This destination guide is a very personal account of our travels. What we saw, where we ate and stayed, and what we liked and didn’t like.
Along with our lists, we’ve included a few tidbits of wisdom that we wish we’d had before we left. We hope you find this information useful on your next trip as well.
Although many of us know it colloquially as Tahiti, Tahiti is just one island out of more than 100 that makes up French Polynesia.
French Polynesia is a French Overseas Country that includes 5 island groups, covering an area about the same size as Western Europe. The island groups are The Society, Tuamotu, Marquesas, Gambier and Austral archipelagos. The Society Islands in turn are divided into the Windward and Leeward Island groups.
Tahiti is the largest and most populous of all the islands, and contains the Capital city of Papeete. Tahiti and Moorea are part of the Windward Islands, while the Leeward Islands include Raiatea, Taha’a, Huahine and Bora Bora.
The Tuamotu Archipelago is the world’s largest group of atolls. The two largest and most populous islands in this group are Rangiroa and Fakarava.
French Polynesia is an expensive place to visit. You’ll get a sense of this shortly after you arrive, as the ATMs dispense only the equivalent of $100 dollar bills.
The official currency is the French Polynesian Franc. The exchange rate is tied to the Euro and is fixed. You’ll only see a variation if the dollar/euro rate fluctuates.
While larger hotels and restaurants accept credit cards, many local businesses do not. Be sure to get plenty of cash from the ATMs if you plan to buy from local merchants. Most merchants are happy to accept US Dollars if you don’t have Francs, but you’ll pay an unfavorable exchange rate.
Taxis are expensive everywhere, but especially in Bora Bora. They charge by distance and number of people. Many of the better restaurants will include a free round trip taxi when you make a reservation.
Your international flight will arrive in Papeete on the Island of Tahiti. If you’re flying to any other island, you’ll transfer from there to an inter-island flight on a domestic carrier. You’ll have to collect your bags upon arrival and then check-in separately for your inter-island flight.
You cannot check-in until 90 minutes before departure. If you have a longer layover in Papeete, you can rent a storage locker for your luggage and spend that time in town rather than wait at the airport.
If you made reservations online with Air Tahiti, double check them often. Their system is notoriously bad for confirming reservations and payments.
Arrive at the airport at leat 90 minutes before your flight. Flights will leave early if they can (one of our flights left 30 minutes before the scheduled time).
If you’re flying to or from Bora Bora, sit on the left hand side of the airplane when flying there and the right hand side when departing for the best views of the island.
The main charter bases at Apooiti and Uturoa in Raiatea are small and tight. The charter companies will take the boat in and out of the marina for you to save you a lot of stress.
The Tradewinds blow strong and steady from the East, even at night. This makes for great downwind passages between islands, but also arduous upwind legs going the other way.
From Raiatea, it’s about 22 miles in one direction to Bora Bora and 25 miles in the other to Huahine. They are both not to be missed, but you really need at least 10 days to see it all. Plan accordingly.
Since 2019, anchoring is no longer allowed in Bora Bora, you have to stay on a mooring. Once you’re on your mooring, you’re better off booking local boats for snorkeling excursions rather than using your own dinghy.
The diving in the Society Islands is only so-so. The best diving is in the Tuamotu island group in Rangiroa, Fakarava and Tikehau.
The diving is all about sharks, rays, dolphins and other big things in the atoll passes. The reefs are not very interesting.
Dive Rangiroa for the friendly dolphins in the Tiputa Pass.
In Fakarava, the best diving is in the south pass, but the town and most of the lodging is in the north. If you stay in town, it’s a very long boat ride to the dive sites and they often cancel because of too rough a sea state. Lodging in the south is basic, but very close to the dive site.
All dives are drift dives in strong current. Divers go down as a group and all come up at the same time. Make sure you get in a group with equal abilities to your own.
Papeete is the Capital and largest city in French Polynesia. The Central Market is where everyone goes for fresh meat, seafood and fruits and vegetables. Sunday morning is barbecued pork day, but get there early. The market opens at 6 and the pork is usually gone before 9.
Nearby is Notre Dame Cathedral, the oldest Catholic church in Tahiti and one of Papeete’s last remaining examples of early colonial architecture.
From August until November, the waters around Tahiti and Moorea are full of humpback whale mothers and their baby calves. Tour operators will take you close to these whales, where if conditions are right, you can enter the water and swim close to these beautiful crreatures. We went with ATAE : Safari Océan from Tahiti and can recommend them highly. They will find the whales and get you close to them.
Go snorkeling with Rays ands Sharks. You can book a half day or full day trip that will take you to several snorkeling spots within the lagoon. One spot is almost guaranteed to have manta rays, while another is a feeding station in very shallow water. Several stingrays come around to be hand fed by the guides, while dozens of (harmless) sharks are swimming all around you. We used Maohi Nui, which we highly recommend. They operate traditional outrigger-style boats and their guides are very knowledgeable and friendly.
Visit a vanilla plantation. There are many plantations on several islands. The island of Taha’a is nicknamed the Vanilla Island and has several plantations that can be toured.
Visit a pearl farm. There are many pearl farms on several of the islands in the area. We visited Anapa Pearls in Raiatea. They offer intimate tours for small groups, where you can watch the pearl surgeon operate on oysters to optimize their color and seed them so they will produce a pearl.
A great way to see the island is to rent an e-bike for the day. We got ours from E-Bike Huahine and had a great time doing an entire lap of the island. Interesting stops along the way included:
Fare Pote’e Maeva Huahine. An archaeological site with ruins and a small museum.
Galerie ‘Umatatea. A small art gallery from an American born and trained artist.
The sacred blue-eyed eels in Faie.
