What it's like to go glamping at Lazarus Island for a quick, relaxing break from the city

The cool air-conditioning was a welcome sensation as I opened the sliding doors of my tent. From my bed, I was greeted by the view of the beach and the bay. In the distance, you could see Kusu Island, absent of the devotees that crowd the place from September to December. And if you squinted hard enough, you could even spot Batam’s gentle hills and buildings even further away.

I was at Lazarus Island and the glamping tent was my home for the night, courtesy of Into The Woods. Billed as a slow and sustainable accommodation for visitors of the island, guests here are encouraged to slow down and embrace a more relaxed lifestyle – a staycation break from the bustle of urban living that I planned to take full advantage of.

And just to be clear, it's not to be confused with the nearby Tiny Away Escape accommodations that are also on the same island.

The boutique glamping experience was started in 2022 by a couple who, upon observing how their children enjoyed a day at the beach, sought to recreate the same experiences for adults to destress and declutter their minds.

JUST FIVE MINUTES AWAY

My experience kicked off on Friday at Sentosa Cove, where guests can take a boat for S$15 – and the short trip takes around five minutes to reach Lazarus Island.

Incidentally, with the reopening of the island's Eagle Bay Beach after the oil spill, there will be complimentary boat rides available from Sentosa Cove over the next three weekends from this Saturday (Aug 17).

Upon arriving, I was led into one of the nine tents that comprise Into The Woods’ accommodations. These come in two sizes – there are 25 sq m ones for couples (S$380 per night) and 36 sq m options for families (S$480), which can accommodate four and come with an additional sofa bed.

Inside my tent, there was a guidebook on how to live in the present available for guests to peruse, as well as a set of watercolour pencils, a paintbrush and a sketchbook.

Crucially, these items are placed next to the complimentary snack bar, so that even as you clear your mind, your tummy won’t be empty. More on that later.

Having arrived at this lovely beach getaway accompanied by ominous grey clouds that turned very quickly into a torrential downpour, my initial plan to bake myself on the beach turned quickly into using the stationery to occupy my time.

Aside from hanging out in the tent, there’s a common area where guests chill while staring out to sea in cool climate-controlled comfort. There’s also an assortment of old school games such as Connect 4 and Twister available.

Mindful leisure experiences, it seemed, had been forced upon me by the weather – and I opted to flex my artistic muscles with some sketching and painting.

Colouring in the various shades of dull greens and browns for a treeline in the scene I’d painted, I found myself getting engrossed in the tiny, repetitive pencil strokes. It wasn’t a masterpiece but the nugget of advice from the guidebook – saying I shouldn’t seek perfection – came in handy.

And as I put the finishing touches on some details, I resolved to continue doing these on my days off back in Singapore as a way of staring at something besides my phone. Perhaps.

YOU WON’T GO HUNGRY

Of course, glamping isn’t complete without food, and Into The Woods makes sure you’re well fed – or at least well equipped to feed yourself.

Guests can pre-order meals three days before arriving, which come from a nearby convenience store run by Sol By Bespoke Dining Club. It’s open from 8am to 8pm from Friday to Sunday. The portable barbecue sets can also be purchased here for S$28 as well as a decent assortment of drinks, snacks and a staycay essential, cup noodles.

A picnic mat, a cooler box and a trolley are also provided should you decide to picnic elsewhere on the island or on neighbouring St John’s Island.

The accommodation also comes with cooking equipment: A cast iron pan, a wok, a portable gas stove, plates, bowls and cutlery.

And by dinnertime, a buggy came by with some raw pork belly, satay and chicken thigh for me to have a barbecue. (Although, fair warning: It came devoid of greens, which would have helped to balance the protein-heavy meal.)

There was also the small matter of cleaning up afterwards – even with the 20-litre jerry can of water provided, there was no soap on hand to wash the grease away. But, such is the camping life.

At this point, I’d love to say I spent the rest of the evening unplugged and living my best cottage-core life, but this being a business catering to Singaporeans, the Wi-Fi network offered me great comfort as I doom-scrolled to get in my digitally sourced dopamine hits.

Sometimes, we just need a break from the simple life.

And, speaking of breaks, the shared bathrooms and toilets are located 300m away, which feels a fair distance when nature calls at 4am in the morning.

While I will neither confirm nor deny this took place during my stay at Into The Woods, I will say that I now have the utmost appreciation for hotel rooms with ensuite bathrooms located just steps from the bed.

That said, falling asleep to the sound of the waves was pretty hard to beat, particularly when the murmurs of crowds or cars in the distance were completely absent.

LIVING THE SIMPLE LIFE

Because of this – and probably the fact that I had a queen-sized bed all to myself, I woke up on Saturday completely missing the 7am yoga session that was on the itinerary.

Instead, I dragged myself out of bed and sat on the patio to serenely take in the island sea views – I guess that’s counted as meditation as well?

After checking out that morning, I headed to the jetty to watch the weekenders arrive with picnic baskets and fishing rods, carrying out their business with an ease that suggested it was a regular thing for them.

I’m all for big, grand, core-memory type experiences. And while many come with their corresponding price tags, I did appreciate the comforts and convenience that Into The Woods’ “all-the-bells-and-whistles” tents offered.

More importantly, it really is about appreciating the simple things – whether it’s feeling the sea breeze in the morning, seeing a mynah hop around on the ground before taking flight, or listening to the tide come in and breathing in time to the intervals.

I spotted a group chattering under the palm trees, leaning back in camping chairs while smoke from a barbecue pit wafted upwards. I wondered if slowing down and enjoying the simple things could be achieved with rather much less.

But, hey, who doesn’t want to live it up in an air-conditioned tent with a queen-sized bed and a beach at your front door?

CNA Lifestyle was in Lazarus Island at the invitation of Into The Woods.