If you’re trying to pick between Tahiti or Moorea, it’s not an easy decision to make.
In fact, we couldn’t decide so we just visited both!
The good news is that no matter which one you choose, you’ll have a fantastic time: it’s hard to go wrong with any of the islands of Tahiti, frankly.
And since the two islands are just 30 minutes apart by ferry, it’s quite easy to visit both in the same Tahiti itinerary.
That said, if you’re on this page, it’s likely because you need to pick between the two (maybe because you’re also looking at other French Polynesian islands) — so I’m here to help you pick between Tahiti or Moorea, if you have to!
If that’s the case, keep reading as I break down the benefits of Tahiti vs. Moorea, and vice versa.
Choose Tahiti for…
A Delicious Variety of Dining and Restaurants
Our fine dining experience in Papeete at L’O A La Bouche
When it comes to Tahiti vs. Moorea, Tahiti wins on restaurants by a long shot.
While Moorea has a lot of great places to eat, the sheer number of restaurants on Tahiti is hard to beat.
Moorea’s restaurant scene has less variety than Tahiti, and I often found myself seeing what seemed like the same menu over and over again after my 3rd day there.
On Moorea, nearly every menu is composed of a few different kinds of grilled fish, brochettes (skewers), with the exact same selection of four sides (rice, green beans, salad, or fries) and sauces (garlic butter, BBQ, teriyaki, or Roquefort).
It was exciting at first, but after a while, I have to admit sitting down to eat in Moorea started to feel a bit like Groundhog Day, whether I ate at a roulotte (food truck) or a restaurant!
On the other hand, Tahiti has way more variety when it comes to eating!
We enjoyed delicious Polynesian-Chinese food at Chez Mei that was a nice change of pace as well as tasty bento boxes and bao at Karaaji.
We also had two phenomenal more fancy restaurant meals, one at Le Manoa where I had some of the best lamb of my life and one at L’O A La Bouche where we enjoyed a phenomenal 3-course fine dining menu.
There were some great places to eat on Moorea (big shoutout to Chez Keiki, my favorite spot on the island!), but nothing that came close to Tahiti’s options.
And since we spent 5 days on Tahiti, I really appreciated all the dining variety!
Beautiful Black Sand Beaches
Black sand beaches: beautiful to look at, hard to lounge on!
If you’re intrigued by black sand beaches, maybe because you’ve never been on one before, then definitely opt for Tahiti vs. Moorea, because Moorea doesn’t have any!
The black sand beaches of Tahiti are certainly visually stunning, showing off the island’s volcanic origins beautifully.
However, I will say that unless you secure a spot in the shade, black sand beaches are better for looking at than lounging on… the blackness of the sand really absorbs all that mid-day heat and makes it really uncomfortable to walk on!
That said, the time around sunset is the perfect time to enjoy one of Tahiti’s black sand beaches, since the sun cools off a bit and the black sand is a lot more tolerable.
In fact, having a sunset beach picnic at the black sand beach of Point Venus is one of my favorite things to do in Tahitiby a long shot!
More Developed Infrastructure
As the main island, Tahiti has more developed infrastructure both in terms of roads and internet connectivity.
That makes it epic for road trips — so definitely rent a car in Tahiti if you pick this island!
The road around the island is well-maintained and easy to navigate, and the Internet connectivity is far better on Tahiti (particularly Papeete) than Moorea, where I constantly struggled to get a connection.
If you need to work at all while you’re on the islands, Tahiti is certainly better for that.
Waterfalls
Tahiti has far more waterfalls to chase than Moorea does!
Tahiti has a number of stunning waterfalls that are easy to visit, and if you’re the type to go chasing waterfalls, Tahiti will surely satisfy that urge!
My favorite waterfalls on the island are, far and away, the Fa’aruma’i Waterfalls.
This stunning set of three waterfalls are an easy hike through a lush forest… just bring lots of mosquito repellant (essential on any Tahiti packing list!), they are quite nasty around here!
You’ll take a short 5-minute walk to one of the most spectacular, which thunders down water right in front of you, and you can take a photo in front of its base.
Then, about a 15-minute walk in the other direction, you’ll see the other two waterfalls that make up this stunning trio.
There are also stunning waterfalls on Tahiti Iti as you make your way to Plage de Tautira at the end of the road.
I also loved the waterfall at Vaipahi Water Gardens, and there’s a waterfall of sorts at the Grottoes of Maraa, where a sheet of water continually cascades over the open-mouthed face of a cave housing a turquoise pool of water!
Finally, there are also waterfalls along Tahiti’s east side, like the Vaihi Waterfalls and the Pape’ana’ana Cascade but I didn’t get the chance to visit either!
Surfing
I’m not a surfer, so this wasn’t a big factor for consideration when it came time to picking between Tahiti or Moorea, but if you do like surfing, then pick Tahiti!
Tahiti is known amongst surfers for its extremely powerful — and extremely dangerous! — waves at Teahupoo, some of the strongest in the world due to their unique positioning.
See, the waves break just above a coral reef, creating consistently perfect barrels… that are also very forceful and dangerous.
I don’t recommend recreational surfers surf at Teahupoo, but you absolutely should go watch locals and experts give it a go!
If you’re wanting to get in the water yourself, there are plenty of safer spots in Tahiti to try surfing or take surfing lessons.
The east side of Tahiti tends to have better surfing conditions and that’s where I noticed a lot of locals surfing.
Choose Moorea for…
A Rural Island Paradise
While Tahiti is a bit built up, Moorea is decidedly not. It has no large cities like Papeete, and it’s liveliest spot is just a few shops on either side of the one road that circles the island.
Moorea is known for its agriculture — primarily, its deliciously sweet pineapple and other fruits as it is home to the Rotui factory, as well as vanilla farms.
As a result, the island is extremely lush and rural, and it feels a lot less commercialized and built-up than you’d expect French Polynesia would feel.
That said, Moorea is still quite large, so I definitely recommend having a car or e-bike to help you get around… we relied on getting around by foot and by taxi and we wouldn’t repeat that on our next visit.
While Moorea doesn’t have any black sand beaches, it does have a small handful of lovely white sand beaches — ones that are perfect for snorkeling as well!
I’ll admit that Moorea doesn’t have the white sand beaches you’re likely thinking of when dreaming up French Polynesia and islands like Bora Bora.
The white sand is primarily made of broken-up coral, so it’s more ‘pebbly’ mixed in with the sand, and it’s not the most plush sand you’ll ever feel.
That said, it’s still spectacular and well worth spending your time on some of Moorea’s beaches.
My favorite Moorea beach is Temae Beach, which also happens to have some of the best snorkeling on the island, but other good beaches include Ta’ahiamanu Beach overlooking Opunohu Bay and Tiahura Beach.
Its Beautiful Lagoon
The lagoon of Moorea doesn’t get any more dreamy than this!
Moorea’s lagoon has some of the most beautiful turquoise water I’ve ever seen. It’s honestly unbelievable.
Best of all, you’ll see countless blacktip reef sharks and pink whiprays (a kind of stingray) swimming in the crystal-clear waters.
The water is so clear you don’t even need a snorkel to see them (but it helps!).
You can get here by taking a sailing or catamaran snorkeling tour or by renting a kayak from Les Tipaniers Beach, as the sandbank part where the lagoon starts is a little way out from shore.
While Tahiti has some pretty stretches of coastline, nothing compares to Moorea’s lagoon, which is comparable in terms of water color and clarity to some of the more famous islands of French Polynesia like Bora Bora.
When it comes to Tahiti vs. Moorea on scenic lagoons… Moorea is the obvious winner!
More Overwater Bungalow Options
Tahiti only has one choice for overwater bungalows, at the Intercontinental Tahiti in Faa’a.
While this is certainly a great hotel, and I would have gladly stayed at an overwater bungalow there (wouldn’t we all?), Moorea has three times as many options despite being a smaller island.
I detail all three of the overwater bungalows in Moorea in this guide, but suffice it to say you’ll have plenty to choose from between the Sofitel, Manava Beach Resort, and the Hilton.
Both Tahiti and Moorea have incredible snorkeling, so if that’s a priority for you, don’t worry — you’ll find great snorkel sites on both islands!
Moorea’s most famous snorkel site is replete with reef sharks and rays, so if that’s your primary motivation, Moorea’s snorkeling may be better.
Meanwhile, Tahiti has a cool shipwreck that has turned into a coral garden, nicknamed the ‘Aquarium’ for its variety of life, so that may be a better alternative for you if you don’t want to swim with tons of sharks and rays.
Both Tahiti and Moorea have really beautiful stretches of reef to snorkel in.
I loved the reef around Temae Beach, which is easy to access since it’s part of a public beach.
I also loved the house reef at the Intercontinental in Tahiti, but that’s only for guests, so I’m not sure how snorkeling is on other parts of the island.
Seeing Humpback Whales
Snorkeling with humpback whales is something you can only do in Tahiti and Moorea!
Both Tahiti and Moorea are prime spots for seeing (and snorkeling with!) humpback whales during the whale season (roughly July through the end of October).
One perk that Tahiti has over Moorea is that the whale season lasts just slightly longer.
The whales gather for their departure to new waters outside of Tahiti Iti (the southern peninsula part of Tahiti), so if you are visiting in late October or early November you have a better chance of seeing the whales on Tahiti.
However, during the rest of the whale season, you have just as good of a chance to get to snorkel with the humpback whales in Moorea as well as in Tahiti, so this is a draw between Tahiti vs. Moorea.
Scuba Diving
Just one of several dozen turtles I saw in Tahiti and Moorea!
We dove in both Tahiti and Moorea and honestly — it’s a draw between the two, I loved them both!
Moorea had some really cool dives, particularly the one where we got to see the coral formations expanding over the five ‘fingers’ of lava that had formed giant cliffs underwater!
We also were hoping to see the lemon sharks in Moorea, but we unfortunately weren’t lucky enough to see them.
We did, however, see an unfathomable number of sea turtles (I stropped counting after 6).
Tahiti also had some really cool dives as well. I particularly liked the ‘Source’ dive spot, where we got to see an underwater spring blurring the water, making it look like an Impressionist painting as it shot out frosty-cold water.
There was also quite a current on this dive and we got the ‘toilet bowl’ effect, but if we had been a bit luckier with the current, we could have gone to a spot where there are frequently a lot of spotted eagle rays — one of my favorite things to see in the ocean!
I truly liked all the dives we did and can’t really pick between Tahiti or Moorea here. Moorea sliiiightly edged out Tahiti for me, but only by a hair.
If you’re diving, I promise you will like both…. but you really ought to go to Rangiroa or Fakarava, where I’m planning my next French Polynesia adventure this year!
Allison Green is a former teacher who has been travel blogging since 2016. She has a Masters in Teaching and a B.A. in English and Creative Writing. Her blog posts merge her background as an educator with her experience traveling to 70+ countries to encourage ethical, meaningful travel. She has been a speaker at the World Travel Writers Conference and her writing, photography, and podcasting work has appeared in National Geographic, CNN Arabic, CBC Canada, and Forbes, amongst others. Now a full-time traveler, she has lived in Prague, Sofia, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Humpback whales singing, turquoise water lapping at beautiful white sand beaches, freshly-juiced fragrant pineapple…
These are just a few of the sights, smells, and sounds you’ll find on the island of Moorea, French Polynesia’s so-called “Magical Island”.
Tahiti’s sister island, Moorea is extremely easy to get to — there’s no flight necessary, unlike if you stay at resorts in Bora Bora, so it’s great if you want to save money and not deal with additional flights.
For a relatively small island, Moorea has a wide variety of accommodation options: you can opt to stay in a beachfront luxurious hotel, a traditional guest house, or even an overwater bungalow!
I didn’t get to stay an overwater bungalow… this time… but here’s hoping for next time!
There’s truly somewhere to stay in Moorea (and something to do!) for every type of traveler, on every type of budget… even hostels!
Sit back, grab a drink, and enjoy this Moorea hotel guide where I’ve done all the research for you!
Quick List of Where to Stay in Moorea & Average Prices
Where to Stay in Moorea on a Budget: Hostels & Guest houses
PainaPaopao Backpacker
Price Range: Rooms start at $36 a night for a dorm bed and $91 a night for a private double
One of few hostel options on the island of Moorea, PainaPaopao Backpacker enjoys one of the best locations on the island, right between the two beautiful bays of Opunohu Bay and Cook’s Bay.
It’s a short walk to lovely public beaches like Public Beach Ta’ahiamanu and lots of restaurants nearby.
Since this is a hostel-style accommodation, the rooms are very no-frills: think basic rooms with mosquito nets and ceiling fans, no A/C.
The rooms are well-appointed but basic, with simple decor and en-suite bathrooms and terraces for every room.
It’s a great traditional Polynesian fare (guesthouse) for an extremely affordable price, if you don’t mind forgoing a few amenities to save some money on your Tahiti and Moorea trip cost.
Price Range: Rooms start at $122 to $188 per night
One of the most charming guest houses on the island, Haere Mai I Te Fareis just over a mile from Temae Beach, one of the best free public beaches on the island and an excellent snorkeling spot in Moorea.
Its location in Teavaro makes it conveniently close to both the ferry and the airport, perfect if you have any early departures planned.
Its traditional Polynesian-style rooms are decorated beautifully with thatched detailing, gauzy canopy mosquito nets, and traditionalPolynesian craftworklike tifaifai quilts and pillows.
The lush garden you can enjoy will make you feel like you’re in a world of your own, and there’s an on-site restaurant so you don’t even have to leave this little paradise! You can add on a delicious breakfast for $23 per day.
It is, however, a little isolated so it’s best visited if you have rented a car while in Moorea so you can access other areas, beaches, and dining and shopping options.
This is where we almost stayed before opting for Poerani Moorea below (we decided we wanted to be closer to Maharepa where we were doing our dives with Moorea Blue Diving!)
Price Range: Rooms start at $214 to $315 per night
This is where we opted to stay in Moorea: it offered excellent value for the money and we truly enjoyed our stay here.
The location just outside of Maharepa was great, as we were just a short 10-minute walk from all the great restaurants and boutiques the town center has to offer.
There was a beautiful communal garden area for all to enjoy, as well as free kayaks that we could use to explore the beautiful waters right in front of the property!
The bungalow was well-designed and spacious, with a beautiful bathroom, a well-equipped kitchenette (including a stove, fridge, microwave, and espresso maker), a private lounge area in the garden, and a lovely bedroom with A/C.
One thing to note is that only the bedroom is sealed off and air-conditioned, which meant that mosquitos were able to get into our living room and bathroom area.
It wasn’t a big problem for me, but if you’re extremely prone to mosquito bites and you’re visiting in the rainy season, it may be troublesome for you!
* Note that the Intercontinental Resort is permanently closed.
Hilton Moorea Lagoon Resort
Price Range: Garden bungalows from $537 per night and overwater bungalows from $838 per night
Located on the north side of the island, the Hilton Moorea Lagoon Resort is one of the best options for a Moorea resort, particularly if you are looking for an overwater bungalow!
Home to both a beautiful white beach and a stunning house coral reef, the Hilton Moorea Lagoon Resort is one of the best places for snorkeling on the entire island.
Of course, you can expect all the amenities of a typical luxury resort, like a tennis court, fitness center, on-site spa, several choices for on-site restaurants, etc.
Dining is where this resort really shines: you’ll find several options, including an open-air restaurant (with stunning lagoon views!), a waterfront casual bar & grill, a sunset view bar (spectacular), and the coolest of all — an overwater eatery where you can enjoy a drink or a crepe with sharks swimming beneath you!
As with other Moorea resorts, you’ll find a range of room types that aren’t just overwater bungalows.
