The Sunset Resort is a great place for a relaxing and fun holiday.
Hotel style (not bungalow-style) studio, one bedroom and a couple of two-bedroom rooms.
Air conditioning there to use if needed. Beds very comfortable and bathrooms good. Shower pressure excellent and plenty of hot water. In-room safe provided. Shutters and screens for privacy and to keep out the bugs. There is TV but only one local channel although there is a dvd player and dvds provided free of charge if you wanted them. Rooms are self-contained with own kitchen so you can self-cater own meals when you want to.
There is a sandy groomed beach with excellent snorkelling from a couple of metres out. A nice grassed area above the beach has sun-loungers, chairs and hammocks too. There are also two very good swimming pools - one in the middle of the complex and one at the centre of the two-storey poolside rooms. A bar near the one pool has nice cool beers and great cocktails at happy-hour prices early in the evening. Snorkelling gear and reef shoes are available free of charge to use but if you have your own I'd take them.
There are only about 32 units in the whole complex so the place never seems full as there are plenty of places to spread out. No kids under 12 policy and most guests there as couples.
The on-site restaurant serves an excellent complimentary 'island' continental breakfast daily. This includes fresh fruit, yoghurt, cereals, toast and spreads, tea and coffee. A great start to each day. The evening meals are themed nightly and they seem more than adequate but with so many restaurants nearby and in town we tended to eat out or self-cater. Supermarket prices are a bit higher than NZ so take as much food of your own as you can if you want to self-cater. We took cheeses, dips, crackers, nibbles, pasta, canned fish, etc.
Our package included a free scooter hire (make sure you get a scooter in your package or it's only $20 per day to hire) so this meant very easy access around the whole island as it is only 32km around. Make sure you get off the 'beaten track' and cruise on the back roads to see a bit more of local village life.
The staff were helpful and friendly and service is low-key Cook Island style with a smile.
We had pretty good weather - six mostly fine warm to hot days and one hot, humid and wet day. The cyclone that hit Fiji did mean higher seas and a strong on-shore breeze on the sunset side of the island (resort pools pretty well sheltered) but with the scooter it was easy to buzz around to other spots to swim (sea was 27C) and snorkel which was all part of the fun.
Highlights included attending the Aorangi Cook Island Christian Church service on Sunday morning (amazing singing), Tamarind restaurant, Matutu brewery, Juicees great smoothies, the Saturday markets, cruising the island on the scooter, swimming in the lagoon near the Rarotongan Resort, snorkelling off the beach opposite Lagoon Breezes Resort, the excellent facilities and location of the Sunset Resort and of course relaxing with a good book and good company at the Sunset.
A highly recommended resort.
- Sunset Hotel Arorangi
- The Sunset Hotel
- Sunset Resort Rarotonga
