It’s the March one week school holiday yet again. We brought our little ones to Desaru in neighbouring Malaysia for a 2D1N self-drive tour.
After breakfast in Johor Bahru, it was a car ride of 1 hour 25 mins before we reach our first stop. We went by the Senai-Desaru Expressway, which was opened in 2011. The opening of this expressway shortened travel time from Senai to Desaru from 2.5 hours to one hour.
Our first stop is Desaru Ostrich Farm. We spent around an hour at the farm where the kids had a good time. They fed and touched the ostriches and even rode on one of them. Read more about our time at the Farm in our post: With the World’s Fastest Bird at Desaru Ostrich Farm.
After we left Desaru Ostrich Farm, it was another car ride of 25mins before we reached our next stop, Desaru Fruit Farm Agro Tourism. During your planning, you may want to note that there are 2 Desaru fruit farms that are open to visitors. The one we visited is nearer to Sand & Sandals Resort.
Desaru Fruit Farm Agro Tourism offers guided walking tour and ATV (all-terrain vehicle) tour. The entrance fee to the farm is RM25 for adults and RM20 for children. After some quick mental, we decided on a 20-minutes ATV tour that cost us RM65 for a double (2 persons to an ATV), just RM20 more than the entrance fees for an adult and a child. Certainly good value.
I have not been driving for some time now so my little ones highly doubt my driving and navigation skills. I did had a tentative start. But after the ATV ride, DL remarked that my ‘driving’ skills are ‘okay’ and the ride is not that bad after all. Hahaha. That was certainly good to know!
Throughout the circuitous ride, we passed by rows and rows of tropical fruit trees, which includes papaya, banana, water apple, jackfruit and guava. The growing fruits are bagged to save the crops from birds and insects. The disadvantage of this ATV tour is that we did not get to alight at any point during the ride. Do drop by their stall for some fresh fruits. We bought their fresh and crunchy water apples at RM20 for 2kg.
After this, the kids were eager to check in to the resort. We stayed for a night in a Deluxe Garden View Room at the newly revamped Sand & Sandals Desaru Beach Resort & Spa. Formerly known as Pulai Desaru Beach Resort and Spa, it was re-opened early last year after a major facelift. The rest of our time was spent in the resort. Read more about it in Our Stay in Sand & Sandals Desaru Beach Resort
It was a short but fun getaway that make us feel refreshed for the new school term ahead.