There are garden bungalows (both with and without private pools) for the cheapest option at the resort.
There are also lagoon view bungalows placed on beach, with private ladder to the lagoon.
And of course, there are your standard overwater bungalows connected by a boardwalk!
To be honest, the standard garden bungalows are fairly typical of hotel rooms you’d find anywhere, but the overwater bungalows are some of the most luxurious on Moorea!
We’re talking bathrooms with clawfoot bathtubs (dreamy!) and seating areas with a glass panel where you can watch the marine world whizz by.
The reef in front of the Hilton is also excellent — you’ll find rays, sharks, and all sorts of fish life in this vibrant underwater world.
Manava Beach Resort (formerly Moorea Pearl Resort)
Price Range: Standard rooms from $474 per night and overwater bungalows from $842 per night
This Polynesian-style resort is a fantastic option in Maharepa, in the heart of the most lively spot on the whole island.
While Manava does have everything you’d need and expect from a luxury hotel, it’s also within easy walking distance of more than a dozen fantastic restaurants, including some of my personal favorites like Chez Keiki and Rudy’s.
We ended up at Manava Beach Resort a lot because it’s where Moorea Blue Diving (the dive shop we went with) was located, so we’d often grab a tea or enjoy the beach area after a dive.
Our little pit stops here were often the highlight of our Moorea itinerary (especially sunset here!)
The infinity pool you’ll see as you enter the resort is absolutely beautiful — the view of the pool seemingly melting into the ocean, with bungalows dotting the water’s edge is truly spectacular.
You can easily rent kayaks or stand-up paddle boards to explore the calm lagoon area and its marine life nearby the resort.
The on-site restaurants are both excellent and a great way to while away some time or have a nice meal, but there are also many fantastic options to dine in the nearby area as I mentioned above.
There’s also the on-site Manea Spa which offers massages and other wellness treatments for relatively reasonable prices for a resort.
There are a variety of room types: standard hotel-style double rooms, beachfront bungalows with a private plunge pool, and of course, the signature overwater bungalows!
The overwater bungalows are quite large at 515 square feet, either with lagoon or mountain views.
Each bungalow has a king bed, a bathroom with either a shower or tub, and sundecks that open directly to the lagoon.
The overwater bungalows have A/C, and there’s a glass panel to see the sea life below you without even having to leave your room!
Price Range: Beach and garden bungalows from $645 per night and overwater bungalows from $836 per night
Home to one of the best coral gardens in all of Moorea and adjacent to spectacular Temae Beach, the Sofitel Beach Resort is an excellent choice for a resort with overwater bungalows on Moorea.
While we didn’t stay at the Sofitel, we did explore the grounds after we visited Temae Beach for off-shore snorkeling (which was some of the best we experienced on the island!).
Since this is a protected marine area, the coral reef here is well-preserved and extremely abundant in sea life.
Undoubtedly, these overwater bungalows are located in one of the best locations in Moorea, thanks to the beautiful coral gardens and nature preserve that surround them.
You can swim out to the coral gardens from the beach (if you have fins and snorkel gear).
Alternately, if you’re staying in an overwater bungalow, you can simply descend from your own private ladder into the lagoon below!
Sofitel has quite a number of bungalows: 38 overwater bungalows to choose from as well as 60 beach and garden bungalows at a lower price point.
You can mix and match staying in an overwater bungalow and a beach or garden bungalow to offset the price if you just want to experience one night in an overwater bungalow!
Of course, there’s also a luxurious outdoor pool — one that enjoys a beautiful view of Tahiti across the water!
In terms of dining, the resort offers two restaurants and two bars for a variety of food options, and you can also head out and explore nearby Maharepa for more dining options.
There are two sizes of overwater bungalows — luxury bungalows clocking in at nearly 900 square feet and superior bungalows at about 450 square feet.
The main difference is the size and location, as all bungalows have A/C, free WiFi, glass panels in the floor, direct water access from your private terrace, and complimentary minibar refills.
The bathrooms feature lovely rain showers but do not have bathtubs, so that’s something to note if a bathtub is important to you!
Price Range: Rooms start at $174 to $375 per night
Located on the quiet west coast of the island of Moorea, Linareva Beach Resort is the perfect place to get away from it all.
With its prime beachfront location, you can enjoy all sorts activities departing from the hotel’s own private jetty: the snorkeling right off the pier into the lagoon is absolutely fantastic!
You can also borrow bikes, canoes, and snorkeling gear for adventures in the area.
However, do note that this is one of the more remote areas of Moorea, so there are more limited restaurant options in this area compared to the more bustling area of Maharepa.
The rooms are stylish with traditional Polynesian elements: think thatch work, Polynesian-style painted tapestries, colorful pillows with pops of color adorning linen canopy beds with protective-yet-elegant mosquito nets above you.
Best of all, each room has its own private terrace with either a sea or garden view, perfect for taking in coffee or breakfast with a view of those ever-clear turquoise waters.
All rooms have A/C as well as their own cooking facilities, and breakfast is available for an additional $18/day charge.
Price Range: Rooms start at $283 to $366 per night
Located right near Plage des Tipaniers, a fantastic departure point for kayaking and snorkeling adventures, Moorea Sunset Beach is perhaps the best place for a mid-range place to stay in Moorea.
Its location is hard to beat: just 250 feet to the beach, it’s also close to two small islets with a coral garden between them as well as the turquoise lagoon with its sandbank that is known for its blacktip reef shark and ray sightings!
It’s also less than half a mile from Tiahura Beach, another one of the best beaches in Moorea and a fantastic place for snorkeling!
All rooms have A/C, dining areas and kitchenettes, and seating areas as well en-suite private bathrooms, so it’s self-contained with all you’d need.
The rooms have a more modern, minimalist design: white linens and modern art prints, so it has less of that traditional Polynesian touch — something worth noting if that design style is important to you!
This isn’t the most bustling area of Moorea — that honor belongs to Maharepa — but there are a number of restaurants within a half-mile radius that you can walk to and enjoy.
Some rooms even have their own terrace or balcony with a sea view — perfect for taking in those west coast Moorea sunsets!
They offer both garden bungalows and beachfront bungalows as well as garden suites, sleeping anywhere from four to six people, so it’s a great option for larger groups and families.
Price Range: Rooms start at $269 to $516 per night
Moorea Beach Lodge is a stunning boutique hotel that is easy to fall in love with and hard to leave!
Located on the west coast of Moorea, this remote part of Moorea enjoys some of the best sunsets and sees very few crowds.
Best of all, this property has its own private beach area
The rooms are ultra-modern, with high thatched ceilings with white beam elements, hardwood floors, and rustic yet refined interior design that fuses the Polynesian aesthetic with something more modern.
It’s essentially the beach house of your dreams, with a view so perfect you could never dream it up.
Some rooms, like the Superior Bungalow, even have a private terrace leading right out onto perfect ocean views — the best place to enjoy a delicious breakfast full of tropical fruit and French pastries!
Free fat-tire bicycles are available to explore the area, perfect for biking on both sand and streets. Kayaks are also freely available.
There’s a lovely beach front lounge area that all guests can use, perfect for taking in the sunset and getting some gorgeous photos.
Price Range: Rooms start at $195 to $259 per night
Located in the Papetoai area not far from Tiahura Beach and Les Tipaniers Beach, Hotel Hibiscus is a cute and convenient place to stay in Moorea for people who want easy access to beaches and snorkeling.
Hotel Hibiscus is also unique for offering adorable tropical-style bungalow huts done in the traditional Polynesian fashion, each with a private terrace, kitchenette, and en-suite bathroom.
These bungalows are not overwater style but rather garden bungalows with traditional thatched roofs and interiors that reflect Polynesian interior design: wooden furnishings, floral details, and Polynesian textiles.
There’s also an on-site restaurant, Le Sunset Restaurant, which has — you guessed it — spectacular sunset views, as well as a diverse menu featuring Polynesian, French, and Italian influences.
The location is pretty perfect, as there are several restaurants in the vicinity yet also plenty of white sand beaches and snorkel spots to depart from!
It also has its own swimming pool, which is a rarity for most hotels on Moorea with the exception of luxury resorts.
Price Range: Rooms start from $257 to $493 per night
Moorea Island Beach Hotel is another great mid-range choice for where to stay in Moorea.
Less than a 10-minute walk from the stunning white sands of Tiahura Beach (and lively snorkeling available right off the beach!), this 3-star hotel is located in Haapiti, a wonderful area of Moorea to stay in.
Home to its own private and quiet stretch of beach, white sand between your toes is never far from your room. Many of these rooms face the beach, some with sea views and some with balconies.
The room design is modern and beauty, with ample windows allowing in natural light, and clean furnishings with wood detail, lots of white minimalism, and the occasional bright pop of color to keep things feeling tropical.
The hotel knows its strength is in its prime location and views, so the rooms don’t detract from that, but rather focus on the views.
Every room is its own little standalone bungalow: there are doubles sleeping two guests (great for couples) and family bungalows (great for families or two couples, as there are two queen-sized beds).
There’s also great lounge areas with stunning sea views, including a deck with spacious couches where you can kick back with a book and admire the cerulean South Pacific sparkling in the sunlight.
There are complementary bikes and kayaks you can borrow to further explore this part of the island.
While there are several restaurants nearby, there is also a well-kept, fully-equipped kitchen for all guests to use if you prepare to cook meals on your own — great if you have allergies or dietary requirements that are hard to cater to.
Price Range: Rooms start at $359 per night to $627 per night
This beautiful Papetoi-area luxury hotel is just a short walk from Plage des Tipaniers.
This is an excellent departure point for snorkeling excursions to the islets (motus) and coral garden as well as the sand bank where you’ll find countless reef sharks and rays.
This luxury resort doesn’t offer overwater bungalows, but it makes up for that with its other luxury amenities, like a tropical garden, on-site restaurant and bar, outdoor hot tub, sun loungers, a library, and a sun terrace for all to enjoy.
The rooms are luxuriously furnished with designer decor that make you feel like royalty.
The decor is opulent and elegant, more of a French-style of decor rather than streamlined and modern decor you’ll find in other Moorea hotels!
Plus, each room comes with its own private patio.
You can add a half-board option to your stay, so that you’ll have both a continental breakfast and a 3-course dinner meal.
While there is no beach, you do have direct access to the lagoon so you can easily take a kayak to one of the motus to enjoy some quality sand-between-your-toes time!
Allison Green is a former teacher who has been travel blogging since 2016. She has a Masters in Teaching and a B.A. in English and Creative Writing. Her blog posts merge her background as an educator with her experience traveling to 70+ countries to encourage ethical, meaningful travel. She has been a speaker at the World Travel Writers Conference and her writing, photography, and podcasting work has appeared in National Geographic, CNN Arabic, CBC Canada, and Forbes, amongst others. Now a full-time traveler, she has lived in Prague, Sofia, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Colorful coral reefs visible through shallow waters, tropical fish darting in and out of protected coral gardens, rays and reef sharks swimming in water so clear you can see it from the boat: these are some of the things you’ll see while snorkeling in Moorea.
However, I did also want to enjoy a little snorkeling in Moorea to see what it had to offer for people who are not SCUBA certified, and frankly, I was extremely impressed!
Located in the pristine waters of the South Pacific Ocean, Moorea is a small island that packs quite a punch.
While Bora Bora and Tahiti may be more famous names, Moorea is a comparatively lesser-known paradise, and there’s a surprising amount of great things to do in Moorea.
You’ll find better prices, fewer crowds, and extremely pristine aquatic landscapes as a result!
Our Snorkeling Experience in Moorea
In our 5 days in Moorea, we spent 2 days diving and 2 days snorkeling and 1 day exploring the island.
On our first day, we did a catamaran cruise with Polynesian Spirit that we booked via Manawa.
I can’t think of a better way to start off our trip to Moorea and Tahiti— it was the perfect way to brush off that jet lag dust! I mean, It’s hard to feel anything other than awe when snorkeling in Moorea.
The catamaran cruise has two daily departures, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. We opted for the afternoon one that departed at 1 PM and booked ourself a taxi to the pier.
When we arrived, our captain and guide greeted us warmly and told us a bit about what we’d see that day. We booked a small group tour, but it ended up being a private boat with just the two of us and our guides!
Enjoying our catamaran snorkeling cruise!
We left from the Opunohu Marina and watched as we went further and further into the Opunohu Bay, with Magic Mountain and the Belvedere forming the Moorea ‘skyline’ behind us shrinking as we departed.
They brought us to two different snorkeling spots: a shallow area with tons of pink whiprays (a type of sting ray) and blacktip reef sharks, and another channel between two small motu (islets) with coral gardens teeming with fish.
The first spot is in Moorea’s lagoon in front of the now-closed Intercontinental Moorea, and it’s located on Google as the “Banc de Sable Raies et Requins”– sand bank for rays and sharks, and that’s exactly what you get!
Teeming with rays, angelfish, damselfish, and black tip sharks, I was entranced by snorkeling in Moorea from before I ever left the boat…
The water in the shallow lagoon is so clear, you’re practically in a glass bottom boat just looking off the side of the boat!
This snorkeling was one of the best spots for shark viewing I’ve ever seen!
It had more sharks and rays than when I visited Shark Ray Alley in the Belize Barrier Reef, which I never thought I would be able to top.
The next stop was in the channel between Motu Fareone and Motu Tiahura, in what’s called “Coral Garden Tiara” on Google Maps. We paused to have some fresh fruit and juice — locally made in Moorea! — before we went back underwater.
As soon as we jumped in, I was surprised to see some of the healthiest looking coral I’ve seen in decades!
Brilliant vibrant purple coral, yellow, and reddish-pink coral all formed a beautiful underwater kaleidoscopic landscape, where even more vibrant marine life darted and made their home.
In a short period of time, I saw a huge variety of colorful tropical fish, from colorful rainbow parrotfish to sergeant majors to Moorish idols to Achilles tang to peacock groupers and so many more!
It was an amazing way to spend an afternoon and I highly recommend taking this boat tour to visit these incredible snorkeling spots. Your local guide will bring you directly to the best spots easily.
It is possible to visit these two spots without a tour by heading the Plage des Tipaniers and renting a kayak from the Hotel Les Tipaniers. You must either rent a kayak or pay for a day pass; there is no free entry to this beach.
However, I personally don’t love snorkeling from a kayak — it’s difficult to get in and out of it, plus you have to make sure your kayak doesn’t float away while you’re snorkeling, which means circling back a lot.
I much preferred the experience of having a boat ride take us directly to the best spots so we could enjoy them easily!
On another day, we went independently to Temae Beach, which is known as one of the best beaches in Moorea (and one of only a few public beaches), boasting some of the healthiest reef life on the island of Moorea.
This is best visited as a shore snorkel excursion because you don’t need to pass over any deeper water to get here — you can literally just swim up to the reef!
You’ll want to bring your own snorkel gear (and water shoes for the beach, which is pebbly/rocky) because there is no place to rent snorkel equipment here. There is a food truck though, making it easy to spend the day here!
You do have to swim out a bit to get to the reef, so make sure you are a strong swimmer and be sure to bring fins so that you don’t tire yourself out swimming!
Start snorkeling and head right towards the Sofitel (one of the best overwater bungalow resorts in Moorea) where you’ll find some incredible reef life when you get out about ~50 meters.
I’m talking fields of staghorn coral, vibrant neon giant clams that look straight out of Alice in Wonderland, and an unimagineable number of reef fish species that I can only begin to try to recall!
You can snorkel on Temae Beach before the Sofitel and you can also access the house reef of the Sofitel near the bungalows because access to the beach is not restricted; you will simply have to walk over from Temae Beach.
