Reviews of The Harbourview - Vava'u 3 stars
82F8+F46, Toula, Tonga
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Reviewed: 10 August 2025 · Stayed in August 2025
Verified reviewBeautiful place and great food at the restaurant!
Its a bit out of the city
Reviewed: 5 August 2025 · Stayed in July 2025
Verified reviewThe rooms were super spacious and cool. The staff were all lovely and the owner super helpful and friendly! Being able to walk down to the jetty to swim/ snorkel was a highlight and the view from the restaurant was sensational! Super affordable and had such a special stay :) Thank you!
Reviewed: 26 July 2025 · Stayed in July 2025
Verified reviewThe location is great, not far from the main town and much quieter. The view is astonishing!! It is about $10-$15 taxi from town, but we rented a car from on of the shops in town so we could get around on our own and see abit of the island as well. Breakfast included is a continental breakfast but there is a breakfast menu if you want to buy something more like poached egg or french toast. The included continental breakfast is good if you are going out on a boat and don't want to be loaded down with food. The staff are so friendly and nothing is too much trouble. Everyone knows your name and treats you like a friend. The food at the restaurant is the best I've had in the south pacific. Cocktails at sunset over the harbor was a highlight. We stayed in the queen room - the bed is really comfortable and the rooms are spacious. The bathrooms could use a bit of a joosh up and I think they were doing that when we were there. It is a remote part of Tonga and things are a bit rustic so don't expect the Hilton, but the facilities are good and there were bikes and paddleboards for us to use as well as a pool table in the main restaurant area. We had some great times meeting the locals and other cruisers there, it is very social and welcoming. The gardens are very well kept with many different tropical fruit trees and Tongan plants growing. If you are interested in that sort of thing then ask one of the staff - they are all locals - and they will tell you the names and the traditional Tongan uses for them. We even went out 'fishing' (picking up clams at low tide) with some of the staff and they told us about all the different shells and urchins they pick at low tide and we also saw the famous fishing pigs All in all a wonderful and personal experience at The Harbourview.
We would have like to stay longer
Reviewed: 23 July 2025 · Stayed in July 2025
Verified reviewReviewed: 14 July 2025 · Stayed in July 2025
Verified reviewThis had to be one of the most memorable accommodations for my trip. The Harbourview had the most lovely, kind, and helpful staff I’ve ever seen. No one was short of spectacular, and I have nothing but the best to say about the Harbourview. The room was so spacious and comfortable, and the food was the best I’ve had on my trip.
Nothing; the experience was perfect.
Reviewed: 5 July 2025 · Stayed in July 2025
Verified reviewBreakfast was poor . Other food was very good. The staff were exceptionally friendly and helpful
The hotel was not ready for the tourist season yet , in my opinion. The room was clean but very tired and basic
Hi Nigel. thank you for your review. We are very sorry that your experience at The Harbourview was not up to your standards. I hope our esoteric bird watching research and conversations at least made your stay slightly more enjoyable. We thank you for recognising the friendliness of our staff, who are all Vava’u locals and appreciate your kind feedback. For the prospective guests considering The Harbourview, or Vava’u in general as a destiation - please bear in mind that Vava’u is a very small island in the middle of a great big sea (the South Pacific). What Westerners may expect as basic, is a luxury to us. While we strive to do our best to accommodate to all expectations - one can never keep all of the people happy all of the time... Nigel, we are sorry that The Harbourview, did not live up to your expectations. As an island nation we relish in being one of the last natural paradises in the world. Tonga and Vava’u especially is not commercial like (for example) Fiji; our population is approximately 8,500 people and many times we have to wait for ships to arrive with supplies… However, time is slow and chickens cross the road and nobody asks why? Sows with 12+ piglettes trot down the main road and we make way for them. Sometimes, cargo for upgrades that should have been delivered three months earlier is delayed due to international tarriff uncertainties. We sincerly apologise, but these things are ultimately out of our control… We hope to see you back again one day, and we’ll go out looking for the endangered Whistler Bird...
Hi Nigel. thank you for your review. We are very sorry that your experience at The Harbourview was not up to your standards. I hope our esoteric bird watching research and conversations at least made your stay slightly more enjoyable. We t… Show more
Reviewed: 3 July 2025 · Stayed in July 2025
Verified reviewThe important things were good here, such as airport pickup, good restaurant, comfortable bed and it was quiet at night. I was really pleased that the driver took me to get a rental car on the way in from the airport. The view of the harbour is great.
