Sofitel Kia Ora Moorea Beach Resort

Beautiful over water bungalow with amazing corals right by the door step, we enjoy snorkeling in the early morning and late afternoon. Great room and hotel facilities, super friendly staff.

My hotel in Mo'orea was the 5-star luxury brand of a French hotel chain. The Sofitel Kia Ora Mo'orea Beach Resort is a sprawling resort right on one of the nicest beaches in Mo'orea. My room cost an astronomical sum per night! I stayed in a "Luxury Bungalow Garden with Beach View". I had a terrace with a nice view of the beach. You can see Tahiti in the background. My room was very spacious and comfortable. My bathroom had a separate room for the toilet, a huge walk-in shower, and two sinks. I even had a FREE minibar. The overwater bungalows are even more expensive. My only complaint was the poor lighting at the desk in the room. I complained about this and soon maintenance stopped by with a lamp for the desk. On Wednesdays, they have a Polynesian Evening at their main restaurant. It began with a Polynesian buffet. First I helped myself to some of the various salads. My main course consisted of cucumbers, roasted vegetables, pickles, chicken, tuna, grilled lagoon fish, braised lamb, and rice with pickled ginger. Of course, I had to save room for desserts. I choose lemon sorbet, vanilla ice cream, rice pudding, lemon tart, and chocolate tart. Soon it was showtime. The Hirinaki group performed a variety of Polynesian dances. I enjoyed the show. Rise and shine! You can watch the sun rise over Tahiti from the restaurant. Then enjoy the breakfast buffet. They had a nice variety of items, including eggs/omelettes cooked to order.

It's great when a hotel exceeds your expectations. Sadly only stopped for 2 nights between getting off cruise ship and flying home. So wish we could stop longer and seriously thinking about coming back (something we rarely do to any hotel or place). The location is sublime, staff lovely, Polynesian night fab and snorkelling from the beach really, really good. We've had a great time.

Overall: great stay and fantastic snorkeling! Pros: -nice beach and one of the only hotels with that nice if a beach and views of tahiti across the water -good snorkeling in the water. Best is further out close to the bouys. They give you free snorkeling gear for your whole stay and you can go out any time you want. We went maybe 4 times. Saw spotted eagle rays, moray eel, black tip reef sharks and various other fish -great breakfast buffet and lots of variety of options -enjoyed polynesian night dancing and buffet! -nice staff that remembered you -really nice spa. Get a massage! -beautiful grounds. We liked to walk them at night after dinner and saw a shooting star! -really nice pearl boutique onsite-an actual legit jeweler way better than other resorts had. Really glad we picked one out there! Cons: -Wish there was a hot tub! -annoying to have to exhange towels to get new ones. They’re not just set out and available. Half the time i went to exchange a towel the station wasnt open yet or had ran out etc. it’s not the end of the world but for how expensive that resort is it feels cheap to have to get a token and exchange them -not a ton of food variety and its expensive (as everywhere in moorea. Tip: switch up restaurants each night. Do the polynesian buffet, we also did the private dinner on the beach which was incredible and a highlight) Other tips: -Get alcohol at the grocery store on tahiti! We stayed one night at the hilton and the store is across the street. Brought snacks and 5 bottles of wine with us on the ferry (the ferry doesnt have any luggage restrictions) and this really helped on costs and it was nice to drink it on our balcony or the beach.