I saw blue damselfish and clownfish, orange-lined triggerfish, surgeonfish, squirrelfish, and blue-green cromis among the uncountable species of fish!
What You Can See While Snorkeling in Moorea
The crystal waters of Moorea — and the French Polynesian islands in general — are a great place to see all sorts of sea life!
Of course, we’ve already talked about the grey reef sharks (blacktips — you will likely only see whitetips if you dive) and the rays, but what else might you see?
While we didn’t happen to see any sea turtles while snorkeling, we saw countless — literally countless — while diving.
However, it is definitely possible to see them while snorkeling if you’re lucky, especially if you take a boat trip where you may see them surfacing!
We didn’t see any octopus or moray eels while we snorkeled in Moorea, but we did see them in Tahiti, and it’s likely very possible that you would find them in Moorea too with a little luck!
Some of the most common fish species you’ll find in Moorea include all sorts of butterflyfish (threadfin, racoon, reticulated, ornate, teardrop… the list goes on!), triggerfish (watch out for these guys — they can be territorial — including lagoon and orange-lined), wrasse (like the sixbar wrasse, the colorful African coris, the blue-striped orange tamarin, and so many more)…. and I’m just getting started!
If you’re lucky, you may also see the Napoleon wrasse and spotted eagle rays.
These are two things we unfortunately did not see during our time in Tahiti and Moorea!
Best Snorkeling Tours in Moorea
Catamaran Sailing and Snorkeling Excursion
For in-water encounters with blacktip sharks and stingrays in Moorea’s crystal clear lagoon, followed by a dip in the coral gardens to admire the biodiversity of its aquatic life, this catamaran cruise is the perfect half-day snorkeling excursion in Moorea.
With a maximum capacity of six guests, you’re guaranteed an intimate, relaxing experience where you can trly take in the beauty of the lagoon and appreciate the marine animals.
Plus, this tour did not feed the sharks and rays, unlike another tour we saw…
If you’re visiting Moorea when the humpback whales visit, this is the perfect opportunity to have a snorkeling experience like no other!
Boats will take you out to the deeper waters where humpbacks come to enjoy the warm waters of Moorea and Tahiti to birth, mate, and nurse their young.
This opportunity is only possible between July and early November so if you’re in Moorea during the high season be sure to book a whale snorkeling experience!
I recommend this whale snorkeling experience as the divemaster we dove with had positive things to say about this tour operator.
Sadly, we came to Moorea in mid-November and most of the whales had already left… although we did see one lone whale still in the waters from our dive boat one day!
We had actually booked this night snorkeling experience but unfortunately had it canceled due to stormy weather.
If you’re not afraid of the dark, why not extend your ocean exploration with an amazing night adventure snorkeling with species that typically are only more active at night?
This includes octopus, scorpionfish, moray eels, lobsters, crabs, shrimps, and all sorts of other marine life that prefers night to day!
This unique tour will show you a side of the ocean that you won’t typically see while making sure you’re safe and having the best experience possible.
My mask, fin, and snorkel set at Temae Beach — BYO snorkel gear!
Already mentioned above, but it deserves another shout for its incredible coral gardens so close to shore.
Stay on Temae Public Beach or walk to the overwater bungalow area of the Sofitel for the best snorkeling: crystal clear waters, marine wildlife like you can’t imagine, and anemone gardens housing quirky clownfish!
Tiahura Beach
Further past the two motus, you’ll find Tiahura Beach, a public beach with shore access to beautiful reefs. Here, you’ll find clownfish and anemones, angelfish, porcupinefish, wrasse, and more.
Keep an eye out for the rare crown-of-thorns starfish, which looks like a purple sea urchin and a starfish had a baby! If you head close to the pontoon area, there’s a small area where you might find turtles or even eagle rays!
Tipaniers Beach (for Motu Fareone and the Shark Sandbar)
This non-public beach has managed access via the Hotel Les Tipaniers, but the price is not extortionate (at least compared to the Hilton, below), about $15 for day use.
This is where you can access Motu Fareone and the coral garden there, which I mentioned above on the snorkel tour I did, as well as the sandbank where you’ll find all the reef sharks and rays!
You can also eat at Coco Beach Restaurant on Motu Tiahura which will allow you to snorkel there
Lagoon at the Hilton Moorea Lagoon Resort
Unfortunately, this is not a public beach because the beach access is strictly managed by Hilton — which one of the best places to stay in Moorea, but also one of the priciest!
However, if you’re not staying as a guest, you can still buy a guest pass here for around $90 for a day, which also includes lunch and use of their pool and beach amenities.
Here, you’ll find many of the usual suspects: soooo many butterflyfish, several kinds of wrasse, lagoon triggerfish, damselfish, clownfish hiding amongst the anemones, and even adorable spotted boxfish if you’re lucky!
Ta’ahiamanu Beach
This public beach located on Opunohu Bay is another great free snorkeling spot! There’s plenty to see all within 10-20 meters off the shore, so no need to swim out long distances in order to see the sea life here.
This is also one of the more pristine beaches on Moorea, with palm trees swaying and lovely white sand.
Allison Green is a former teacher who has been travel blogging since 2016. She has a Masters in Teaching and a B.A. in English and Creative Writing. Her blog posts merge her background as an educator with her experience traveling to 70+ countries to encourage ethical, meaningful travel. She has been a speaker at the World Travel Writers Conference and her writing, photography, and podcasting work has appeared in National Geographic, CNN Arabic, CBC Canada, and Forbes, amongst others. Now a full-time traveler, she has lived in Prague, Sofia, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Swaying palm fronds, teal and azure waters, a kaleidoscope of marine life below the surface…
You almost don’t need any souvenirs from Tahiti because this place is so special it imprints itself on your mind forever!
That said, some physical reminders of Tahiti’s magic and beauty never hurt.
Admiring the overwater bungalows in Moorea
After spending 10 days in Tahiti and Moorea in 2022, I couldn’t help but want to bring back some of my own tangible memories of the islands.
It certainly lessens the blow of getting on that return flight home, knowing you have the sights and tastes of Tahiti awaiting you when you return!
Here are a few ideas of what to buy in Tahiti — and don’t worry if you’re not visiting Tahiti, as you’ll find many of these on other islands of French Polynesia such as Bora Bora and Moorea, as well.
The 13 Best Tahiti Souvenirs to Bring Home
Tahitian Vanilla Beans and Products
Many say that scent brings back the strongest memories. Rich and fragrant, vanilla beans from Tahiti are a wonderful way to remember your time on the islands!
While visiting Tahiti, I had several delicious dishes that incorporated Tahitian vanilla beans into it, including mahi mahi with a rich vanilla-coconut sauce and crème brûlée with Tahitian vanilla.
You’ll find Tahitian vanilla incorporated into many locally made products — one of my favorite iterations of this was a Tahitian vanilla black tea that we picked up at a local market.
When I did a 4×4 tour of Moorea, we had the chance to visit a local vanilla farm where they sell vanilla beans they’ve grown — and they told us all about the hyper-involved process of farming vanilla, which makes sense as to why it’s so expensive.
In addition to selling vacuum-sealed vanilla beans, they also sold a variety of vanilla-infused products as well!
Pineapple Jam from Moorea
The sister island to Tahiti, Moorea is known for its delicious pineapple. It’s the sweetest and tastiest pineapple I’ve ever tried!
Rotui is the local pineapple plantation, and you’ll find that you can order a carton of Rotui pineapple juice with nearly every meal you eat on Moorea… but a carton of juice is not exactly an easy thing to bring back home.
Luckily, Rotui also makes pineapple jam, which transports home a lot better! (Visiting the factory is a must on any Moorea itinerary!)
Besides Rotui brand products, you can also find smaller jam brands both at supermarkets like Super U all over Tahiti and Moorea, or small farms like Tropical Garden in Moorea.
Tahitian Pearls
Another famous souvenir from the islands of Tahiti are pearls!
This South Pacific island is known for its stunning, lustrous pearls and jewelry lovers will absolutely love to take home some sort of jewelry incorporating Tahitian pearl.
Despite being called Tahitian black pearls, these pearls don’t actually come from the island of Tahiti, but further afield in French Polynesia.
Tahiti’s famous black pearls come from pearl farms in the Tuamotu Archipelago and the Gambier Islands, which have the exact conditions needed to grow beautiful pearls.
Tahitian pearls are graded according to several factors — size, flaws, luster, etc. — and then set in jewelry such as necklaces, pendants, earrings, etc.
Tahitian pearls are rather pricy — expect to spend about $150 USD at a minimum for a pair of grade B stud earrings.
Definitely factor this into your Tahiti budget if this is something you want to buy in Tahiti!
Grade B is a great value to buy because while it’s not technically grade A, they have to be free of major imperfections.
The imperfections can be hidden by jewelry mountings, so they’re perfect for earrings, etc. where a portion of the pearl is obscured.
Mother of Pearl Jewelry
If you’re looking for more affordable jewelry to bring home, mother of pearl is a great option for a wearable Tahiti souvenir.
It’s far more affordable than pearls themselves, since it’s a far more abundant resource.
Mother of pearl is made from the inner shell of several types of mollusks, including pearl oysters but also mussels and abalone.
The inner shell of those mollusks is made of a nacre coating, which creates a beautiful iridescent sheen that coats the interior of the shell.
Meanwhile, pearls are completely made of nacre all the way throughout, so it’s rarer and thus more expensive.
Hinano T-Shirt
You’ll likely see the famous girl from the Hinano logo before you even know it’s a local beer logo!
Featuring a Polynesian girl with a gardenia tucked behind her ear, Hinano T-shirts ooze island vibes and are a great wearable souvenir to bring back from Tahiti.
I bought a tank top with the Hinano logo and my girlfriend brought back a windbreaker with the logo on the back, which we found at a shop in Papeete.
Monoi Oil
If you want to recreate the Tahitian spa experience at home, pick up some monoi oil to bring home!
Monoi oil is a coconut oil that has been infused with tiare flowers (gardenias), which are the national flower of Tahiti.
Monoi oil is a uniquely Polynesian product that has been made by indigenous Polynesians for over 2,000 years and used for all sorts of purposes, including medicinal and religious ones.
It only began to be commercially produced in the last 70 years, so it’s a unique and authentic souvenir from Tahiti to bring home.
Pāreu
A pāreu (also known as a pareo) is a traditional Tahitian type of sarong, made of a long swath of printed cotton that can be worn as a dress or a skirt.
Typically, the pāreu is extremely colorful and printed with flower patterns.
Many sarongs are imported from abroad, but some may be made locally, so keep an eye out for locally made pareos — especially hand painted ones!
You can find pāreu for sale all over the islands, but one great place to pick one up is at the Bambou Shop Moorea which sells a selection of them for great prices (around ~$20 USD).
The Papeete Market (a must on any Tahiti itinerary) also has a ton of pareos available for sale at affordable prices.
Polynesian Wood Carvings
Photo Credit: Verodemortillet, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Wood carvings are another traditional piece of Polynesian art, with the best-known examples coming from the Marquesas Islands, particularly Ua Huka.
Marquesan wood carvings are made by tuhuna, craftsmen who specialize in wood carving and tattooing, so you’ll often find overlap in the details and significance of the patterns in both these arts.
The most common figure is the tiki, a human-like figure, but you’ll also find things like bowls, game boards, etc. carved out of wood, if you want something that blends form and function.
You can find wood carvings at the MANUA Exquisite Tahitian Art gallery in downtown Papeete, and they usually have a stall at the Papeete Market as well.
Prints and Artwork
A fun way to remember your trip to Tahiti is with a piece of artwork that brings you back to the islands!
There are several art galleries in downtown Papeete but I particularly liked the Take Me Back to Tahiti store in the Vaima Shopping Center, where I picked up a print of my own!
A few other art galleries include Galerie Winkler and Walk of Arts which you can both find downtown.
Tifaifai Quilts
Pacific Island Tivaevae background texture.
Another local craft form, tifaifai are Polynesian quilts that use an appliqué technique.
The most common kind you’ll find is the tifaifai pa’oti which is the style done in the Society Islands (the group of islands that includes Tahiti). These use an appliqué style to sew patterns directly onto the quilt.
There’s also the tifaifai pû style from the Austral Islands which is more of a mosaic-style pattern, where small pieces join together to make larger patterns.
You’ll often find hand-sewn tifaifai for sale at the Papeete Market.
Incredible Underwater Photography or Videography
I believe that the best souvenirs are the memories you come home with, and the best thing about this Tahiti souvenir is that it jogs those memories so vividly!
The dive videos I have from my visit are my personal favorite souvenir from Tahiti, because they’re specific to my experience and bring me right back to the amazing underwater world I was lucky enough to experience.
Whether you snorkel or dive, there’s enough incredible marine life and variety to capture on camera.
I recommend a GoPro for this — be sure to encase it in a protective dive housing if you plan to go diving!
This photo was captured while snorkeling in Moorea with blacktip reef sharks and pink whiprays — one of my favorite memories of the trip!
Woven Crafts
Woven craftsmanship is another popular souvenir from Tahiti and there are many forms this can take!
You’ll find baskets, hats, etc. but these can be hard to carry home. Better yet are flatter items like placemats, wallets, and hand fans!
I opted for a large woven wallet which has a gorgeous pattern yet is small and compact, easy to bring home!
I bought this at the gift shop at the Vaipahi Water Gardens, one of my favorite places to visit in Tahiti.
Polynesian Tattoos
I placed tattoos last on this list because they’re not just a souvenir — I think it’s important explain the meaning of Polynesian tattoos and whether or not it’s appropriate for non-Polynesians to get them.
After doing some research, my answer is a tentative yes — but with a big ol’ asterisk that you need to understand and appreciate the context of these tattoos.
Tattoos are one of the Polynesian people’s earliest forms of storytelling, dating back at least 2,000 years.
The patterns and the combination and placement of them tell a story of the person’s life, symbolizing one’s family background and personal story.
For this reason, you should never copy a Polynesian tattoo — if you do, you are basically stealing someone’s life story preserved in art and tattooing it on yourself for aesthetics, without appreciating the context under which that art was created.
Furthermore, some Polynesian symbols are sacred (tapu), and those should not be used outside of ceremonial contexts.
Many other symbols are common (noa), and those can be combined and used in a way that is non-appropriative, as long as you are working with a native Polynesian artist to create a tattoo that is meaningful to you personally and representative of your story.
If you know you’ll want a Polynesian tattoo, I recommend reaching out to a local artist whose work you admire first and working with them to articulate your vision so it can be executed on your visit!
Allison Green is a former teacher who has been travel blogging since 2016. She has a Masters in Teaching and a B.A. in English and Creative Writing. Her blog posts merge her background as an educator with her experience traveling to 70+ countries to encourage ethical, meaningful travel. She has been a speaker at the World Travel Writers Conference and her writing, photography, and podcasting work has appeared in National Geographic, CNN Arabic, CBC Canada, and Forbes, amongst others. Now a full-time traveler, she has lived in Prague, Sofia, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Jet black sand beaches, towering rugged waterfalls, jagged peaks covered in emerald green flora: the landscape of Tahiti looks like something out of Jurassic Park.
Taking a road trip around the island of Tahiti is one of the best ways to see as much of the island’s beauty as you can and tackle all of the best things to do in Tahiti!
If you’re not sure what it’s like to drive in Tahiti, don’t worry — it’s actually a really peaceful place to drive, with great roads, beautiful views, and relaxed drivers.
That said, there are a few quirks when it comes to renting a car in Tahiti and driving there, so we’ll cover that in this post!
17 Tips for Renting a Car in Tahiti
Doing a road trip in Tahiti is the best way to experience the island.
