Ratua Private Island Resort
A Vanuatu island of antique Javanese houses shipped in and rebuilt on the beach.
Ratua lies off Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu, reached by flight to Luganville and then boat, covering about 146 hectares of forest and beach. One property occupies it. The island sits in a country better known for diving — the SS President Coolidge wreck is nearby — than for resorts.
Thirteen villas make up the accommodation, and they are antique Javanese houses, two hundred years old, dismantled in Indonesia and rebuilt here on the sand. The property funds the Ratua Foundation, which works on health and education in the surrounding villages, and the arrangement is the reason the island operates as it does.
Two-hundred-year-old houses on a Pacific beach. The transplanted Javanese buildings are unlike anything else in this register and cannot be repeated.
A foundation as the purpose. The resort exists in part to fund community work in Espiritu Santo, and the accounts are published.
Who it is not for
Ratua is wrong for guests expecting resort facilities or a spa, which are minimal. It is wrong for travellers who need simple logistics, given the connections through Vanuatu. And it is wrong for those wanting reef at the doorstep, as the diving here needs a boat. And it is wrong for guests who want contemporary rooms, since the villas are two hundred years old. Those wanting Pacific comfort should look at Kokomo or Laucala Island Resort.
Sources
- ratua.com — thirteen antique Javanese villas, 146 hectares, Espiritu Santo, Ratua Foundation
Verification
- Official source
- Checked
- Inventory
- Awaiting confirmation
- Property confirmation
- Pending
- Last verified
- —
Booking
Private Island Resorts arranges each stay on request, quoting the rates available for the island and dates. No benefit should be assumed unless it is confirmed in writing for the individual reservation.
Request a proposal Compare this islandClassified by The Resort Collection House · The Register · Edition 2026 · LHL-I-111
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