A Big Island with More Than a Resort

When travellers search for “Aore Island Resort,” many expect to find a single resort owning or operating the entire island. In reality, Aore Island is a 58-square-kilometre island in northern Vanuatu, with villages, plantations, cattle farms, private homes and a range of accommodation options, including resorts and private holiday stays.

Aore Island lies directly across the channel from Luganville on Espiritu Santo, with the crossing taking around 10 minutes by boat. This gives visitors easy access to Luganville for supermarkets, local markets, shops, banks and other services while still staying on an island.

Aore is much larger and more diverse than many first-time visitors realise. More than 500 permanent residents live across the island, alongside working plantations, like Phoenix Plantation coffee farms and private homes. Aore Island Resort is one accommodation business on Aore Island; it does not own the island.

For visitors, this means there are different ways to experience Aore. You can choose a traditional resort stay, a private beachfront holiday home or a more independent island experience while exploring the communities, coastline and working plantations that make up everyday life on Aore Island.



From Grand Plans to a Unique Island Community

Aore Island’s modern development story began in the 1990s with Chris Hutchinson, who had ambitious plans for the island. His vision reportedly included a golf course, casino and a large marina, with the Hutchinson family acquiring a substantial amount of land on Aore. His children still own a significant proportion of the island today. While those grand plans never fully eventuated, they helped shape a very different style of development on Aore. Today, the island has numerous privately owned holiday homes and permanent residences, with around 90% of the newer homes built in a Western style, alongside traditional local-style homes and villages.

There are also three resorts on Aore Island, as well as private accommodation scattered along the coastline. Some of the island’s most distinctive places to stay are not resorts at all. Beachfront on Aore, for example, offers a private beachfront experience, while other properties range from Western-style holiday houses to locally inspired tropical homes built using traditional materials and island building styles.

This mixture is part of what makes Aore unusual. You can stay somewhere with the comforts of a Western-style home or choose a more traditional island-style experience, while still being surrounded by working plantations, villages and everyday Vanuatu life.

Aore Island Resort Is One Resort on Aore Island

Aore Island Resort is a small boutique resort located on Aore Island, owned and operated by Brad and Lisa Gray and their family. The Gray family bought the existing resort as a family business and continue to operate it today.

It is important for travellers researching Aore to understand that Aore Island Resort is not the whole island, nor is Aore Island itself a private resort island. The resort describes itself as a small, intimate retreat on Aore Island, with beachfront and garden bungalows, a restaurant and bar, swimming pool and guest facilities.

Aore Island has a much broader range of accommodation and privately owned properties. Alongside Aore Island Resort are other established accommodation businesses and private holiday homes, including Lapita, Aore Bungalows and Beachfront on Aore at Phoenix Plantation. Visitors can therefore choose between a traditional small resort experience, a self-contained beachfront home, or locally styled island accommodation.

That distinction matters when researching where to stay. Aore Island Resort is one accommodation option on a much larger inhabited island, rather than the owner or operator of Aore Island itself. Aore is home to local communities, plantations, private homes and other tourism businesses, each offering a different way to experience the island.

What Is the Future of Aore Island?

Aore Island continues to change, but it remains very different from a purpose-built resort island. Over the years there have been ambitious development proposals for Aore, including plans for a marina, golf course and larger tourism developments. Some of those concepts were formally promoted as investment opportunities, although many have never progressed beyond the planning or proposal stage.

Development today is much more varied. There are established resorts, privately owned holiday homes, working plantations and newer tourism ventures across different parts of the island. Phoenix, for example, is developing accommodation and tourism experiences on its large plantation estate, while Freshwater and Lapita Plantations is currently being offered for sale with several possible future tourism and plantation uses.

Is Aore Island Safe to Explore?

One misconception worth clearing up is that visitors need to remain inside the grounds of their accommodation to be safe. Aore is not a private resort island, and staying at one property does not mean the rest of the island is off limits or inherently unsafe.

Aore is an inhabited island with villages, farms, plantations and private homes. Visitors regularly travel by boat, walk along local roads and tracks, visit communities and explore different parts of the island. Normal travel awareness still applies: respect private property, ask before entering villages or taking photographs, take care around the ocean and unfamiliar tracks, and arrange transport when travelling longer distances.

Visitors should also understand that the different accommodation businesses are independent of one another. Aore Island Resort describes itself as a small resort on Aore Island, while other parts of the island offer private houses, plantation stays and locally styled accommodation. 

That is perhaps the most important thing to understand when researching Aore Island accommodation. There isn't one single “Aore Island experience.” You can choose a small traditional resort, a Western-style self-contained holiday home, a beachfront house, plantation accommodation or a more locally styled tropical stay. Some properties provide restaurants and resort facilities; others give guests a kitchen and the independence to shop in Luganville and experience island living for themselves.

Beachfront on Aore at Phoenix Plantation is one of those alternatives, offering a private beachfront stay within a working plantation rather than a conventional resort environment. Elsewhere around Aore, properties such as Lapita and other independent accommodation provide their own interpretation of an Aore Island holiday.

Aore's appeal is ultimately bigger than any one resort or accommodation business. It is a living Vanuatu island with communities, plantations, beaches, reefs, privately owned homes and tourism businesses spread around its coastline  and visitors don't need to experience it from behind the boundaries of a single property.

Today, Aore Island has more than 20 accommodation options, including resorts, plantation stays, private beachfront houses, bungalows, locally styled homes and independent holiday rentals spread around the island.  Whaqt style would oyu choose ?