Hawaii is home to an extremely large amount of fantastic accommodation options, from those right on the beach to those situated a bit farther back. Unfortunately, you won’t find any overwater resorts here. If they could be built on Hawaii’s shores, there would be dozens.
However, with bad news comes a bit of good news. There are plenty of great overwater resort choices over on the islands of Tahiti and Moorea. In addition, less than an hour away from those islands, you’ll find even more overwater resorts on Bora Bora.
Serving as one of the world’s most popular and famous tropical islands, a vacation on the island of Bali brings in most of the tourists that power Indonesia’s tourism. When looking into vacationing here, you may become a bit confused on whether or not there are any overwater bungalows on-site. This is because there is a resort, Club Bali Hai, that claims to have invented the first overwater bungalows.
What you’ll find however, is that resort is on the island of Moorea, just off Tahiti, in the South Pacific, thousands of kilometers from Indonesia.
A beautiful tropical region that hosts 115 islands, the Seychelles is a dream come true for most vacationers who seek a beach, sun, and a cold drink. Unfortunately, there aren’t any overwater villas in this area as of now, and there aren’t any plans at the moment to build any that we know of. However, there is good news. Nearby, there is a plethora of overwater resorts, and those are found in the famed Maldives.
Puerto Rico is an easy to reach tropical location that’s also an extremely popular choice for those seeking a bit of fun in the sun, throughout the entire year, and even year after year. Because of this, there are lots of travelers who wonder if there are any overwater resorts to choose from. Though we wish we could say differently, Puerto Rico is not yet an overwater bungalow destination, but thankfully there are islands nearby that are.
Located just 15 miles off of the coast of Tanzania, Zanzibar is found within the Indian Ocean. This beautiful archipelago offers beautiful, clear waters to wade and snorkel in alongside wide stretches of beach. Here, you’ll find a large amount of beachfront hotels, but at the moment, none of these hotels feature overwater villas of any sort.
Because of this lack of overwater villas, you’ll have to travel a little further away to find your dream overwater escape.
Due to it being both a beautiful and impressive island nation, Sri Lanka, which is located just off the southeastern tip of India, is fast becoming a popular vacation destination. On this tropical island you’ll find sandy beaches, a tropical jungle, large ruins, and even a few arid delights.
The island itself is also home to a variety of accommodations, that are scattered throughout the entire island. However, you won’t find any overwater villas here.
Because the Bahamas are considered a very easy to reach destination in the Caribbean, there are many travelers who ask whether or not this island chain harbors any overwater resorts. Unfortunately, the answer is no, but there is still some good news as there are some great overwater resort options that aren’t too far away.
First off, water villas, or ‘overwater bungalows’ as they are called in the South Pacific, can only be built over protected lagoons that don’t have waves (or regular hurricanes) to deal with.
Costa Rica is without doubt, the most popular tourist country in Central America. This country impresses with huge stretches of lovely beaches on both its Pacific and Caribbean coasts. Unfortunately, for those wondering, there are no water villas (called ‘overwater bungalows’ in the South Pacific) to be found in Costa Rica, but there are five resorts that can be found nearby.
It’s also a good idea for us to point out that if you’re searching for an overwater experience that resembles those in the South Pacific, you won’t exactly get that in Central America.
Now that you’ve decided you’d like to take a vacation in an overwater bungalow or water villa, the first step is to try to figure out where to even begin. So, how does one start the planning process? This is the single most common question we get at this site, and it’s understandable because these amazing accommodations are only common within a few parts of the world.
Another complication for most of us that makes planning a bit more difficult is that overwater bungalows are among the most expensive hotel rooms in the world.
While there are overwater bungalow resorts scattered all throughout the South Pacific, Fiji is home to only 3, at least for the moment. What is nice about these 3 choices, is that they do vary a lot from each other, which allows guests a few options. Out of these, 2 offer rooms around the US$500 a night range while the third is geared toward travelers that adventure with a larger budget.
If you are looking for something other than the three listed below, you’ll be able to go to one of the other islands in the South Pacific, where you’ll have around 30 different resorts to choose from if you can make it to Bora Bora or elsewhere in French Polynesia.