Biak - Useful Information

Food and Accommodation in Biak Arumbai Hotel Jln. Selat Makassar no 24 Tel: +62 981 21835 Fax: +62 981 22501 Basanna Inn Jln Imam Bonjol Hotel Mapia Jln Ahmad Yani Tel: +62 981 21383 Irian Hotel Jln Muhammad Yamin, PO Box 137 Tel: +62 981 21939 Fax +62 981 21458 Losmen Maju Jln Imam Bonjol 45 Tel: +62 981 21841 Losmen Solo Jl Wolter Mongonsidi Tel: +62 981 21397 Padaido Hotel Sinar Kayu Jl Sisingamangaraja Tel: +62 981 22137 Titawaka Home Jl Selat Makassar no 24, PO Box 536 Tel:Fax +62 981 22372 Places to Eat in Biak Asia Restaurant Jl Sudirman Cleopatra Restaurant Jl Jendral Sudirman

Himalaya Restaurant Jl Jendral Sudirman Jakarta Restaurant Jl Imam Bonjol 58 Tel: +62 981 21969 Megaria Restaurant Jl Jendral Sudirman Minang Jaya Restaurant Jl Ahmad Yani Tel: +62 981 21591 New Garden Restaurant Jl Imam Bonjol 12 Tel: +62 981 21972 Restaurant 99 Jl Imam Bonjol Tour and Travel Agents and Guides Sentosa Tosiga Tour and Travel Jl Ahmad Yani 36 Tel: +62 981 21398 Titawaka Indah Tour and Travel Jl Wolter Mongonsidi, PO Box 127 Tel: +62 981 21794 Fax +62 981 22372

Padaido Hotel: Biak's Best Budget

Related To: Budget Travel, Beaches, Backpacking
 
Padaido Hotel is a standart budget accomodation with aircon and very friendly speaking english host, Roy and Utrina.

The five rooms available located with a great view of ocean just in step of your balcony! 

Sinar Kayu
Jl Sisingamangaraja
Tel: +62 981 22137

Living place Hotel Arumbai in Biak

 
Here under follows our experience with Hotel Arumbai. I know it´s Papua, not Bali, so the standards are different, however, this hotel is described in travel books like "best hotel", "perfect retreat", etc. May be it´s still the best in Biak, however, that only means it´s the best from all those that are bad and there are no good ones. In terms of stars, I would say 1-star.

We spent 3 nights at Arumbai Hotel in August. This hotel apparently had its better days some time ago and is in desparate need of renovation!!! (The only good-loking space was the reception.) The staff was totally disinterested and could not provide any useful information (they spoke less than 5 words of English). Finally, I managed them however to call a certain local "travel agent" who was helpful and could arrange many things.

In spite of multiple reconfirmations of our stay, we discovered on arrival that all better rooms (including ours) will be occupied by a group of Indonesians for one night (who were not there yet, however, at the time), so we had to stay the first night in "standard" and then move to "superior". I showed them emails of communication with their manager but the reception staff said he is in Jakarta (it was Sunday) and that there is nothing that could be done... (Coming all the way from Europe after 4 flights, we were pretty exhausted and we were willing to sleep ASAP).

After we moved to "superior" next day, it did not make however much difference, since all the rooms in the hotel were smelly and very humid/damp. On the floor, there was a stinking carpet (no wonder, due to the humidity - I do not understand why they did not make it of stone). The walls were also pretty humid and the plaster/coating was falling off. There was also plenty of mosquitos. There is a swimming pool, however, the water was murky and apparently seldom changed - I swam in it, but it was unappealing.

The restaurant in the hotel has plastic covers on the tables - also not very appealing, but the meals were eatable.

All in all, the experience was pretty deceiving. On the other hand, it´s difficult to recommend any other hotel, we had a glance at the one used by Garuda staff (I think it´s called Invia) and it did not look much better...

The price was cca. 30 USD/night, but in such location after so logn flight, you do not care what´s the price, you just want something nice and that does not exist on Biak...

On the positive side, the snorkelling on the islands off coast is one of the best in Indonesia...
Arumbai Hotel
Jln. Selat Makassar no 24
Tel: +62 981 21835
Fax: +62 981 22501