There were quite a few things here that weren’t really normal. They basically need more staff as there were hours between 8am -8pm when there seemed to be no staff around. It would have been spooky if there hadn’t been another guest there too. My booking said breakfast included but there was never anyone around to do it. There’s also lots of little maintenance jobs that need doing.
Hi Catherine, thank you for your review. We appreciate and have noted your feedback. Unfortunately, due to logistics with the recent international uncertainty, the supplies/upgrades for the hotel were delayed into the shoulder season and arrived during your stay, and we apologise for the slight inconvenience. With regard to the staffing, The Harbourview is proud to employ only local Tongans, and a number of our team were on leave with a family funeral during your visit, for which we also apologise - in Vava’u, families are very large, and families always come first in the Tongan culture. We hope to see you again, you were a lovely guest and we rate you 10/10
Hi Catherine, thank you for your review. We appreciate and have noted your feedback. Unfortunately, due to logistics with the recent international uncertainty, the supplies/upgrades for the hotel were delayed into the shoulder season and a… Show more
Reviewed: 15 June 2025 · Stayed in June 2025
Verified reviewGardens and harbour view were lively. Friendly owner and staff. Very comfortable bed and fluffy towels.
Breakfast was minimal. Room contained a fridge but no utensils/ tea/ coffee etc. Property generally could do with a big tidy up.
Reviewed: 15 June 2025 · Stayed in June 2025
Verified reviewWe loved our stay at Harbourview so much, we extended it by an extra 7 days! The welcome is warm and friendly, Nat makes you feel at home almost immediately. The little cottages have a terrace you can relax in and a very comfortable bed. If you are lucky one of the cats will walk you to your room every evening and then sleep on your step to make sure you are safe all night! The conversation and happiness around the bar was inviting - daily. The view from the table we quickly adopted as 'ours' overlooking the bay with the perfect breeze and view of all the flying foxes at night was endlessly enjoyable. Laurence - Nat's chef is an artist, every single item we ordered from the menu (and especially the daily specials) was brilliant, some of the best food I have had in all of the South Pacific. Even simple dishes are given Laurence love, I think I ordered the bruschetta 5 times and never tired of it. Vi, makes sure you are always watered (there is a genuinely great selection of wine and Nat's Espresso Martini's and Bloody Mary's are a great way to wile away an entire sunday!), looked after and her and her husband run a taxi service which allows you to feel super mobile even if you don't have a car. She also has incredible tales of sea voyages, just ask her. And Mele looks after you and makes your room feel brand new every morning. In short, Nat has gathered a truly wonderful team around her (there are at least two more people I would like to mention but I feel terrible I can't remember their names - I blame the espresso martini's!) and has a really wonderful little piece of paradise to welcome you into. It's not a resort, it's more homely than that. If you like sharing stories the bar welcomes you with an array of guests who come and go for lunch and dinner, and there are places you can find your own solitude. I will be back. I don't know when.
Wow Zena we miss you both so much. Sometimes people come as guests and leave as friends, and this is one of these occasions. Thank you so so much for your kind review. Safe travels, may the wind be in your sails and the sun behind your back. You will both be forever in our hearts! And we will definitely see you again, somewhere xx
Wow Zena we miss you both so much. Sometimes people come as guests and leave as friends, and this is one of these occasions. Thank you so so much for your kind review. Safe travels, may the wind be in your sails and the sun behind your ba… Show more
Reviewed: 14 June 2025 · Stayed in June 2025
Verified reviewA bit far from town to walk but close enough by taxi. View was beautiful and food in the restaurant was very good.
Breakfast could of been much better. Breakfast included was instant coffee and toast.
Reviewed: 16 October 2024 · Stayed in October 2024
Verified reviewWe liked the view of the Neiafu Harbour from the restaurant, the restaurant itself, the staff and the owner of the hotel, who was very attentive in meeting our needs and very helpful.
The rooms need revamping, especially the windows. The room's safe did not work. The cats need to be controlled somehow.