Tahiti is a rather large island — the largest in all of French Polynesia — and is hard to navigate without your own set of wheels!
The public transportation is unreliable and crowded, and taxis are efficient and well-regulated but get expensive fast.
Renting a car in Tahiti allows you to explore the island at your own pace.
Much of this Tahiti itinerary is only doable with your own rental car, so I highly recommend having one!
The roads in Tahiti are, on the whole, quite good!
Having driven around the world quite a bit, I know good roads are hard to come by.
And living in Oakland, I certainly don’t expect good roads, and always have my eyes out for potholes!
I was pleasantly surprised by the well-maintained quality of the highways and roads in Tahiti.
Keep in mind that Tahiti drives on the right side of the road — easy for Americans and continental Europeans, but harder for Brits, Aussies, and Kiwis to adjust to!
Also, for Americans, note that there are a decent amount of roundabouts in Tahiti, especially around Papeete.
The roundabouts are nothing crazy, but if you’re not used to driving in roundabouts, they can be intimidating at first.
After driving in Europe quite a bit, I find them really convenient and a far better way to control the flow of traffic than stoplights.
However, for Americans, this still may require a bit of an adjustment period!
… But driving at night, especially on the west side of the island, can get dicey!
The east side of Tahiti is beautiful, but it’s best driven during the day!
On our first day renting a car in Tahiti, we drove on the east side of the island and saw its main sights and then drove down to Tautira Beach on Tahiti Iti (a must-see!).
We drove back to Taiarapu-Est where we had a fantastic dinner at Le Manua. It got dark, but we didn’t think much of it, as the roads leading us there had all been great.
We plugged in our hotel into Google Maps and it led us around the west side of the island, which we initially thought was cool because hey, we got to say we drove the entire perimeter of the island!
However, what we didn’t anticipate was that this section of the road was far more winding and difficult to drive than the east side of the island.
It was also extremely poorly lit, with no street lamps but worse, no reflector strips, making us have to drive quite slowly and rely on our high beams in the pitch black.
You can’t get everywhere, such as the Papenoo Valley, with a standard car.
The beautiful Vaihiria Lake, only accessible by 4×4 tours
While the roads in Tahiti are quite good when you stick to the perimeter of the island and major attractions like the Fa’aruma’i Waterfalls, there are parts of the island that are not very accessible with a standard car.
The interior of the island has one road that passes through it, but it’s no longer maintained and you can only access it with a 4×4.
This is the part of the island that includes the Papenoo Valley, one of the most scenic parts of Tahiti, full of waterfalls, lush flora, and Jurassic Park-looking landscapes.
It’s absolutely breathtaking, but you’ll want to access it with a tour, as I don’t believe any car rental companies offer 4×4 cars… and besides, a guide will be able to show you all the best parts.
I recommend this 4×4 Island Crossing tour to show you the parts of the island that you can’t access with your own car!
You definitely need to rent a car in Tahiti in advance!
Don’t even think of showing up to a rental agency once you arrive in Tahiti and asking for a car… the rental office is unlikely to be able to help you.
We saw someone try this when we were renting our car in Tahiti and nothing was available.
Even if there are cars, you won’t be getting any good rental deals… they’ll usually increase the price instead, because they know the rule of supply and demand is in their favor!
Search early to get the best rates — prices tend to go up, so there’s no point in waiting for the best car rental deal… you’re probably already seeing the lowest price.
Not every car rental aggregate includes rentals in Tahiti, so I used AutoEurope to find the best price for our rental (since Tahiti is technically part of France and thus Europe!).
The airport is the best place to rent a car in Tahiti.
You’ll find all the major car rental companies at Faa’a International Airport
Faa’a International Airport is where you’ll find the majority of the rental companies in Tahiti. Here, you’ll find the best rental price and best deals in general.
The rental company area is easy to find — you simply can’t miss it when you walk out of customs.
Some rental agencies may also offer an off-airport location, but generally, this isn’t practical because you’re arriving and leaving from Faa’a anyway, and there are no other international airports in Tahiti.
Double check all the terms and make sure you have what you need.
Because it’s such a small island, you likely won’t need unlimited mileage in Tahiti. Most car agencies offer that, but you can also just check what the mileage they offer is.
Even if you were to circumnavigate all of Tahiti’s outer roads, including the ones on Tahiti Iti, you’d only drive 188 kilometers in a loop to the airport and back.
If you are splitting the driving with someone else, you will need to register an additional driver outside of the main driver — this usually costs somewhere between $15 and $20 USD per day.
Other additional costs may include adding on roadside assistance, liability insurance, young drivers extra fees if under 25 etc.
Some agencies may allow you to rent or borrow a car seat or child seat, but I wouldn’t rely on this without speaking with someone at the rental desk first.
Speak with your rental agent to make sure you understand all the additional fees and consent to the charges.
You’ll need a valid credit card so they can place a hold or deposit on your car rental.
Once while traveling in Italy, I saw a very distraught Scandinavian man — who wasn’t used to having to use a credit card — throw a fit because the car he wanted to rent required too large of a deposit for his debit card to handle.
He got stuck with a Ford Fiesta for his honeymoon — something I wouldn’t really care about, but obviously caused him great distress, considering I’ve never heard the word “Ford Fiesta” uttered that many times with that much contempt.
Typically, they’ll just place a hold — not an actual charge — on your credit card, that will be resolved within 2-3 business days upon returning the car.
You likely won’t need an international driver’s permit in Tahiti.
If your driver’s license is either in English or in French, you won’t need an international driver’s permit to rent a car in Tahiti.
If your driver’s license is in another language, it may require one.
While rental car companies may not ask, you may be required to show one if you get pulled over.
Anecdotally, in Papeete, we got pulled over at a checkpoint and police checked our driver’s license and car rental papers.
Our American driver’s license was fine without a IDP, but if you had a license not in English or French, I imagine it could present a problem!
Be extra careful checking the type of car you book, especially if you want an automatic car.
Pro Tip: Listen to 88.6 whenever you’re in the Papeete vicinity, it was our favorite station and we even listen to it now that we’re home!
Because Tahiti is part of French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France, there are many similarities between the driving cultures.
One of them is that manual transmission cars are the standard car type, and automatic transmissions are a deviation.
When you book standard economy class cars, often that will mean manual cars will show up with the cheapest price.
Tahiti gets enough American tourists that rental agencies there will have a small supply of automatic cars, but you will have to specify it.
We had an issue where we thought we requested an automatic car, but had actually booked a manual car.
Luckily, they had one automatic car left and we were able to snag it, but it cost us an additional charge since automatics are more expensive.
We ended up paying approximately $110 USD per day for our car rental.
Renting a car in Tahiti can be pricy compared to other places, but it’s worth it.
Personally, I found the average price of a car rental in Tahiti to be on the expensive side.
Unfortunately, cheap rental cars aren’t really a thing.
The more affordable thing is scooter rental, but unless you’re an experienced scooter or motorcycle driver, it’s not particularly safe.
The car rental fee will be a large part of your Tahiti budget, but it will be worth your time considering it’s a great way to get around the island.
Traveling in the off season will bring you low prices… relatively speaking.
The off season in Tahiti brings better prices, but more unpredictable weather!
We traveled in November and even then we found car rental prices to be on the high side. I imagine it’d be worse in the rest of the year when it’s high season!
That said, the best prices are in the shoulder seasons and off seasons, though you are trading off potentially worse weather if you choose travel dates in the low season.
The cheapest car rental we could find was via Avis and it cost about $115 per day for an automatic car.
Check your insurance coverage and err on the side of caution.
There are so many waterfalls in Tahiti you can drive to if you rent a car!
One thing to note is that while many American credit cards offer rental insurance coverage, the rental agencies don’t typically understand that.
We chose to decline additional insurance, and of course, we got a flat tire literally in between filling up our gas tank and arriving at the airport.
Luckily we already arrived at the airport, so it wasn’t a big deal, but we did have to pay an additional fee to get the tire fixed.
Additionally, make sure that you have personal travel insurance in additional to rental car insurance, in case you have an accident while driving and need medical care.
I always use SafetyWing for its great price, excellent and clear coverage policies, and ease of purchasing.
For my most recent trip, I paid just $18 USD for a 10-day coverage package that would cover me medically in case of accident or incident, as well as things like trip delay or cancellation, illness, etc.
Parking is generally rather easy in Tahiti, except in Downtown Papeete.
This parking lot in Papeete was difficult in our medium-sized rental!
Most of the time, a parking lot is available for popular attraction spots in Tahiti, like the Vaipahi Water Gardens or Fa’aruma’i Waterfalls. It’s free, too!
However, downtown Papeete is really hard to find parking at, and we ended up using paid parking lots. These can be a little pricy — we typically paid about $10 USD for a few hours worth of parking.
Some of these lots, like the one in the main mall in Papeete, are really small and tough to navigate. This is where having a small rental car will come in handy!
We had a medium rental car that we affectionately called “The Boat”, a giant hunk of an MG, and it was hard to park in!
I can’t even imagine trying to park there if we had a large rental car such as a SUV rental or van rental…
However, other parking lots that are outdoors, such as the one by the marina, are a lot easier to park in.
It’s expensive to bring a rental car over to Moorea with the car ferry.
You can bring your car between Tahiti and Moorea, but it’s expensive!
While it’s a pain, it is likely cheaper to return your car to the airport and then rent a car in Moorea.
It costs about $95 each way, even for a small car, to bring your car over to Moorea.
There are different tiers for how much it costs based on whether you have a small or large car, etc.
I also don’t recommend dropping off your car at a different location and paying the one-way rental fee. It’s a massive additional charge.
Instead, I’d rent a car in Tahiti, return it, then rent a car in Moorea. It’s a little more work but it’ll save you a good deal of money.
While Moorea is awesome and definitely worth visiting (there’s so much to do!), don’t bother bringing your rental car over there unless money is truly no matter to do.
Gas is also a little expensive, but luckily, you won’t need too much.
The gas station attendants pump gas for you in Tahiti!
It makes sense that gas would be expensive in Tahiti.
For one, the island is way out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, so it’s going to be expensive to bring gas there, period!
It’s also a French territory, so it has similar taxes and surcharges on top of the base fuel cost which make gas more expensive.
We spent 3 days in our rental car, and with that, we were able to circumnavigate the entire island and drive out to one of the edges of Tahiti Iti.
We used 20.69 liters of fuel, which cost 3745 XPF ($33.24 USD at the the time of writing).
In November 2022 that meant the price of fuel was 181 XPF per liter (equivalent to $1.61 per liter or $6.09 per gallon).
Honestly, coming from California with roughly ~$5/gallon gas prices this wasn’t too bad for us, and for Europeans, this is probably pretty standard!
Of course, as with any rental car, you’ll have to return your car with a full tank of fuel to avoid extra costs.
If island hopping, it’s best to rent a car on each island.
Whether or not you need a rental car depends on how much driving you’ll do!
Depending on which French Polynesian islands you visit, you may or may not want a rental car.
It also depends on what kind of travel you are doing on that island.
For example, if all you’re doing is staying in a resort on Bora Bora and don’t plan to leave your overwater bungalow, well, there’s really no need for a car, is there?
We didn’t rent a car in Moorea and we wish we had — the island was larger than we thought and we ended up very reliant on taxis, which added up and wasn’t quite as convenient.
Which Rental Car Company is Best in Tahiti?
In my opinion — whichever gives you the best deal!
We went with Avis because we found the best price for it using a car rental aggregate (AutoEurope) that compared all the different rental car companies in Tahiti.
However, depending on inventory and demand, the best-priced company may change, so using a search engine to compare is key.
Allison Green is a former teacher who has been travel blogging since 2016. She has a Masters in Teaching and a B.A. in English and Creative Writing. Her blog posts merge her background as an educator with her experience traveling to 70+ countries to encourage ethical, meaningful travel. She has been a speaker at the World Travel Writers Conference and her writing, photography, and podcasting work has appeared in National Geographic, CNN Arabic, CBC Canada, and Forbes, amongst others. Now a full-time traveler, she has lived in Prague, Sofia, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
One item on many travelers’ bucket lists is staying in an overwater bungalow!
While there are overwater villas all over the world, from the Caribbean to the Maldives toPanamato the South Pacific, the islands of Tahiti have some of the best overwater bungalows in the world.
I mean, it shouldn’t come as a surprise — the now-famous overwater bungalow was literally first invented on the island of Raiatea, one of the Society Islands not far from Tahiti.
So how did this come about?
After three Americans built a hotel on the island of Moorea, they bought another plot of land for a hotel on Raiatea… but it had some drawbacks.
They found that without white sand beaches, it would be hard to lure travelers all the way out to outer islands like Raiatea, compared to the more accessible islands of Tahiti and Moorea.
While the land they bought in Raiatea didn’t have a sandy beach for guests, what it did have was a beautiful lagoon with a stunning coral reef teeming with marine life right in front of it.
And from that, the idea of overwater suites with private terraces that offered direct access to the ocean was born!
Now, overwater bungalows have proliferated not only in the islands of Tahiti, but also all over the world, and are a honeymoon fan favorite.
My Top 3 Picks for Tahiti Overwater Bungalows
No time to read this post and just want my quick picks? I’ll give them to you here!
Since this post is about Tahiti bungalows, I’m focusing on the overwater bungalows in Tahiti & Moorea, since no additional plane ride is needed.
✔️Personally approved! ✔️Minutes from the airport ✔️Amazing snorkeling outside the Motu bungalows ✔️Delicious on-site restaurants & a fine dining option ✔️Two incredible pools (one infinity pool) and a lagoonarium
Manava Beach Resort & Spa Moorea ✔️ Most lively location in Moorea, with great restaurants & shopping ✔️ Best option for divers with great house dive shop ✔️Beautiful infinity pool with overwater bungalow view
This post refers to the islands of Tahiti, also known as French Polynesia, and not strictly the island of Tahiti.
While Tahiti is considered the main island and home to the capital city of French Polynesia, it actually has relatively few overwater bungalow options.
This post focuses on all the islands of French Polynesia and their overwater bungalow options, since there are many more options than just Tahiti!
We’ll cover Tahiti first, since it’s home to the Faa’a International Airport from which all international flights land. Most U.S. flights to French Polynesia leave from either Los Angeles or San Francisco and arrive in the morning.
It’s also the only place with luxury overwater bungalows that I personally stayed at on my recent trip to French Polynesia, so I can speak firsthand about the main resort building, amenities, location, restaurant, etc.
While we didn’t stay at a resort with overwater rooms during our stay, we did visit two resorts that had overwater bungalows and got a feel for the resort experience and vibe, and got to snap some pics with the bungalows!
Then, we’ll cover the most famous island for panoramic overwater bungalows, Bora Bora!
This is where you’ll find the most luxurious resorts in all of the French Polynesian islands.
However, it does take another flight from Tahiti, so it is not the most convenient, and the resorts here are some of the most expensive!
After that, we’ll cover overwater bungalows on smaller islands in the Society Islands, such as Le Taha’a and Raiatea.
Next, we’ll go further afield, outside of the Society Islands into the Tuamoto Islands, which include Rangiroa and Tikehau.
Before You Book Your Bungalow…
Before investing in an expensive trip like one to Tahiti, you’ll want to make sure you consider travel insurance!
This is especially important if portions of your travel are non-refundable (as many overwater bungalows are).
With airline madness leading to delayed flights and lost luggage and the ongoing specter of the pandemic and its ability to disrupt travel plans, you’ll be glad to have the peace of mind that travel insurance provides.
I use SafetyWing to insure all my international trips — with plans starting around $42 for a 4 week coverage policy (or around $11 per week), it’s an extremely affordable way to cover your trip.
