We had a truly marvelous 5-day stopover in Rarotonga. It was just the sort of vacation we were hoping for: totally low key, but with water activities and restaurants just outside the door. Our staying at Sokala Villas on Muri Beach was a major reason for our enjoyment. What good luck to have found you on the Internet.

The location of our beachfront villa (with private pool no less) was incredible, with glorious views of the sandy beach and palm tree out of the many windows of our 2-room unit. The snorkeling off the beachfront and the
kayaking to the small island opposite were real treats. And there was even an Internet cafe down the driveway!

But you, Lawrance, and your helpful and extremely friendly staff made our vacation really special. Our taxi driver said “Lawrance is the best host on the island”, and I am sure she is right. I've enjoyed meeting you and especially our little chats; you're an interesting person to listen to, and someone who also likes to listen. A very winning combination!

You can count on it: we will definitely be back to Sokala Villas!
All the best in the future. I look forward to seeing you again,

Witta Priester --- Christchurch / NZ ---

We want to say thank you to Sarina, Susan, Lawrance, Mautara and all the other people working at Sokala Villas for making every wish come true. We really enjoyed every minute and made a lot of memories; we will never
forget this trip around the world.

So many wonderful moments; its hard to really explain everthing to our family and friends. We often talk about our wedding ceremony, the dive trips, the marvellous lagoon right in front of our villa and the wonderful Sails Restaurant ..."

We often visit the website of Sokala Villas to wallow in memories. It is interesting to see the pictures of the other weeding couples.

We send a lot of greetings from Germany to Rarotonga ;
Alles Gute and take care,

With best regards, --- Nina & Simon --- from Germany ---

We just did a normal booking, but we've got a really nice villa with pool. After a few days he told us, we could upgrade (at no extra cost of course) to a beachfront villa. So: Lawrence, who runs this place since 15 years, is the first highlight of Sokala Villas. He's just lovely and there to help you whenever you need something.

As there are no children under 12 alowed, it seems to be a typical honeymoon destination. It's really, really quiet there and you can relax as you want. The villas are built of wood and really nice decorated. When we arrived, there was a bottle of sparkling wine, flowers and fruits waiting for us. Of course, everything was clean.

Nearly every villa has an own pool, and even the beach is just 10 secs away that's nice as well ...

Sokala Villas doesn't offer breakfast or dinner, but that's no problem. A supermarket is just 1 minute footwalk away, and so you can prepare yourself a nice private breakfast at the pool - which we much preferred against some "club service". If you want to have lunch or dinner, there are a lot restaurants around Sokala Villas. You can reach everything within 10 minutes walking. Also there is a bus stop in front of the door, if you want to go to the "city centre" (which is not tooo big). Even an internet cafe is around the corner!

Rarotonga is really a lovely place to visit. If you ever thought, whether these typical pictures in the brochures of travel agencies are shot - go there. They really have this clean, blue water in the lagoon, the palm trees with coconuts and nice fishes when you go snorkelling.

So, in a word: Sokala Villas is highly recommended. The staff is lovely, the villas are modern and clean and really nice.

A word to other commentators: I haven't seen a single cockroach in the whole 6 days, so cleanness is definitely not a problem. Maybe you'll find the Cocks annoying, which begin to make noises somewhen at 6 in the morning - but I haven't had a problem with that, and I think it's not a big problem at all.

no names given to the webmaster --- Germany ---

sincerly your sokala team

Be aware of the lizards! The noise of them initially freaked us out, but they are tiny and harmless and they eat the flies and mosquitoes, so they're your friends!

We had all the privacy we could ever want. There are no kids under 12 allowed in the resort, so you have constant peace and quiet. I couldn't even tell if there were other people staying there most of the time. You can use the free canoes to paddle out to the little islands. We saw shoals of fish leaping out of the water, sea cucumbers, crabs everywhere...just stunning natural things all around.

There are no poisonous creatures on Raro and the only things which bite are the mosquitoes and giant millipedes (but we didn't see any of those).

The island is very pretty. We were there off-season and it was never cold. Bike hire was cheap ($10 per day) and handy.

This is definitely the place to go if you need some relaxation time. If you're into sitting on a beach. We're used to life in a city, so we felt a bit bored after two days - we like music. There isn't any.

The Rarotongans haven't really bought into the 'tourist' thing wholesale, even though it seems to be the basis of their economy. The bars and restaurants were closed and awful lot of the time. Saturday night we tried to go out for a meal in Avarua (the main town) and only one place was open. Even there most people were sitting looking bored, there was no music playing and the waitress was so slow. Food was pretty good though.

The milkshake in the cafe next to the traffic island is amazing.

It's a good idea to go to a resort to get some food, but don't order the sausages! Mine looked like strange grey slugs.

Sails Restaurant is very good, but book ahead. The Flame Tree Restaurant gets lots of accolades in the guidebooks, but it depends what you order. My chicken was stunning, but my partner's curry was utterly horrible.

The bus which circles the island is handy. Get a ten journey ticket for $20. Better than the $5 return. Be aware that after a certain time the bus only goes one way round the island.

The guidebooks tell you to 'avoid public displays of --- affection' on the island. We got funny looks from the locals when we held hands! The guidebooks also warm you about the strange dogs which roam the island, but I didn't see any of those near Sokala.

Roosters will wake you up, but you won't mind.

I am trying to think of bad things about the island, but there isn't really that much. Perhaps the worst is that on the whole, the island doesn't really do 'customer service', that's why Sokala is such a good place - they really take care of you.

If you want to visit a place which is genuinely unspoiled, this is for you. Rarotongans are not the friendliest people in the world (not quite rude, but getting there), but Sokala more than makes up for that small disappointment.

no names given to the webmaster --- UK ---

We thoroughly enjoyed the premier location of the villa, which was right on the beach, with crystal clear waters that meet the soft white sand. This beach location is ideal for swimming, kayaking, and snorkeling. The private wooden deck of our villa was surrounded by lush tropical gardens and coconut trees, which made it an idyllic location for reading and gazing out at the water. We thoroughly enjoyed the secluded villa and our own pool, while being just a few steps away from the translucent blue lagoon.

Many thanks to Lawrance, Susan and Sarina for their warm hospitality...we felt truly welcomed and at home during our stay.

We loved every minute of our stay at Sokala and would definitely recommend this resort to anyone planning a trip to the Cook Islands.

Cheers, June & Carl --- USA ---

We loved the rooster alarm clocks, especially the angry ones.

Chuck Mason & Bridgette Steinmetz --- USA ---

There are also a number of nearby restaurants with yummy food who were happy for us to have take away and/or cook me something off the menu when they ran out of veggie options :o)

On this trip we stayed in a number of very expensive 5 star plus hotels and Sokala rates as highly if not better than any of these other resorts.

Many thanks to everyone at Sokala. We will be returning even tho' it's half way round the world, I wouldn't stay anywhere else in Rarotonga.

Danie & Sam --- UK ---