Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020

Solomon Village Stays

Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea / Solomon Islands

Does anyone have any experience with the Village Stays and 'Nature Lodges' offered by Ecotourism Melanesia? I've been looking at info on their website (http://www.angelfire.com/biz/solomonsvillagestay/). They offer Village Stays where there is only one group in the village at any one time. They also arrange internal transfers by flight and canoe.

Has anyone booked any village stays or accommodation through them? How do you think a 'Village Stay' like this compares to just going and booking it yourself? Was thinking of possibly staying in a couple of different villages (they only let you stay for a max of 10 days in each), then chilling out in a Nature Lodge or some other kind of accommodation for a week or so at the end. Any thoughts?

Many thanks

Camille

This site has not been updated since 2001, and a good deal has happened in Solomon Islands in the last seven years.
Check out this much more recent site Exploring Solomons for much more current information.
I suspect if this group is still operating, their prices will have gone up.
You could also look at the government tourism site Visit Solomons
Please send me a personal message if you want more specific information, and suggest where you might want to go.

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If you are going near Gizo or Munda I would suggest Ranonga island, the village Buri. There is a great small lodge in the village run by local couple, very friendly. Noone knows about it and you cannot book it. They do not have guests, we were the fourth guests and they opned it 4 years ago. We stayed there a year ago. Real experience with real family.
To get there simple take a boat from Gizo as locals do. It is 2 hours on the boat. It is the easiest on the market day as then the locals come as well.
If you have more questions let me know.
In Solomons people are generally very very friendly. We were sailing there for a couple of months and visited many villages.

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