Vila Chaumières Restaurant & Resort — Restaurant in Efate

There are so many things that make this place unique. But the gardens are what really thrilled me. You enter the property by meandering along raked paths through lush densely planted garden beds full of colour. Once through reception and down to the restaurant over the water there are added garden ornaments and hanging art made of mosaics and ceramics that are artsy and whimsical. ||Our accommodation was upstairs in a lagoon view room with a huge wooden balcony that looked out over the garden,  restaurant area and lagoon.  Because you are amongst the trees at this level the shade they afford is what makes it so cool and pleasant. ||Ursula and Richard are the perfect hosts.  The advice they gave us for getting to know Vanuatu in a week was invaluable. They are lovely people, considerate,  kind and generous. I couldn't fault this place in fact. The beds are firm and comfy,  rooms a good size,  service excellent,  facilities very good especially for the price you pay.  It's quirky, charming and very appropriately  designed for the climate. ||The breakfast included each morning was substantial.  Fresh fruits,  croissants and toasted batard, juice and coffees.||We had 2 meals here during our stay as well as breakfast each day. I cannot recommend highly enough the Fishermans Feast. I binged on crayfish, coconut crab, calamari, wahoo, coconut crusted prawns.....All of it fresh and the light pernot flavoured sauces and chilli lime glazes were exquisite. I still salivate thinking about it. The restaurant is perfect for a romantic evening. ||Ursula and Richard provide you with something special when you stay here.  Yes it's 40 years old,  no it's not a fancy schmancy resort.  It is so much more than that!   It's a whole experience.  We have LOVED our stay and have made wonderful lifetime memories during our...

We stayed in March 2019 and had the whole place to ourselves for 3 of our days' stay and the staff were wonderful - Brenly, Serah and Elice were so welcoming and helpful. Elice even shared a piece of her birthday cake with us! With only five rooms, Vila Chaumieres is a great place for couples or small groups of adults only to relax and enjoy Port Vila. The grounds are amongst lush gardens and the resort does have a pool which was nice- when the owners came back from holidays they came to see us by the pool to say hello. The restaurant is over the lagoon which is lovely, you can see the fish during your peaceful breakfast of croissants and local fruit. You can order cooked breakfast if you wish, at additional cost.

The restaurant is popular and lots of people come from cruise ships and the town to try the french cuisine. The portions are generous and dinner good quality,

The rooms are spacious and clean and we had a lagoon view room with a balcony which was lovely, we could see out to the lagoon, gardens and restaurant.

The property is close to an au bon marche supermarket and getting buses was easy which would take you wherever you went. Apart from that though the property was not walking distance to the town so just bear that in mind, but buses were really affordable.

There was water in our room on arrival but I had expected it to be replenished daily, but additional water was at a cost, however we retained the bottles and refilled them with tap water and chilled it as the water is fine to drink.

Overall a wonderful stay and holiday and we would...

TL;DR||No restaurant, private beach or snorkeling at resort||Cannot swim in lagoon||Simple breakfast over lagoon||Great staff, quite helpful||Close bus stops - easy to get to town||Good price for room, lovely location||Room serviced about every 3 days||||I enjoyed our stay however...||Online information needs updating as it is very misleading. NO RESTAURANT ANYMORE. Unfortunately we only learnt about this on arrival at the resort which was very disappointing. They still provide a simple breakfast as stated (usually tea and coffee, toast, bananas, papaya and sometimes pancakes or on occasion eggs). For dinner go to town or neighbouring resorts were great (Tropicana and MG Cocomo).||||There is no private beach as stated in the features section and no snorkeling. There is the lagoon - lovely to kayak on but not safe for swimming due to pollution.||||Staff are absolutely lovely and I enjoyed our stay here. Staff picked us up from airport and helped us book some day tours and activities. A reasonable price for room. Lovely gardens. We stayed in a garden room which is private and secluded from other rooms. A few cockroaches came into the room at night through tiny holes in ceiling. Pool is small and surrounding deck chairs broken, but still a nice spot.||||Would be ideal to have an A4 paper sheet in room with some key notes like time of breakfast, how to do laundry, lagoon not safe for swimming, etc. Otherwise just have to keep asking staff.||Wifi only works close...