Kosrae Village and Ecolodge

I am not being paid anything for this post. I will not receive any sort of commission. In fact they have no idea I’m writing this. I’m not even sure if they remember me or my visit.


Restaurant at the Kosrae Village Ecolodge
Restaurant at the Kosrae Village Ecolodge
I am always asked for suggestions on where to travel. Everyone wants to find some place which is undiscovered and not overrun by tourists. There aren’t many of these places left, but they do exist. In fact I always recommend one place to people: the Federated States of Micronesia.

Not only is Micronesia not overrun with tourists, it probably never will be. It is a very difficult place to get to and there is only one airline that flies there. The end points of the flight are in Hawaii and Guam which are tourist destinations in their own right, so Micronesia will never get many tourists. I don’t know if any any island in Micronesia has more than 100 beds.

I also don’t talk about hotels much on my blog. I do have a personal list of favorite places I’ve stayed while traveling, but I’ve never shared that list with anyone.

Enjoy views like this in Kosrae
Enjoy views like this in Kosrae
I mention Micronesia and hotels because I received an email today from one of my favorite hotels in the world: The Village Ecolodge on the island of Kosrae, Micronesia. The Kosrae Village was built by Bruce and Katrina, an American expat couple who moved to Kosrae. The entire resort was built using local materials, with local workers, using local techniques. The two days I spent in Kosrae are some of the my fondest memories from my last three years of travel. I went SCUBA diving, had several great meals and visited the ruins of Menka in the interior of the island.

Kosrae gets few tourists and the recession has dropped that number even further. The Kosrae Village is doing a very aggressive promotion to try and raise money: They are selling vouchers for $2,000 worth of lodging, food or diving for $1,000. Basically, you can vacation there for half the price.

With the voucher, you can get a double bungalow for $35/night per person, or you can go on a 2 tank dive for $55. That is cheap. All of this in an undiscovered, Pacific paradise.

If this interests you, send an email and contact Katrina and Bruce at info@kosraevillage.com.

I’m doing this because I want to help one of my favorite hotels and want to encourage people to visit one of my favorite places on Earth. It is also a really good deal.

If anyone does visit Kosrae, please let me know. If you stop by the Village Ecolodge, make sure to try the lime cordial!

29 thoughts on “Kosrae Village and Ecolodge”

    • Hi Ingrid, yes you are correct. the special mentioned in the June post is over now. But we are often running other specials, perhaps not as dramatic :).

      Katrina

  1. I haven’t visited Kosrae Village yet but I have heard many stories about this wonderful place.

    • That’s great Mary!

      If you get a chance, come and see us, I don’t think that you will be disappointed.

      Cheers,
      Katrina

      • I _have_ visited there and it’s amazing. I took my kids – then 8 and 17. Katrina taught me and the 17 year-old to dive and it was even more beautiful under the water than the photos suggest. The 8 year old was too young, but he loved playing on the beach and in the shallow reef just outside the bungalow and we all had a great time visiting the Menka ruins. The 8 year old, very hard to impress, forgot himself for a minute after we’d been there a day and exclaimed, “This is awesome!” The same kid who shrugged about trips with his father to Hawaii and Costa Rica. The other thing I especially appreciated is that the staff seemed to really like us and all I had to do was ask anyone where the 8 year old was, and they all knew. Also, we happened to visit at the same time as an Austrian family with a boy my son’s age so the plan that I later learned that Katrina and the staff had devised wasn’t needed – one of the staff members had volunteered to bring her child to work, who was about the same age as my son. It was lovely in so many ways. I returned just last January – just with a friend this time, and it’s still as wonderful and it’s extremely un-tourist-y. The people I met in town were warm, open (sometimes a little shy), friendly, and curious toward me. I know this is a lot – sometimes I can’t help myself.

  2. you say “do have a personal list of favorite places I’ve stayed while traveling, but I’ve never shared that list with anyone. ”

    Why on earth not? Are you afraid we will all rush to them and then there won’t be room for you? That’s a patently absurd reason so I am sure that can’t be it. So why don’t you share?

  3. What a coincidence! I just spent a year teaching on Kosrae. And I definitely agree, it is an amazing place.

  4. I’d love to go to Micronesia, it’s high up on my list. Will try to find a way to include it in our next big trip!

    • Hi Sofia,

      Drop me a line with any questions and I’ll do my best to help you out.

      Cheers,
      Katrina

  5. Hi Gary,
    Intrepid explorers unite! It amazes me how many people traverse this beautiful planet of ours on a whim.
    I have often wondered if they have any responsibilities back home that they have decided to up and leave for another time, or have they won or inherited a LARGE sum of money that allows for all the time in the world to explore? I believe it to be a great privilege to explore our greatest gift – Planet Earth.
    I hope you enjoy my travel blog as much as I enjoy reading yours. To all the explorers out there, Love, Peace and Light

  6. Micronesia! This is the place quiet unknown to me but I saw a lot beautiful about this place…

    Wish to reach it someday in one of my trips…

  7. Very cool. I’ve seen Micronesia on the map but no nothing about it–just that the name is a little funny :) Glad to hear such good things from you. I hope to make it there before it becomes too touristy!

  8. I work for and as a challenge I entered LAX-Kosrae into our flight search engine and was pleasently surpirsed with the results. It was Continental with around as previously commented, but at $1600, and I didn’t fiddle much with the dates.

  9. Personally, I’d recommend booking a really cheap flight to Hawaii, then just book your Micronesia tickets from that point.

  10. Gary,

    Thanks very much for your review and sending on our promotion!

    I thought that I should let you know that Continental has a discount Visit Micronesia fare. The details for booking the fare can be found on my site at http://kosraevillage.com/traveltips.shtml. I have heard that it is difficult to book, so if you run into trouble, let me know. I can get help from Continental.

    Cheers,
    Katrina

  11. Neat promotion, and kind of tempting! What are the roundtrip travel costs from the continental US?

    • You’d have to check. The only airline that flies that route is Continental Micronesia and you have to leave from Hawaii or Guam.

      The distance of the flight is precisely why this is never going to be a big tourist destination.

      • Looks like at least $1800 and 30 hours from my current location. Still, something to keep in mind for when I have more time and more money.

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