Sekotong Bay, southwest Lombok
★ 4.5(89 reviews)
Pearl Farm Villa Sekotong Bay is a 6-villa overwater accommodation built around a working pearl farm in the calm waters of Sekotong Bay on Lombok's southwest coast. Overwater villas run 2,800,000–5,500,000 IDR per night including breakfast and a pearl-farm tour. It is the only overwater villa option on Lombok and one of the few in Indonesia outside Raja Ampat — but boat-only access, the ongoing presence of farm work, and the small scale mean it suits a specific kind of guest looking for novelty over polish.
# Pearl Farm Villa Sekotong Bay: Lombok's Only Overwater Stay
Pearl Farm Villa is a small, owner-built overwater accommodation that exists because of a Japanese pearl-farming family's decades-long operation in Sekotong Bay. The Sato family has farmed South Sea pearls in these waters since the 1990s. In 2020 they added six guest villas above part of the farm — partly as diversification, partly because guests had been asking to stay on-site for years.
A 6-villa overwater property attached to an active 11-hectare pearl farm in the protected northern arm of Sekotong Bay. The villas sit on stilts in 4–6m of calm water, accessed by a 200m timber walkway from the on-shore reception and dining pavilion. The pearl farm itself extends a further 800m east, with floating racks of cultivation oysters visible from the villa decks.
This is not a resort. It is a working pearl farm with six guest rooms attached. The farm operates daily; you will see workers on small boats from 7am tending the racks. Most guests find this genuinely interesting; some find it intrusive.
Two categories across 6 villas. Standard Overwater Villas (2,800,000 IDR per night) are 28m² with king bed, en-suite bathroom, glass floor viewing panel, and a private deck with steps directly into the bay. Premium Overwater Villas (5,500,000 IDR) are 42m² with the addition of an outdoor bath on the deck, a separate sitting area, and a larger glass floor.
For first-time guests, the Standard villa delivers the full experience — the glass floor and bay access are present in both categories. The Premium upgrade is mostly about space and the outdoor bath. Both categories are couples-only; the villas do not accommodate children under 12 for safety reasons (open water access from every deck).
The property is accessed only by boat from Tawun jetty on the Sekotong peninsula, a 60-minute drive from Lombok International Airport via Lembar. The boat transfer from Tawun is 12 minutes across the calm bay and is included in every booking. Boats run on guest schedules — there is no fixed timetable.
In normal weather conditions (which apply 320+ days a year in this protected bay), the boat transfer is straightforward and dry. In strong monsoon weather (mainly January–February), departures can be delayed by 2–4 hours; cancellations are very rare. The property maintains shore-side guest rooms at the Tawun pavilion for any weather-affected nights.
There are no shops, no restaurants, and no other accommodation within boat distance. The Sekotong coast road has small warungs at Tawun jetty.
The novelty is the entire reason to book. Lombok has dozens of beachfront stays — only this one is overwater. The glass floor panel in each villa shows reef fish, occasional rays, and the cultivation racks in clear bay water. Snorkelling straight off the villa deck is unusually productive because the pearl farm has effectively created a protected marine zone for 25+ years.
The pearl-farm tour (included daily) is the unexpected highlight for many guests. Mr Sato or his Sasak farm manager Pak Hendra explain the cultivation cycle, demonstrate seeding, show the harvest grading process, and let guests handle uncultivated and finished pearls. The tour runs 90 minutes and is genuinely educational — it is not the watered-down resort version of the experience.
Food is competent and uses obvious freshness advantages — fish caught that morning, oysters from the farm, vegetables sourced from Sekotong gardens. The kitchen has Japanese influence (Mrs Sato runs the menu) — sashimi when conditions allow, grilled fish, miso-marinated seafood. Dinner mains run 180,000–400,000 IDR. Breakfast is included.
The trade-offs are scale and price. The property is small, with limited on-site activities beyond the farm and snorkelling. The villas are smaller than the price suggests — 28m² is tight by 2,800,000 IDR standards. Wi-Fi via marine satellite is slow and weather-affected. The morning farm work activity is genuinely audible from the villas; light sleepers should request villas 1 or 2 (furthest from the working area).
The bay water is extremely calm, which is the property's structural advantage — overwater villas in many destinations move noticeably in swells, which these do not even in monsoon weather.
Book it for honeymoons, anniversaries, novelty stays, or as a 2–3 night unique segment within a longer Lombok or Lombok-Bali trip. It works best as a single short stay rather than a long one; most guests find 2 nights is the right length to experience the novelty without exhausting the limited variety.
Skip it if you have children under 12 (the property does not accept them), if you need lots of on-site activities, if motion-sickness or boat travel concerns you, or if you want a beach stay — there is no beach here, only the bay and the villa decks.