After spending numerous hours researching and reading reviews I honestly thought that we had booked the most idyllic place to spend 9 glorious days with the family relaxing and enjoying the warm weather. This unfortunately was not the case at all and very disappointing. The Garden Suite was dark and dingy, with no natural light. The kitchen was akin to a backpacking hostel with no oven, no kettle a dilapidated fridge and only a camping stove to boil water on if you cared for a cup of coffee - Not something that you would expect when you are asked to pay $ 210 per night. As for the bedrooms there were adequate beds however at the head of both beds there were wires hanging out of the wall with no coverings!! Extremely dangerous and would not pass normal safety standards - Clean sheets/towels were offered on the 5th day however should be changed more regularly considering that there was no air-conditioning. The bathroom too had no natural light, no bath, stank of damp and you shared the toilet with centipedes.

The overall cleanliness of the apartment was appalling and needed a good clean and vacuum. Unfortunately there were no cleaning products/mops available otherwise I would have done it myself! We tired looking for alternative accommodation but Esa would not give us our money back. Fortunately we had family staying around the corner at AITO Apartments and we spent majority of our time there only returning to Ambala Gardens to sleep.

Before you part with your hard earned cash, I strongly recommend that you reconsider and don’t take all of the other reviews as face value and get caught into the same trap that we did. There are other apartments out there that accommodate all needs that are closer to the beach, cleaner, neat and truly show you the spirit of Rarotonga without burning a hole in your pocket.

My wife and I stayed with Nancy and Esa for a week at the tail end of our honeymoon. It was fantastic!! They were super friendly and knowledgable, it was like staying with your own private concierge. The breakfasts were outstanding, we can only imagine how good they would have been in summer when more fruit was in season. Everything they recomended seeing and doing met our expectations. It felt like we were staying with family.

We stayed 1 week at Ambala Gardens and it was just OK. Considering the price we found several deficiencies and we are not fussy travellers, just want clean, and things in good working order.
First, the lodge is a long walk to the beach, and its all uphill on the way back. This is ok if you are prepared for it but we understood it to be much closer than that when we booked. We had heard of the great breakfasts and had boooked to have breakfast for the morning after our arrival, as we knew we would arrive very late in the evening. Well it was very meagre at best and nothing like what we had read in the reviews and we were made to feel we were a nuisance by being there for some dry toast and cold scrambled eggs.
Later we asked about our broken toaster and were told, that the last renters had broken it. And that was that. The kitchen counter balanced onto the stove and was ready to fall off, the cutting board was disgusting, there were no curtains in the second bedroom so the sun beat in there all day and it was an oven by the evening so we stuffed sarongs into the windows to try to keep the heat and light out. There was no clips to hang wet suits or gear, the deck furniture was falling apart and ready for the dumpster. There were only 2 outdoor chairs even though there were 3 of us staying there. We rented bikes and asked where to park them and again were made to feel like a nuisance. After a couple days we asked a couple who were our friends and staying down the road to come and have a look at the beautiful grounds. It was so hot and we invited them for a swim (there were no other guests so the pool was empty) , but hadn't noticed the small note by the door that this was not allowed. Unfortunately we went into the pool and within seconds were sternly and loudly reprimanded, like we were unruly children, and told we were breaking the rules and that it wasn't a public pool. We apologised but were humiliated. One night we had a massive bug infestation and hundreds of crawling bugs invaded the bathroom swarming across the floor, and up the walls. We finally found some bug spray, then had a big mess of dead bugs to clean up with the meagre cleaning suppies we had. We were on edge the whole week and were happy to visit our friends down the road more than once where we were able to relax and visit without incident. Also the exercise room that was advertised does not exist.

From the moment we stepped off the plane and were welcomed by a smiling Esa, we knew we were in for a relaxing holiday. Ambala Gardens is a garden oasis a few minutes walk from the beautiful Muri beach. Esa and Nancy were the perfect hosts; there when you needed anything but not encroaching on your privacy. Nancy's breakfasts were up to the rave reviews we had read before arriving and were eaten on the upstairs terrace with our hosts who were a font of information about Rarotonga. Esa took us on a guided tour of the island pointing out many places of interest that we would not have found on our own. He also showed us through the magnificent gardens with a miriad of fruit trees as well as many plants we had not seen before. There were torches made available to guide us home in the evenings as well as reef shoes for walking over the rocks and a great range of DVDs. We were very sad to leave and look forward to visiting again.