Location: Beachside in Pāpāmoa, 12km down the road from the iconic, 232m-high Mauao, otherwise known as The Mount.
Tasman Holiday Parks Pāpāmoa Beach sits only 12km away from the iconic Mauao, providing stunning coastal views.
Style: This is a classic, large New Zealand beach campground with a history going back almost 60 years. So yes, style-wise it’s long been a happy jumble of whatever humble-or-blinged-out tent or motorhome you bring with you, and that’s still the case. But! And it’s a big but, because as of last summer that style has been updated to encompass a kind of understated luxury coastal chic, with an $8 million refurbishment bringing six more beachfront villas and eight poolside units.
After an $8 million refurbishment, the resort now boasts a blend of coastal chic and understated luxury.
Perfect for: Families, sunseekers and people who like the idea of camping, but not the reality of being in a tent. And I’m happy to put my hand up and say that in our household, there’s only one camping diva and it’s not my wife. So the prospect of staying in a family-geared holiday park with heaps of activities for the kids, but not having to rough it in a bathroom-less tent? Sign me up.
First impressions: It was hard to believe this was the same place we’d visited a couple of years ago. Where once there was a patch of dirt, a small hill and one of those massive inflatable pillow-type trampolines, now there’s one of the biggest, most visually impressive hotel or resort swimming pools in New Zealand. Overlooking the pool are some of the new villas with views to make you think you must’ve gone to Fiji or the Cook Islands as opposed to Pāpāmoa.
Ideal for families and sunseekers seeking a camping experience with added comfort.
Rooms: We had one of those just-built poolside villas with twobedrooms, a spacious open-plan living and dining area, a full kitchen, two bathrooms and a balcony with BBQ where you can kick back and pretend you’re in the islands. The second bedroom has two bunk beds that our 4-year-old daughter Riley declared the most exciting thing in the world. Note: There are substantial price fluctuations throughout the year, with off-season room rates much lower than in peak summer. The resort positions itself as offering something for every budget, including basic and mid-range cabins.
Newly built villas feature spacious living areas, full kitchens, and private balconies with BBQ facilities.
Bathroom: Again, as a camping diva, having my own bathroom and shower made me enjoy this holiday park like I never knew I could. As in, for the first time in my life, a stay at a campground with no bumbling, torch-lit 3am missions to the toilet block — outstanding! Liquid soaps from the Huia Skin Care range.
Food and drink: There’s fish and chips takeaways across the road from the resort, or you can take it up a notch at the on-site Bluebiyou that’s billed as “Bay of Plenty’s only beachfront contemporary bistro restaurant and bar”. The Papamoa Plaza is also only a few hundred metres away if you need anything else, including supermarkets.
Facilities: You have to start with that new 25m heated swimming pool. If friends and family who live in Tauranga and Mount Maunganui are anything to go by, it’s probably not much of an exaggeration to say the pool alone is the talk of the region, ie “Have you seen the new Papamoa Beach Resort pool? We should book a staycation!” Add to that an outdoor movie screen, giant chess, tandem bikes, a playground, trampolines, pizza ovens, spas, a mini library, and yes, all the necessary shared facilities for guests in tents or motorhomes, and you’ve got one very fun, self-contained family holiday.
A massive resort pool steals the spotlight, offering a touch of Fiji in Papamoa.
In the neighbourhood: The Pāpāmoa Surf Life Saving Club is less than five minutes away on foot, a reminder that the primary reason people have chosen this spot for their holidays for so many decades is that famous beach.
Family friendly: Couldn’t be more so.
Tim Roxborogh checks in to Papamoa Beach Resort.
Accessibility: Most of the holiday park is flat with the exception of some minor hills.
Sustainability: The park’s $8 million refurbishment impresses for many reasons, not the least of which is the huge amount of native planting around the new villas and units.
