During our recent stay on Moorea, we has a fabulous stay at the Hilton Moorea Lagoon Resort and Spa. The resort is located on the North side of the island and offers wonderful accommodations and amenities.
Bungalows
While staying at the Hilton Moorea, you have two options for accommodations: the over the water bungalow or the garden bungalow. There is a significant price difference between both and since we were on a budget and were going to stay in an over the water bungalow in Bora Bora, we opted for the king deluxe garden bungalow with private pool. This was a great choice. Our bungalow had a king bed, an indoor seating area and a very large ensuite. Outdoors another seating area and a small private pool with lounge chairs.
Dining
Dining at the resort is fairly expensive and the choices are limited. That said, some dishes are excellent (mostly local cuisine), but over everything is pretty good.
The only breakfast option, other than room service, is the breakfast buffet. The buffet offers a lot of choices, great omelet station and lots of fresh fruit options. It starts at 6:30 am is available until 10:30 am. This was included as part of our stay.
For lunch, the only on resort option is the Rotui Bar & Grill. They have many options from local dishes to, salads, pizzas and burgers. If you do dine at the Rotui Bar & Grill the Poulet Fafa, a traditional French Polynesian dish. It is delicious!
Happy Hour at the Eimeo Bar is every night from 5 to 6 pm. During this hour they offer a few appetizers choices and buy one get one free on some of their signature cocktails. We definitely enjoyed a few mango mojitos at the end of each day, while watching the sun set.
Totui Bar and Creperie, only open for dinner, has great views you can watch fish swim around while watching the sunset. They offer delicious savory and sweet crepes. The only other on resort dinner options are room service and the Rotui Bar & Grill.
There are a few restaurants walkable distance from the hotel. In our experience, stores and restaurants aren’t always open during posted hours. So, it’s best to call or have the concierge at the hotel call for you to check before heading over.
One little bonus is that this hotel stocks your mini bar daily. They provide a some water, beer and soft drinks free of charge. There is some conflicting information around this but we were told by a server at the hotel not to drink the tap water. It’s apparently fine to use for brushing your teeth but nothing else. Ordering bottled water with each meal does add up quickly ($6 USD for 1L bottle) so if you get the chance stop by the supermarket where you can get water for about $1 USD per 1L. The same applies to beer, it is much cheaper to buy off resort.
Amenities
The resort has great amenities. In addition to private bungalow pools there is large pool for all the guests to enjoy. There is also a gym, two tennis courts with racquets and balls that you can borrow. There is a spa onsite, but we didn’t have the chance to check it out.
Also, the guests get access to kayaks, standup paddle boards and snorkeling equipment. The snorkeling in front of the resorts is really good (the best we had experienced up to that point). We did get to see plenty of tropical fish in very shallow waters. If you are looking for something a bit more relaxing, there are plenty of lounge chairs to sit and enjoy the view or read a book.
The concierge staff is good. They will help you book activities or tours or simply looking for a dinner reservation or a cab.
For those renting a car, good news they offer free parking. They also have cars for rent at the hotel if you just want a short term rental. It only takes about 1 hour to go around the island so many guests only rent vehicles for a day. We rented a car for 24 hours and were able to get some shopping in and circle the island.
It’s important to pack patience and be understanding. We had fully expected to be able to take advantage of the tennis court and the gym while there but that wasn’t possible due to a fire on the island that knocked out the power to those areas. Luckly, nothing else was affected.
Finally, if you are planning a trip to Moorea, below are some links to other posts that might interest you.
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