French Residency Tours and Activities

The resort is small and quiet. The bares are very nice inside. They do get very hot, especially if you are not staying in one of the four beachfront ones that have aircon like we did. Even with aircon it is difficult to keep the room cool as large parts of the building are screened off with mesh. The food at the resort is very expensive. The lunchtime chicken wrap served with a small portion of chips was Au$30. All meals were around the same price. The food was not of the quality expected for such a high price. Breakfast was free. There were a few nights where the chef didn't turn up and we went to restaurants on the other side of the peninsula. I highly recommended Three Pigs and Cafe Villa. Both restaurants served excellent quality food. The road to both is very bumpy - something to note if you have back problems. The staff are very friendly and go out of their way to help you, especially 'H', the manager. Oddly, room cleaning each day took upwards of two hours. Very clean but inconvenient if you need to get back into your room. If you want to go into Port Vila, the quickest way is by water taxi which is a 15min ride and costs V2000 per person - AU$25 per person. You can also get a bus V300 each, or a taxi V2000 each. A word of warning, everything for tourists in Vanuatu is marked up. Don't go there if you are after a cheap holiday. That said, Coco Beach is somewhere to switch off, relax, read and swim. The resort is beautiful, quiet and exactly what we wanted.

The highlight is the fantastic reef snorkelling at a nearby beach - about a 30 minute walk from the resort. The staff and local community were very welcoming and happy to have a chat and show you around. However probably don’t go if you are bothered by getting too close to nature - i.e rats in your room - as the resort is in the bush and rooms are ‘rustic village’ style and reasonably open to the elements. I liked it but didn’t sleep much!

Loved the bungalows on the beach and kitchen and spa. Wifi was a bit patchy but suffice. Easy walk to town. Sports bar next door was good to watch the football. Wish there was a bit more atmosphere say happy hour etc to meet other guests.