The Espiritu

The Espiritu is a practical base in Luganville for divers who want the essentials close at hand rather than a remote resort routine. You have air-conditioned rooms, a restaurant downstairs, a lounge for an unhurried drink and an outdoor pool when your legs have had enough of fins for one day.

It also works for a mixed group. Family rooms are available, while couples can keep things simpler with a double room and a balcony or terrace overlooking the city. Free WiFi runs throughout the hotel, and the atmosphere shifts easily from daytime lounging to live sport, films and evening entertainment.

The hotel has three stars, but the useful details matter more here: room service, a tour desk, car hire and free private parking all make life easier when your day is built around dives and island plans.

You are in Luganville, on Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu, rather than at a beach resort outside town. The setting is urban and useful: Natangura Cafe is about 0.01 miles away, Bini about 0.07 miles away, and Attar about 0.12 miles away. Aore Art Café is roughly 0.4 miles away when coffee deserves a change of scenery.

Tutu natural park is about 0.1 miles away, while the SS President Coolidge lies around 4 miles from the hotel. That makes the location handy for combining diving with local outings, without pretending that the hotel sits directly on the sand.

Santo-Pekoa International Airport is about 3.1 miles away by road, with a drive of roughly six minutes. Port Vila is a 45-minute domestic flight away, so the hotel fits naturally into a wider Vanuatu itinerary.

For a couple, the Deluxe Double Room gives you a little more breathing room around the super-king-size bed than the standard option. The Standard Room keeps things compact and uncomplicated, while the Standard Studio suits two people who prefer a studio-style layout. The family room is the sensible choice when four people need to sleep under one roof, with a super-king-size bed and two single beds rather than a heroic game of bed-sharing.

Every room has air conditioning, a private bathroom and either a balcony or terrace with city views. That matters when you come back warm, damp and ready to stop being sociable for half an hour. The room itself is somewhere to cool down, shower and reset before deciding whether dinner or the pool wins.

Rooms are accessed by steps and are on the second and third floors, so factor that into your choice if stairs are awkward after a full day. Daily housekeeping is available, and room service exists in a limited form when leaving the room feels like an unreasonable expedition.

The Tú is the hotel's restaurant, on the ground floor and open for breakfast, lunch and dinner from 7am to 9pm. Its cooking is Mediterranean-inspired, with locally grown fresh and organic Vanuatu produce doing much of the work. Santo beef, seasonal local lobster and tuna stay on the menu, while the specials board changes daily.

Breakfast is continental and included with room stays, served from 6:45am to 10:30am. The restaurant also covers the practical dietary ground with warm dishes and juice, and vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free choices are available.

There is one bar: The Tú bar, a lounge with cocktails, a 55-inch flat-screen television and poolside seating. You can take a drink to the pool, retreat to the hammock or settle on the sofa with a book. Live sport is shown there too, which may be exactly what you want after a day beneath the surface—or exactly what you were hoping to avoid.

The outdoor pool is the obvious decompression chamber, only with fewer gauges and no buddy checks. It uses salt-chlorine treatment, described as gentler on eyes, skin and swimwear, and pool towels, loungers and sun umbrellas are available around it.

For a slower afternoon, you have a sun terrace, outdoor seating, a picnic area and a shared lounge. There is also a games room with billiards and board games, useful when one of you wants to move and the other has sensibly decided that the day is already complete.

When you want to leave the hotel, the tour desk can arrange outings including boat trips, island visits, waterfalls, markets and snorkelling. Horse riding, hiking, canoeing, fishing and a nearby golf course are also available as activities. Back at the hotel, movie nights, broadcast live sport and evening entertainment give you something to do without requiring another change of clothes.

Santo-Pekoa International Airport is about 3.1 miles from the hotel by road, around a six-minute drive. An airport shuttle is available, either privately or as a shared service depending on the arrangement made with the hotel. The hotel also offers a shuttle service and car hire, while free private parking is available on site without reservation.

Check-in runs from 2pm to 8pm, and check-out from 7am to 10am. Tell the hotel your expected arrival time and flight number in advance, particularly if you are arriving outside the usual rhythm of the day. Photo identification and a credit card are required at check-in.

Luggage storage, lockers, concierge assistance, express check-in and check-out, laundry and packed lunches are available. Payment is in cash, and American Express and Diners Club cards are not accepted. Children of all ages are welcome; children aged 12 and over are charged as adults, cots are available on request and extra beds are not available.