Many of the places to stay on Rarotonga listed as favorites on this board, seem to be in the $250NZD range. We are looking for something costing $150-200NZD range. Any suggestions or recommendations?? We will be there for two nights only. I was excided about the Shangri-La, but they only accept a minimum 4 night stay.

Thanks!

Here's a list of places in your price range:
http://www.cook.pacific-resorts.com/standard.html

Of these I've been inside the Blue Lagoon Villa (http://www.bluelagoonvilla.com/) and it's very nice indeed. Not sure if they will rent for just 2 nights though.

Bella Beach Bungalows (http://www.shekinahhomes.com/house/housebella.htm) is on a beautiful beach and is on my "short list". Again, don't know about a 2-night stay.

Can't say too much about the others.

Hope this helps a bit.

Ken

Another useful link:

http://www.cook-islands.com/docs/factsheet.pdf

Since it's a PDF file you must have an acrobat reader installed to read it.

Ken

We are just having a stopover on our way home from NZ. It does seem a number of places aren't set up for 2 night stays, but I will inquire at a few of these - thanks!

the pacific resorts site is a great one! I actually found a couple of nice looking bungalows in the $100-$150NZD range. Anyone have comments on:

Aroko Bungalows
Tiana's Beach Villa's
Tropical Sands

Thanks!

Note that the Tropical Sands website mentions that the water is very shallow in their area. Keep that in mind. The reef is very close to the shore north of Muri Lagoon all the way along the north side of Raro until you reach the airport. Water in much of the north shore area is only about 1 foot deep at low tide and most of the shoreline there is very rocky (can't speak specifically about the area directly in front of Tropical Sands but it sounds like they have dredged some so it may be okay). When considering a place, take note on the map of its' location. The width of the lagoon is pretty accurate as drawn and the wider the lagoon, the better the swimming/snorkeling conditions tend to be. Overall, anywhere from Muri down along the south shore and up the west side to the NW corner of the island will offer good swimming/snorkeling conditions at your doorstep.

Note also that Tiana's is very close to the Shangri-La (next door - or pretty darned close to it) so anything you've heard about the water/beach conditions at Shangri-La will apply to Tiana's as well.

Ken

Sockboy! We just returned from Rarotonga (granted we were on the Tahitian Princess cruise and spent only one day in Rarotonga) but my suggestion is to stay on Muri Beach or its immediate vicinity. It's a gorgeous place and the swimming was great. We were able to swim to one of the motus and it was paradise.

Sockboy -

I hope I'm not too late for your moderate accommodations info request.

My hubby and I stayed last year at the Tropical Sands for several nights and really liked it. We had one of the bungalows right on the sand and felt like we were on our own island. The water is shallow there so no swimming is going to happen. However, it wasn't even hot enough to want to swim so we never missed it.

The owners are very nice people and took us out to dinner our last night there because we stayed more than 3 nights or something like that. Now, when has that ever happened in your entire lifetime?

They have several bungalows. Two right on the sand and about 3 others behind it. All have full kitchens which I liked. The bungalows we stayed in right on the sand actually had a t.v. Here in CA you couldn't pay me to watch M.A.S.H. but I got to tell you, we were pretty darned excited when that came on the t.v. every night at like 7pm. Otherwise, the programming is NZ style.

Hope this helps. We loved both islands and can't wait to get back.

Lynne