Is Mala Island Resort pet-friendly?

Yes, cats and dogs are allowed at this property.

How much is parking at Mala Island Resort?

This lodge doesn't offer parking.

What time is check-in at Mala Island Resort?

Check-in start time: noon; Check-in end time: 7 PM. After-hours check-in is not available.

Does Mala Island Resort provide a shuttle to the airport?

Yes, there's an airport shuttle that runs 7:00 AM–10:00 PM on request. A fee of TOP 120.00 per room applies.

Where is Mala Island Resort located?

Situated by the ocean, this lodge is within 9 mi (15 km) of Vava'u Harbor, St. Joseph's Cathedral, and Mt. Talau National Park. Ene'io Botanical Garden is 14.7 mi (23.7 km) away.

Mala Island Resort Reviews, Deals & Photos 2025

10/10 Excellent

Jason

2025/7/27

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities

Wonderful stay at this quiet, friendly, rustic retreat at a family-run eco-resort. Good food as well!

Stayed 4 nights in Jul 2025

10/10 Excellent

Temika

2025/9/13

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities

We had an amazing 3 night stay at Mala resort. This family run accommodation is a great location within the Vava’u island group. The rooms are comfortable with spectacular views. With wifi in the common areas, it’s a great space to digitally detox while still being connected :) The hosts are so friendly and welcoming, happy to help with any request. We would recommend this property to anyone staying in Vava’u.

Stayed 4 nights in Sep 2025

10/10 Excellent

Salvatore Flavio

2024/6/24

Liked: Staff & service

A little resort in a wonderful location managed by an amazing family we had the pleasure to spend some time with! Great experience overall and … thank you to our hosts!!!!

Stayed 7 nights in Jun 2024

8/10 Good

Laureline

2025/10/3

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service

Mala island resort is not a flash resort but this is largely compensated by the environment. The cabins have great views on the sea and sunset, the island is quiet,and the marine life next door is incredible. Our hosts organised the transport from and to the airport, plus our whale swim day. The room we were had mosquito nets around each bed, but there was not many mosquitos when we were there in September. Meals are cooked by our hosts at a reasonable cost. However, I recommend to buy some snacks before heading to the island at Neiafu during the transfer, as we were a bit hungry after snorkeling and couldn't wait until diner time. The menu includes several options so my child who doesn't like fish could always have the option of a salad or chicken. Snorkeling is great from the beach. The so called "Japanese gardens" are next door with plenty of colourful fish. The coral reef suffered from the last cyclone and there is a big part damaged or dead, but there are still some live reefs that will satisfy any snorkeler. We saw some bigger animals too: a couple of reef sharks and turtles. We didn't have snorkel.equipment for everyone as I thought the resort will have some spares. They don't. So bring all snorkel gear. In September, the water temperature was around 25 degrees. I didn't put any wetsuit but I was a bit cold after 2 hours snorkeling. My family wore wet suits. The reef had enough diversity that we consider coming outside the whale season.

The beach with in front the Japanese gardens

The deck where we have our meals with Daisy, very friendly dog

Stayed 7 nights in Sep 2025

8/10 Good

maarten J

2024/11/1

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service

Little peace of paradise! Facilities a bit run down so don't expect anything fancy but compensated by lovely caretaker family and good value for money for Tongan standards. Ideal place for digital detox. Great meals. Would stay here again as an island retreat.

Stayed 4 nights in Oct 2024

10/10 Excellent

Michael

2023/10/5

Liked: Staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities

What a sweet stay this was. It’s on its own little island. The family is just delightful, the food was great and I would totally stay there again.

Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2023

8/10 Good

Robert

2024/8/13

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service

We really enjoyed our time there and it was an opportunity to really get off the grid. Beautiful location. Nisha and his family treated us like royalty. He helped us arrange a great boat tour around the islands along with a scuba dive and swim with the whales at the last minute. They cooked our food to order which was excellent. We have already recommended him to friends

Stayed 4 nights in Aug 2024

10/10 Excellent

Gabriel

2023/9/11

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities

This is truly a mom-and-pop resort. Their teenage children help and are always happy and smiling. This is not a luxury resort but has comfortable nice lodgings with million-dollar views of the gorgeous water, surrounding islands, and stunning sunsets and starry skies. Each room has its own full bathroom comfortable bed, refrigerator, and balcony. The owners cook breakfast, lunch and dinner for an additional reasonable charge and the food is excellent, we had a Tongan traditional pig roast which was fantastic. Excellent place to stay, they have wifi in the main dining room/deck and the snorkeling is amazing. Highly recommend staying here.

Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2023

10/10 Excellent

Sophie

2023/9/9

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities

What an incredible slice of paradise! Nesha, Oli and family were so incredibly welcoming and friendly. The island is so tranquil and relaxing and has the most amazing private beach. Oli prepared the most delicious meals. Breakfast was fit for a champion (toast, eggs, bacon and fresh fruit) and the dinners which were mostly fresh fish were super tasty and fresh and all meals were good value. The resort itself is a little tired but amazing by Tongan standards (we have stayed at many other places in Tonga). The resort also has hot water which is a rarity in Tonga. The resort is next to the Japanese Gardens which can be snorkelled from the island with relative ease, the reef had a large range of different fish and we saw a turtle (the best snorkelling we have had in Tonga)! We also used Mala Resort’s kayak and kayaked to Swallows Cave which was quite a challenge but very doable from the resort. The transport to and from the resort was also well arranged. Thanks very much for our stay.

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

2024/9/27

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities

Stayed 7 nights in Sep 2024

8/10 Good

Nicholas

2024/9/1

Liked: Staff & service, amenities

The family running the resort were very friendly and ready and willing to do all they could to fulfill your requests. Transport to and from the airport were arranged with no hassle. When we needed to change dates they were very easy to work with. This was a great experience.

Stayed 7 nights in Aug 2024

10/10 Excellent

James

2024/8/26

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities

We had an amazing 5 days at Mala Island Resort. Our host family were very hospitable and friendly and went out of their way to make our stay as enjoyable as possible. The snorkelling 100m off the island is incredible

Stayed 6 nights in Aug 2024

8/10 Good

Maria

2024/8/17

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities

Wir waren 4 Nächte hier u es hat uns sehr gefallen. Die Gastgeberfamilie ist überaus bemüht u sehr freundlich/hilfsbereit. Bei Bedarf können Dinge aus dem Supermarkt bestellt werden. Vor Ort wird gekocht u es gibt vom frischen Tuna oder Mahi Mahi über Pasta u Sandwiches alles was das Herz begehrt. Die Zimmer selbst haben einen fantastischen Ausblick über die Bucht u wir haben aus nächster Nähe mehrmals Buckelwale vorbeischwimmen sehen. Das Gesamtpaket stimmt u lässt somit über den ein oder anderen Punkt was die Zimmer angeht hinwegsehen (etwas abgewohnt). Kühlschrank im Zimmer vorhanden :-) Wir würden wiederkommen.

Stayed 5 nights in Aug 2024

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

2024/6/7

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Great island experience; a real opportunity to disconnect

Stayed 2 nights in Jun 2024

8/10 Good

Marlene

2024/5/15

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service

Stayed 14 nights in May 2024

10/10 Excellent

Olga

2023/10/21

Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2023

8/10 Good

Jennifer

2023/8/30

Stayed 4 nights in Aug 2023

4/10 Poor

Verified traveler

2019/10/14

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service

Disliked: Amenities, property conditions & facilities

On an island, private trail (920 metres), could walk around island at low tide. Staff tried to be helpful, with limited resources. Did a great job of organizing transit to and from the resort.

Stayed 4 nights in Sep 2019

8/10 Good

Verified traveler

2019/9/27

Liked: Staff & service

Disliked: Property conditions & facilities

Des Essen war fantastisch, die Eigentümer superhilfsbereit und freundlich, die Lage der Bungalows ist sehr schön, man schaut aufs Meer und Palmen, der Garten ist schön, der Strand ist ok, leider ist die Anlage in die Jahre gekommen, daher auch schwer sauber zu halten, alles müsste grundüberholt werden. Das Internet ist wie überall langsam oder nicht da, wenn viele eingeloggt sind. Die Korallen vor Ort (Japanese Garden?) kann man vergessen. Aber man kann schöne Bootsausflüge machen und auch die Waltouren sind super von dort aus zu machen.

Stayed 4 nights in Sep 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

2019/8/1

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities

Wow, where do we even start with Mala Island resort, Neesha, Olivia and the girls were amazing. The location is out of this world incredible, situated on a secluded island, it’s the perfect sanctuary to unwind and relax. We bought food over but mostly ate Olivia and the girls cooking because it’s was always so tasty and fresh. We had the most amazing tuna! I would highly recommend this island for anyone who wants to truly experience a relaxing holiday. This has to be one of my favourite holiday destinations in the world, we will 100% be back next year.

Stayed 2 nights in Jul 2019

10/10 Excellent

Iain

2019/7/31

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Stayed 3 nights in Jul 2019

6/10 Okay

Vega, Washington

2019/7/19

I booked but didn’t stay there as the communication with them was less than reliable. Since they are several miles off shore and require a water shuttle it did not look like I would make an 8AM flight departure.

Stayed 2 nights in Jul 2019

8/10 Good

Verified traveler

2019/6/25

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities

This island is very back to basics and great if you want to get away from everything. The food offered is wonderful and Neisha and Oli are very accomodating. Remember to bring games to keep you amused and snacks and drinks, as you can only get to the shops by boat.

Stayed 14 nights in Jun 2019

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