We recently moved to Singapore and got "island" fever within the first few months. What a better way to cure it then to head to another island not to far away. The beauty of Rawa for us was the close proximity to Singapore. We hired a driver to pick us up as we didnt have a car of our own yet. We were with another family and the 8 of us fit in perfectly. A very easy trip when you can just sit back and relax and not fuss with plane, train or even driving your own car. I think it was about 2 hours to the port and then a short speed boat to the island.

Rawa is beautiful - and part of the beauty for us was that there was nothing to do there other then just chill out. The children were amused by the slide off the dock - as well as jumping off the dock. We had a beach front bungalow so easily moved back and forth between beach, restaurant and "home". The beach is small so not the best for long walks or runs but you can hike to the look out area on top of the mountainous hill for exercise.

Our room was fine. Quite basic but provided everything that we needed. You are not getting fine linens and plush towels but everything is clean.

If you want 5 star this is not for you. Yes it is expensive for what you get in terms of quality but as we were just there for a long weekend we were ok with the cost.

The restaurant was good. Not out of this world but decent food which we enjoyed for a few days. Really no complaints.

The staff were great - all with a helpful and friendly attitude. The other guests were also very nice and everyone meshed together well.

So if you are after a quiet beautiful island with little to do other then lounge and relax then this is the place for you.

We will be back!

I am not sure whether I had hoped for too much based on friends reports but I was pretty disappointed by Rawa on the whole. It all satrted on day one when we arrived to what appeared to be a building site! They were still doing major upgrading given it was just after the monsoon season, and I understand this needs to be done but from what i can see on their wesbite we were still being charged high season prices for the joy of hearing drilling etc! We had a garden villa room which was fine however our air cond did not work and therefore we had to leave the windows open and the mozzie's were ferocious and my poor one year old was devoured despite the mozzi spray being applied liberally! I informed the manager but bc it was CNY there weren't any other rooms and they said they would send someone over to try and fix the air cond - it wasn't fixed. Food was average - only so many chicken nuggets kids can have! There were also 2 dogs wandering around and while we were there one of the dogs bit 2 children in one night and still management didn't remove it from the restaurant - not ideal! Main grip I guess is the price we paid close to 4 or 5 star prices ie for the adult package over SGD2000 for 5 nights and this was by no means near a 4 or 5 star. Yes its handy to SG and yes the beach is lovely (despite tide being actually out for most of the day and when out you can only swim in about 2 feet of water) but not sure I would be recommending this to friends or rushing back. I also found the manager not very helpful - he didn't even apologise to us upon our leaving about the air cond - and thats not very hard to do!

I've been to this protected island 2 times, 2 years apart. It is one of the most beautiful island spots I've ever been to. The resort is nicely run. The food and service are excellent. I recommend the houses which are perched over the water. They are amazing - and the price difference is absolutely worth it.

However, a word of warning about the coral reef. There was some great snorkling in 2009. In 2011, I was shocked by how much of the reef is dead. It's in a very bad state and I don't think I would go back because of this decline.

We had booked 3 houses on the beach for a long weekend on the island. It is small and well preserved. We kayaked, sunbathed, played beach volley, swam...food was amazing, fresh and delicious. No tv in the rooms, but noone missed it anyway!