L＇Ile-des-Pins Hotels with Bars

My wife and I had a very nice 4 night stay at Le Meridien Isle of Pines. The hotel is just a little bit tired, it has a bit of the patina of being used. Some broken tiles, a few gaps in the joins etc. But overall it is quite lovely and daily maintenance is very good. The cleanliness was faultless. I'd read of ants and cockroaches in some reviews. Absolute rubbish. It is very well kept. The location is superb. The facilities like kayaks, snorkelling gear, pool and restaurant were very good indeed. Our cabin on the river was lovely and the bed superbly comfortable. The natural pool had some of the best snorkelling, the variety of marine life and some of the corals were amazing. Fantastic. Swimming, kayaking and snorkelling off the beach was also great. My only disappointment was the evening meals. Our first night I had a tateless over cooked fish dish. The next two nights were very good. On the last night, a Saturday, they have a buffet or you eat in your room. The buffet was 4950 francs ($75 Australian $) each. We don't eat that much and with drinks it was a pretty expensive meal. The quality of the food was very good but it wasn't what we wanted and there is no choice. The staff were lovely. Some can't converse in English but they and we tried and many are fluent in both.

The rooms are comfortable and spacious, if a bit tired and reasonably clean, not more than that, but after all - you come here for the location. The staff - mostly friendly, but quite laid back. The swimming pool in the photo is a masterpiece of perspective - in reality it's probably just a kids paddle pool and a nice photo op for dinner. The beach is the best part - make sure you snorkel on the left end, over the coral reef, and if you kayak over the bay (”rental” is free, which somehow they don't tell you upfront) you will see plenty of turtles. Everything is overpriced, especially the food: I didn't try the breakfasts, the packed lunch was OK, dinner would have been OK for a home-style dinner, but certainly not what I would have expected for the price and pomp that were involved. I wanted to dine at the next-door gite's restaurant, but couldn't get hold of them over the phone (should have just walked over to book - it's literally next door), so I ended up eating 2 dinners at the resort - grossly overpaid. For lunch - you can easily walk over to the Nautilus restaurant on the next beach over, even without booking. It's not a lunch to write home about but also not that grossly overpriced. For activities: definitely go to the ”Natural pool”, but make sure you ask for all the information when you book - they don't volunteer any information... You must bring your snorkelling kit, closed shoes for walking, water-shoes, food and water and probably best to ask for a map of how to get to the pool and where to meet the shuttle afterwards before you leave the hotel. Going there on the ”traditional pirogue” is nice but not a must. It's very long and monotonous. You could take the shuttle to the same destination. Overall the snorkelling at the resort and at the ”natural pool” were the best I had in NC - far better than the other little islands you reach on water taxis from Noumea.