Ijen Crater Tours

Sanctoo villas is beautiful accommodation and the people there are wonderful. We stayed for three nights in total and stayed in the “llama room”. I’m not sure what classification of room this is as it’s not actually what we booked. Word of caution. We booked a family suite and included the ages of the children in the booking (6 and 9) and were charged as such. When we arrived the suite has one bed and we were expected to sleep in one bed with the four of us. There was a sofa they offered to put a sheet onto at an extra charge but this wasn’t suitable. We paid to upgrade our room in the end but this would have been a real problem if that wasn’t available. Other than that, the zoo is great, the pool is lovely and the grounds are beautiful and well kept. The lemur apartments were a real treat. They are in the zoo so you are right in with exotic birds, lemurs and a wallaby. A real treat (be prepared for an 0600 wake up call though from the animals. This room specifically) The chef is awesome. The food was beautiful. Everything we ate was of high quality and there are a good few children’s options. The serving and reception staff are a credit to the hotel and our girls loved talking with them. It’s billed as a 5 star hotel and there are some minor bits that stop that. Can’t charge to room, they do a 3for2 beer offer, we ordered two but didn’t see the offer and they didn’t make us aware charging for 2 with no third. In room drinks average etc.

Amazing everything from staff to facility

Difficult to describe. After first night we were rating this one or two stars - our arrival experience was awful and the restaurant staff made us feel very unwelcome. We were so tense the waves crashing beneath us on the cliffs kept us awake rather than relaxing us. We planned to Just say away from hotel for as much of the time as possible. The next day was much better and with the staff on duty going the extra mile and we relaxed and enjoyed the facilities after all and slept well. It is a beautiful hotel such a shame our stay was made uncomfortable by difficult staff