Carp island Resort is on private island in Palau. Many beaches. Only 23 bungalows, with views of the sea. Only 10 minutes from the main diving sites. Quiet and nice.
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HOTEL STYLE
Hidden Gem
Great View
Location
Koror, Koror Island 96940-0005 Palau
Carp Island Resort
115 reviews
Getting there
Somewhat walkable
Places to stay are graded on a 0-100 scale. The higher the grade, the easier it is for travelers to find restaurants and things to do within walking distance.
I was fortunate to come back to Carp Island after 30 years. The beaches and view feel like another world. At the pier we were able to see various fishes along with beautiful sharks and beautiful seashells. The island is pristine and the staff make us all feel like family. It is worth the trip!!
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Date of stay: January 2023Trip type: Traveled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I love the fresh breeze and sound of ocean waves..Cottage with bathroom, two beds, cold & hot water in shower room, & excellent customer service, just perfect for my family getaway trip. The island local food, so yummy, well prepared, i just can't get enough of it!!
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Date of stay: June 2020
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
hallo I went to Carp Island this last summer for ten days and I would like to share my impressions. 1. the island is nice but not so nice as reported in the website. 2. the price is quite expensive for what you get. Be aware that the bungalows do not have a mosquito net....being the island famous for its mosquitos....expect some visitors in the night!!! 3. there is no coral reef around the island so if you want to snorkel you always have to take the boat 4. the island resort is very basic even if it is almost 20y old. So forget to find a confortable sun bed to read a book outside. There are few very uncomfortable ones that all the guests have to share. 5. they proud herself to be a 'robinson's island'....pity that the prices are not really 'robinson!!!' 5. the food is poor quality food for the price you pay. 6. the personell very nice. At the end I suggest to stay in Koror where you can find cheapest accomodations and can have a wider choice of diving places while from Carp they bring you always to the same places. Raffaella
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Date of stay: August 2012
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Trip type: Traveled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Forget Carp Island. Stay on Koror or if you want to be closer to the dive sites, stay on Peleliu at Storyboard Beach Resort or on a liveaboard. Carp Island is overrated, overly commercial, immpersonal and completely oriented towards catering to Japanese divers with 2,000+ logged dives. In fact, if you are not Japanese, expect to be mostly ignored. They are not very environmentally conscious (drag their anchors across the pristine reefs, don't require reef hooks, etc..). Their idea of safety is warped (they require life jackets on the 1 hour trip to the resort from mainland but let you run out of air when you are diving). Most of the beach they show in their pictures only exists at low tide. You'd think you'd get the chance to do early morning diving, but despite being right next to the best dive sites in Palau, they have to go the long way around because of the shallow water. They usually don't get to the sites until 10 am (joining the hordes of other divers) anyway because they wait until 9:30 to leave. Oh and if you're not a diver, plan to be bored because the other activities like Kayaking and hiking the island are a sham. On a positive note, their food was pretty good (fresh sashimi most days) and the views from the cabins were decent as well.
You can do much better than Carp Island no matter what kind of budget you are on.
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Date of stay: January 2005
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I've bean there in november 2011. the place is amazing, wonderfull landscape and sea. the cottages are clean and spacious, not too elegant but preatty. The kitcken was very good as the service. Prices are a little bit too expensive in my opinion, and all in this place is made for divers, so if you are not it's a little bit boring. that's not so pleasant that all extras (as kayak or rods) are with fee.
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Date of stay: November 2011
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Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I went to Palau for a 10 day vacation with friends, not knowing what to expect. The stay on the resort turned into one of my most memorable experiences! The weather was gorgeous, saw incredible sunsets and sunrises, went kayaking, fishing, snorkeling and learned to scuba dive. The staff at Carp Island Resort are friendly, giving and accomodating. Meals were plentiful and had quite the assortment. What I enjoyed most was the laid back, eco-friendly atmosphere of the island. Working towards creating an environmentally friendly and self sustainable resort, Carp Island is like no other. I would highly recommend it!
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Date of stay: September 2006
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Check in / front desk
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Trip type: Traveled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
My girlfriend and I stayed at Carp Island for 3 days/2 nights. Our dive guide was great, but the dive operation is not as good as Sams on Palau. Carp Island is closer to the majority of the dive sites which means less travel time, but I didn't mind the stunning daily 45 minute boatrides through the rock islands from Palau when diving with Sams.
