Te Vakaroa Villas

Stepping through a private gate straight onto Muri Beach, guests reach the lagoon before they have unpacked. Te Vakaroa Villas holds just six villas, three with one bedroom and three with two, arranged along the sand with a shared infinity pool and jacuzzi at their centre. It is an adults-only property, capped at twenty guests at any time. Each villa opens through floor-to-ceiling sliders onto its own patio, facing the lagoon and the reef beyond it. The two-bedroom villas run to 170 square metres, with both bedrooms upstairs and a powder room below; the one-bedroom villas cover 93 square metres, ground floor, with a four-poster or king bed that splits to twins. Kayaks and snorkel gear are free to borrow, and the lagoon here runs wide and shallow, good for swimming without much current. A short walk along the beach reaches several of the island's restaurants, though breakfast comes to the villa each morning and a chef can be arranged for meals in. Gardens are planted with native species and irrigated by a system built to keep runoff out of the lagoon. Airport transfer takes twenty minutes. It is a small, private stretch of shoreline, built for two.