French Polynesia Family Travel Guide

The entry level number. A basic overwater bungalow at a mid tier property runs roughly 800 to 1,200 US dollars a night before tax. That is the floor, not the average, and it is usually a garden facing or lagoon view unit at the back of the row.

The famous ones. The Four Seasons, the St Regis, the Conrad and the Brando sit between 1,600 and well past 3,000 a night. The Brando on Tetiaroa is its own category and starts above 3,500 all inclusive.

What is not included. Almost nothing. Breakfast is often extra. Dinner for two at a resort restaurant lands around 150 to 250 dollars. There is nowhere else to eat on most of these motus, and the resorts know it.

The transfer. Bora Bora airport sits on its own motu. Every arrival takes a boat. Resort boat transfers are commonly 100 to 200 dollars per person return, and the far properties are more.

Moorea is the one for families and for anyone who wants a real place. It is thirty minutes by ferry from Tahiti, which means no extra flight and no seaplane. It has villages, roads, a supermarket, restaurants you can drive to, pineapple fields, a real mountain interior with hiking, and a lagoon with rays and reef sharks in waist deep water. You can rent a car. You can buy groceries. A family can stay in a rental and eat outside a resort, which is basically impossible on Bora Bora.

Bora Bora is the one for the milestone. It is smaller, quieter, more beautiful in the specific way the photographs promise, and almost entirely built around resorts on outer motus. Once you are on your motu you are there. That is wonderful for two adults with nothing to do and slowly maddening for a nine year old on day four. The lagoon really is the most vivid color I have ever seen in a photograph, and the mountain, Otemanu, does earn the fuss.

Rangiroa and Fakarava are for divers, and only for divers. These are Tuamotu atolls. Flat rings of coral with world class drift diving through the passes and very little else. If somebody in the party dives seriously, they will remember this above everything. If nobody does, skip them.

Huahine, Taha’a, Raiatea and Maupiti are the quiet ones. Less developed, far fewer resorts, much more Polynesian daily life visible. Huahine in particular is the island people come back talking about. If you have been to French Polynesia once already, this is where the second trip goes.

Ia orana is hello. Learn it, use it, and say maururu for thank you. It opens doors that stay closed for people who lead with English.

Nothing is fast. Meals, check ins, boat departures. Sit down, order a drink, and let the island set the clock.

Cover up off the beach. A pareo around the waist for a walk to the shop. Church on Sunday morning is full and the singing is worth hearing, dressed respectfully.

No tipping. It is not part of the culture and staff do not expect it. A thank you is the thank you.

Respect the lagoon. No touching coral, no feeding fish, reef safe sunscreen. The lagoons are why you came and they are fragile.

The Moorea ferry is the easy crossing. From Papeete it is about 30 minutes across, around ten sailings a day, and it costs a fraction of the flight. Aremiti runs it along with a couple of others. This is the one island you do not need to fly to.

Bora Bora’s airport is on its own little motu. You land on a small islet offshore and everyone boards a boat to reach the main island. Your resort meets you at the dock most of the time, so the boat ride is just part of arriving.

Get the Air Tahiti pass if you are hopping islands. Buying each island flight on its own adds up fast. The multi island pass covers a set loop of islands for one price and comes out cheaper once you are doing three or four.

On the islands, a lot of it is by boat. On Bora Bora and around Taha’a you move on the water as much as the road. Rent a car or a scooter on Tahiti and Moorea, where a coast road runs all the way around. On the smaller islands a bike covers most of what you want.

The Society Islands connect by ferry too. Huahine, Raiatea and Taha’a have a ferry a few times a week, not daily, so it takes some planning. The far archipelagos like the Marquesas are a long flight or days on a cargo ship, a separate trip of their own.

Pension level, 250 to 400 a day. Family run guesthouses, called pensions, on Moorea, Huahine or Maupiti. Self catering some nights, ferry not flights where possible. This version of French Polynesia exists and almost nobody markets it.

Mid range resort, 700 to 1,100 a day. Beach bungalow at a four star, breakfast, one restaurant dinner, an excursion every other day. This is where most honeymoons sit once the spreadsheet is honest.

Overwater at a name resort, 1,400 to 2,500 a day. The version in the photographs. Bungalow, transfers, resort dining, a private lagoon tour. Add the inter island flights on top.

