Payments made by partners impact the order of prices displayed. Room types may vary.
The listings of booking offers for each property take into account the compensation paid to us by our partners. Prices shown may be for varying room types. Prices displayed are the lowest available, corresponding to the least expensive room type available, as provided from our partners as of the time of the user’s search.
On the Island of Tanna, only 35 minutes flying time from Port Vila and a little over one hour flying time from Noumea. Within close proximity to the main town and only 20 minutes drive from the airport. We have absolute beach frontage with direct ocean access via our private black sand beach. We are established in a very private sheltered bay amongst extensive gardens and lush tropical foliage, on 4 hectares of interestingly contoured land. The site is unique in its topography, including to the rear heavily vegetated cliffs with large scale caves and tunnels, inaccessible other than from the resort. The resort is nestled in a sheltered private bay and fronts directly onto a large area of sand beach enveloped on both sides by interesting rock formations and coral reefs.
Bethel Area Ipul Bay, South West Tanna,, Tanna Island Vanuatu
Reviews
We perform checks on reviews.
Tripadvisor’s approach to reviews
Before posting, each Tripadvisor review goes through an automated tracking system, which collects information, answering the following questions: how, what, where and when. If the system detects something that potentially contradicts our community guidelines, the review is not published.
When the system detects a problem, a review may be automatically rejected, sent to the reviewer for validation, or manually reviewed by our team of content specialists, who work 24/7 to maintain the quality of the reviews on our site.
Our team checks each review posted on the site disputed by our community as not meeting our community guidelines.
We stayed at both Whitegrass and Tanna Lodge, so were able to compare the two. Whitegrass was more expensive, was well groomed, etc, but we didnt want to pllay boules, croquet, or pretty ordinary golf. The only swimming was in the pool unless you travelled. We didnt like the double beds, rooms were clean but unimpressive. We went to Tanna to experience the island people, the volcano, tourist special sites, and this was what we experiences at Tanna Lodge. The management and staff were absolutely wonderful, the food was great, and Sam and Seth were grear tour guides, and great drivers on those treacherous roads and we felt secure and comfortable. On the downside, little things were missed such as soap, making coffee in the bure......... but we enjoyed the king size beds!! We had a real Tanna experience and will choose Tanna resort on our next trip.
Read more
Date of stay: July 2011
Value
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We stayed at Tanna Lodge for three nights of our 11 night trip to Vanuatu, and our time on the island was the highlight of our trip. We really enjoyed the accommodation as it is built in a traditional way but with most modern comforts. The location was flawless: absolute beachfront with the ability to look out onto the volcanic beach from our bed through the wooden shutters, and it's close enough to the airport and surrounding towns to be convenient but not affected by noise/disturbances.
We went on a few tours while on Tanna: 1. Visited a genuinely authentic traditional village, where inhabitants showed us around, allowed us up their treehouse (for a small fee - worth it), and performed a couple of dances for us. This, unlike our experiences on Efate (which we also enjoyed), was the real deal. This tour was conducted by Hugh and Stella's son, Ned, where we followed him up the mountain trails on a quad-bike. Thoroughly recommend this, it was a great experience. 2. Volcano: This was amazing and a once in a lifetime experience. Don't need to go into too much detail here, just do it! It cost $120 each but would gladly pay double. When you are standing at the top of the crater in darkness watching the red hot rocks erupt high over your head and the ground rumbling below your feet you could not possibly regret your decision. 3. Turtle Reef: Unexpectedly came across this tour at the White Grass Resort as a result of missing the departure to the Blue Cave. The resort owner suggested we do the Turtle Reef snorkelling trail (which was complementary) while we wait for the boat to return. We snorkeled over beautiful multicoloured fish and coral and saw a total of five sea turtles over the course of an hour. It was a great opportunity that we otherwise would have missed, but for strong swimmers only. 4. The Blue Cave: A half-hour boat ride from the White Grass Resort saw us to the Blue Cave. We were a little bit worried when the guide pointed to rockface and told us to dive under and re-emerge in a cave. However, we are glad we trustded him as this was one of the most beautiful locations we visited in Vanuatu. Would also thoroughly recommend this. 5. Cave/bat tour: Hugh (owner) suggested that we might like to visit a few caves a short walk from Tanna Lodge and, while my girlfriend was slightly intimidated by a couple of the tight squeezes, the experience of coming across some bats (with tails!) was a good one. 6. The Giant Bunyan Tree: Don't miss this. While it sounds like it's just a huge tree, it's more than that. It's a FREAKIN' HUUUUGE tree. We almost made the mistake of missing this but Stella organised for us to see it on our way back to the airport. It covers 200m squared and you cannot imagine how big it is. See it.
