PADI dive centre and some forty dive sites on the walls of the park.
Bangka Island · North Sulawesi: a marine outpost and dive resort on a white beach between the jungle and the reef
A marine outpost turned boutique dive resort on Bangka Island, North Sulawesi, founded by marine biologists: villas and rooms on a 200 metre white beach, pinnacles of soft coral and some of the finest macro diving in the region a few minutes away.
The house
A first reading of the stay: rooms, light, and the quiet between them. Each still is a note, not a catalogue.
When and how
Each season keeps its own calendar. We plan the transfer around it.
Best time to visit
North Sulawesi is diveable all year. The dry season, from April to November, brings the calmest seas and the barbecues onto the beach; from December to March there are more showers, and the diving carries on. The water usually sits around 25 to 27°C.
Seasonality
Air temperatures stay close to 30°C by day all year. April to November is the dry season; the rest of the year brings occasional rain, and the boats still go out. In the water, most divers are comfortable in a 3 mm full wetsuit.
Airport / logistics
Fly to Manado (MDC), served from Singapore, Jakarta, Bali, Makassar, Surabaya and Sorong. Siladen is forty five minutes by car to the harbor and Coral Eye about an hour, each then twenty to thirty minutes by boat. A private boat joins the two in just over an hour, and we time every transfer to your flights.
Month by month
Seasons follow the notes above. Average daily high and monthly rainfall for 2015 to 2024 from ERA5 reanalysis, via Open-Meteo.
Luxury experiences
Traveler questions
Ways of traveling
Begin with the collection that holds these houses and shores.
Collection
Private-island calm and water-first houses: Turks & Caicos, Canouan, the Dominican north coast, Phuket, Bali’s east coast, Vietnam’s Vinh Hy and Ninh Van bays, Sri Lanka’s south coast, Baja’s East Cape, the Anambas, Fiji and the Bay of Islands. Mustique is arranged privately, villa by villa.
Open the collectionCollection
Blue water, clear rivers and the far edge of the map: marlin off Fiji, trout on the Ahuriri, bonefish on South Andros, salmon by helicopter in Alaska and roped days on the Antarctic ice.
Open the collectionRelated destinations
Landscapes that sit well beside this one.
Destination
Indonesia island by island: Ubud, East Bali and Nusa Dua, Borobudur in Central Java, Moyo Island, Amandira under sail, and Bawah Reserve in the remote Anambas Islands.
Indonesia
The Anambas Islands: six islands, three marine reserve lagoons, and thirteen beaches in Indonesia’s Riau Islands, home to Bawah Reserve and curated by Exclusive Villa Collection.
Destination
Southeast Asia country by country: Phuket in Thailand, Angkor from Siem Reap, Luang Prabang in Laos, Vietnam’s south-central coast and Pamalican in the Philippines.
Plan My Trip
Tell us the season, the company, and the feeling you want to keep. We will write back with a considered path, not a link to a search.
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