Hello Evangelia, thank you for your review of The Harbourview. You were both the most wonderful guests, and we missed your bubbly vibrancy as soon as you left us! I am so glad that you brought up the cats, as this is something close to my heart that I would like to bring everyone's attention to... Vava'u is a very small and remote island, and there are no veterinarians here, so we are lucky to have an amazing volunteer group - SPAW (South Pacific Animal Welfare) - who are vets from NZ and Australia that donate their time to come out to the island for around 10 days (but only once per year), and are funded by donations through Host-A-Vet Vava'u, Tonga. These wonderful humans offer a free veterinary and translation service for everyone to bring in their animals for de-sexing, health checks, treatments etc, usually around the end of October each year. The range of animals they treat are: dogs, cats, pigs, cows, ducks, goats, horses - any animal that needs medical attention. When you stayed with is in early October, a number of kittens had been born and some strays had 'adopted us'. I am more than proud to give these poor animals shelter and care until such times as they could be health checked, de-sexed, and then re-homed; many unwanted animals are left to fend for themselves and starve. In late October, just after your stay with us, The Harbourview and a good neighbour delivered 11 cats and two dogs to the SPAW team to be de-sexed. On average, one cat will produce 64 offspring - so this combined effort means that 704 unwanted kittens will *not* be born, and goes a long way to help the issue of stray cats in the village. SPAW and Host-A-Vet can be found on Facebook (as with most things in Vava’u!), and they are a very worthy cause to donate to. Our community is trying to have them come to Vava'u twice per year to accelerate the de-sexing process, and enable them to have a mobile ‘clinic’ to visit the outer villages. I apologise that at the time you were here there were a number of kitties about, but now that they have been fixed with the amazing volunteer vet group, and the majority of them carefully re-homed, everything is back in order :) Also, the window louvers - and the fales in general - are in the process of being upgraded right now in time for the 2025 season, and I will definitely sort out the issue with the room safe! We hope to welcome you back to The Harbourview in the future :) Malo ‘aupito and ofa atu, The Harbourview, Vava’u PS. Apologies for the 'wall of text', apparently one can't use paragraphs in replying to reviews!
Hello Evangelia, thank you for your review of The Harbourview. You were both the most wonderful guests, and we missed your bubbly vibrancy as soon as you left us! I am so glad that you brought up the cats, as this is something close to my … Show more
Reviewed: 29 November 2023 · Stayed in September 2023
Verified reviewLocation, restaurant, staff.
Reviewed: 21 November 2023 · Stayed in November 2023
Verified reviewReviewed: 8 November 2023 · Stayed in October 2023
Verified reviewThe food was excellent, and the staff was super friendly. Also, our bed was quite comfortable.
The condition of the bathroom was scary. There was a rusty bobby pin on the floor of the shower, and we were afraid to touch the walls.
Hi Christine, please accept my sincere apologies for the state of your bathroom. The Harbourview likes to uphold a high standard of cleanliness; in this case I was out of the country due to a family member in hospital, and I am now investigating this issue fully. Just because it is low season, does not mean low standards, and I am sorry that your experience was not up to par.
Hi Christine, please accept my sincere apologies for the state of your bathroom. The Harbourview likes to uphold a high standard of cleanliness; in this case I was out of the country due to a family member in hospital, and I am now investig… Show more
Reviewed: 11 October 2023 · Stayed in October 2023
Verified reviewThe owners, Natalie and Bill, are the most helpful and accommodating people. The location is 3 km from "downtown". It is a really nice walk or short taxi ride away. I liked that we were close, but not in town. Nat and Bill helped us find a great whale swim, scuba dive, and taxi driver.
Our angels :) Malo 'aupito for all of your love and help and support. You were the most amazing guests and we sincerely hope to welcome you to The Harbourview again soon xxx
Reviewed: 8 October 2023 · Stayed in October 2023
Verified reviewThe view, the lodges, the helpful staff. The restaurant is very good
Missing some hammocks to make the place magic!
Thank you for your lovely review Guillaume. You and your family were wonderful guests and a pleasure to host! I absolutely agree that some hammocks would be magic, however the risk of falling coconuts is high, which is why we have the day beds on each balcony and the Thai cushions for lounging on the lawn. However, I will go and spec out where would be a safe place to hang some hammocks!!
Thank you for your lovely review Guillaume. You and your family were wonderful guests and a pleasure to host! I absolutely agree that some hammocks would be magic, however the risk of falling coconuts is high, which is why we have the day b… Show more
Reviewed: 24 September 2023 · Stayed in September 2023
Verified reviewThe owners :) The food and the location!