Ironically the close location to the beach meant that on our first night we barely slept due to the noise of the ocean. However, unlike other guests (apparently), we weren't about to lodge a complaint over it! We quickly acclimatised and slept quite soundly for the second and third nights.
While it's called a lodge the vibe of the place is much closer to a bed and breakfast. Meeting the owners (Hugh and Stella) was an absolute pleasure and the evenings were full of wine and compelling conversation. We were blown away by their generosity and if we ever return to Vanuatu we will spend another couple of nights at the Tanna Lodge. We look forward to seeing the development of the new accomodation next door, The Cave!
Highly recommended.
Read more
Date of stay: November 2012
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Room Tip:We had bungalo #8 which was one bedroom and in a prime location.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Well I read the reviews for this place and there were mixed reactions from the variety of people who visited here.
For us I can say we loved the place! It is a little piece of paradise that is not saturated with tourism traffic.
To the people who were negative about Tanna Island and the lodge - some advice, grab a map have a look where you are going and its proximity to any cities and infrastructure. This might be an indicator as to whether you are going to encounter some challenging non first world problems, scary stuff hey. On the other hand maybe you should just head to Hawaii and play it safe. The reality is that you are not in a first world country – do the research. Vanuatu was recently listed on the United Nations list of Least Developed Countries, this should be raising some questions regarding what to expect? Anyway, travel lesson over.
Given its distance from Port Vila (226km) Tanna is a little off the track but therein lies its charm. It is an unspoiled location that sees little tourist traffic; the result is that you are really amongst the reality of Vanuatu not the glossy tourist side. The people are wonderful and so friendly, the roads are dusty and the local village is not a well-equipped town but rather a small settlement with an open market, some basic shops and amazingly welcoming people – love it! You are able to get basic supplies here (including beer!) to stock up your room if you want to. Fresh fruit is abundant in the market area.
The lodge is set in a beautiful location and most of the rooms are close to the beach so you go to sleep with the sound of the surf, this was so relaxing. It is set in a remote little cove surrounded by trees and palms with well-manicured lawn areas throughout the lodge.
The rooms were great, quite large and even came with a fridge. All rooms appeared to be bungalows and were set well apart so you definitely had “the place to yourself” feel about them. Ours overlooked the beach and had a great deck veranda with comfy chairs to relax on and soak up the view which was literally straight out over the beach to the ocean – wow!. They have an outdoor bathroom which was awesome, loads of room and even had a tree next to the shower area as part of the garden in that space. Hot water is provided by an in-line gas heater that managed a great temperature and decent flow.
The resort itself was well set out and seemed to be in good condition (not sure what the aforementioned critics are talking about??). If you are after a 5 star glossy hotel then you are in the wrong place (and wrong country I think), the lodge was well maintained, clean and suited our needs well. The meals choices were limited but really good and were on par with prices for a restaurant in Australia. This could be viewed as expensive but maybe you need to reflect on my previous comments on looking where you are, everything in Tanna is shipped with a freight cost attached. A similar meal at Breakers resort in Port Vila far exceeded the lodge prices.
The lodge dog does make an appearance, for the dog dislikers, he is well trained and knows he is not allowed in the restaurant area. For the dog lovers, his name is Prince and he can be coerced into the restaurant area, he is also quite partial to the fish in the fish curry in case you were wondering what to share.
In a nutshell, we had a ball here and will definitely be back. If you are super fussy give it a miss and go somewhere glossy in Hawaii ; )
Thanks for an awesome stay guys.
Karen and Nigel H
Read more
Date of stay: August 2014
Rooms
Cleanliness
Service
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
villa had water for the toilet and the one ceiling lamp only when the generator was on. The generator went off at 7pm. no privacy through the broken blinds. the video showed a ceiling fan and bar fridge. They were missing in our room along with some roof thatch which smelled like it had been on fire. other rooms were just a pile of rubble on the grass. the pool was empty and upstairs where i thought they had cocktails watching the sunset had been turned into a laundry. what was really disturbing is that we were the only ones there. breakfast was self serve corn flakes. only spent 2 nights there and went to white sands. only went to tanna for the vulcano and that made it worthwhile. very happy to get back to Port Villa.
