Name: Bella Beach Bungalows
Address: PO Box 158 Titikaveka,, Rarotonga, Rarotonga, Rarotonga, 0000, Cook Islands
Rating: 9

Garden

General

Laundry

Services and amenities

Internet

Airport transportation

Transfer

Bike rental

Barbecue grill(s)

Sun Deck

Recreation

Free parking

Parking

Private beach

Next to the beach

Pool and beach

Snorkelling

Sports

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

Location

At the hotel

Rarotonga Airport

Bella Beach Bungalows

Rarotonga

Great place on the most beautiful beach of Rarotonga. The house is basic, but clean.  Spacious and has a fully equipped kitchen. Nice outdoor seating and only a few steps to the water. Sunbeds, towels and kayaks are included. 

In front of the house is a busstop, but renting a car or scooter might be better. A small shop at 1km and a bigger one at 3km.

Great place to relax, enjoy the beach and the amazing sunsets.

One suggestion: a map with some basic information about Wifi, cleaning, busschedule, car rental, nearby shops etc would be helpfull. 

What a beautiful place.....

Bella Beach Bungalows is in an amazing spot beach is beautiful.
The accommodation was amazing and Annabelle our host was awesome, very helpful and accomodating. Looking forward to returning in the near future 

Booking.com lump the Bella Beach Bungalows and the Bella Lodge together, so make sure you are booking what you want.
We stayed at the Lodge, which is a seperate property across the road from the beachfront villas. We knew this before arriving and we’re really happy with the extra space. There was myself, hubby and our 16yr old. He had the mezzanine floor to himself. We arrived at night, and Annabelle had organised a taxi from airport to Lodge $25 per person- cash only.  We stopped off at Wigmores on the way there for quick supplies like milk, bread etc. Wigmores supermarket is 3km down the road. At night it seems quite remote as it’s dark and the road isn’t clearly marked- we would never have found it ourselves. We were pleasantly surprised at the space. This would be great for young families as the grass area is huge. The lodge is equipped with kitchen, bathroom, bed downstairs and one on mezzanine’s floor. There are large bifold doors which open to allow the breeze, and a large deck. We are next to farms, or plantation- so we saw lots of chooks, friendly dogs and a rogue pig (which is why one night the dogs did not stop)! I got used to the rooster morning call. I loved the laid back island style. Annabelle was reachable via email or phone, and gave us recommendations on what to do (as it was our first time in Raro). The beach is just across the road, we walked to the right of our lodge, passed the washing machine and we were in paradise! The beach- speechless, beautiful swimming beach, safe for the kids, use of a couple of kayaks that we took full advantage of. We snorkeled around the coral, saw some fish which was nice. 
There’s a couple of things about the lodge that would elevate this accommodation to the next level. 1) better fan- there was only one and we used it upstairs as it gets unbearably hot and little airflow. A ceiling fan in the high ceiling would be fab! Some brochures or contact information on arrival would be great, so we can quickly know how to contact you ( though your info is on booking .com) but emergency services, general info re local shops, public transport etc. we left all our brochures and our snorkel gear for the next guests ♥️ lastly I would have loved a lounger or even a beach chair, the beachfront villas have them, but as I broke my hip I couldn’t sit on sand - but this really is a 1st world problem and wouldn’t stop me from recommending Bellas.
It was a wonderful holiday, so laid back, it’s not a resort, and I loved it! Next time hubby and I will come back and stay at the beachfront villas. It really is the best beach around. And the sunsets are beautiful. 
Must do: 
1. get cash, for the buses (usually around $5 pp to go half island), public transport including taxis all use cash, as well as smaller dairy’s.
2. Rent a car/scooter- we walked to Go Rentals (next to Wigmores) and hired a car for $60 +$25 per day including insurance. They are one of the few that don’t charge a bind- but they will from March. We preferred car to scooter as car had air con and more space.
3. When first landing, ask transfer to stop at Wigmores so you can collect some basics. There is tea, coffee, sugar and small milk on arrival, but best to have something for brekkie.

Wigmores and other smaller dairy’s are open 24/7. CITC is the largest supermarket on the other side of island, lots more variety and some items cheaper.
Overall pricing was on the high side, but that’s expected as they ship everything in. 
We found Mai’i cafe and bar a fab place to eat, price and food was fab- and they have a pool out the back. 

The location of the villas mean it’s a little more remote, and that is exactly what we wanted.

Can’t wait to come back. Thank you Annabelle. ♥️🌺

Slow Living in Paradise

Lovely beach outside the 4 Bella Beach Bungalows.
Check in was a bit strange as no one was there and no note left to say which was my bungalow so just moved into one. Must have been ok as never saw anyone the whole stay?
Bungalow had everything to be self sufficient. No TV in the one I was in but there was in the others but didnt bother me.
No hammocks up like in the photos but there are sun loungers outside.
Water refill station a couple of mins walk down the road.
No food outlets within walking distance. Charlie's was probs the closest place about 5 mins towards Muri.
So either hire a car/scooter or use the bus.
Was charged $35 extra to the rate on booking.com which I assume was some credit card fee, shame this wasnt disclosed anywhere.
Would definitely stay again as liked the privacy of the location.

Lovely beach! 

My wife and I stayed at Bella Beach Lodge for 3 weeks in June 2022.  We loved it so much we have booked another 3 weeks for next year. This was our 6th visit to Raro over a 30 year period.  We have stayed at various well known resorts and privately owned residences in the past. We prefer the 'get away from it all' island lifestyle so particularly chose  Bella Lodge which is very close to the water but back far enough to escape any wind and surrounded by coconut palms, paw paw and bananas.  Dogs and chooks are part of Rarotonga.  The Lodge was very clean, flyscreens all round and self contained.  It is much more spacious than the beach bungalows. Annabelle and the staff were great.  There is a laid back style to certain things but that again is Raro. Some people are more suited to expensive busy resorts surrounded by tourists.  It's great to have a choice and Bella Lodge is such great value and ticks so many boxes for us.

