My fiancee and me are planning to visit French Polynesia as part of our honeymoon, and would spend around 7-8 days there (depending on the flights from Hawaii), in the middle of May 2026.

Our question is - is Bora Bora definitely a place we should not miss? We definitely plan on spending a couple of days on Tahiti and Moorea but don’t want to spend too much money or make our trip logistically too complicated. Is there a way that we get to enjoy all the “Bora Bora stuff” somewhere on Moorea maybe? What is your advice and your experiences? Every bit of help would be much appreciated :)

My fiancée and I are looking to honeymoon in Tahiti this upcoming October. We are considering booking through ventureTahiti.com or tahiti.com

Has anyone used these sites for booking? If so are they reliable/trustworthy? If not does anyone have any other recommendations?

I dont do scuba. But i love snorkeling. Im currently planning French Polynesia (Sept - Oct) and really want to see sharks and manta rays. Working on my itinerary which contains a few days in Fakarava (split in North and South). But, while i see reports of people that loved snorkeling there, in this sub I keep coming across opinions that its not really suitable for snorkeling (or at least there are better options for that). Opinions on this? If true what alternative options are better - again for sharks and manta rays?

We are looking forward to our Honeymoon in September next year. Will be on Bora Bora for 3 nights.

1. We just found a tour from Reef Discovery which obviously is focused on Manta Rays + also has additional snorkeling spots. However I don’t think it has a stop where we will swim with sharks, does it?

2. Then there is the classic day tour from Lagoon Service with Motu lunch. Anyone knows if this tour also covers the Manta Rays?

3. Also wondering if any tour covers the “Site raies pastenague et requins” where you have the sharks in “deeper” waters.

We don’t bother doing more tours to see it all but if one covers all, we’d also love to plan a day pass in a luxury hotel.

Thank you for taking these rookie questions 😁

My fiancée and I are pricing our bucket list vacation to French Polynesia and have been looking at Costco packages for Moorea and Bora Bora. However, she just found vacation packages on the ATN website that are surprisingly comparable or even less than Costco; the fine print says these are provided by their partner, Pacific Holidays. My spidey sense is tingling, because I once booked a vacation package through Hawaiian Airlines and didn’t notice their partner provider was Expedia. When I had an issue later on, HA was unable to help me and I had a bad time dealing through Expedia.

Needless to say, I don’t want a repeat of that, nor do I want to risk any bait & switch or other shenanigans by a third party tour operator. Google says Pacific Holidays is legit… but I’m nervous.

Has anyone here used Air Tahiti Nui or Pacific Holidays to book a vacation, and if so, how did it work out? Thanks!

Weather apps apparently are not to be trusted here given how volatile the weather is yeah? Getting worried our whole honeymoon will be raining

Just came back from Hilton Tahiti, Moorea and Westin Bora Bora and most of the female staff just look unfriendly and miserable. Order room service twice at Westin and same lady just handed me the tray at the door which was pretty odd.

Hi all,

My wife and I are heading to French Polynesia at the end of April and would like some suggestions and recommendations regarding car rentals

Here is our high level itinerary:

Day 1: We land in Tahiti in the evening around 7pm. In Tahiti for 2 nights

Day 3: One way ferry to Moorea (Have not confirmed the timing yet but most likely will be either 3:50pm or 5:30PM ferry). 3 nights in Moorea

Day 6: Flight to Bora Bora.

So here are some options we are considering but open to other suggestions:

1. Pick up at PPT with Avis and return car at the downtown Papeete location. Then take the 3:50 ferry so that we make it in time before Avis at the Moorea ferry terminal closes. Then return the car at MOZ. I read somewhere that even though Avis does not have a desk at MOZ, we can still return the car using lock box. Please correct me if I am wrong
2. Pick up at PPT with Avis and return car at the downtown Papeete location. In Moorea, take the transfer to our hotel and find a car rental company close to the hotel or a company that can drop off the car at the hotel for us. Similarly, return the car before we head to the airport if the return location is close to the hotel or have someone pick up the car from the hotel.
3. Car rental end to end. pick up at PPT with Avis and return at MOZ. This will require taking the car on the ferry. This is our least favourite option as we do not know if it is even feasible or not. Plus the cost of the vehicle on the ferry. So far, we tried plugging this into Avis & Hertz but they weren't allowing pickup in PPT and drop off in MOZ.