Read more
Date of stay: July 2019
Value
Service
Sleep Quality
Room Tip:we had a garden view room which was ok as there is a garden
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
This is the worst overpriced place I have ever stayed in my life. stay at own risk. 1. lodge is dirty and mouldy 2. toilets wouldn't flush and blocked most of time 3. food in restaurant was overpriced and increased in price everyday - very bland food 4. we had to pay for accomodation in full before we arrived 5. not enough toilet paper or soap 6. sheets were not changed once while we were there for 7 days 7. sheets were dirty when we arrived and they wouldn't change them 8. towels were never changed 9. pool was empty and dangerous 10. lodge terribly run down 11. no screens on windows and mozzies nearly killed us at night in room 12. they ran out of mozzie coils, matches and toilet paper the first day we arrived 13. we paid $900 for 7 days and the room was worth $10 a night at the most 14, Every time we had a shower the unit would flood. we had a mop but they took it for someone else's room who had the same problem. there was only 1 mop available 15. our toilet was broken and w couldn't flush it with button. we had to lift lid to flush
TERRIBLE RUN DOWN DANGEROUS PLACE. STAY AT OWN RISK. CANT GIVE ANY RATING. ITS TOO DISGUSTING
Read more
Date of stay: July 2018
Value
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled with friends
Room Tip:All rooms terrible
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Horrible rooms which were very unclean. Pool was empty so could not be used. Horrible manager who was never there. Was assured repeatedly that we could pay by card, only to find out 10 minutes we needed to leave for a flight that we could not pay by card and needed cash. Not the easiest thing to get with its location. Had to phone through to Sydney to process the card payment which was not ideal. They would not allow us to leave until this had been done which made us late for our flight. They held us there by not calling our taxi which waited outside the hotel until they had the payment confirmed. Only nice person we met was the chef, who was so sweet. AVOID AT ALL COSTS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
Read more
Date of stay: May 2018
Value
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Room Tip:never go here
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We went with a group of 40 and got the worst room. Villa 9 should not be classed as accommodation. Rough cement floor, No closing windows only shutters on the door and didn't close properly on the front window. The back opening had a light curtain over it and the side opening had nothing. On our second night the weather turned cold 10C, I knew it would as I checked the weather report which the owner could have done as well, and we had freezing air blow over our faces all night and I woke up with a head cold very sick. The staff nailed a block out curtain over the opening but only in the bedroom, leaving the toilet area open and cold still invaded the room. When I told Hugh the owner that I couldn't go out the next day with the group because of the cold over us all night he said, "Just close the shutters." I said, "we don't have any." He said, "what room are you in?" I said, "Villa 9." He said, "Oh, sorry." and returned to what he was doing in the kitchen. Care factor of Zero. He knew exactly what the room was like and did nothing anyway. Asked for a blanket which was supplied but others in our group had to buy a blanket as their requests were ignored. The toilet and shower are clearly visible from the front door. No privacy. The shower is also visible from the balcony above the dining area. We used my ukulele case to cover this gap while showering. The toilet was not attached to the floor so when you moved to get the toilet paper from the cistern lid, no toilet roll holder, the smell of sewerage permeated the room. You had to lift the whole cistern lid up to flush the toilet. Was the same for the next room and my husband had to help the lady next door as the wire had come off and they couldn't flush it. We had to repeatedly ask for toilet paper top ups and others in our group went and purchased their own. The shower was made of stucco cement, porous, and black with mould. Had no where to store our toiletries and no shower curtain so water splashed into the bedroom. No towel rails so hung towels on toilet partition. They were not renewed the whole time we were there. The vanity had no where to hold toiletries. There was one light over the bed so trying to see in the vanity mirror was impossible. My husband had to do his shaving in the common area toilets. There was a thin wall between us and the next room. You could hear everything they did and said. Our toilets and showers were right next to each other. Fortunately we were well acquainted. We had several conversations while in our bathrooms. No where to hang clothes. Just a room, glorified garden shed, with a partition for toilet, open shower, a table and chair. We were the only room without a front step or verandah. The