Avea Bay. A beautiful bay near the southern tip of the island. Nice beaches and a couple of restaurants makes this a good lunch stop on your tour.
Outside of diving, there is very little to do in the Tuamotus other than enjoying the scenery and the ocean. Rangiroa has several dive spots, but the one not to be missed is the Tiputa Pass. Here you can interact with friendly and curious dolphins on virtually every dive. The dolphins are very playful in the pass and put on quite an aerial show as well that you can watch from shore.
Fakarave has two passes that are popular with divers, one in the north and one in the south. Since the island’s only town is near the north pass, this is a popular choice for its convenience. However, it is the south pass that is the most spectacular, with the highest concentration of sharks anywhere in the world. You can book dive trips to the south pass from town, but it is a very long boat ride and it’s often cancelled due to rough sea conditions along the way.
There are a handful of hotels near the south pass. While remote and rustic, they offer a short boat ride and guaranteed diving in the pass nearly every day.
We dove with O2 Fakarava in the north and had a less than stellar experience. In the south we dove with Enata Fakarava Diving (located in Raimiti Hotel) and can recommend them highly. Good boats, good equipment and excellent divemasters.
In general, the food in French Polynesia is good, but not great, and very expensive. Except for mangoes and coconuts, virtually everything else must be imported. Fresh fruits and vegetables are scarce, and meat is frozen and comes from a long way away. The exception, of course, is fish. But even here, there is a limited variety of edible fish available.
Once you get past knowing that the cheapest thing you’re likely to find in any restaurant is a $25 hamburger, you’ll find that on any given island, most restaurants offer a very similar menu with similar prices. Do a little research ahead of time to see which ones get the best reviews and proceed accordingly.
Note: cow’s milk is hard to find. If you order a coffee with milk, you may get unsweetened coconut milk in your coffee.
Some of the restaurants that we tried and can recommend:
Slice. If you’re looking for something other than local cuisine, Slice has excellent pizza.
Bora Bora Yacht Club. Delicious food on the waterfront.
Bora Bora Beach Club. They are owned and operated by the same people as the Yacht Club. Free taxi transfers are available between the 2 locations.
Hôtel Raiatea Lodge. A lovely classic hotel. The food was beautifully prepared and presented.
Fish & Blue. We didn’t eat there, but it was recommended by other sailboat cruisers we talked to.
Restaurant Villa Ixora. This was easily the best meal of our entire trip. The beef, pork and risotto were all amazing.
Restaurant La Voile d’Or. A casual place on the water in Apooiti marina. Ann says their poisson cru was the best she had on the trip.
Le Ficus. A casual restaurant with a combination of French and local cuisine. The buffet dinner includes 8 or so dishes for about $50 per person.
Hotel Le Mahana. Located in the nicest hotel in the south end of the island, we enjoyed delicious burgers and sweet potato fries at this serene seaside restaurant.
Huahine Yacht Club. This is THE place to watch the sun set, particularly on Friday nights, when all the yacht cruisers come ashore for happy hour and live music. The food is good. Reservations are strongly encouraged.
Rotoava Grill. One of only a handful of restaurants on the island, and the only one open on Sunday. A casual restaurant serving grilled sandwiches and cru.
Les Relais de Joséphine. Run by a couple of retirees from the Paris restaurant scene, they offer delightful lunches and authentic bistro food, which is available to non-guests. Reservations are required for dinner. Sitting on the edge of the Tiputa Pass, It is also the perfect spot to have a cocktail and watch the dolphins play in the waves an hour before sunset.
Pizzeria Moanatea. Good pizza that is an affordable option to hotel restaurants.
Raira Lagon Hotel. Nice snack bar with delicious baguette sandwiches. They also have an extensive cheese counter.
Chez Rua. A food truck on beach. Recommended by fellow travelers for the food and watching sunsets.
Bora Bora and Moorea are famous for their hotels with over-the-water bungalows. They offer an exceptional and unique experience. There are many good ones to choose from, with prices starting at about $600 per night and going up rapidly from there for the nicer ones. Since we visited by boat, we did not stay in one of these hotels and can’t recommend a specific one.
Most hotels in French Polynesia do not offer in-room wi-fi. It is only available in the common areas. If your phone plan doesn’t offer unlimited data, a good alternative is to rent a mobile hotspot. These can be rented from Tahiti WiFi and picked up at Papeete airport.
In the other islands, here are a few of our hotel recommendations:
Sunset Beach Motel in Raiatea. A former coconut plantation with spacious grounds. The cottages are nice size with full kitchens. There are bocce courts and kayaks to keep you entertained. The garden cottages are newer and more modern, but still offer a view of the water.
Relais Marama in Fakarava North. A nice and comfortable place for what it is – camping and glamping. The bathrooms are shared and a short walk from your cabin or tent.
They provide a kitchen area and most people buy food at the local grocery and cook their meals here. There are only two restaurants nearby.
Raimiti in Fakarava South. A family owned and operated gem. It is the nicest hotel in South Fakarava, with delicious home cooked French cuisine. The on site dive shop, Enata, is top notch. We enjoyed seeing the ocean and hearing the waves from our ocean side bungalow. It featured wood construction and had an ensuite bathroom. The lagoon side bungalows have fabulous views of the sunset. They are traditional bungalows constructed out of bamboo fronds and have separate, private, bathrooms. If you elect to stay in these bungalows, we recommend you pack a bathrobe.
Hotel Maitai Rangiroa. A very nice hotel with onsite restaurant. Bungalows are constructed in wood and have ensuite bathrooms. The restaurant has an extensive menu and many good options to choose from. Like most hotels, Wifi is only available in the common areas, but if you stay in room 1, 2 or 12 the WiFi will reach your room.
October 31, 2023
