Aitutaki Village is a small boutique resort on Aitutaki in the Cook Islands. Situated on the white sandy beach of Ootu (meaning full moon) on the south western point of the island. The property provides a quiet and relaxing environment on the edge of the protected Aitutaki lagoon, ideal for swimming and water activities at all tides.The Polynesian inspired restaurant and bar has stunning views and is located on the lagoons edge. Breakfast, lunch and dinner is available everyday, we also offer special dinner evenings, lagoon cruises, private island excursions, rental vehicles, kayaks and island tours.
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
HOTEL STYLE
Family
Mid-range
Languages Spoken
English
Location
Ootu Beach, 0000 Cook Islands
Aitutaki Village
257 reviews
Getting there
Somewhat walkable
Places to stay are graded on a 0-100 scale. The higher the grade, the easier it is for travellers to find restaurants and things to do within walking distance.
Our 4-night stay at the Aitutaki Village was magical. The location, right on the lagoon’s edge at Ootu Beach, was truly amazing. Although the location is a bit isolated from the main part of the island and the town (you’ll need transport of some kind), it is within easy walking distance were several restaurants, tour agencies, and rental agency. It was a great experience to just be able to step into the placid lagoon right from the property. Our unit, a free-standing bungalow, was one of 12 in the complex, surrounded by beautiful trees and gardens. It was roomy and airy with plenty of windows, all screened against the insects. We had a fridge and coffee making area as well as an AC (which we didn’t use.) There was no TV but I noted that the Vodafone Wifi hotspot coverage extended to our unit. There was also excellent 3G data coverage. The shower was great – plenty of hot water 24/7. Our host, Maria, was fantastic, organizing various tours and rentals and making us really feel at home there. The onsite restaurant was great, located right on the water’s edge. We ate all our breakfasts there which were basic but adequate – buffet style fruit, toast, yogurt, and muesli. For dinner, there was a limited menu, but all options were delicious and good value. There were a couple of kayaks and paddle boards there, free for guest use, and magical to take them onto the lagoon. Although free bicycle use was advertised, this is no longer the case and a bit of a disappointment, as we had to hire bicycles from Rinos over in town. Another disappointment was that although there were outdoor showers advertised for the units, only 2 of the units actually had outdoor showers.
Overall we had a great stay and would definitely recommend it to other travelers. We would stay here again without hesitation.
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Date of stay: August 2021
Location
Service
Sleep Quality
Room Tip:Ask for a unit with outdoor shower.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I stayed for four nights early March as a solo traveller. From the moment I was greeted at the airport by Marie (only a short drive away) to the moment I left, I loved it all. Marie was a warm and friendly host.
The cabins were great. Some may call them basic but they were clean and comfortable and have everything you need (including great aircon which is such a relief on the really hot and humid days).
This place has a perfect and beautiful location. The sun setting from the bar is magical.
If you can spare a few days or more in Aitutaki (rather than just the day trip that's offered), then I definately recommend Aitutaki Village.
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Date of stay: March 2020
Location
Cleanliness
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Best location on the island for swimming, kayaking, walking the sandbars of Ootu beach and exploring the lagoon. The restaurant at the property, Blue Lagoon, has fantastic meals and is the perfect place to watch the sunset. A great continental breakfast was included in our rate. Koru Cafe, The Boatshed restaurant and scooter hire is all within a 5 min walk and Bishop's Lagoon tours, which leaves from Aitutaki Village, offers a discount as they don't need a shuttle to pick you up. We were warmly greeted at the airport with a beautiful lei by Robin who provided free return transport. The villa is comfortable with air con, fan, modern shower/vanity and beauty polished wooden floors. Get a visa phone Sim for fantastic internet access, even out at One Foot and Honeymoon island, as the property doesn't have wifi. Safe drinking water is in the fridge and can be refilled at the restaurant.
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Date of stay: November 2024
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
My wife and I stayed in Aitutaki Village for a couple days during our honeymoon. The location and accommodations were beautiful. On site kayaks were a nice touch. The attached restaurant is good and has an amazing buffet breakfast, but often runs out of dinner items (makes sense as the island is quite remote and shipping is an issue) The music is way too loud for the tranquil location.
