Bintan, Indonesia

Shhh keep this paradise to yourself

“There is a local saying that you’re either brought to Bintan by a woman or a ship – in my case it was a ship,” says Swiss born Marc Thalmann. The former oil engineer moved from Geneva to this small island – roughly five times the size of the Isle of Man – not following a beautiful Indonesian woman but simply arriving by ferry from Singapore in 1988, where he opened Mutiara Beach Resort soon after.

“Bintan is interesting. For a few centuries it was the power core of the Malay Archipelago, including Singapore, but then it vanished from history’s radar to become a sleepy backwater infested by pirates and smugglers,” says Thalmann. In the 12th century the island of Bintan in the Strait of Malacca was called “Pirate Island” as a strategic location for Malay pirates looting ships sailing in the area. 

I met Thalmann on his private beach, next to 20 acres of coconut plantation and a mangrove river. The sand is sidling through my toes and the vastness of the landscape around us astounds me – w…