other rooms used the balcony railings as towel rails. We had nothing. The bed base had a sharp corner and my husband and I both cut our leg on it. We notified staff but no one came to fix it. The doctor in our group dressed our legs and supplied gaffa tape to protect the bed corner. The front door had a 40mm gap so at night we used my violin case and a can of beans to prevent vermin etc. from entering the room while we slept. Mosquitoes were often in the room. We requested mosquito coils and were informed that the owner was purchasing them in town but never supplied them. No fridge or coffee or tea making facilities were supplied. Drinking water was not supplied or available to buy. The 8' deep pool was empty and broken with no barriers to keep the adults and children safe. We had to walk past it to get to our "room" and at night there is no lighting so very dangerous. Breakfast was "supplied" but it was minimal and we had to keep asking for top ups. Reminding staff constantly about requests. We had to keep a tally of our purchases as the girls were getting the tallies wrong. Night meals were good portions and tasty but the prices went up by $10 per meal after we arrived. After our coordinator complained the prices dropped but not to the original prices. The "Free Wifi" turned off soon after we all arrived and only went back on the night before we left. I must say the staff are lovely just very slow. The cook does a fantastic job in the kitchen. If you can't cater for a large group, don't book them. My husband and I inspected other rooms and they had separate bathrooms with doors and some had kitchenettes. They seemed like luxury to us and we paid the same price as everyone else. Lots of unhappy lodgers in our group. Not on our list of places to visit again which is a shame as the bay is lovely as is Tanna. We would have given a 1 but the cook did a great job so up to 2.
Read more
Date of stay: July 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
BAD!!!! Where do I begin *Bad management *Very run down, dirty, mouldy. *Needs major maintenance. *Toilets block, showers block. * No WIFI *understaffed, they use trainees, so service is very slow. * Bland food limited menu. * No water in pool. *Primitive Kitchen that would be closed down anyway else. I have been to Vanuatu many times and stayed in many resorts and NEVER got sick, I did at this place. Overall a very unhealthy environment To stay.. my advice is STAY AWAY!
Read more
Date of stay: July 2018Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We stayed at Tanna Lodge at the end of July for two nights. First impressions were not good and it only got worse. We were left waiting at the airport for nearly 2 hours for our transfer. When we finally arrived we were told that they had forgotten about us and didn't even receive an apology. We were quickly rushed through check-in and then told to wait in the restaurant because our room wasn't ready. The room itself was fantastic, superb location and well set out. If only the rest of the resort was like that. Service was poor to nonexistent, table clothes and cutlery were dirty, meal choice was limited, very expensive and basic with no kids meals offered. I asked for bacon and eggs for breakfast and was told that no hot food is available only to have the resort owner sit on an adjacent table at feast on his bacon and eggs. Kids complained about sand in their beds which turned out to be termite dust from the timber above. This was also evident in the restaurant at every sitting. To sum to all up, if you enjoy poor service, limited basic menu(with no kids menu), eating with termites and the owners dog at your table, seeing the owner walking around with no top on and a poorly looked after resort this is the place for you. On one positive note the volcano tour was fantastic.
Read more
Date of stay: July 2014
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Room full of insects as the netting is torn on most windows, our linen had cockroaches in, black mould on the walls, damp mattress and pillows, either the shower doesn't work or there is no hot water and the toilets don't flush. Fancy a dip in the pool? It's empty. Don't bother complaining to the manager, he isn't there and will ignore your emails. We visited the volcano and then got the F out of Tanna. We left a night early as we could not stand this place. Disappointing and a waste of money.
Read more
Date of stay: May 2018
Value
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi Anthea,
Just got a message from Trip Advisor with your message. Given the time that has elapsed, I'm sure you got onto Hugh.
Tanna's an interesting place.....
Hope you enjoyed your stay.
regards
Chris
There are more places to choose from in the Tanna Island area.
ALSO KNOWN AS
tanna hotel tanna island
LOCATION
VanuatuTanna Island
NUMBER OF ROOMS
20
Prices are provided by our partners, and reflect total costs of the stay, including all taxes and fees known to our partners. Please see our partners for more details.
Is This Your Tripadvisor Listing?
Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.
