
#WhenIn Bora Bora (& Moorea & Tahiti)
French Polynesia, especially Bora Bora, provides for some of the most breathtaking and picturesque wallpaper material I have ever seen. For those dreaming about it, it is far more amazing than it’s cracked up to be (especially when done right)…
Where to stay:
InterContinental Le Moana Bora Bora is the epitome of fabulous accommodations with exceptional service. Before arriving, I had requested a very specific overwater bungalow (I had, of course, tracked down their layout online and hypothesized which bungalow would have the best placement), and they had that specific one ready. Each morning, they serve amazingly good and fresh breakfasts (they even send their staff out in a canoe to set up breakfast on your private patio). The reefs right outside the bungalow (and the little one right below the coffee table) are gorgeous and full of fish and rays, and the view from the private patio is of course incredibly beautiful. The bungalow itself is extremely comfortable, and if you need anything at all (afternoon tea, coffee, an extra towel), you just call, and the staff will jump on their bikes and bring it out to you.




InterContinental Moorea is a very nice (slightly bigger) property with great service, lush garden bungalows with private pools, and a beautiful view from the main pool with a bar you can swim to.



Intercontinental Tahiti (you’re sensing a theme here…) is a very comfortable (but even bigger) resort with great service and gorgeous views, especially from their infinity pool.


How to get around:
By water, whether with boat, jet ski, or canoe. Even tractors do it…

Where to eat:
Breakfast:
Fresh, delicious, and brought to your private overwater patio by Tahitians with fragrant flower leis singing in a canoe… why, doesn’t everyone do breakfast like this?…


Lunch:
Roulotte Matira across from InterContinental Le Moana in Bora Bora is a tiny little local place that makes really fresh and delicious poisson cru (as well as chicken and steak dishes, but go with the poisson cru). The “kitchen” is basically a small shack, and you really wonder how the good food miraculously come out of there.
Snack Mahana in Moorea is a local restaurant that servers very good poisson cru as well as many other fresh fish, chicken, and steak dishes. It is very low key and wonderfully local.
Dinner:
Bloody Mary’s in Bora Bora is considered the official go-to restaurant in Bora Bora and is a bit more fancy than the local lunch places. Their main ingredients are all placed on a large table in the front, and you go up there to choose what you want prepared for dinner, and it all tastes great.


What to eat:
Poisson cru, poisson cru, poisson cru! It is amazing how simple and delicious this French Polynesian signature dish is. Raw and tender white tuna “seared” in the acid from lime juice and then tossed with chopped cucumbers, tomatoes, and freshly-squeezed coconut milk (literally freshly-grated coconut that gets squeezed inside a thin cloth until the milk is drained through the cloth). It is insanely good!

What to do:
Catamaran trips are really awesome if you want to spend the day snorkeling in wondrous reefs and gorge on fresh local foods, prepared right in front of you with seemingly no utensils (seriously, how do they do that?). The catamaran day trip in Moorea (arranged by InterContinental Moorea) is very good, and you even get to learn how to make your own poisson cru (from cutting the fish and vegetables to finding the right coconut on the ground, opening it, and extracting the milk, etc.), and Teremoana Day Tour leaves from Chez Nono in Matira and is really fantastic and takes you out to some pretty amazing snorkeling sites (oh and serves you delicious food).


Go snorkeling with fish, sharks, sting rays, and manta rays. The waters in Bora Bora are absolutely phenomenal, and nothing in that water is too shy to say hello… (I have a very interesting story about how fish react to jalapeño chips, but I can’t really tell you, because then they may not let me back in —but no fish were injured though… I think).




“Flying” with Bora Bora Parasailing. These guys are super friendly, and if there is anywhere in the world you should go parasailing, then it’s in Bora Bora, because the views are just unreal…






Go jet skiing with Matira Jet Tours. These guys are super sweet and will make for an amazingly fun day out on the water.
Hang out on the patio of your overwater bungalow… (seriously, if you get to Bora Bora, you really need one of these things).


And enjoy some sunsets…



Rent a scooter and drive along the water or up some mountains. Bora Bora is more scenic by water, and Moorea is more scenic by land.


What not to do:
There are some pretty luxurious accommodations in French Polynesia, especially in Bora Bora, but be careful to not go for the newer (and more sterile) resorts, such as e.g. the InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa (yeah, I know, there are two of them). Though newer properties may be even more luxurious, I find them rather monotonous, and the location may not be as ideal for e.g. snorkeling outside your bungalow, since they are often located on private motus that are more bare, or the bungalows may sit on deeper waters with no reefs.

