Rarotonga accomodation and children!
 

Hello!

We're going to be in Rarotonga in early March for 3 nights. We have two kids, ages 13 and 9. There seems to be a wild range of options, but what we are looking for is a good location (Muri Beach area I understand is fantastic?), a nice place that has beachfront accommodation for us at around the $500-575 NZ mark. Is this an impossible dream? Can anyone recommend anything?

Thanks!

Is that $500-575 NZ per night - or for the whole 3 nights? The latter will be REAL hard to find for 4 people - especially with 2 of them children. Home or bungalow rentals are usually the cheapest way to go, but often they have longer minimum stays.

Ken

There are bungalows near Muri Beach that should work for you. We have stayed in one of the beachfront bungalows at Aroko Bungalows, with our two kids, and it worked out great. The kids could be rambunctious without bothering other guests, and we saved money cooking some of our own meals. It is a short walk to Muri Beach and a general-type store. While on the water, there isn't really a beach at the bungalows, so the word 'beachfront' would be used a bit liberally. If you wanted to save more, there are additional bungalows behind the two on the water.

As Ken pointed out, some bungalows have a >3 day minimum, but I think that the minimum at Aroko is 3 days.

Al F.

Hi ALF,

Haven't seen you here for a bit. How were your holidays? I should have thought about suggesting they put out a question directly to you. You and TikiinTahiti are the champs at finding all the inexpensive places.

Ken

PS - I was under the impression that Aroko didn't take kids less than 12. Is that not true - or are they just loose on that policy?

Hi! The $500 was for each night.

I'm really lured in by the prospect of good snorkelling-we're all keen snorkellers. As we only have a few days on the island I would like us to make the most of it!

I found a place called Manea Village, which looks interesting, otherwise the other two lead contenders are Palm Grove and Pacific Beach. Any hints are helpful!

Hi Shannon,
We spent about 10 nights at the Rarotongan Beach Resort and loved it. My girls were aged 6 & 7 years at the time so a little younger but had the best ever time at their Moko's kids club - may work for your younger child if he/she gets bored easily. The beach is great and with your budget you could probably stay in one of the Grand Suites which are very spacious. Just one possibility on a great island - both Alf & Lord Balfor know the place much better than I - but we did have a great time there. Enjoy!
Connie

Shannon,

Don't know of a "Manea Village". There are the "Manea Lagoon Suites" which are a new part of the "Are Tamanu" resort - which is now been renamed into the "Are Tamanu Village". Is that the place you mean? If so, it's on Aitutaki rather than Rarotonga. We actually stayed in the Honeymon Bungalow at the Are Tamanu back in 2002. REALLY loved the snorkeling there. It was even better than where we stayed on Rarotonga (just 100 yards up the beach from the Palm Grove) - which was pretty great already.

Also have not heard of a place called "Pacific Beach" on either Raro or Aitutaki. There is a Pacific Resort on Raro (which is a pretty nice place in a good location) and one on Aitutaki (which is generally considered to be probably the very best resort in the Cooks - though VERY expensive). Do you mean either of these places?

Ken

The Manea one is called Manea Beach Villas, and sorry, yes-I did mean Pacific Resorts!

I just worry about Pacific Resorts, as some of the feedback is that it's a bit run down?

Okay, thanks for the clarification.

Not really familiar with the place, but based on the photos on their website, it's clear that it's very close to the Sokala Villas, with similar views. That's a very good thing view-wise, as I've long been of the opinion that Sokala Villas has the best views on Raro. It also means it has the same drawback - specifically that the water pictured is fairly shallow (about waist-deep) and somewhat devoid of fish as there is not a lot of coral for them to hide in nearby. The flip side of that is that you can of course easily wade over to the motus shown on their website (which are pretty interesting to explore). You can of course walk down the beach to the superior snokeling conditions at the south end of Muri - which is not a long walk (and is a pretty walk) but it IS a walk.

Palm Grove will have much better snorkeling nearby with nice views (though not nearly as nice as those at the Manea Beach Villas) from the beachfront units.

If good snorkeling off your doorstep is most important to you, I'd go with the beachfront units at the Palm Grove, if a gorgeous view is more vital then go with Manea Beach Villas. I think the 1-bedroom unit at Manea (I'm assuming that's the unit you'd be staying in) is probably nicer than the garden units at the Palm Grove as those are pretty small, and looked to me to be a bit dark. Beachfront units at the Palm Grove may be another matter however (I won't hazard a guess on that one).

Don't know what to tell you about the Rarotonga Pacific Resort. I know that even when we were there back in 2002, people we met (not just 1 couple, but several) were complaining about the condition of many of the rooms (though the large 2-bedroom villas seemed to meet with peoples' approval) and it's a bit distressing to see that that's still the case. With the apparently top-of-the-line Aitutaki Pacific Resort as a companion location, the Rarotonga Pacific Resort really needs to upgrade so as not to come off so much as a "poor 2nd cousin". Maybe they've put so much effort into their Aitutaki location that they don't have the money needed to do a major upgrade of their Rarotonga location. Just don't know. The upshot is, that if you spring for the fairly pricey villas at the Rarotonga Pacific Resort, you'll probably be happy, but if you're looking at one of their lower-end rooms, I'd definitely choose one of the other 2 options (Manea Beach Villas or the Palm Grove). Just my opinion of course.

Ken

PS - Forgot you had you 2 kids with you and that changes things a bit.

The view and water conditions statements in my previous post obviously will all still apply but, with 4 people you probably will not be staying in a beachfront unit at the Palm Grove but instead probably in one of their 2 or 3 bedroom houses, which I really don't recall too well. However it would mean that you would be ACROSS the street from the beach rather than directly on it. It is not far from the water, but it is NOT on the water.

Also, with kids, there are some advantages to staying at the Pacific Resort - namely that they have resort equipment available for them to use and the possiblity that they can easily meet other children. It also means that you'd likely be renting one of the 2-bedroom garden units (as they fall in your price range), which I have to say I don't much about (all the folks I'd talked to had either stayed in the 1-bedroom units or the larger, more expensive villas - which fall outside your price range). Sorry for any confusion. Maybe Shully or someone else can comment about the condition of the Pacific Resort's 2-bedroom garden units. I'm just not sure if they are in the same "somewhat suspect" condition of some of the 1-bedroom units or not (though personally, I'd be a bit leery).

Ken