We loved our stay except for some real issues with the staff. We were introduced to the resort by an amazing staff member named Elaina(?). She was courteous and drove us from the airport to our room. She gave us a lot of great information on the area and booked us in while we waited for our lagoon cruise.
Unfortunately the rest of the stay was managed by a staff member called "Aunty Love". During the last day of our stay my wife and I were relaxing in the lawn chairs close to the beautiful lagoon when Aunty Love and a bunch of the locals started blasting their own music. Seemed pretty unprofessional as the music was very loud, driving off many of the other guests. We could even hear the music through the walls of our room, so there was no way to get away from it. Aunty Love was also walking around with open alcohol while going between her friends and the front desk. My wife and I let her know the music was very loud and we were leaving the resort to find somewhere quiet, but she did not seem too concerned.
My wife and I had an early flight to catch the following morning and let Aunty Love know we would need a transfer. She said she would inform the staff and a transfer would be no issue. We woke up the next morning and milled around the entrance waiting for our transfer. We started to worry about 45 minutes before our flight as no staff was present. We had to go to the owner's on site house and knock on the door to get service as it was quite early. Luckily we ran into Elaina from the first day. After apologizing she rushed us to the airport, but we had just missed our flight. Elaina did a great job of getting us on our next flight for free and comped us a portion of our total bill at the resort.
Though Elaina was an amazing host and provided great support on the first and last day, we found the whole experience to be frustrating due to the unprofessional staff on site for the other days.
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Date of stay: January 2020
Rooms
Service
Sleep Quality
Room Tip:Book a room far away from the beach/restraunt
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Nice and cozy bungalow hotel just is front of the most beautiful lagoon in the world, you don’t need tv or luxury when you have a view like this. The room are more than basic and always clean, big bed and big shower, fresh water is always available in the fridge. The restaurant is just on the lagoon, with a good choice of typical dishes. People from the Aitutaki village are always smiling and friendly, and they are always at your disposal. The cruises for the famous Motus and one foot islands are leaving from the beach just in front of the bungalows. 100% suggested!
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Date of stay: November 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I would say at the outset my review is honest and only at this grade as the island and indeed the resort need more tourists so they can operate normally and open up. We luckily only stayed overnight and the price at $340 was pretty high for what you get in return. We were the only visitors this night and so restaurant was closed, but luckily the gem at the Boatshed was open for food..the cabin we stayed in was spacious and very clean and tidy with a deck. Don’t expect a lie in tho as roosters are first awake. Breakfast was pretty feeble with fruit and warm yogurt and some not so fresh sliced white bread. The staff member was happy to play on her phone whilst we helped ourselves and unfortunately for the owners staff didnt appear to want to work too hard. The owners daughter Maria was lovely and took our issues on board. Hopefully, this was just a one off as it could be a great place with more guests and staff willing to work for guests more. The location is pretty good on the side of the lagoon and just a few minutes from the airport. Its an expensive island in general and that could be why many stick to Rara. With other countries opening up reviews will be important for choices after being stagnant for so long
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Date of stay: March 2022Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Wow! What an incredible stay at Aitutaki Village! Upon arrival, we were greeted at the airport with eis (such a nice touch!) and shuttled straight to the hotel. We were greeted by Robin who was so sweet, kind and helpful, assisting us multiple times throughout our stay with questions and requests (thank you, Robin!). The cute little beach huts were so well appointed, incredibly clean and were situated across a small road on the BEST BEACH in Aitutaki! I’m talking calm lagoon waters where you can walk hundreds of feet away from shore and still be waist deep, where when the tide is low you’ll have your own sand bars! Also, unlike our accommodations in Rarotonga, the bath amenities were also wonderful.
We joined the island nights cultural show and that also included much better food and entertainment than our resort in Rarotonga. The Blue Lagoon restaurant in general has superb food, cocktails and drinks. Not to mention is a stones throw away from the amazing lagoon! Ally was our awesome bartender and server who (like every other staff member we encountered) was sooooo helpful and service oriented. Breakfast consisted of toast, cereal, fruits - but they recommended Koru Cafe (AMAZING) if you wanted something more substantial.
