Ninamu Pearl Guesthouse Tahiti - Puna'auia

NikyBellaS

Uugh this place is perfect I LOVED IT i wish i had known before and would have stayed there the entire time i was in Tahiti. And the price point and just right compared to other stuff. My only thing was the road to go up the mountain ?️ but hey once you are there its so peaceful and the view amazing, (add the breakfast but its quite nice little buffet) and to be honest you don’t really find breakfast around in the islands.

Craig Melbourne

We arrived here for one night straight from the cruise port via taxi which cost $50.
Had to wait for 3hrs for someone to arrive.
We took in the view which is spectacular and managed to get on the wifi to keep us occupied.
When someone finally arrived they were flustered and overwhelmed as they had to clean the rooms and prepare drinks/snacks for those waiting. They were very hard working.
Once our room was ready, we got settled and had a swim in the pool which was ok.
We then realised that for the next 24hrs until checkout, we were totally isolated...unless we paid more $'s for taxi's....so we had to stay onsite....which got really boring!
Staff were trying their best but with little to no english spoken was difficult. I recommend you use google translator.
We checked out the menu and ordered something to eat....which was not very good at all, so went to bed quite hungry still.
To cut to the chase..... here are my points...
1/ Great view!
2/ Building work nearby which is very noisey
3/ Lack of english spoken.
4/ You're up a mountain and therefore a long way from anywhere interesting.
5/ Taxi's could cost you big $'s or hire a car.
6/ Some taxi's refuse to go all the way to the complex due to the steep incline and the road surface... You may have to walk the last couple of hundred yards or so.
7/ Staff are very friendly.
8/ Gates close around 9.30pm... God forbid if you want to get access after that!
9/ Can feel quite cramped and busy when lots of guest around.
10/ Food was not up to much.
11/ Could be difficult to find in the dark.
Overall..... Great views but not a great place to stay if you want to venture out.

Angela Dresser

Dissappointing experience at this hotel, so id look elsewhere next time. The road is as bad as mentioned in previous reviews. I would not attempt unless you are a very good driver and avoid if arriving at night. Very very steep. There is also a massive excavation site next door which starts at 7am every morning and is very loud so you cant sit outside and relax. The room we had which is the delux suite was run down and not 'delux'.

manuela gruau

Une nuit dans une chambre avec piscine privée au top du top. Dommage la piscine avec bcp de produits suite à des dégâts des clients précédents.
Service clientèle top.
Restauration : glaces parfaites. Ravioles extra je recommande. (Dommage que nous soyons obligés de manger dans notre chambre et non en bas.)

Vue splendide
Piscine et jaccuzzi de l'hôtel au top ?

Je recommande ce lieu ?

Alexis Morand

Bel emplacement, avec une magnifique vue sur Moorea,
Les chambres sont confortables, mais il n'y a pas beaucoup d'eau chaude
Le petit déjeuner est assez cher pour peu de choix

gisèle

Superbe chambre, spacieuse et bien équipée. Le plus: mini piscine privative. J'adore ?

Laurence S

Nous avons passé 3 nuits dans la chambre familiale( seule disponible a nos dates). La vue est extraordinaire meme par temps couvert comme ce fut le cas pour nous. La chambre pour 2 personnes est de bonne taille mais pour 4 me paraît juste surtout qu’il n’y a quasiment pas de quoi ranger ses affsires. Tout (chambre et parties communes ) est très joliment décoré . J’aurais aimé savoir a la réservation qu’il n’y avait pas de Wifi dans cette chambre (mais dans les autres oui). Nous avons loué une de leurs voitures qui est en très bon état et á un prix très correct.Petit déjeuner excellent et diner correct, sans plus, mais c’est bien pratique de pouvoir manger sur place si on ne veut pas reprendre la voiture pour sortir Le personnel est très serviable mais le service tant du pdj que du dîner est un peu expéditif ce qui peut être gênant pour certains.