SafetyWing is both travel insurance and travel medical insurance, so it covers everything from medical costs (including Covid coverage) to travel cancellation and/or disruption costs.
We stayed at the Intercontinental Tahiti during our trip to French Polynesia and loved our time there.
While we didn’t stay in an overwater bungalow in Tahiti, we were able to walk around the property and admire the bungalows and enjoy all the amenities of the resort.
The resort features two pool areas, one with a larger pool with a waterfall feature (more child-friendly) and one with an infinity pool and swim up bar (more adult-friendly).
There’s also a water sports center where you can book dives, rent kayaks or snorkeling gear, etc., and a concierge is also happy to help you book activities if you want to get out of the resort.
For extra relaxation, you can access the Deep Nature Spa for an additional charge (about $40 USD for a day pass, or included with a massage or treatment), which includes a hamam-style steam room, sauna, relaxation room, and plunge pool.
We only ate at the main restaurant, Te Tiare, but we loved all the meals we got, especially this stunner of a dish, the tuna carpaccio with a Thai-style shredded papaya and mango salad on top.
However, if you want to splash out, romantic dinners at Le Lotus can’t be beat.
Located next to the Ocean View bungalows, Le Lotus itself is an overwater bungalow in restaurant form!
The fine-dining French cuisine menu was developed in partnership with Michelin-starred French chef Bruno Oger and carried out by another promising chef, Jacques di Guisto.
Meals there follow certain prix-fixe menus, where you can mix-and-match starters, entrees, and desserts for prices ranging from around $50 USD for a starter and dessert to $120 USD for the gastronomy menu with two starters, a main, and dessert.
That said, there is also a lot to do at the resort that is free!
We adored the snorkeling in the lagoonarium, which had an impressive variety of colorful reef fish to nerd out about!
We also chatted with a couple who stayed in one of the Motu suites, who loved their experience — they saw sea turtles and even a spotted eagle ray while sitting on their overwater bungalow’s terrace!
Taking their advice, we snorkeled in front of the overwater bungalows by the Motu suites and it was incredible!
We swam over from the area by the water sports area, which is easy enough to do if you are a strong swimmer and have fins.
The sea life here was so abundant!
We stumbled across a beautiful cove with sea anemones protecting clownfish and domino damselfish, an octopus camouflaging itself during the daytime, and a curious moray eel who came out of its hiding spot in the reef not once but twice to get a better look at us.
Insider Tip: While the Motu suites are a tiny bit more expensive, I recommend them over the Ocean View suites. Why? The Ocean View suites are located in front of deeper water, where it’s hard to snorkel and find the same quality of reef life. The shallow water in front of the Motu Suites are a better choice if you want to easy access to an incredible snorkel spot! If you don’t plan to snorkel, though, the two types of overwater bungalows are roughly equal.
Located right next to Temae Beach, boasting one of the best coral gardens and snorkeling spots on all of Moorea, the Sofitel Beach Resort is an excellent place to stay in Moorea for a resort with overwater bungalows on Tahiti’s sister island of Moorea.
We didn’t stay at the Sofitel, but we did visit Temae Beach for off-shore snorkeling, and it was the best off-shore snorkeling we’ve ever done!
The coral here is impossibly beautiful and well-preserved (since this is a protected marine area) and the sea life is extremely abundant.
We also walked a bit on the grounds and thought the Sofitel would be an excellent place to stay on a future trip to Moorea.
The overwater bungalows are undoubtedly set in one of the best locations in Moorea thanks to the beautiful coral gardens that surround them.
You can easily swim out to the coral gardens from the beach if you have good fins and snorkel gear, or if you’re staying in an overwater bungalows, you can simply descend your own private ladder into the ocean below!
There are 38 overwater bungalows as well as over 60 beach and garden bungalows in case staying in an overwater bungalow is out of reach financially or if you want to only stay one night in a bungalow and then switch over to a more affordable room.
In addition to its beautiful beach and snorkeling, there’s also a pool with a beautiful view of Tahiti.
The resort offers two restaurants and two bars for a variety of food options, though you could also leave the resort and dine at some of the great places in Moorea in Maharepa, like our favorite restaurant, Keiki.
The Sofitel offers two types of overwater bungalow, the Superior and the Luxury.
The distinction isn’t clear from the name, but the Luxury bungalows are the largest — the largest on Moorea, in fact, at nearly 900 square feet!
Meanwhile, the Superior Bungalows are about 450 square feet, so about half the size.
All bungalows are air conditioned, have private terraces with direct lagoon access, a glass panel in the floor and a free minibar that is refilled twice daily.
The bathrooms feature lovely rain showers but do not have bathtubs, so that’s something to note if a bathtub is important to you!
During our five days in Moorea, we ended up here a lot because we used the Moorea Blue Diving center, which is headquartered here.
We got to know the grounds and amenities of the Manava Beach Resort well and have only great things to say about it, and it’s another place I’d strongly consider staying on a return trip to Moorea.
The infinity pool at the heart of the resort is absolutely beautiful and the view you get to enjoy of both the ocean and the bungalows will get you those envy-inducing Instagram vacation photos for sure!
You can easily rent kayaks or stand-up paddle boards to explore the calm lagoon area and its marine life nearby the resort.
There’s a small beach area that is also open to the public, but one thing to note is that the views are mostly blocked by the bungalows, so the view from this beach isn’t quite as nice as from the Sofitel.
It’s still pretty spectacular, though!
That said, Manava has a much more central location in the heart of Maharepa, so it’s easy to explore the great restaurants of this part of Moorea, like Keiki, Rudy’s, and Manua Grill.
On-site, there are two restaurants, one more casual one and one more upscale one, as well as a poolside bar.
Other resort amenities include the Manea Spa which offers luxurious but fairly reasonably priced massages for individuals and couples.
Bonus: the sunsets in this part of the island are also pretty spectacular as it’s closer to the west side of the island!
There are a variety of room types at Manava Beach Resort, including more standard hotel-style rooms, beachfront bungalows with a private plunge pool, and of course, the overwater bungalows!
There are both Overwater Bungalows (facing the lagoon and mountains) and Premium Overwater Bungalows (facing the ocean)
All their overwater bungalows are 515 square feet and have lagoon and mountain views with a king bed, a bathroom with either a shower or tub, and sundecks that open directly to the lagoon.
The overwater bungalows are air conditioned and have a glass panel to see the sea life below you even while you’re in the room!
Located near one of the most picturesque parts of Moorea, ‘Ōpūnohu Bay, the Hilton Moorea Lagoon Resort & Spa is another great option where it comes to French Polynesia overwater bungalows!
You’ll find the standard things you’d expect of a beach resort with overwater bungalows, like a pool area, sandy beach area, spa center, concierge service, etc.
There are several places to dine at the resort, including an open-air restaurant with lagoon views, a waterfront bar & grill, a sunset view bar, and an overwater eatery where you can enjoy a drink or a crepe with sharks swimming beneath you!
When it comes to room types, there’s a variety to suit a different array of budgets.
There are garden bungalows with and without private pools, as well as lagoon view bungalows that are on the beach but have a private ladder to the lagoon, as well as your standard overwater bungalows connected by a boardwalk.
The standard garden bungalows are fairly typical of hotel rooms, but the overwater bungalows are some of the most luxurious on Moorea!
We’re talking bathrooms with clawfoot bathtubs and seating areas with a glass panel below you from which you can watch the underwater world go by.
The reef in front of the Hilton is also excellent — you’ll find rays, sharks, and all sorts of fish life, a true underwater paradise.
However, this is also one of the more popular options on Moorea and the overwater bungalows tend to get reserved quickly, so book early!
In terms of amenities, there’s a main pool with a swim-up bar as well as an adults only pool that has private cabanas, as well as their famous Iridium Spa on an island in the middle of the lagoonarium.
But perhaps the coolest feature is its lagoonarium (a safely enclosed lagoon full of aquatic life where you can snorkel safely with all sorts of fish, including the wildly impressive Napolean wrasse!).
One of the best things about the rooms at the St. Regis is that they have glass panels on the floor so you can watch tropical fish and sea life swim underneath your feet!
In fact, they even have a signature glass coffee table with a glass panel beneath, so you can watch the fish underneath your morning coffee!
For those who can’t quite afford the overwater bungalows, they also have garden guest rooms and beachside bungalows.
Food quality matches the high standard set by the accommodations: the Lagoon Restaurant features a menu by celebrity chef Jean-Georges, with a stunning view of Mt. Otemanu in the background.
There are also Asian, Polynesian, and Italian restaurant options, as well as elevated bar dining options with tapas, cocktails, and other light fare.
Located in the stunning Motu Tehotu, a private islet off of the main island, the Four Seasons Resort Bora Bora is a dream worthy of a honeymoon — or any occasion to celebrate, really!
The Four Seasons is one of the best designed overwater bungalow resorts in all of French Polynesia!
It was inspired by the look of traditional Polynesian village houses and incorporates Polynesian craftwork and design elements as much as possible for an authentic feel.
The whole resort has been given the indoor-outdoor design treatment with the coordinated expertise of French and American architects and interior designers.
That said, you’ll still find all the traditional resort amenities you’d expect of a hotel of this caliber: a gorgeously Instagrammable infinity pool, a fitness center with yoga classes, and four fantastic dining options (including in-bungalow meal service).
Speaking of in-bungalow meals, you’ll be able to have the most unique breakfast in bed experience there is!
The Four Seasons offers a special service where your breakfast is brought to you in your overwater bungalow by a traditional Polynesian canoe, decorated in flowers! It doesn’t get more special than that.
And of course, the Four Seasons has a world-class spa, Te Mahana, which offers a variety of sublime wellness experiences using traditional Polynesian botanical ingredients and wellness techniques.
There is a variety of types of overwater bungalows in this Bora Bora resort, so you can pick the best one for your budget — though all are definitely going to make your eyes water!
The most luxurious are the 2-bedroom overwater bungalow suites, many of which feature their own private plunge pools.
At a massive 2,228 square feet, these bungalows are practically ready to move into (I feel envious as I write this from my 525 square foot apartment!)
These bungalows are also great for families or friend groups — they can comfortably fit 6 adults, or 2 adults and 4 children.
There are also 1-bedroom overwater bungalows with plunge pools, which are more in the 1,000-1,500 square foot range — still quite large, but only suitable for a maximum of 3 adults or 2 adults and 2 kids.
There are also overwater bungalows that don’t have private pools, but they’re still quite luxe — think bathtubs you’ll never want to leave with a direct view of the crystalline waters of the lagoon and spacious lounge seating.
You’ll find two main restaurants, Le Reef and Le Sands, as well as the famous Thalasso Spa on-site where you can take your relaxation to the max.
This resort only offers overwater bungalows, but you can choose between different sizes, views, and whether or not you have a private pool on your terrace.
All the bungalows have direct lagoon access, glass panels to watch the sea life in your villa, sundecks with ladders leading to the lagoon so you can walk right into the water, and lovely bathrooms with soaking tubs.
Tahiti overwater bungalows don’t get any more remote on an islet off of a small island of Taha’a off the island of Raiatea!
There is definitely some effort involved in getting to the beautiful Le Taha’a by Pearl Resorts, but it’ll be worth it.
If you’re first arriving in Tahiti, you’ll have to fly to Raiatea and then take a 35-minute resort shuttle ride to the resort.
You can also fly via helicopter if you’re coming from Bora Bora — it’s a stunning 15-minute flight over some of the most beautiful water you’ll ever see.
Once on the resort, you’re basically on your own private island: the entirety of Le Taha’a by Pearl Resorts is on its own motu (islet).
That said, you’re not totally in desert island mode. If you want to explore the island of Taha’a, you can take one of the resort shuttles — you’ll be in the charming village of Tapuamu in just 5 minutes.
One of the coolest things about Le Taha’a’s location is that it’s located in between two beautiful islands: Taha’a and Bora Bora, and you can pick an overwater bungalow facing either.
And of course, there’s beautiful lagoons and reefs to explore and enjoy in between these two stunning South Pacific islands.
There are three spectacular restaurants offering a variety of dining options so you won’t get bored, and of course, you can always head to the main island if you wish to dine off the resort and get a little taste of French Polynesia outside the resorts.
The resort is small and intimate, with just 58 rooms and villas, all done in a traditional Polynesian style, constructed in an eco-friendly way with organic resources from all the nature these verdant islands generously offer.
There are two main types of room available at this property: overwater bungalows and beach villas with their own pools.
Some overwater bungalows have a view of Taha’a nearby, and others have a view of Bora Bora in the distance.
The overwater bungalows are generously sized at 969 square feet, sleeping 3 adults (or 2 adults and one child).
The pool villas are larger at 1,937 square feet (or 2,800 square feet for the royal villa) but won’t have the overwater bungalow vibe.
Another property by Pearl Resorts, Le Tikehau is another beautiful and remote option for overwater bungalows in Tahiti’s outer islands.
Tikehau is part of the Tuamoto Islands, a remote archipelago that offers some of the best snorkeling and diving in all of French Polynesia.
As remote as Tikehau already is, Le Tikehau is located on the small islet (motu) of Tiano about a 15-minute boat ride from the main village.
With just 37 bungalows, villas, and suites, Le Tikehau is an intimate resort where guests easily get individualized attention.
The resort’s setting alone is unrivaled: surrounded by coral reefs, fringed with pink sand beaches that bleed out into turquoise blue lagoons, with dense coconut groves hiding private tropical gardens to lose yourself in.
You’ll also have a beautiful pool to relax in or beside when you’re not enjoying the beaches or taking out the free kayaks for a paddle.
There’s also the Tavai Spa to relax at, and one bar and one restaurant located on the resort.
Overwater bungalows are the focus at Le Tikehau, with smaller ones starting at 594 square feet and larger ones going up to 1,001 square feet.
There are also beach bungalows that aren’t overwater (592 square feet) and one pool beach villa (1,290 square feet) that is extra private.
Note that a handful of the overwater bungalows (the standard ones) do not have their own ladder to access the lagoon, because they are located on a part of the islet with a lot of coral as well as a strong current.
However, you can still enjoy the stunning views from your private deck and have the overwater bungalow experience, and you can see the water from your own glass table that has a panel to see the sea life below.
The next tier up, the premium overwater bungalows, have direct sea access with a private ladder.
However, neither of these overwater bungalows offer air conditioning, though they do have high roofs with thatched material and fans to keep air circulating.
Only the overwater suites have air conditioning, so if that’s a priority, pick that!
Rangiroa is known for its diving — in fact, its massive lagoon is literally the size of the island of Tahiti!
It’s part of the Tuamotu archipelago and it’s a bit further afield from Tahiti but its isolation what makes it so spectacular.
Hotel Kia Ora in Rangiroa offers overwater bungalows with stunning lagoon views where the turquoise water melds seamlessly into deep blue at the horizon.
The bungalows feature separate bedrooms and lounge areas, with a stunning bathroom that has both a bathtub and a luxe shower.
The lounge area is especially epic because it has glass panels in the floor where you can admire the fish swimming in the lagoon below you, while sitting on a comfortable sofa!
The overwater bungalows are rather spacious, with an interior dimension of about 485 square feet and an additional 315 square feet in the outer lounge area, with two sun loungers and a table for enjoying your morning coffee or breakfast.
The bungalows are air conditioned and have all the amenities you’d expect of a standard hotel room, like a flat-screen TV, WiFi, minibar, etc.
Because Rangiroa is a little more off the beaten path, these are some of the more affordable overwater bungalows in French Polynesia, starting around $700 per night.