We had a private boat charter to visit the other islands and although the weather was not in our favor, it was still an incredible experience. Seka and Jeitin (sorry for any misspelling) were our guides for the day and for 3/4 beaches, we were the only boat there. Private beaches galore!!! BBQ lunch at One Foot Island concluded the day before we headed back to Aitutaki Village. Don’t forget your passports for One Foot Island to get your stamp in your passport. We forgot ours but the Bishops Cruise tour guide was happy to meet me after the cruise to stamp ours!
The boat tour and AV are owned by one family - the Bishops - and man do they do a great job! Thank you especially to Maria who helped me book this incredibly stay and for helping with my trillion questions and bookings to truly make this a seamless stay! And also a big mahalo to Andrea who assisted leading up to our stay with the last minute details and questions.
If you’re reading through these reviews wondering if you should book, don’t even give it a second thought! You seriously will not regret it! We’re already trying to figure out how and when we can return! ;)
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Date of stay: October 2023
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled with family
Room Tip:Beach hut in the front looks slightly larger than the others. Our unit #4 was second from the...
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Placed as close as you can get to the best beach on the main island Ootu beach and it’s shades of blue are breathtaking! The team at Aitutaki village made us feel like family, their beautiful villas are very well equipped, the beds we’re comfortable, the outdoor shower and deck was the best to look out at beautiful Ootu beach, the staff went over and above, they are very attentive and polite, the village has a restaurant in front “Blue Lagoon” it never disappoints, it’s the only place I will stay and eat, I will be back again. Thanks to the Bishop family who have the hearts of angels, your hospitality and kindness made our Cook Islands trip very special 😇 Aitutaki Village & Cruises are 10/10 and rated A++ PS: Book the Bishops island cruise and road tour around the island too! You don’t want to miss out on all the history and beautiful One Foot Island!!
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Date of stay: February 2023Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Amazing hosts, went over and above to help us out and make our stay amazing. Perfect spot right on the beach. Really friendly and helpful staff - even delivered our restaurant dinner to us when a storm blew in! The restaurant has the most beautiful outlook onto the water so you can watch fish jumping, sunsets and all the activity on the water. Would definitely come back here to stay. We also did the Bishops day cruise associated with this accommodation which was pretty faultless - great crew who played live cook island music, good food, beautiful island visits and snorkelling.
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Date of stay: July 2021Trip type: Travelled with family
Room Tip:Book rental transport before you arrive - we missed out because it was so busy and regretted not...
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
My son and I were so looking forward to this week together on a fly fishing expedition and we were not disappointed! The Cook Islands locals, business owners, and others we met were so kind and warm. We found Aitutaki Village via the company that arranged our fly fishing excursion and the property was just what we were hoping for. The pace was very relaxing and the weather was nice, of course. The highlight was definitely the hospitality and graciousness of our hosts. They went out of their way to make sure every detail was spot on. The accommodations were clean and recently renovated. I look forward to returning and bring my wife and the rest of our family.
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Date of stay: January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Christchurch, New Zealand161 contributions44 helpful votes
Only a couple of flights per day so not an issue at all. We’ve been to Aitutaki four times and never once had an issue with a flight.
Seriously, it’s paradise on earth. My wife tells me not to tell people this as she’s scared it will become overcrowded one day!
Go there - you’ll adore it!
Las Vegas, Nevada295 contributions132 helpful votes
Koru Cafe is open only for breakfast and lunch but it's much better than Boatshed. They can also make meals for you that you just need to heat up if you give them 24 hrs notice. There are no markets nearby.
They have kayaks you can use at Aitutaki village so no need to rent them. I recommend renting a scooter if you want to go to the other side of the island. Aitutaki village is located just past the airport where there are a few great restraints but if you want to go check out the island a scooter is a must and super fun :)
They can store your valuables at the reception but as prior mentioned, I wouldn't worry as it's very safe. We left all in the bungalow and didn't had any issues. Enjoy paradise and go to one foot island!!
There are more places to choose from in the Aitutaki area.
PRICE RANGE
S$313 - S$318 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
ALSO KNOWN AS
samade on the beach hotel aitutaki
FORMERLY KNOWN AS
Samade on the Beach
LOCATION
Cook IslandsSouthern Cook IslandsAitutaki
NUMBER OF ROOMS
12
Prices are the average nightly price provided by our partners and may not include all taxes and fees. Taxes and fees that are shown are estimates only. Please see our partners for more details.
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