Greg R

I wanted to stay at Ninamu Pearl for now 3 years since we cancelled our original trip to French Polynesia and it was so cool to arrive to the place that did end up looking exactly like it does on all these great scenic pictures! It's a great spot to explore the island, be close by to some good restaurants, and of course have the stunning views of Moorea, ocean... and whales! We had seen them from both our room and the breakfast patio every single day of our 5 day October stay - amazing! A car is an absolute must here unless you plan to stay and just read a book, chill and watch TV/vistas - the hotel offers breakfast each day but lunch and dinner upon advanced request so it is possible to survive here without a car but that's not really why ones come to Tahiti 🙂 English language barrier is definitely there, but everyone tries their best - some members of the staff speak it better than others, we were able to communicate everything though and after all this is a French speaking country so for us it was natural that not everybody speaks English (as it is the case all over Tahiti island, it being less touristy than Moorea or Bora Bora).||Location: the drive here is about 20 to 25m if no traffic... otherwise this can get 1h or longer... so plan that accordingly with your flights/ferries etc. - the views of sunsets/whales/Moorea all facing west directly from the elevated property are absolutely stunning! The roads around Tahiti are very good quality, and the side road leading to the property (I am attaching the cheat sheet from the owners that shared with us via email) is 80% great, just uphill (the small passenger 1.2L 2 door did the trick each day) and then the very last portion of the road leading through the "old ugly gate" all the way to the Ninamu Pearl (it's not the first parking, there is a separate clean nice gate for the property after) is a bit rough and I would lie if I said I miss it 🙂 there are sign along the road, well visible during the day not so sure at pitch black but google maps did perfect job so just download the offline maps or use the internet to run it live. There is nothing walking distance here, so you absolutely want a car. There is plenty of restaurants and stores near by but all require driving. ||Room: we had opted for the upgraded room with the separate swimming pool - we usually dont go for these type of upgrades but here it was very affordable and it was our 10 year anniversary trip so why not 🙂 while I literally got only once to the pool I must admit the privacy was something I couldn't emphasize how much we appreciated - the original rooms have the breakfast/swimming pool/common area all literally in front of them, which isn't a problem normally for us, but considering we were jetlagging big times and wanted to chill in peace and silence the privacy of the room turned out to be exceptionally useful, especially in the morning and in the evening 🙂 we stayed in room 3 called Bora Bora (which is funny as the only place we visited in French Polynesia before was Bora Bora in 2018....) - the original rooms have a separate parking lot and the "newly added" rooms in the upper row have a separate parking lot too so make sure you park on the top level before you start moving your luggage to the room 🙂 there is a smart TV with Netflix and some other platforms, WiFi is decent, there is also a safe in the room, a fridge, microwave, basically a mini kitchen - the cool part is the outside shower (the toilet is inside an enclosed room with a door for those who dislike open air concept) that you take with open views of the ocean 🙂 definitely the most scenic shower experience I had ever. The bed is nice with decent mattress and covers/pillows. Overall the room is spacious and very nicely laid out.||Hotel grounds - there are basically 3 levels - from the original arrival you go up to the first parking lot and where the main commons areas area, and then one more final level to the upper rooms. From the uppers rooms you can take a set of stairs on the property so of course you dont go down each time on the steep road 🙂 parking is pretty tight but most people rent really small cars so it was never an issue for us. The pictures very fairly represent what you get - and it's stunning. The breakfast area and "food room" is shared by everyone, there is a honor bar inside that room too but i havent seen anyone using it, nor I have tried (the hotel has a policy of no outside drinks at the common areas, which we didnt test as we had our own beer at the patio of our rooom, which once again came handy due to the privacy aspect). There is a swimming pool and a jacuzzi but I didnt see anyone using it - it's cleaned regularly from we had witnessed. ||Pool/beach - not too much to write here as the pictures of the pool show everything you need to know. As to the beaches... well that's not what one comes to Tahiti island for... replace it with waterfalls, gardens, and scenic views is more accurate but if a beach is a must then the "most classic yellow" one we saw was in Tahiti Iti about 30-40 minutes drive next to the La Plage de Maui restaurant (reviewed separately). ||Food & restaurant options: the breakfast is served daily and has a unique system of you picking in advance from a board that you hang up outside your room in advance - they collect it by 6:00AM in the morning the following day and based on what you marked there prepare for you - it's either a la carte or breakfast buffet - we each time ate a la carte and were full enough and it was literally an equivalent of the buffet price for one person - while the quality of the food options was decent this is definitely the area of improvement for the Ninamu Pearl - if you take the toast... they should come with a jam and butter rather than picking that separately, or eggs should come with some bread... rather than charging it separately just combined them for the total price as after couple days it was a bit frustrating to always pick everything separately... it's not about the cost but while on vacation I just dont feel like building the breakfast for every single ingredient... but at the same time I don't feel like going for a full blown buffet experience... there should be some middle ground and that menu could be upgraded. Lunch can be also ordered and dinner but you choose from a different menu and you need to also let the staff know in advance - dinner I believe by 5PM, lunch I didn't find anything about so can't tell - we always ate outside of the hotel for lunch/dinner so that wasnt ever a problem since we had a car - there are some very nice waterfront restaurants in the area (check my other reviews + other options here on TA)||Things to do: whales! You can see them from the hotel, but go do a water excursion and swim with them - pretty awesome experience! Check out the many waterfalls, gardens, and just some scenic stops around the main road, super easy drives and great quality of the road - my only advice would be to avoid Papeete in the rush hours as traffic is very bad, like terribly bad for an island of this size - but then again it's one main road... and it's a busy city with lots of commuters. We didnt do the popular Moorea day trip as one day I want to visit Moorea and stay there for a few nights as we originally planed for in the past - it's too beautiful island just to do a day trip but if that's something you are interested in the options are super easy with the ferries and car ferries going back and forth all day long. Check out Tahiti Iti and its Teahupo'o Wave - that's where the 2024 surfing portion of the Paris Olympics will take place 🙂 The Tahiti Islands museum is right "down" the road too - very nice stop! ||Overall: I had some mixed feelings coming here about the negative reviews here, especially about the main host - we either didnt get to interact with her or we perhaps did and she wasnt as bad as people said here 🙂 I couldnt flaw the place because of the people that work here definitely, if something I would praise some of them for being so nice and helpful and putting up with us non-French speaking tourists 🙂 Neo was the the one whom stood out the most to us and big thank you for being so helpful! If we ever return to Tahiti either for a stay or as a layover I would probably stay here again - just consolidate that breakfast menu guys :))))) this place/experience was a super solid 4.5/5 so 5 for the encouragement! 🙂