The accommodations at Carp Island are v. basic and the food is primarily catered to the Japanese tourists, so the resort will not be for everybody. It has a beautiful location - at low tide you can walk to neighbouring island on long stretch of sand. We were unfortunately hit with 2 days of heavy rain while there - OK for the dive day but interfered with our plan to kayak around Carp on the second day. Too bad, because it looked like it would be a great (and easy) kayak, with stops for snorkelling and at secluded beach on other side.
While we enjoyed our stay, we'd do Carp Island as a day trip if we go back to Palau.
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Date of stay: January 2007
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Went to Carp Island Resort for 2 nights and 3 days recently and had the most amazing time there. Traveled with my husband, 4 year old, and mother in law and found almost everything about this place to be perfect. The island is pristine, the staff very friendly, dive guides were superb and the best dive sites are just about 10 minutes away! I have read several reviews on here about Carps food not being that great and basic, I don't know what they are talking about!!!! We found the food to be excellent! Every meal was buffet style with fresh fish, shrimp, calamari, beef curry, chicken curry, the best sashimi I've ever had, tons of fresh fruit at every meal, salad, rice, soups, and more!!! I think I gained 5lbs in 3 days. The prices are reasonable considering where you are in the world. ( Breakfast is $10, lunch $15, Dinner is $25) One thing I loved is that they raise chickens and pigs on the island so the food is as fresh as it can be! Cabins were very basic but lovely with attached bathrooms, large deck, and fans in the rooms since there is no A/C. Days were hot but the evenings were very comfortable with the fans going. I kind of relate it to luxury camping. My only complaint is that I found the beds to be very uncomfortable, they are a wooden platform with a thick (3-4in) mat instead of a traditional mattress. Sleeping for me was pretty miserable but even that being said we WILL go back to the island since everything else was perfect and you cant beat feeling like you have a whole island to yourself!!!! Go for one of the sunrise cabins since there is a beautiful breeze on that side of the island.
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Date of stay: April 2011
Value
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Trip type: Traveled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We had planned to stay 3 nights but left after 1 night. The rooms on the beach were spartan - bathroom outside of door on the porch and showers awful; 2 wooden double beds with bedspreads for sheet and covers, light bulbs hanging from ceiling, no reading lights, no carpets, and only a ceiling fan. Total Cost per night is $147 plus food costs which is almost entirely Japanese food. The dive shop we heard was not good either. Disappointed for sure in every way.
The Swans and Detricks
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Date of stay: February 2008
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from CarpIsland, Assistant manager at Carp Island Resort
Responded Mar 5, 2009
Hello, It's true the rooms of Carp Island resort were, in the past, quite old. But now we are renovating them all, so this critic is already from the past! We are new staff (assistant managers), European (French and Spanish) and we've been employed to adapt this resort to European and American taste (food, comfort, activities, diving center..) This island is very special! This is the only private island in Palau, with beaches and very near from all the diving sites....and now, with nice and renewed rooms!
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Each person's experience is unique, but there are common traits of a location. I stayed for only 2 days, but I think that was enough for me. As many have noted, there is no air-conditioning in the bungalows. If you choose the Sunrise Villas, you will get the benefit of a nice breeze. I did not choose them and as a result, I got to deal with a room that was hotter than it was outside, even with the provided fan.
Kayaks are provided, free of charge, but you have to leave early in the morning at high tide and be back before late afternoon when tide is very low. As also mentioned there is no coral area for snorkeling to speak of. Only seagrass. That was disappointing as the beach area is nice. They do have nice hammocks all along the beach area.
I did two dives with Stallon and he was a treat to dive with, although the boat we used was not quite optimized for SCUBA and getting back in the boat was a bit difficult. But there are many popular dive sites are very close by, within 15 minutes or so.
I wanted to go to Peleliu from Carp Island, but was disappointed to learn that there are no boats between the islands, even though it's a 15 minute boat ride. But Jane, the manager did make some phone calls and finally found a fisherman to come pick me up, so that was appreciated. I would like to see a better partnership with some boat operators there.
If you are not there for diving, or kayaking, there is not much to do other than sit on the hammocks, read, or generally be idle. No beach games, or other things to do. However, this may be what you want! If you are looking for some basic solitude, away from people, this is your place! No TV, radios, or general technology, other than power and Internet. I suspect the operators purposely keep out any activities that cause lots of noise or disturbances.
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Date of stay: May 2016
Location
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Traveled solo
Room Tip:Get the Sunrise Villas to take advantage of the ocean breezes!
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
There are more places to choose from in the Koror area.
ALSO KNOWN AS
carp island hotel koror, carp island resort
LOCATION
PalauKoror IslandKoror
NUMBER OF ROOMS
23
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