Papeno'o Beach Tours and Activities

I met others here and we were able to book an exploratory tour of this island.

We loved the hotel itself, the view, the pool, and our room was lovely (nicer that the photos suggested). It is the perfect place to relax and enjoy the sun and overall I would recommend it, although I think it is a bit expensive (but I guess that's French Polynesia in general). We did, however, have a couple of gripes; mainly the friendliness of the staff. There were a handful of lovely, smiley, professional staff members but in general they were neither welcoming nor polite. They made us feel like our being there was an inconvenience to them or that they were having a bad day (everyday!). The concierge stood out as one of the least helpful, which is odd when they are being employed to sell you things and enthuse you. The Miti bar has some reasonable cocktails but the food is very average and overpriced - 5000XPF for a rubbish caesar salad and some seared tuna. We went to the Tereva evening (dinner and a cultural show) which was 8500XPF each and it turns out we could have watched the show from the bar area for free, and probably with a better view. I would not recommend paying for this unless you particularly enjoy mediocre buffet food. The other annoyance I had was that the view of the sunset is blocked by the over-water villas, so you can't enjoy it from the poolside. There is one grill restaurant opposite the hotel which was very good but otherwise you really need a car if you don't want to eat at the resort every night as the roads have pavements or street lighting.

Overall, we enjoyed our stay at the Sofitel from 5/10-5/14. The property was clean, the staff was friendly, and the beach/snorkeling were incredible. We would stay at the Sofitel again, simply because of the beach/snorkeling. For first time visitors, I would call out the following to help set expectations 1) Dining: The food options are limited. For Breakfast, the buffet is fantastic and filled with all sorts of options. There is something for everyone. For Lunch/Snacks: You are limited to the Beach Shack menu, Pure, and the Hotel Bar. Drinks are not an issue, there is an abundance of alcohol and fruit drinks. For Dinner, the Sofitel has some partnerships with some restaurants and offers a car service so you can eat outside of the hotel grounds. You can order food from outside to be delivered or you might want to rent a car to explore other parts of the island. 2) Hotel Room Cleaning: We had to call and specifically request to get our room cleaned each day. Even though we put out the sign requesting cleaning, it wasn't until we actually called the front desk that someone came. The only reason this left a bad taste is because we were at the beach and even though we tried so hard not to track sand inside the bungalow, it inevitably happened. 3) Make sure you have mosquito repellant. Many of the rooms require you to walk through the gardens or the beach, and we did get bitten at night on our way to dinner/show.