Mo’orea
Mo’o (lizard) rea (yellow), the yellow lizard legend.
One of my favorite islands in French Polynesia, this island has a perfect balance of both ocean and land activities. The water is clean, clear, shallow, and tons of healthy corals and marine life. The fringing reef helps keep the swimmer safe (no waves or strong currents). In fact, if you have kids in your group, you won’t have to worry at all.
Tours
Best lagoon and snorkeling tour company in Mo’orea is Miti Tours, especially if you love small groups (up to 12 people) and want to avoid crowds. Now if you absolutely love crowds, have a large family/friend group, or want to experience being in a huge group (30 or more people), then you would go with Albert tours.
Car rental
There are a lot more manual transmission rental cars available vs. automatic ones, so if you must have automatic, book in advance, especially if you plan to visit during peak seasons.
Road/Highway
It has one main road and driving through the entire island takes only an hour. There are so many rode stops where you could easily pick some fruits, or buy fresh local caught fish ($10 for more than 6 lbs of fish!) and pineapple bundles (6 for $6, a steal!). Pineapples here are ALWAYS very sweet, similar to the white pineapples in Hawaii (but the white pineapples in HI will cost you about $15 for just one).
What hotels & resorts don’t tell you before booking a place to stay (This applies for any island):
One major thing to look out for and ask your travel agent are where the cruise ships stay. Why? Because even if cruise ships are 100 meters away or more from land, they create noise pollution that can reach you if you stay in an overwater bungalow, or anywhere along the coast that has some part of the home on the ocean. What I mean by “noise pollution” are vibrations plus muffled motor-engine sounds. If you bring very good ear-plugs, then this may not be too much of a problem. But if you don’t have great earplugs, you may not have a good nights sleep.
Delicious eats
Here is a list of food places I would definitely return to:
Manuia Grill
Kaylakea Moz Food (directly across from Manuia Grill)
Best pizza: Allo Pizza
Rudy’s
Best poisson cru: Snack Didier
Coco D’isle
Best deserts: Caraméline
Romance
Perfect for honeymoons, engagements, vow renewals, weddings, and other surprises!