Bella Beach Lodge

I booked a bungalow which they call "The Lodge" for 6 nights. Bella Beach Bungalows also offer airport transfers at $20 which I booked. On drop off to my unit I was charged $25 (cash) instead. 

On arrival at the bungalow, the owner (Annabelle) asked me to pay for my 6 night stay in cash, saying I could go into town to the ATM to get the money for her. 

This property is not as it is advertised. It advertised amongst it's features: a safety deposit box, washing machine, sofa, telephone, iron, additional toilet, barbecue and importantly, "WiFi is available in the hotel rooms". None of those items exist. 
(The phone was a disconnected service and had no dial tone). 

There is nothing in Bella Beach Bungalow's advertisement for this unit that says it is located at a completely different property. It is very much separate from the other 4 bungalows and is situated in a rural setting surrounded by farms with no one around. 

There was no road signage to find it, and my friends who were staying elsewhere couldn't find me. 

There was no compendium of helpful information, nor contact details for the owner who I never saw again. I could not make use of the kayaks because there were no paddles and no way to get hold of the owner.
 
On the first night I saw her leave and walk down to a house at the end of the section. So 2 days later I resorted to walking down to that family's house and a wee boy said he knew Annabelle and 10mins later, he  came to my unit with his mobile phone and had Annabelle on the line for me to speak to.

So I let Annabelle know that the property isn't as advertised. She blamed the website provider I booked it through, saying she'd given them all the details and I will have to talk to them about it. When I said I would take it up with them, she said "If you're going to have that attitude, you can pack your things and leave!". She repeated that again, saying I was to "talk to my friends that night and find somewhere else to stay and move out tomorrow". I said "You can't evict me!" and she replied It's my property and I can do anything I want". 

The conversation ended by me saying I wouldn't be paying cash but by visa as per the booking, to which she replied "if you do that, I'll charge you a surcharge!" I see she's now added a $35 fee to my bill which wasn't an authorised transaction amount. 

This unit should in no way be advertised in connection to the 4 bungalows she has on the beach. The unit I was in is not only different in look (which is fine), has zero shrubs/garden plants like in the beach bungalow photos, and is isolated on its own. Due to it being in a rural setting, there are countless roosters which crow 24/7. It is common to see at least 40+ poultry around the unit and with there being a compost heap at the door entry, they feed out of it. The first night the many dogs in the area barked and howled till 3am, and to 1-2am each night thereafter. I am returning home exhausted. 

It has been a horrendous experience dealing with this operator who is dishonest, has clearly misrepresented the property with its many missing amenities and threatened me with eviction for complaining about it. 

She's now contacted the service I booked the accomm through and has told them I never checked in, and with my booking now showing as 'cancelled' so I cannot write a review. This is a dodgy property owner who lacks integrity amongst other things.

Do not recommend - property not as advertised - a shady operator

I love this place. Quiet away from busy parts of the island.. Great snorkeling, Right on the beach metres from the water. Clean self contained rooms and staff/owners were really lovely. Thank-you Annabelle and Selai and the grounds man whose name I didn't get. Would highly recommend for a relaxing and peaceful Island holiday 🌴

Fantastic place on best part of beach

DO NOT BOOK!! I made a reservation well before COVID happened but after COVID happened my trip became canceled due to the airlines canceling my flights and the borders being closed. I contacted the property immediately to let them know my flights were canceled and I had no other options for rescheduling flights or rebooking. I even sent them a screenshot of the email from the airlines showing they canceled my flights. I assumed that since the cancellation was in no way my fault and my trip was still three months away, I would be allowed to cancel free of charge. I was wrong. The property told me my only option was to rebook. Due to COVID my husband and I have received a significant pay cut at work. We do not have the finances to reschedule the trip. I told the property this but they didn’t care. I am now out $600 (cancellation fee) for nothing. If I ever do get the chance to visit the Cook Islands in the future I will not make the mistake of booking this property again.

DO NOT BOOK!!

We booked and stayed in the house across from the beach due to price and good reviews.  We only stayed for one night and barely slept.  We arrived at 7pm to a house that had all the doors and windows open and the keys on the table (we had arranged a 7pm check in).  The house was full of mosquitoes and had a lot of windows that didn’t shut or lock properly so mosquitoes could still get in.  When we closed the doors etc we realised they were open as the house had a really strong smell of cat urine!! I had seen another review about the cat pee smell but thought it was just a one off and that it must have been fixed because other reviews were good. It permeated the whole house and we had to sleep with bedroom doors open as there were no fans in the rooms and we needed the heat pump to cool it down.  Despite having sprayed all the mosquitoes, there was something in the beds that made us itch all night.  The curtains were also really thin and there was lots of road noise.  It had the potential to be lovely if they got rid of the cat pee smell, better curtains and cleaned it up a bit more.  We ended up forfeiting our 2nd night and checking in elsewhere.  It took a while to get our refund back as the owner promised.  She didn’t answer her phone and we had to contact the booking company to finally get a refund.  I would not recommend this house.  There are much nicer and reasonably priced places on the island!!

House across the road - bad experience for us!

Bella beach best place on rarotonga. Bella beach best place to stay on rarotonga. Thanks to the wonderful staff and owners thanks anabelle, Dave, sarlia .see you all next year same time .great art work in unit 2 .cheers sandy and wayne

Bella Beach Bungalows

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