Allison Green is a former teacher who has been travel blogging since 2016. She has a Masters in Teaching and a B.A. in English and Creative Writing. Her blog posts merge her background as an educator with her experience traveling to 70+ countries to encourage ethical, meaningful travel. She has been a speaker at the World Travel Writers Conference and her writing, photography, and podcasting work has appeared in National Geographic, CNN Arabic, CBC Canada, and Forbes, amongst others. Now a full-time traveler, she has lived in Prague, Sofia, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
It’s a sad reality that LGTBQ couples have to think particularly carefully about their travel destinations when it comes to safety.
Unfortunately, many otherwise idyllic places can be dangerous for queer people.
Many typical ‘resort’ destinations are in countries in which LGBTQ identities or same-sex intimacy are policed and potentially punished.
For example, countries like the Maldives and Jamaica — two popular honeymoon destinations — have strict laws against homosexual activity.
Many queer couples choose to travel to non-LGBTQ friendly countries and keep their couple status on the down-low, or only stay in resorts where there is a more laissez-faire attitude.
Traveling to Tahiti as a LGBTQ couple? It’s a great choice!
However, there’s something to be said for feeling safe to show your affections for your partner in public, amongst the people and the culture and not just in a sanitized resort.
Luckily, French Polynesia is a safe place to do just that, and if you’re looking for a romantic place to travel with your queer partner — whether you pick a family-owned guesthouse or a fancy overwater bungalow inBora Bora or Moorea — it’s a fantastic choice.
During my 5 days in Tahiti and my 5 days in Moorea, I didn’t have any negative experiences traveling as part of a visibly queer, visibly interracial couple.
While it’s not certain you won’t experience any homophobia or transphobia — it’s a lot less likely in Tahiti and its islands than in many places in the world.
While there are many reasons for this, a large reason is because the native Polynesian culture does not enforce a strict gender binary the way that Christian and other monotheistic colonizing forces have historically done.
My Experience Traveling to Tahiti as a Queer Woman
I’m writing this post mostly because I think there’s a dearth of writing on the topic of gay Tahiti travel from a female perspective (and gay travel writing in general tends to center the cis gay male experience).
Before traveling to Tahiti, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I did some research and saw the laws were permissive of same-sex relationships and that the culture was generally tolerant of it, so I did feel safe being out while there.
That said, it was my first time traveling as part of a visibly queer couple so I was a little hesitant at first, but I quickly felt at ease traveling on Moorea and Tahiti.
We felt safe to engage in light PDA that showed us as a couple — hand-holding in public, kissing on the cheek, etc. — and we didn’t encounter any off remarks or negativity because of it.
We traveled independently and didn’t go on a cruise or vacation package, choosing instead to rent a car in Tahiti and travel at our own pace.
This way, it was easy to cover all the things to do in Tahiti (primarily diving and waterfall chasing!) and Moorea (primarily snorkeling, diving, and 4×4 touring!) that most appealed to us
We stayed in guesthouses for 8 nights (one in Moorea and one in Tahiti and a resort in Tahiti for 2 nights, so our experience speaks largely to independent travel on both our Moorea itinerary and ourTahiti itinerary, though we also experienced the resort angle in Tahiti.
However, we were only on two islands, Tahiti and Moorea, which besides Bora Bora see the most tourism.
As a result, these islands may generally be more accepting of queerness because they simply see it more often.
I can’t speak to what it’s like to travel to less frequently visited Tahitian islands, but I’d love to hear about others’ experiences!
Lastly, we went to Tahiti and Moorea as part of a dive trip and didn’t try to experience any gay nightlife in Tahiti, so this post doesn’t have any information on that.
This post is meant more as an informative guide about what it gay Tahiti travel is like, with insight into the culture of the Polynesian islands and how it relates to queerness.
Is It Safe to Travel to Tahiti as a Queer Couple?
In my opinion: yes, absolutely!
Legally speaking, there are no laws against same-sex activity, relationships, or identities in French Polynesia.
As you can probably guess from the name, French Polynesia is an overseas territory of France.
As a result, French laws for marriage equality and anti-discrimination also apply in French Polynesia.
More importantly, prior to French annexation, the islands of Tahiti were a safe place for people of differing sexualities and gender identities.
Indigenous Polynesian culture was, is, and continues to be accepting of a variety of queer identities.
In fact, there have never been any laws on the books in the Tahitian Islands (what is now French Polynesia) banning same-sex activity.
That’s hard for most countries to say and just shows how progressive and accepting Polynesian culture is.
Is It Safe to Travel to Tahiti as a Non-Binary or Trans Person?
In short: yes, but trans and enby identities have significant historical and cultural importance (as well as baggage) in French Polynesia.
First, let me add the caveat that I am cis, so I am not writing this from a trans perspective.
In writing this section, I’m listening to trans travelers like Dylan Mulvaney as well as doing research on the culture.
Polynesian culture has long had a far more expansive and progressive view of gender than the strict gender binary that has pervaded much of Western ideology.
For centuries, Polynesians have recognized genders beyond male and female. There has long been another gender identity, Māhū, which means in the middle.
In the past, māhū primarily referred to people who were assigned male at birth (abbreviated as AMAB), who were more “feminine” and encouraged to live their lives out as women.
Historically, māhū played an important role in society as healers, teachers, and spiritual leaders.
In fact, it’s believed that four māhū from Polynesia traveled to the island of Oʻahu in the 16th century to share in their healing arts.
You can find a memorial to this important piece of Polynesian and Native Hawaiian history on Waikiki Beach, where you’ll find the stones of Kapaemāhū dedicated to these healers.
In present day, māhū is a more expansive term that encompasses a variety of trans and non-binary identities and includes AFAB people as well.
It can apply to people who feel their gender embodies both male and female characteristics, similar to the concept of a ‘two-spirit’ person in many Native American cultures.
The term māhū can also apply to those whose gender identity does not match what they were assigned at birth and live as what Western culture would consider a trans identity.
Generally, māhū people are accepted and integrated into Tahitian society, and anecdotally, my girlfriend and I saw a number of queer-presenting and māhū people during my time in Tahiti.
That said, it’s a little more complicated than just that. There’s a subcategory within the māhū identity group, rae rae, which is a more recent idea that is likely tied to the influence of colonization.
The term rae rae is somewhat derogatory, and it is used to refer to Polynesian AMAB people who present as female in a more overt or sexualized way, as opposed to māhū who embody femininity in a more chaste way.
In the article “The Men-Women of the Pacific“, Peruvian novelist and Nobel prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa writes:
“While the mahu is the man-woman with traditional roots in Polynesian society, the Tahitian rae rae is its modern, urban expression, having more in common with the snipped and tucked drag queens of the west, with their hormone and silicone injections, than with the delicate cultural, psychological and social re-creation that is the mahu of the Maori tradition. The mahu is an integral part of society, while the rae rae lives on its margins”
While French Polynesia is generally a very accepting place, no place is utopian or uncomplicated, and there are hierarchies and biases implicit in any social order.
The islands of Tahiti exist at the intersection at their strongly maintained Polynesian culture and history as well as the influence of French colonization.
With colonization brings the importation of outside religions and ideologies, and the present-day acceptance of LGBTQ+ identities in French Polynesia is a result of that blend.
Lastly, Some Disclaimers
I am writing this piece from the perspective of a bisexual cis woman partnered with a queer cis woman.
I also benefit from white privilege and while my partner is Asian, being together as a couple in a way extends some of my privilege to her.
We are both femme in terms of our gender presentation, and we easily pass as friends if we are not directly showing romantic behavior or public displays of affection.
While women do bear the brunt of misogyny and gender violence, queer female or femme-presenting couples may find it easier to fly under the radar as heterocissexist society tends to erase and overlook WLW couples.
This lack of visibility on the day-to-day can be frustrating to experience, but when traveling in countries with anti-LGTBQ policies, this ‘invisibility’ can give you an additional layer of potential safety.
As a result, many countries’ anti-homosexuality laws enforce policing MLM behavior more heavily.
That’s not to say that queer women are necessarily safe in those countries, but that their behavior is under less scrutiny and it is typically easier to pass.
I’ll also add the caveat that I am newly out and this was my first trip traveling as a couple with a same-sex partner.
I am learning what to look out for in terms of queer travel safety, which is why this post will speak primarily to my own experience.
Finally, I know that I can’t speak to the personal experience of trans identity. I spoke broadly about what I noticed about trans and non-binary identities, but I have no personal experience I can speak to.
I hope, over time, that these posts can be a collaborative resource — almost like an ongoing Wiki of sorts — so that people at every intersection of queer identity can speak.
If any of my trans/nonbinary friends or readers would like to chime in with their perspective, I will gladly add their point of view!
I’d also love to add the perspective of cis male (or male-presenting) queer couples who have traveled to Tahiti so this post can be as inclusive as possible.
Please leave a comment (it can be done anonymously) if you would like your perspective to be incorporated into the post for future updates.
Allison Green is a former teacher who has been travel blogging since 2016. She has a Masters in Teaching and a B.A. in English and Creative Writing. Her blog posts merge her background as an educator with her experience traveling to 70+ countries to encourage ethical, meaningful travel. She has been a speaker at the World Travel Writers Conference and her writing, photography, and podcasting work has appeared in National Geographic, CNN Arabic, CBC Canada, and Forbes, amongst others. Now a full-time traveler, she has lived in Prague, Sofia, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
If you’re planning a tropical vacation to Tahiti and other French Polynesian islands like Moorea and Bora Bora, here’s a Tahiti packing list that will help!
Whether you plan to just relax and chill in an overwater bungalow on a Bora Bora or Moorea getaway, or have a more active trip filled with water activities like scuba diving and jet skiing all over Moorea and Tahiti, this guide will help!
For biosecurity reasons, there are strict limits on bringing in fresh fruit and food items into French Polynesia. You can read about them here.
I wouldn’t bring a lot of food from home — just enough to consume on the plane — or you risk having to throw it out at the airport when you arrive.
Another thing to consider is whether you are traveling only between Tahiti and Moorea, which only requires ferries, or if you are also traveling to other islands, such as Bora Bora.
If you fly to other islands, be aware that inter-island flights via Air Tahiti have stricter weight limits.
The planes are a lot smaller than the jets that bring international travelers to Tahiti… you’re hopping between tiny islands in the South Pacific, after all!
Don’t get hit with tons of excess baggage charges. Pack lightly to save a headache!
You’ll also want to leave a little room in your suitcase for bringing back Tahiti souvenirs!
Travel Documents & Preparation
Passport
French Polynesia is part of France, so if you typically need a visa for France, you may need one for the islands of French Polynesia.
Generally, if you don’t need a visa to enter the Schengen European zone, you won’t need one for French Polynesia, but I suggest you double check.
Also, make sure your passport has at least six months of validity — I’ve had too many close friends and family members have travel plans derailed or delayed due to forgetting to check on this!
Also, if you’re a European citizen, you’ll get to enjoy a zippy, expedited passport control line that moves a lot faster than the non-EU citizen line!
Driver’s License
Remember to bring your driver’s license for self-guided adventures in Tahiti!
We didn’t have a car rental in Moorea and we regretted it, but we loved having a car in Tahiti.
The one exception would be if you plan to strictly have a resort stay where you don’t leave the resort and all your activities are planned by the resort… but where’s the fun in that?
If you plan on renting a car while exploring Tahiti or other larger islands, you’ll need to bring your driver’s license.
As long as your driver’s license is in English or French, you should be good to go.
If your driver’s license is in another language, you will want to have an international driver’s permit just in case.
Credit Card + Debit Card
Be sure to bring at least one credit card (especially if renting a car) and a debit card for your trip to Tahiti.
And of course, be sure to notify your card companies that you’ll be traveling to avoid any hassle upon arrival!
You may also want to bring a backup debit card just in case you lose one.
You will need cash for a handful of things in French Polynesia, such as taking taxis, so to be without a debit card would be a real hassle.
PADI Card (If Diving)
If you’re a certified scuba diver, you’ll definitely want to bring your PADI card and log book.
Be sure to have dive insurance or travel insurance that covers diving as well. I used Safety Wing to cover me for my most recent trip.
They actually cover dive-related medical expenses so long as you’re certified, which is rare with travel insurance companies!
Travel Insurance
I used to always book my travel insurance through World Nomads but I’ve recently switched over to SafetyWing.
Not only is it dramatically cheaper while maintaining the same benefits, it also covers diving, so long as you are PADI certified (which you had to pay extra for with World Nomads).
Dive insurance can be expensive, so I thought it was great that SafetyWing includes dive coverage in their basic policy, the Nomad Insurance travel medical insurance coverage.
For my recent trip to French Polynesia, I paid just $18 for a 10-day trip — a great deal, especially considering the overall cost of my trip!
Their Nomad Insurance is both travel insurance (covering delays, interruptions, and cancellations) as well as travel medical insurance (covering illness including Covid-19, accidents, etc.), so you can rest easy on your trip.
Typically, most airlines will allow you to carry both carry-on bags and personal items.
We flew French Bee and they allowed one carry-on and one personal item.
However, remember that carry-on items — especially roller bags — risk potentially being checked if it is a full flight.
Always make sure the most essential things that you can’t risk losing are on the plane with you in your personal item!
Comfortable Clothing
Sitting chaotically, as us neurodivergent queers do best
I always make sure I wear comfortable clothing I can shift and move around in on flights.
You’ll spend a lot of time in these clothes, so make them comfortable!
My new go-to plane pants are my Patagonia Caliza climbing pants — they’re surprisingly comfortable and moveable, while still looking put-together enough for flying.
I also wear a T-shirt with a long-sleeve shirt on top of it so I can control my layers since airplane temperatures swing wildly.
Compression Socks
I wore compression socks for the first time on my recent trip to Tahiti and I am a convert — I’ll never go back to not wearing them on long-haul flights!
My feet weren’t swollen after an 8-hour overnight flight, and I felt a lot more energized in general when I landed.
It offered a lot more support than blow-up travel pillows, and it packs down smaller than a bead-filled travel pillow (which I have accidentally ripped open on a plane while trying to rip off the tag, sorry flight attendants…)
Contoured Eye Mask
I’m in love with contoured eye masks for sleeping on planes and in hotels where I’m not sure what the lighting situation is, since I need it to be very dark to sleep.
I love this contoured eye mask so much that when I looked it up to grab the link, Amazon reminded me that I’ve ordered it four times (because I keep misplacing it).
You may want to grab a spare because there’s nothing I hate more than losing an eye mask while I travel!
Pen
This is something I always forget when I’m traveling internationally in the digital age, but you’ll often have to fill out customs and entry forms with pens.
Since the pandemic many airlines are not distributing pens alongside the cards, so having a pen comes in handy!
Noise Canceling Headphones
I used to always just use my iPhone earbuds until I realized how noise-sensitive and how much ambient-seeming noise actually truly frays my nervous system.
Normally, noise-canceling headphones are rather bulky, but these have a really sleek and flat-laying profile which makes them far easier to pack and fit in your bag than other similar headphones.
I’ll never travel without them in the future!
Also, fellow noise-sensitive people, if you pair some Bose headphones with the ever-incredible (and dare I say, stylish?) Loops earplugs… it’s sensory heaven.
Unless you’re staying in a resort where you can count on unlimited beach towels to be provided for their hotel guests, it’s a good idea to bring a microfiber beach towel of your own.
Even then, I like having a microfiber beach towel with me that I can bring on dive boats, snorkeling trips, or even to lay underneath my beach towel.
Microfiber beach towels repel sand better than beach towels, which tend to soak up sand and track it everywhere.
Protect your skin, and the beautiful reefs of French Polynesia, with reef-safe sunscreen free of coral-killing chemicals while on your tropical island vacation!
