Otintaai Hotel

The Otintaai—its name means 'sunrise' in Gilbertese—is the Republic of Kiribati's flagship hotel: the government-owned property at Bikenibeu on South Tarawa where visiting delegations, consultants and the trickle of travellers who reach this remote atoll republic are housed. Low wings face the lagoon across a coconut-shaded shore, and the sunsets over that enormous sheet of water are, night after night, the best show in the country.

Rooms are simple, air-conditioned and periodically refreshed, with lagoon-view categories the clear choice; power and water behave better here than almost anywhere else on Tarawa, which counts. The restaurant serves fresh lagoon and ocean fish, rice and international basics, and doubles as the venue for much of the nation's official entertaining—dance performances included when delegations visit.

The front desk is the practical gateway to Kiribati experiences: the sobering WWII battlefield relics of Betio at the atoll's far end, traditional maneaba meeting houses, boat trips on the lagoon and the country's world-class bonefishing. Expectations must be honest—this is a modest hotel in one of Earth's most isolated capitals—but as Kiribati's leading address, the Otintaai delivers its sunrise-to-sunset lagoon theatre with quiet pride.