The Villa At Nakai

A private, quiet and secluded villa nestled within natural coastal vegetation and a well maintained garden. The kitchen is spacious, modern and very well equipped, with quality appliances and finishings. The Nespresso machine and dishwasher are great additions. The pool has a magnificent view and overlooks the ocean.Sunrises are spectacular to view from there. Comfortable bean bag chairs/ loungers can be placed under the shade of the pergola or the sun-drenched area next to the sparkling pool. The bedrooms are spacious, beautifully decorated with luxurious hot showers and bathrooms. We never had any problems with the internet while we were there but apparently area outages can happen, which is out of the host's control. Sharon, the host, is friendly, always available and eager to help. The main Trafalgar beach can easily be accessed within a few minutes by car. On foot, if you turn left out the main gate, a short walk on the road and down through coastal vegetation takes you onto the beach.

The villa is located in Trafalgar, a small, safe, quiet and attractive village. The villa has recently been renovated and is modern and tastefully decorated and furnished. It is well appointed for self-catering with a large fridge and numerous appliances. There is a good stock of cutlery and crockery which allows you to fill the dishwasher without having to wash dishes after every meal. The open plan kitchen, dining and lounge area, leading out to the patio and pool is ideal for socialising with family and friends. You have an uninterrupted view of the sea and coastal bush. We relished the sunrise every morning from the patio whilst having coffee and rusks. The villa enjoys good privacy as there is no direct public access to the beach in front of the villa. There is however easy access a mere 5 minutes' walk to the end of the road and a short path to the beach. Alternatively, one can walk or drive to the main Trafalgar beach (a blue flag beach) about a km away in a northerly direction. There are good restaurants, shopping centres, and numerous places of interest and activities nearby. There is also a restaurant and small grocery store in the village. Sharon, the property manager, was very friendly and helpful. She ensured that our stay was problem free.

We liked the views and the swimming pool. We especially appreciated the window shutters, which made it easy to control the light and sun inside the house.

We did not like the fact that the house did not have direct access to the beach. This was quite disappointing, as we were under the impression that renting a beachfront, first-line property would automatically include a path to the beach. In reality, access was impossible on foot due to very dense, tropical vegetation that cannot be crossed. As a result, our idea of going from the sofa to the swimming pool and then directly to the beach was not possible. I had imagined walking along the beach, but this required driving instead, which was disappointing. Unfortunately, we were also unlucky with the weather. Out of the two days we stayed, it rained for about a day and a half. Because of this, we stayed indoors to work and watch movies, but the internet connection was poor during the bad weather, which made this difficult. We also did not like that the outdoor terrace had no furniture at all (just bean bag seats). In addition, the barbecue was not built in but a portable Weber grill, which we were asked to use in the parking area rather than near the swimming pool. We respected this request. The kitchen contained an excessive number of items. It seemed as though many leftover household items had been placed there, such as around 20 plates, 40 spoons, numerous containers, and several frying pans. Many of these were unnecessary and took up valuable storage space that we would have preferred to use for our own belongings. On the positive side, the fridge was a great size. We would have preferred a washing machine rather than a dishwasher, especially since we were only two people and needed to wash clothes more than dishes. Additionally, it felt slightly odd for the property to be described as “luxury” while having no bathtub, only showers—although we must say that the showers themselves were very nice. Finally, there were an extremely large number of flies—big, green flies—which meant we could not keep the windows open, as they entered immediately.