My girlfriend and I brought different brands of reef-safe sunscreens with us so it was fun to be able to compare.
She brought this tinted Stream 2 Sea sunscreen. While it was only SPF 30, it covered so well and stayed so well that I felt it was better than the SPF 50 I brought.
I brought this Blue Lizard SPF 50 sunscreen, but I didn’t feel like it soaked in as well, and I did end up slightly burned after wearing it.
Between the two, I’d pick Stream 2 Sea! There are also non-tinted versions available, but I personally liked the tint as it helped disguised the zinc-y-ness of the mineral sunscreen.
Aloe Vera
No matter how diligent you are with your sun protection, a sunburn is always a possibility on sun-soaked islands like you’ll find in the South Pacific.
I sometimes remember to bring a little aloe vera from home so that I’m not forced to buy a large, overpriced bottle… but I forgot this time.
Luckily, I got burned at the end of my trip, and not too badly, so I didn’t need to buy a huge bottle to bathe myself in.
I used a beach bag as my ‘personal item’ and stuffed it full of things I’d need for my trip.
I bought this tan mesh beach bag and really liked it! The holes are not too loose that anything would fall out of them.
There is also a secure pocket that I kept things like keys and my phone that I wanted quick access to.
Dry Bag
Dry bags will absolutely come in handy on your Tahiti packing list!
If you’re traveling on boats, etc. you’ll want to have a dry bag with you to keep your key electronics and documents safe!
Sneaky swells and waves can have you caught off guard and you don’t want to end up with your passport wet, or an expensive mirrorless/DSLR camera covered in salt water!
Sea to Summit is the gold standard for dry bags — you can get a set of them, or just get the size you need.
GoPro (with Dive Accessories, if Needed)
A GoPro is an essential if you plan to dive or snorkel!
The new GoPro Hero 11 is the best they’ve put out yet — it has incredible image stabilization (very helpful when taking shaky snorkel/dive footage) and 5.3K video (basically, better than 4K).
Plus, the Hero 11’s image sensor is better than previous ones — you can zoom in, crop, change lenses, and adjust the aspect ratios, all things that were difficult or impossible to do on past GoPros.
Note that while the GoPro is waterproof, it’s only waterproof to 10 meters (and I’ve ruined a GoPro diving below that without a case… so yes, they do mean it).
If you plan to dive, you’ll need additional dive housing (and filters will also help you get the perfect color clarity). I suggest this dive housing set that includes four filters.
You’ll also want a GoPro grip that you can clip to your BCD, but that also can cinch around your wrist so that it won’t slip off while you are diving. I suggest this waterproof grip.
Snorkeling Gear
My mask, fin, and snorkel set!
Personally, I like to have my own mask and snorkel set when it comes to traveling to island destinations where I can snorkel.
I use it for shore snorkeling as well as when I dive, so I can use my own equipment that is perfectly fitted to me so that I don’t have a learning curve with new equipment.
Also, some beaches – like Temae Beach in Moorea (one of Moorea’s best attractions) – have incredible snorkeling but don’t have infrastructure where you can rent snorkeling gear at the site, so you’ll absolutely want to bring your own from home!
I recently invested in nicer snorkeling gear, since I also use it for diving and I want it to last a lifetime.
I have a TUSA mask that is specifically for scuba diving and I also have a TUSA snorkel that is a game-changer for snorkeling!
It has a the Hyperdry Elite Top, which is a dry top that quickly closes the gasket when it is submerged underwater.
Basically, the water pressure of going underwater closes the valve so that the water doesn’t flood into the snorkel.
Then, all you have to do is blow fairly lightly on the angled purge chamber in order to clear the snorkel!
It’s pretty amazing — I was shocked at how little water would get into my snorkel when I’d dive down to get a better look at coral while snorkeling.
That said, if you don’t snorkel or dive frequently, a cheaper set may suit you just fine, like this set.
I also have these IST Proline Fins, which were absolutely necessary for both diving and snorkeling.
Much of the snorkeling in Tahiti and Moorea involves enough of a swim that you’ll want fins for safety/energy conservation reasons.
My fins are so good that I was able to snorkel for 2 hours without getting tired… much to the chagrin of the shoulders I later burned.
Scuba Gear, if Needed
A dive computer is great to have for logging your dives and monitoring for safe depths and ascents!
Personally, I only brought my own mask, snorkel, and fins on this last trip.
However, some people like to bring their own equipment such as wet suit, BCD, etc. and just rent oxygen tanks while there.
If you like reading on the beach, I recommend bringing a good book from home!
You won’t have much luck finding English-language book titles here, so bring whatever you’ve been wanting to read from home.
If you tear through books, I suggest bringing a Kindle instead so you can reload new books as you go through them without having to worry about finding a bookstore.
Reusable Water Bottle
Bring your own reusable water bottle from home and you won’t waste as many plastic water bottles!
The tap water on many islands in French Polynesia is totally drinkable without any added treatment. The water on Tahiti, Moorea, and Bora Bora are all drinkable, for example.
You should bring at least two because they’ll get damp from covering you up, plus they’re lightweight and it’s fun to switch them up.
Plus, they’re very lightweight and easy to throw extras in your bag, and they’ll liven up and add accessories to your swimwear photos!
Rain Jacket
You’ll want to bring a light jacket that is waterproof, whether you are visiting Tahiti and its islands in the rainy season or the dry season.
Being a tropical island, heavy rains are always a possibility and you’ll want to be prepared!
We traveled in the wet season and were grateful for our rain gear: the Patagonia Torrentshell is a classic for a reason, and the underarm zippers for added breathability are perfect in hot climates.
Sun Hat
Tropical weather means lots of sun exposure, and a sun hat should be the first layer of protection for your face against the sun, followed by facial sunscreen.
Bring a large sun hat with a wide brim to protect your face from harsh rays. I brought this packable SPF sun hat that can be crushed without losing its shape.
Baseball Cap
In addition to a wide-brimmed sun hat, I was glad to have a baseball cap for active outdoor time!
This was good for time on the boat where a sun hat would have easily blown away, as well as for activities like kayaking.
I brought this white one that was leftover from my Halloween costume, but they have all colors!
Multiple Swimsuits
If you’re visiting tropical island paradises, what better excuse than to wear as many cute swimsuits as possible?
Swimsuits are great to wear under wetsuits if you plan to dive, but you may also want to bring some rash guards or other types of sun protection.
Underwear, Bras, and Socks
Since you’ll wear your swimsuit so much, you may need to pack less than you think!
Bring enough underwear for the number of days you’ll be in Tahiti, and a little extra unless you want to do laundry while you’re there.
I only needed a few bras since I didn’t wear them with many of my outfits — I was in a swimsuit and cover up many of the days!
Same with socks — I only needed two pairs because I rarely wore my sneakers and mostly wore sandals.
Flip Flops
You’ll want some rubber flip flops like Havaianas for your beach days exploring beaches of the islands of Tahiti, Moorea, etc.
Water Shoes
I brought some water shoes like my colorful Tevas that are cute enough to wear outside of the beach but also will allow me to wade in any shallow water that’s a bit rocky.
My girlfriend had really cute black Chacos and I was very envious of her sandals — they were understated and practical.
Sneakers
If you plan to hike or do any other active land activities, you’ll want a pair of sneakers.
I have a simple pair of black Nikes that I always bring on trips.
What to Wear in Tahiti (Men)
I won’t go into as much detail here because well, I don’t wear men’s clothes and I didn’t travel with a male partner!
I would imagine you’d want to bring the following:
5-7 casual, breathable shirts
2-3 pairs of shorts
1 pair of nice-ish pants for dinners out
1 nice dress shirt
sandals/water shoes
nicer shoes
sneakers and socks
underwear for the trip’s duration
Toiletries, Medicines & Other Essential Items
Five different kinds of sunscreen, a totally normal amount for a 10-day trip…
While you can find many toiletries in Tahiti at supermarkets like Super U, it’s best to have your own so you don’t have to spend your precious vacation time looking for them!
I suggest using GoToobs — these little bottles are made of silicone and are easy to squeeze your favorite toiletries into.
Here is a quick bullet point list of toiletries you may or may not want to bring, depending on what you use and what you expect your hotel or guesthouse to have:
Wipes are easier to keep in your bag without worrying about things getting uncapped/leaking… plus, you’ll always remember it when suddenly you find yourself being devoured!
After-Bite Care
You’ll inevitably end up with a few bites no matter what, so you might as well be prepared.
My girlfriend, who was a mosquito magnet on this trip, swears by the heat method and would only find relief by scalding herself with hot showers or placing hot spoons on her bites.
I’m getting her this anti-itch heat applicator for our next trip somewhere tropical so she’ll find relief a lot easier.
Dramamine or Anti-Motion Sickness Tablets
You’ll absolutely want Dramamine if you get motion sickness on boats!
I always bring Dramamine from home because often when I buy it abroad I can only find the super drowsy versions that knock me out.
If I bring it from home I can make sure I’m bringing something non-drowsy!
I take Dramamine about an hour before a boat ride that would normally make me nauseous and I’m so much better.
I take these ones because they are in pill/swallowable form. Note that the chewable forms of Dramamine have food dye in them, which are a migraine trigger for many.
Small First Aid Kit
Bring a small first aid kit from home with common medicines in it to supplement whatever isn’t in it.
I would suggest painkillers like ibuprofen or acetaminophen, stomach medication like Pepto Bismo in pill form as well as Imodium (anti-diarrheal), and any essential prescription medications from home.
Allison Green is a former teacher who has been travel blogging since 2016. She has a Masters in Teaching and a B.A. in English and Creative Writing. Her blog posts merge her background as an educator with her experience traveling to 70+ countries to encourage ethical, meaningful travel. She has been a speaker at the World Travel Writers Conference and her writing, photography, and podcasting work has appeared in National Geographic, CNN Arabic, CBC Canada, and Forbes, amongst others. Now a full-time traveler, she has lived in Prague, Sofia, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Pristine turquoise waters, drastic coral reef landscapes teeming with wildlife, towering waterfalls and dramatic black sand beaches…
The beautiful islands of Tahiti and Moorea seem like a dream reserved for a honeymoon, but honestly, it can be a trip like any other.
The idea was sparked by seeing affordable plane tickets out of SFO when I was tooling around on Skyscanner (how many of my grandest ideas start…)
When I sat down to look at the other factors I’d have to budget for a Tahiti vacation, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that a trip to Tahiti cost way less than I expected.
That’s not to say it’s cheap. It’s certainly no budget holiday in the way that Southeast Asian destinations like Thailand or Bali is, for example.
But for a bucket list destination, I was shocked at how affordably I could make Tahiti happen.
I don’t know why, but a trip to Tahiti always seemed inaccessible for many reasons.
Perhaps I though it’d be too impractical, too far away (just a few dots in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, after all), and most of all — too expensive.
Well, I’m prepared to eat crow: I was wrong.
Despite my initial expectations, my Tahiti trip cost was reasonable — at least when you compare it to what I expected, and when I compare Tahiti vacation costs to Hawaii vacation costs.
A Few Factors to Consider About Your Tahiti Trip Cost
Before we dive in, let me make a few disclaimers that impacted my overall Tahiti trip cost.
First, I traveled to Tahiti with my girlfriend, which helped me save money since we split accommodation and transportation costs (besides the plane tickets).
Second, while the islands of French Polynesia number over 100, we stuck to the only two islands that did not require additional flights (and additional costs): Tahiti and Moorea.
All flights into French Polynesia land on the island of Tahiti, and Moorea and its lush verdant landscapes is just a quick (and cheap) 25-minute ferry away.
However, if you add on round trip flights to other islands, such as Bora Bora and its resorts, you’ll quickly be spending a bunch more.
Third, we traveled in the shoulder season (November 2022), at the beginning of the rainy season and near the end of the humpback whale migration — which is a major reason why people visit Tahiti and Moorea.
This meant our Tahiti travel costs were lower and we got some of the best prices, but this may not be the most ideal time of year for some people.
If seeing humpbacks and having a lower chance of rain is more important to you than saving money or avoiding crowds, high season may be a better choice, despite the higher prices.
For us, our trip was diving-focused, which meant that low season was suitable for us since a little rain wouldn’t disrupt things.
Personally, the benefits outweighed the cons for me, and I’d plan to visit Tahiti in November in the future with no questions!
Anecdotally — and this won’t guarantee you’ll have the same experience — we didn’t really experience that much rain over our 10 days in Tahiti despite it being the beginning of the rainy season.
There were a few downpours, but they were usually brief enough that they didn’t disrupt plans, and they almost never occurred in the morning when our dives were scheduled.
That said, we did have a really rainy 4×4 safari tour in Moorea (though it was still one of our favorite things we did in Moorea, besides dive!), and we did have our planned helicopter tour in Tahiti canceled due to bad weather, so we didn’t have blissfully perfect weather either.
Another con is that mosquitos were definitely really active at the beginning of the rainy season, especially on Moorea, so keep that in mind if you plan a trip during this season.
Finally, and the most importantly, we are American and we traveled at an advantageous time for the US dollar compared to the Euro.
I also can’t help but compare the cost of Tahiti travel to the cost of Hawaii travel — and besides airfare and rental cars, Tahiti travel costs are approximately half that of Hawaii.
When I compare the two budgets, our dives and activities, meals, and accommodations were all about half that of what I paid in Kauai and Oahu on a recent trip.
One thing to keep in mind about traveling to Tahiti is that the currency of Tahiti, the CFP franc, is pegged to the Euro at a rate of 1 euro to 119.05 Polynesian francs.
Because the Euro and the dollar were roughly on parity, we saved quite a bit of money due to the favorable exchange rate.
If you are reading this after 2022, check what the exchange rates are, since they may differ quite a bit!
You may need to adjust based on what the current difference between the Euro and the US dollar are.
Historically, the Euro has been about 10-20% stronger than the USD, so you may need to add on an additional 10% or 20% to these estimated costs if you’re American and the Euro has strengthened back to its normal value.
In this article, I’ll include the cost in US dollars (as most of my audience is American) for the most part, since that’s what my record-keeping has noted down.
I’ll also include XPF (the symbol for the CFP franc) when I recall it, so you can calculate the most accurate cost for the current exchange rate.
Here are the main categories where you’ll need to budget for, with a range of expected costs in Tahiti and Moorea.
I didn’t include things like spa treatments/massages and souvenirs from Tahiti, etc. as these are personal and optional expenses and not inherently necessary to a trip to Tahiti.
Cost of Getting to Tahiti
This will vary depending on where you are coming from, of course!
One of the main reasons why we chose to travel to Tahiti was the relatively affordable plane tickets out of San Francisco International Airport (SFO).
All international flights fly into Faa’a International Airport, which is near Papeete on the island of Tahiti.
Two airlines serve the SFO-PPT route, United Airlines and French Bee. We opted for the latter and really enjoyed the flight experience.
Note to Americans who have not traveled much in Europe: French Bee is styled after European budget airlines.
Therefore, things like baggage, meals, beverages, seat selection, etc. are not included in the airfare price.
However, all those fees were reasonable (35 euro for a bag check, 15 euro for a meal, 5-10 euro for seat selection, 3 euro for a beverage, free water), but they did add up a bit.
All in all, for my roundtrip flight to Tahiti in November I paid approximately $590 USD (including seat selection, but no meals — we brought our own).
This isn’t an atypical price or a shocking flight deal, either!
I typically see plentiful return flights from SFO-PPT in the $550-650 range in the off season…. sometimes even cheaper!
The two busiest months in high season tend to be July and August, and even then, I can see flights starting at $750 USD return when I look about 6 months in advance.