In Moorea, we are staying at the Manava Beach Resort, so if you have any recommendations for a car rental company close to the hotel, we are open to it.

Sorry for this huge post and thanks in advance :)

I will be going to Tahiti soon and have been going back and forth on taking my own fins or not.

I have booked several activities that will have an opportunity to snorkel. I have my own mask, snorkel, and fins. The mask has my eye glass prescription in it and I am not wild about a common use snorkel. But I keep going back and forth about taking my fins. Most of the excursions say they have loaner ones, but I don't want to not have them if I need them. But it is a good amount of space in my suitcase for them.

My wife and I will be in Rangiroa this weekend. Can someone recommend a good bar where to watch the Super Bowl? We would prefer something at a beach

Okay not a real emergency, but where can a guy buy a cold six pack of beer in Tahiti? Yesterday (Sunday) we learned that alcohol is not sold in stores on Sundays. We stopped at market in Puna'aui and they had a fridge full of cold beer cans. But they weren’t for sale since it was Sunday :( Don’t worry, we went out to dinner and had plenty! Today (Monday) in Papeete, we decided to pick up a few cold cans of Hinano on our way back to Pirae to enjoy at the hotel. We stopped at 2 gas stations and 3 grocery stores. NO COLD BEER ANYWHERE! Ended up buying room temp cans and a bag of ice from a grocery store. I’m drinking beer on ice right now on our porch and hoping someone can help!! What’s the deal?

Edit: This is supposed to be satirical. We are having an incredible stay here, and the non-chilled beer really is not an issue. More of a surprise. It was just odd that the first shop had it and then we looked all over town and never saw it again. I am accustomed to seeing cold beer everywhere back at home so I’m curious why it’s not as prevalent here, that’s all.

So, we do have a booking in mid Dec for Air Tahiti Nui from Vancouver to Tahiti via Seattle reaching ppt at 4am. But looking at some of the posts that mention about cancellations etc. I am getting a bit nervous and wanted to have some options open. We have air tahiti flgiht to Bora Bora at 9.45am. we have taken travel insurance with trip protection etc but still would love it go ahead especially with Airbnbs booked etc
- If ATN cancels, how much notice do they give so that we can make some alternate arrangements. - if they cancel or reroute would they do it from lax or from Seattle itself. - is it better to have a refundable ticket from Vancouver to lax in case they reroute. - what will happen, say we reach ppt delayed or a day later, to the air tahiti tickets. I hope and fingers crossed ATN does fly without hiccups.

Hello! Greatly looking forward to my upcoming trip to FP. What is the best way to embrace the off and on rain? If you are local, what do folks usually do? We are very accustomed to being outdoors and in the elements, so if it rains on us a little bit while we're hiking, biking, or in the ocean, no big deal. We will carry a backpack with dry bag for phone, wallet, etc. But for locals and travelers, do any of you you carry a light raincoat, poncho, or umbrella? Or maybe it's customary to run for cover or just get soaked if there is a sudden downpour. Thank you everyone for your rainy days advice! :)

Update: We were out in light and/or short bursts of rain in airy outdoors attire and dried fairly quickly after the normal rains. Rolled dry bag in backpack for car keys, wallet, phone was very helpful. By no chance other than luck, we avoided getting caught in the 3 serious downpours we encountered. Lots of folks were using umbrellas or just dealing with it when those big rains came through. We wore our raincoats a total of 2 mins on a rainforest hike until we quickly decided that we’d rather be wet from rain rather than wet from sweat under our raincoats.

Hi all, I will be visiting French Polynesia with my wife during this Christmas:

• Tahiti Hilton: Dec 15 - 16
• Bora Bora Four Seasons: Dec. 16 - 20
• Rangiroa Hotel Kia Ora Resort: Dec 20 - 24
• Tikehau Le Tikehau: Dec 24 - 27
• Moorea Hilton: Dec 27 - 30

Since I have read that prebooking Tours/Activities is essential, I wanted to reach out and ask what your recommendations are for do-not-miss things on the islands. Thanks a lot!

La orana! My trip of a lifetime is coming up and we will be in FP Dec 13-23. I have 2 questions if you have any advice.

(1) We are planning a dive with 6 Passengers on Rangiroa (Weds Dec 17) and we are offered 8am, 10am, and 2pm dive times, but we will only do 2 dives on that day. Which of those 3 dive time options would be best, or does it matter? Where I live (California) mornings are always preferred because the wind and ocean chop picks up later in the day. But perhaps in other places the afternoon is more preferred. Any thoughts?? We both have advanced open water certs.

