Sand & Sandals Desaru Beach Resort {Deetour}

If you’re looking for a weekend trip from Singapore, Desaru Beach in Malaysia is something you may want to consider. My friend Arlyn and I went on a vacation there last November. We couldn’t find a package for Desaru, so we booked our hotel room at Sand & Sandals Desaru Beach Resort through Booking.com and after we were advised by the hotel that it was easier to reach them through ferry rather than bus, we booked our own ferry to Tanjung Belungkor through Easybook. We then booked a hotel transfer to and from the ferry for RM50 net per pax.

The ferry was from Changi Ferry Terminal, some ulu location that is different from Changi Point Ferry Terminal. You’d think they would change the name so as not to make it confusing, but no. We had a hard time booking a Grab from that place when we got back to Singapore, so be warned about that.

The ferry ride only took 30 minutes, though, so that was fine. Then it took around 30 minutes to get from the ferry to the resort.

The reason we chose Sand & Sandals Desaru Beach Resort over other resorts is that it was cheaper, probably because it doesn’t have waterparks. We didn’t need that anyway, we just wanted to relax on a pool or beach, and in that aspect, Sand & Sandals delivered.

Swimming Pool

Beach

The beach was beautiful during the day.

It looked magical at night thanks to the lights.

Other Outdoor Pictures

Indoor Pictures

Arlyn and I coincidentally both wore blue floral dresses on the first day.

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Seafood Bujang Firefly

There are restaurants inside the resort, but while the food is decent, for around the same price you would find something more delicious at the Seafood Bujang Firefly.

They offer firefly tours, but I would advise against that and just ask the hotel concierge to help you book a cab who will take you there instead. It’s cheaper, but also I wouldn’t advise you to go on the firefly tour at all, just take said cab to said location to eat dinner.

The eatery is very simple, so the food is cheap. Only the cashier spoke English – I’m not sure if it’s because they don’t usually have foreign tourists.

We ordered a seafood package for 2 which cost us only around 30 sgd when converted, and it was so delicious! I highly recommend this place!

However, as I said, I would not recommend the firefly tour because it was really lame. We rode this boat out and they tried to get the fireflies to show their light by splashing water on them, and it resulted in what looked like sparks.

I was super disappointed because I have seen fireflies before, in Bohol – those were aplenty and definitely magical, like watching tiny fairies glow like lightbulbs and hover around a tree. I was looking forward to seeing that again, but Desaru just fell flat.

There are many other things you can do in Desaru, like go to the fruit farm or adventure water park. If you want to have something else to do other that laze around the resort, you can look into those instead.

Sand & Sandals Desaru Beach Resort
90, Desaru, 81930 Bandar Penawar, Johor, Malaysia
Agoda.com / Booking.com / Hotels.com