Sands Villas

Exceptional This is one of the best places we ever stayed at. Everything is perfect. Beautiful villa, modern interior design, cosy. Thank you Sand Villas for letting us have an amazing holiday.

We booked the Coral & Vaka Villas to accommodate a multi -generation family group including 4 children aged 5 years and under. The villas were full sized houses - both 3 bedrooms & 2 bathrooms. The Vaka Villa is bigger and sits a little bit further back from the beach. The Coral Villa has a beach front deck with glorious views out to the lagoon where we sat and watched the whales out beyond the reef. The beach in front of the villas is absolutely perfect for little ones with soft sand underfoot and not too many black rock formations to avoid. The water is crystal clear and was calm for all 5 days we were there. We used the kayaks and snorkeling gear provided. There is plenty of it in various sizes including children's life jackets. There are also reef shoes available. No need to take your own. There are plenty of books, games, etc in the Coral Villa to keep you amused if a rainy day sets in. The Villas are a short stroll to the popular "Charlies" cafe and the Little Polynesian - excellent eating spots. The Maire Nui Gardens are a superb spot too for food focused on fresh produce and the best cheesecake I've ever tasted. We also attended the local church just down the road on Sunday morning to hear the beautiful singing. Hosts Rongo & Peter were responsive to any issues with Rongo providing us some exquisite ei & Lei made from gardenias to help celebrate a special occasion. It was the holiday of a lifetime with magical memories made.

A wonderful location on white sand with turquoise water and good snorkelling at your feet. Very good facilities for self catering in this idyllic spot. Easy beach walking in either direction, and set back from the road, so very quiet with empty sections either side.

A fantastic slice of heaven in Titikaveka on Rarotonga. We loved this part of the island and having the gorgeous beach straight out front all to ourselves was magic. Aunty Rongo was fabulous and attended to our needs and our hosts were very friendly offering great advice. We stayed in Vaka Villa which was beachfront and the rest of our group were in Villa Hibiscus just behind. Both were awesome with everything you need for a relaxing holiday. Highly recommend Sands Villas to anyone.

Unfortunately, the pictures on the website for this unit are a bit deceiving, other than the fabulous location. The kitchen was well stocked and the bathrooms had newer cabinets and sinks but the unit is quite old and not well cared for. The air conditioner didn't work in the master upon arrival, eventually came on but was out the last two days of the trip and it was incredibly hot in the villa as there is no air in the main living area and only one small ceiling fan. Unfortunately the unit apparently had not been fumigated in a while and there were a lot, I mean a lot of really big cockroaches (we know there are bugs in tropical places, that's why fumigation is necessary). After a phone call, it was sprayed the day after our arrival so we dealt with dead and dying roaches each morning. A few days into the trip there was no water which was eventually restored after another call. The wicker furniture had balls of debris and hair caught in the bottom and there were dead bugs under the beds, they'd been there for a while. We were so disappointed after planning for a year for this trip. We would have moved to a different location if we could have found other accommodations and been assured of a refund. We didn't expect luxury, we've stayed at rustic places and we knew it was a small island but a well cared for and clean environment was absolutely expected, especially for the cost. The other 2 villas are much nicer for the same price.

Very easy to communicate with the owners and prime snorkelling directly in front of the rental. We saw stingrays, turtles, eels, and ton of beautiful fish. Our kids were 3&5 and both were able to have a good first snorkelling experience. We enjoyed our stay and hope to return. Wouldn’t look anywhere else.