FAKARAVA - Teariki Lodge 1

Les logements sont en bord de mer, on est vraiment dans un coin de paradis. Les hôtes sont d'une gentillesse incomparable.

La maison est loin de la ville ce qui décourage parfois d'aller profiter de la ville.

Etre à plus de 10km de toute activité sans moyen de locomotion. Les animaux tel que des grosses blattes ou des scolopendres dans le lits. Ne pas avoir de porte au sanitaire devant la cuisine pour la cohésion de la famille.

De me faire traité d'assisté par la propriétaire quand j'ai demandé de me faire accompagné à ma voiture de location car il n'y avait pas de vélo pour ma fille. Etre accueilli par une meute de chien. Le rapport qualité/prix est ignoble.

having bikes to ride on the island but the distance to any restaurant was close to 6 miles each way.

There was a store across the street which was needed because everyhing else is 9+ km away. The host was friendly, but didn't respond via booking during our stay. They have a young lady staying at the same location in a different house who also runs the store – she is very friendly, kind & helpful!

The dishes were dirty when we arrived. There were so many ants everywhere including the bed. The windows aren't like what we're used to. You can either keep them closed, which makes it very stuffy in there, or open them fully and lose all privacy + welcome all mosquitoes. The bathroom was very stuffy because the ventilation didn't work. You'll need to request a toilet paper refill, as no one came by during our 9 day stay. There was also no change of sheets. Internet is 1MB for 2-4 people. Unfortunately this was the most unpleasant stay in our FP travel. As the price is quite high for what you get, I can't recommend it.

There was a view of the sea, and the little pool was surprisingly nice. The sea breeze and fans kept the room cool enough that sleeping wasn't as uncomfortable as I would have thought given the tropical climate. Also there were fewer mosquitos than other parts of FP, so sleeping with all the windows open was okay. Having the local store so close was nice as well.

We didn't love our stay here for a few reasons...mostly location and cost. The bungalow is 10k away from town, and about 6k away from a place to eat, which are long bike rides in tropical heat. A taxi to town and back at night for dinner costs about 50 USD, which is similar to the cost to rent a scooter for the day. Factor that into the cost of your stay here. And speaking of cost, it is way too expensive for what you get. The kitchen is functional, but not well organized and had mostly beat up pots and pans, used sponges, tons of ants, cockroaches etc. All this would be acceptable for a quarter of what it costs. We took it because it was all that was available when we booked, several month before our diving trip, and if you find yourself in the same situation, it's fine. But if you have the option to book something closer to town, even if it's a bit more expensive, I'd recommend that. I also heard about some people renting rooms in town for a lot cheaper, which is also probably a better option. To be fair, our host was responsive to our needs, and even provided a fresh sponge and new pots and pans, but I feel those things should be taken care of in a $200/night place without having to ask. It may be a better value for more people as there was an upstairs loft that could sleep 2 more, if it's not too hot.

The pool was nice

There were few options for lodging in fakarava and this was our only. Most of the lodgings are modest and this is nothing different. Relatively clean, but there were bugs as is with most tropical locations. The biggest issue is how far the lodge is from everything else. There are zero food places nearby, just the small grocery store across the street. Which is fine if you are going to cook for yourself the whole time. If you want to into town it’s 10km, with the lodge mentions, but what you don’t realize is that bikes are difficult to ride and you are fighting the wind to make it extra hard. Taxi will cost you 40,000xpf round trip for 2 people. And a scooter is about 5k / day. So all this factored in you are over paying for the lodge by a lot. Also the host barely spoke to us or was accessible, never took trash or was available for question, and the wifi was horrible inside the room. Again options can be slim but these are things to consider.