Not bad for an 8-hour direct flight to remote islands in the middle of the South Pacific!
Who knew these waters were this accessible?
Other West Coast American cities also have direct flights to Tahiti.
Air France flies direct from Los Angeles for around $600 USD return in the off season and about $1,000 USD in the peak summer months (you could always save by flying to SFO first).
If you’re flying from New Zealand, prices start around $941 NZD for return flights at present (in the lower season).
If you’re flying from Australia, prices start around $1,353 AUD for return flights (with a stopover in New Zealand, also in the lower season).
If you’re flying from Europe, it’s best to first fly to Paris. Flights to Tahiti from Paris via French Bee start around 1,000 Euro return.
Total Cost: $590 USD for a return flight
Accommodation Costs in Tahiti & Moorea
Accommodations in Tahiti are where you will find the widest range.
This is where you can really save money, or alternatively, ball out for a special occasion!
For our 10-day trip to Tahiti and Moorea, we opted to stay in local guesthouses for 8 nights, since we had a really active trip and weren’t going to be in our accommodation that much.
At the end of our trip, we splurged on spending our final two nights in Tahiti at the Intercontinental (though not in an overwater bungalow — we’re not that flush!).
Guesthouses in Tahiti and Moorea typically range from $80-150 USD per night.
We stayed at guesthouses on the higher end of the spectrum, prioritizing location and comfort above all.
Still, staying at guesthouses (fares in Tahitian language) is rather affordable. We spent an average of $125-150 per night for one of the nicer rooms in a guesthouse.
For budget travelers, note that there aren’t a lot of hostels in French Polynesia, though Tahiti has two and Moorea has one.
There is one in Papeete (Mahana Lodge Hostel) and it costs about $65 USD a night for a dorm bed, and another in Tahiti Iti (Kia Ora Lodge) for around $50 USD a night for a dorm room.
For Moorea, there’s one hostel I could find, PainaPaopao Backpacker in Pihaena, for similar prices (about $50 per night for a bunk).
Meanwhile, there are plentiful guesthouses where you can enjoy a private room (not a backpacker dorm) for around $70-100 USD a night in low season, such as Pension Te Miti in Punaauia or Hautea Bungalow in Faa’a.
For me, even as a former backpacker, guesthouses offer a way better value. However, if you are looking for travel companions to explore the islands with, hostels may be a better choice.
That said, in our guesthouse in Tahiti, we found several solo travelers.
If you’re willing to up your budget to the $125-200 USD a night range, there are some great mid-range guesthouses that are perfect for friends or couples.
I loved Fare Rearea in Papeete — the location was so central that we could walk to many places we wanted to eat at, parking at the guesthouse was easy when we needed it.
The lush garden and pool and kitchen area were great to relax in, and our private studio room was incredible, with our own private terrace with an outdoor kitchen and garden.
Plus, the included daily breakfast was fantastic, with tasty jams, yogurts, local honeys, and fresh pastries as well as heartier options like pain perdu (French toast) and omelettes.
Another great looking option is Bungalow Poerava in Punaauia if you prefer to stay somewhere outside of the capital city.
If you prefer a mid-range chain hotel experience, the Hilton Hotel in downtown Papeete offers a nice value without breaking the bank.
Of course, Tahiti has plenty of beach resorts and luxury hotels as well!
While we opted to stay in guesthouses for most of our stay, we did want a little taste of the resort experience and chose to stay in the Intercontinental Tahiti in Faa’a.
We opted for an ocean view hotel room with a view of Moorea and it was rather affordable (compared to similar destinations like Hawaii) at around $360 USD per night.
Rooms start at about $330 USD per night in the off season, but we chose to upgrade to a slightly nicer room with a better view of Moorea.
The overwater bungalows at the Intercontinental start at $800 USD per night, and that’s in low season!
In high season, you’ll be looking more along the lines of $1,200 USD per night.
Tip: At the Intercontinental, there are two overwater bungalow options, the Ocean View bungalows and the Motu Suites. The Motu Suites are a little more expensive, but if you like snorkeling, they’re the better choice as the reef is right in front of you!
We didn’t stay in the bungalows, but we snorkeled in front of them and it was absolutely amazing….. we’re talking day octopus, giant moray eels, sea anemones with clownfish, and an incalculable number of beautiful reef fish!
There are other beach resort options on the main island of Tahiti, but they do not have overwater bungalows.
Another popular beach resort option is Le Tahiti by Pearl Resorts. It may not have its own bungalows, but it does have its own black sand beach right below it!
Personally, for Moorea, we opted for the mid-range guesthouse route again, staying at Poerani Moorea.
The grounds and location were perfect — a dreamy turquoise lagoon right in front of your accommodation can’t get much better!
Plus, I loved the lush gardens that surrounded all the bungalows and made them all feel very private.
The staff was extremely friendly, although there was a bit of a language barrier if you don’t speak French (I do — poorly).
Poerani was only a 10-minute walk from town, but it felt very private and secluded while still very accessible, especially since we didn’t have a car on Moorea.
We loved the beautiful communal garden area and the free kayaks that we could use to explore the beautiful waters in front of us — we could even snorkel off of the kayaks!
We loved our accommodation — it was well-designed and spacious, with a beautiful bathroom, a well-stocked kitchenette, a private lounge area in the garden, and a lovely bedroom.
However, you should note that only the bedroom is sealed off and air-conditioned, which meant that mosquitos were able to get into our living room and bathroom area.
For me, that wasn’t a huge deal because I am not very reactive to mosquito bites, but my girlfriend really struggled with bites, some of which we got inside the accommodation!
However, if you prefer beach resorts, Moorea is truly the place to go — and it has better offerings than Tahiti, at least according to me!
(Note: The Intercontinental in Moorea is now permanently closed).
We visited two of the beach resorts (Manava and Sofitel, but not the Hilton) with overwater bungalows not as hotel guests but as visitors, and can speak highly about the grounds themselves!
The Sofitel in Maharepa is near both the airport and the ferry terminal, but even better, it is located right near the best shore-accessible snorkeling in all of Moorea, with its own sand beaches and near a public sandy beach as well.
The Sofitel beach bungalows start around $550 USD a night in the low season and its overwater bungalows go for around $800 USD a night in the low season.
In the high season, beach bungalows are around $700 USD a night and the overwater bungalows go for $1,100 and more!
Another option for overwater bungalows on Moorea is the Manava Beach Resort, which is located in the center of Maharepa.
In the low season, the garden view hotel rooms start at $490 a night, beach bungalows with a private pool around $550 a night, and overwater bungalows go for around $900 a night and up.
In the high season, regular hotel rooms are around $650 a night, pool bungalows are around $750 a night, and overwater bungalows are approximately $1,100 a night and up.
When it came to choosing between guesthouses and Airbnbs, guesthouses were the clear winner. Resorts were also quite affordable, comparatively speaking.
We looked into Airbnbs as well, but we found that with cleaning fees, there was no real benefit to staying in an Airbnb vs. a guesthouse.
In fact, Airbnbs were almost always more expensive after service and cleaning fees.
Total Cost: Approximately $80 per night in guesthouses and $180 per night in resorts, about $1,000 total over 10 nights ($100 per night average)
(Note that this is cost per person, not per room, and I'm calculating this as costs being split between two people sharing a room)
Air Travel Costs in French Polynesia
Island hopping is where costs can really start to balloon in French Polynesia, because inter-island flights tend to be rather pricy.
For example, a return flight between Tahiti and Bora Bora costs 42,306 XPF (or around $368 USD — and that’s with a favorable exchange rate!)
It actually starts to become a better idea to just book a multi-island flight pass with Air Tahiti. These actually offer incredible value!
The cheapest option is the Discovery Pass, which does not include Bora Bora. It starts at 331.80 Euro in the low season and goes up to 357 Euro in the high season ($342-370 USD at present exchange rate).
This pass includes Moorea, Huahine, and Raiatea (from which you can access Taha’a by boat).
The pass that will be interesting for people who want to travel to Bora Bora is, well, the Bora Bora pass!
It starts at 434.90 Euro in the low season, and goes up to 469.30 Euro in the high season ($450-485 USD at present exchange rate).
This pass includes all the above, but also includes the islands of Bora Bora and Maupiti, all the major islands in the Society Islands archipelago.
If you plan to dive some of the best places in French Polynesia, you’ll want the Lagoons pass.
This will bring you to Rangiroa, Fakarava, and Tikehau, which are considered to have some of the best coral reefs for scuba diving in the world!
This pass costs 441.20 Euro in the low season and 476.40 Euro in the high season, or $455-492 USD.
If you want to combine the Bora Bora pass and the Lagoons pass, it’s a pretty good value compared to buying them individually.
For everything all together, the cost is 584.10 Euro in the low season or 631.90 Euro in the high season (around $605-655 USD).
The more islands you plan to visit, the better this deal becomes!
We were looking to save time and money on this trip, so we opted not to take any inter-island flights, but we plan to buy the Lagoons pass or perhaps the Bora-Tuamotu Pass which includes all of the above on our next trip.
If you want to visit even more remote islands, like the Marquesas, be prepared to add on nearly 800 Euros even in low season!
Food was a delightful surprise in Tahiti and Moorea! As someone coming from the United States, I found the food prices to be rather affordable.
Even dining at the nicest restaurants was comparable to going out to a mid-range meal in San Francisco or Oakland.
We ate at a few food trucks in both Tahiti and Moorea and were delighted by the quality of the food — and the prices! Average prices for a food truck meal were around $10-15 per main dish.
The priciest meal we had added up to $110 USD including tax and tip — this was for two people, with a starter, two main courses, sides, a glass of wine, and a dessert!
Most meals, however, were around $30-60 USD for two (typically ordering a main dish each and sharing a dessert or starter, without alcohol).
Wine lovers, rejoice — because Tahiti is a territory of French and popular amongst French tourists, wine is rather affordable on the islands of Tahiti!
We found that the average price of a glass of wine was typically around 600-1,200 XPF at a nice restaurant (around $5-10 USD).
Also, supermarkets in Tahiti and Moorea are rather good, as they have major French chains like my favorite supermarket in the world, Super U.
I found grocery prices to be on par with American grocery chains, and the products were far higher quality… think duck terrine for less than $10 USD, baguettes for less than a buck, and aged cheeses for around $8 USD for a huge slice.
Plus, all the fresh, fresh tuna you can imagine for shockingly cheap prices.
Although our guesthouses did have kitchenettes, we found that food in Tahiti and Moorea to be so affordable and delicious that we didn’t end up cooking for ourselves.
However, we did grab a variety of cold cuts for picnics and sandwiches on travel days, as well as plenty of sweets to snack on, and we were really happy with the average cost of food in the supermarkets.
You can also shop with local farmers and vendors selling produce street-side in Tahiti and Moorea, or go to Papeete Market for all the fresh produce you can imagine for extremely affordable prices.
Total Cost: Average spend of $50 per person per day, or $500 total.
Activity Costs in Tahiti & Moorea
This is another place where you can really choose to splurge or save!
Since we chose to save on accommodations and not flying between islands, we spent more money on activities since there are so many great things to do in Tahiti and Moorea.
It was fantastic: we got to enjoy a private sailboat catamaran experience where we snorkeled with rays and black-tipped reef sharks at one site!
At our next site, we got to snorkel around beautiful coral reefs and colorful fish between two tiny islands (motus), with a fresh fruit tray and fruit juices served in between snorkel sites.
Another activity we chose was taking 4×4 safari tour of the islandto bring us to landscapes like the Magic Mountain overlook, the Belvedere overlook, and the Rotui fruit juice fields (Moorea is famous for its pineapples!).
This was especially helpful since we didn’t have a car, and even if we did have a rental car, we went to places that a rental car wouldn’t have been able to handle (the Magic Mountain overlook and the fields around Rotui need a 4×4!)
If you just want to dive one day, you can book a two-tank dive for $130.
If you’re an avid diver, you can buy a pack of 6 dives (3 days of morning two-tank dives) for $378 USD or 10 dives (5 days of two-tank dives) for $575!
We did a handful of free activities as well, such as snorkeling at Temae Public Beach near the Sofitel Resort, and kayaking from our guesthouse and snorkeling off the side of the kayak.
For our Tahiti itinerary, we had planned to splurge on a helicopter tour of the island, but this was during the two days of rain we had, and unfortunately, the weather canceled our tour.
Instead, we ended up driving around the island and exploring many of its free sites, such as its black sand beaches, grottoes, water gardens, and waterfalls.
In fact, I don’t think we spent a single dollar on entry fees anywhere in Tahiti — our only cost was our car rental and gas.
In Tahiti, we also dove, but we booked our dives a-la-carte rather than with a package, for around $131 for a two-tank dive.
Total Cost: Around $65 per dive, $45 for a safari tour, and $80 for a half-day snorkeling and sailing tour.
Estimated cost for our chosen activities per person: $645 total for 4 days of two-tank diving and two tours
Getting Around Tahiti & Moorea
Renting a Car
We rented a car on Tahiti and were very happy that we did. It was a little pricy, partly because we needed a more expensive automatic car, but it was only around $115 USD per day.
We made a mistake in not booking a rental car for at least a portion of our trip to Moorea. Many of the activities we booked did not include pick up or drop off, and so we’d have to spend money on taxis to get to our activities.
Taxis on Moorea (and Tahiti as well – the costs are the same) are not too expensive, but it did add up and made us feel a bit trapped at times, and we didn’t get to see as much of the island as we wanted to.
Each 10 to 15-minute taxi ride was about 2,000-2,500 XPF ($17-22 USD), so we had to add on about $40 USD to every excursion we did, even free ones like snorkeling at Temae Beach.
Total Cost for Taxis: About 10 taxis at $20 average, $100 per person
Ferry
Getting between Tahiti and Moorea couldn’t be easier! Head to the ‘gare maritime’ — ferry terminal — and take one of two ferry companies over to Moorea.
We took both companies — Terevau to Moorea, and then Aremiti on the way back. Both were equally good! Terevau is a smaller company than Aremiti, it seems. Aremiti is the major car ferry.
However, if you want to drive in Moorea, I recommend not using the car ferry, because the cost to transport a vehicle is rather expensive, about $95 USD each way for a medium sized car’s transit.
We paid about $15 USD apiece for a passenger fare (no car) each way between Tahiti and Moorea.
I would suggest making separate rental reservations in both Moorea and Tahiti — it’ll save you about $200 USD.
Total Cost: $30 USD for roundtrip tickets between Tahiti and Moorea
Travel Insurance for Tahiti
Put yourself at ease — get travel insurance for your trip! I use SafetyWing.
Don’t forget to factor in travel insurance to your overall Tahiti trip budget!
I bought a 10-day policy with SafetyWing which covered me in case of any flight cancellation or interruptions, issues with my baggage, accidents, or illnesses.
I chose SafetyWing in particular for their great reputation among travel experts, but also because it’s very affordable compared to its competitors, and it is clearer about what it covers.
Best of all, SafetyWing covers scuba diving related incidents as long as you are PADI or SSI certified, so I didn’t need to buy a separate dive insurance policy.
For 10 days of coverage, I paid just $18 USD with their Nomad Insurance coverage — a great deal for the excellent coverage and the priceless peace of mind.
Allison Green is a former teacher who has been travel blogging since 2016. She has a Masters in Teaching and a B.A. in English and Creative Writing. Her blog posts merge her background as an educator with her experience traveling to 70+ countries to encourage ethical, meaningful travel. She has been a speaker at the World Travel Writers Conference and her writing, photography, and podcasting work has appeared in National Geographic, CNN Arabic, CBC Canada, and Forbes, amongst others. Now a full-time traveler, she has lived in Prague, Sofia, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
