2 hrs · daily, tide-dependentReef drift at slack tide
Ninety minutes in the water with Sefu, out past the shelf where the coral wall drops away. Boat, fins and hot ginger tea on the way back.
$95 per guest
Leeward shore · Tavaro Island
The ocean keepsthe onlyclock here.
Twenty-six thatched pavilions inside a palm garden, four hundred metres of private sand, and a bathhouse that opens before the sun does.
- Pavilions
- 26
- Shoreline
- 400 m
- From
- $385 / night
Two-night minimum. No booking fee.
The arrival
Down the garden path, out to the light
The boat drops you at the old jetty and the road ends there. You walk the last four minutes under the big makuti roof, past the bathhouse, through a garden Idrissa has been shaping since 1998 — and then the trees open and the bay is just there.
Every pavilion sits inside that green. Close enough to hear the tide come over the reef at night, far enough that you hear nothing else at all.
Forty minutes by air, twelve by boat, then no vehicles at all.
26
Thatched pavilions
Garden, ocean and reef
400 m
Private shoreline
Reef-sheltered, swimmable at all tides
62
People looking after it
Fifty-one of them from Tavaro
07:04
Tomorrow's sunrise
Coffee at the beach bar from 06:30
One day, in pieces
A day at Palmera, assembled
The days
The days write themselves
Nothing is compulsory and nothing runs on a screen. Times are on the board by the bathhouse door; the desk books the rest.
2 hrs · daily, tide-dependent
4 hrs · Tue & Sat, 10:00Dhow to the sandbar
Sail out at low water to a bank that exists for four hours a day. Lunch is carried out ahead of you.
$150 per guest
Thursdays · 19:30The long table
One table on the sand, one menu, whatever the boats brought in. Chef Naima Sowah cooks it in front of you.
$85 per guest
90 min · booked at the deskThe bathhouse ritual
Steam, salt scrub, coconut oil, then an hour on the cool stone doing absolutely nothing. Anisa has run this room for eleven years.
$130
Fire and drum night
Fridays · 21:00, on the lawn
Included
Sunrise walk with Idrissa
Daily · 06:15, from the bathhouse
Included
Reef-safe kit & kayaks
Any time · beach hut
Included
“The staff know the tide better than the tide table does. On the second night they moved our table forty metres down the sand because the moon was doing something.”
From the feed
Life at the bay, in motion
Concept reels — real footage, shot on location by InterVision Media.
The west path, low tideConcept reel Fire and drum, FridayConcept reel Naima's pass, 19:30Concept reel The bar after darkConcept reel
Pavilions
Pick your green
Twenty-six in total, all thatched, all inside the garden. Rates are per night for two and include breakfast, the bathhouse steam room and everything in the beach hut.
Pavilion 01
Garden Pavilion
Set deep in the palms with a shaded veranda and an outdoor shower under a fig tree. Ninety seconds to the pool, three minutes to the sand.
- Size
- 58 m²
- Sleeps
- 2
- Outlook
- Palm garden
$385per night, two guests
Enquire
Pavilion 02
Ocean Pavilion
First line. A private terrace above the sand, folding doors the whole width of the room, and the reef close enough that you hear it break at two in the morning.
- Size
- 74 m²
- Sleeps
- 2
- Outlook
- Bay, west-facing
$560per night, two guests
Enquire
Pavilion 03
Reef House
The quiet end of the shore. Vaulted makuti ceiling, a four-metre plunge pool cut into the terrace, and a path down to your own stretch of sand.
- Size
- 96 m²
- Sleeps
- 3
- Pool
- Private plunge
$840per night, up to three
Enquire
Taken whole
The Palmera Residence
Two bedrooms, a twelve-metre pool, an open kitchen and a cook who arrives at seven. Taken whole, usually for a week, usually by people who came once as a couple and came back with everyone.
- Size
- 210 m²
- Sleeps
- 5
- Pool
- 12 m private
- Staff
- Cook + housekeeper
$2,150per night · five-night minimum · cook and housekeeper included
Check availabilityEnquire
Tell us when, and we’ll hold it.
Send this and a real person on Tavaro reads it. We reply within one working day with what's open, what it costs, and how to get here from wherever you're starting.
- No deposit taken at enquiry
- Free changes up to 21 days out
- Transfers arranged from the mainland
- Reservations
- stay@palmerabay.example
- Direct line
- +44 20 7946 0312
- Hours
- 07:00 – 21:00, island time