Tropical Bliss on Calala Island

Great destination! Enjoyed the open trail and peaceful outdoor atmosphere.

Great destination! Enjoyed the open trail and peaceful outdoor atmosphere.

Great destination! Enjoyed the open trail and peaceful outdoor atmosphere.

What a truly special and unique slice of paradise! We feel so fortunate to have experienced the hospitality of Claudia, Leon (GMs) and the entire staff at this idyllic island. From the time we arrived to our departure, no request is too much of a bother. Barefoot luxury is not everyone's cup of tea, but if you value a place that allows you to truly get away from the worries of the World (and there are many these days), this is a great escape to unwind, focus on each other, and truly decompress.

Truly special and unique. The friendly team of locals combined with Claudia & Leon’s (GMs) experience of Western expectations from a luxury private islands make Calala an incredible paradise. The island has many surprises including turtle nesting, sloths, a million beautiful crabs and birds, corals for snorkelling, clear skies for star gazing, fireflies in palm trees and much more. The team supplement this with high end dining, fun and diverse cocktails, different evening activities every night, kayaking, fishing, island hopping and just incredible service 24/7. We were very lucky to get engaged on the island with an incredible set up (which the team had to put up twice because the sunset on the first night had a cloud in the way!). Baby turtles hatched just before our special moment so we got to release tiny turtles into the ocean as part of the proposal - there are no words for how special this was. The Calala team went above and beyond for us with engagement presents and decorations at dinner congratulating us two nights in a row. The food is fantastic with local produce and there are different dinner themes every night including tasting menus, rum tasting, live music, a buffet of local delicacies with the team introducing themselves and telling us about their backgrounds, hermit crab racing etc. I am allergic to dairy and I was particularly grateful for just how well they catered for me - incredible that they went above and beyond to get several different types of dairy free cheeses and milks for me on such a tiny island. Every morning you wake up with delicious coffee (and we added 2 coconuts to our coffee order) with the most stunning view. The villas are only a few steps away from the ocean. We were worried about the boat ride and the bugs because of reading reviews but really enjoyed the travel to and from the island and the bugs are really no worse than Europe and certainly a lot less bad than our Asia travels, provided you put the bug spray on which the Calala team makes available to you everywhere you’ll be. The other guests are always warm and lovely people. We really expected to keep to ourselves and it surprised us to quickly feel part of a little community in paradise. We are so grateful to have been so lucky to have this unforgettable experience. Thank you Claudia, Leon and Calala team!