Puri Damai is a wonderful 4 star plus resort. 4 star plus means that the resort is generally considered a tad better than a regular 4 star resort, but misses a few things that make a resort of 5 star quality. It is located north of the city of Kuching in Sarawak, along the beautiful Damai Beach. From Kuching Airport it will take about 45 minutes to one hour to reach the resort, from Kuching city center approximately 45 minutes. It is the nearest coastal area from Kuching, and it is a popular area among locals from Kuching. Besides it is located next to Sarawak Cultural Village, a popular attraction near Kuching.
Many aspects of the resort were similar to the popular Pangkor Island Beach Resort (I’d guess both are owned by the same chain). The resort has a beautiful lobby overlooking the beach and ocean. There are two swimming pools, both huge in size.
We had a standard room on ground level, facing the pool and sea. From the balcony we could enjoy fantastic views over the South Chinese Sea. Unfortunately it wasn’t possible to exit the room via the balcony (though we were on ground level); a shame as the pool was only a few meters away. The rooms were quite spacious, with a nice, big bathroom, a small fridge, a safe, a small desk and a flat screen television. The loved the overall atmosphere of the rooms at Puri Damai.
Puri Damai also has a spa. Unfortunately we were unable to make reservations in time (as we were out on both whole days during our stay) but our friends told us it is a very nice spa.
Breakfast was decent, not bad but nothing special either. The main restaurant was decent too. As it is a very big area, it looks deserted when only a few guests have dinner there. We tried dinner there too, but were a bit disappointed. Again, not bad but we expected a bit more of it. The second day we went to the small, new food court opposite Sarawak Cultural Village and we actually had a much better meal there (especially the different varieties of Roti Canai were surprisingly good!).
We stayed at the resort during low season and there weren’t many other guests. Based on staff descriptions it can be really crowded at the resort during school holidays and public holidays. We had a great stay at Puri Damai.