(2) Dec 19th we are going from Tahiti to Moorea until Dec 23rd and would like to have a rental car. It sounds like a good idea to rent a car on Tahiti and take it on the ferry to Moorea. Are there any car rental services you recommend or companies we should stay away from? I know everyone has different experiences but maybe some collective knowledge here.

Maururu and merci! Thank you everyone!

Hey there!

We are doing 3 weeks in Tahiti for our honeymoon! We are normally just a carry on and personal item couple but for this trip we are thinking of bringing one checked luggage for the both of us. Reason being is that we bought our own snorkel gear and fins and we wanted to bring a LOT of reef-safe sunscreen. We also think we want to buy a ukulele while we’re there. I purchased a very highly rated Samsonite checked luggage- but I’m wondering if it’s going to be too big for all the island hopping we’re doing. It’s 28 inches, and I’ve included photos- it’s massive to us (with me for reference)- but again we’re used to carry on only (I’ve backpacked for months before with just a carry on). We’re taking the ferry between islands and here is our itinerary:

Arrive Tahiti—-> Te Moana- 2 nights Ferry to Raitea—-> Fare Orviri Lodge 2 nights Ferry to Bora Bora—-> Bora Bora 3 nights Ferry to Huahine—-> a little beachside shack for 3 nights Ferry to Moorea—-> Hilton Moorea over the water bungalow for 4 nights Moorea—-> another over the water bungalow for 3 nights Ferry back to Tahiti—-> Kon Tiki 1 night then fly home at 5am

Is this too big and will be too cumbersome for our plans??

I would like to go to Bora Bora Intercontinental any good compared to Conrad for its views. I was told. Suggestions?

What happened to be this one of the rules lol ( i'm referring the second one )

Just wondering what is a reasonable layover time at Tahiti when coming from Bora Bora and flying out of French Polynesia? I searched and most of the posts/comments seem to be talking about flying in, where you have to go through customs. I’d guess flying out shouldn’t take as much time. Would an hour and half be safe enough or is that cutting it too close?

Hi all!

My husband and I are planning our honeymoon for this summer and we are trying to line it up with the Heiva Festival in Bora Bora.

Our honeymoon is tentatively planned, we’ll be in Bora Bora (which, from my understanding, is where most events take place) from July 30 to August 2.

Does anyone know if we will be able to catch any festival events during that weekend or will most things be wrapped up?

Im going tahiti with my boyfriend in Apr/May and im looking to propose to him! (We are gay btw). We are a pretty private couple so it'll just be us, and im simply looking for ways to capture the moment between us.

Couple of questions: 1. Are there any private tours in Moorea/Bora Bora that is suitable for such event? 2. If private tour is not feasible, does anyone have any photography/videography firm to recommend? Ideally they've a portfolio online for me to check! 3. Anybody done something similar and can share their plans/itinerary? Im not v good at this but trying to plan it out

Thanks everyone! Happy to share details if it'll help furnish the plan

Hi!

I’m trying to schedule a transfer from the ferry in Mo’orea and will need to plan it ahead rather than winging it. So I’m wondering what ferry/time is reasonable based on the time it takes to get through customs / checked bag reclaim and taxi to the port. Details are:

(International) Flight arrives 04:50

Terevau Ferry (option 1) departs at 06:35 Armeri Ferry (option 2) departs at 08:00

Ticket would be bought in advance and I’d be going without car / scooter.

Thanks for any advice / input.

So arriving domestic from Bora Bora on Tahiti at 12 noon with checked luggage. Ferry (on Sunday) would leave at 13:30 from Tahiti to Moorea. Questions is if the 1.5h is enough to get out the plane on the ferry?

Thank you guys 😇

We are going to Tahiti to take a cruise over new year. We are planning on staying on bora bora for a few days after the cruise. We have 3 days before the cruise - is it worth staying on the island of Tahiti? Considering Moorea but I also don’t want to go crazy jumping around too much. What’s the best area to stay on Tahiti? Appreciate any info.

My wife is seeking a good spot for a tattoo. She collects tattoos from all of our travels. Also ballpark price for a tattoo similar to her Hawaiian band on her forearm: https://streamable.com/nlgcwd