Getting there. Papeete is served from Los Angeles in about eight hours, plus from Paris, Auckland, Tokyo and Honolulu. From most of the US that is a domestic flight plus a transpacific one. Budget a full travel day each way and a day of jet lag on arrival.

May to October, the dry season and the obvious answer. Lower humidity, steady trade winds, clear lagoons. July and August are the busiest and priciest because that is when Europe and North America travel. May, June and September are the sweet spot.

November to April, warm, humid and wetter. Heavy afternoon rain rather than all day drizzle. Prices drop meaningfully. Cyclone risk exists but is low compared with Fiji or Vanuatu. If you can only travel in February, you can still go, and you will pay a lot less.

August to October, humpback whale season. Whales come through to calve, and you can swim with them legally with licensed operators around Moorea and Rurutu. For a lot of people this is the single best reason to pick a month.

July, Heiva i Tahiti. The big month long festival of Polynesian dance, music, sport and canoe racing. Spectacular and local. It is also peak price. Both things are true.

Seven nights. One night in Tahiti to sleep off the flight, six on Moorea. The ferry is thirty minutes and Moorea has everything a family needs at half of Bora Bora’s price.

Ten nights. Moorea for five, then fly to Bora Bora or Huahine for four. Two islands is the right number. Three is packing every three days.

Fourteen nights. Add Rangiroa or Fakarava in the Tuamotus for the snorkeling. Different landscape, flat atolls with the clearest water in the country.

Getting there. About eight hours from Los Angeles on Air Tahiti Nui, United or Delta. Overnight out, daytime back. The inter island flights are short and they sell out.

Tahiti. The airport is here, and so is Papeete with its big covered market. A night or two at the start or end lines up with the international flights.

Moorea. About 30 to 45 minutes from Papeete by ferry, green and jagged, with calmer prices than Bora Bora. The easiest island for families, and the one I would never skip.

Bora Bora. The lagoon everyone pictures, and the overwater bungalow splurge. About 50 minutes from Tahiti by plane. Three or four nights is a good amount.

Taha’a and Raiatea. Vanilla farms, pearl farms and a slower pace. Good if you want the lagoon without the Bora Bora price.

Rangiroa. In the Tuamotus. Dolphins in the Tiputa Pass and the Blue Lagoon day trip. Best for families with confident swimmers.

Huahine. Quiet, local and full of old stone marae. The place to go if you want to see how people actually live on the islands.

On Moorea, yes, and it is wonderful. Rays and blacktip reef sharks in water your eight year old can stand up in. A lagoon tour that is thirty minutes from your door. Pineapple farms, a juice factory, mountain lookouts, a real village to walk through, a hire car and a supermarket. Rentals and pensions that cost a third of a resort. This is a great family island and almost nobody sells it that way.

On Bora Bora, usually not, and I will say so. You are on a motu with one restaurant complex and one beach. There is no town to walk to, nothing costs less than a lot, and the kids clubs are thin compared with what Fiji or Hawaii offer. Children get bored on day three and then you are paying two thousand dollars a night for a bored child. Some resorts do it well. Most are not built for it.

The math is brutal for four people. Bungalows are priced for two. A third and fourth occupant frequently means a second room or a suite, which is not a small increment here. A family of four often lands at double a couple’s total rather than the fifty percent more they expected.

Practicalities are fine. It is French territory. Water is safe on the main islands, healthcare in Papeete is good, there is no malaria, dengue exists but is manageable, and diapers and formula are available in Papeete and on Moorea. This is not a hard place to travel with a small child. It is an expensive one.

My actual recommendation. If you want French Polynesia with kids, do Moorea for eight nights in a pension or rental, ferry over, hire a car, and skip Bora Bora completely. You will spend a third of the money and your children will have a better week. Save Bora Bora for the anniversary trip when it is just the two of you.

The islands are far apart and every hop is its own flight. Tahiti to Bora Bora is fifty minutes on Air Tahiti, and each leg is booked separately. The multi island pass saves money if you are doing three or more.

What things cost on the outer islands. A pizza can be thirty dollars and a resort dinner for five is eye watering. Family pensions with meals included fix most of it, and the food is better.

The reef starts a few steps off the beach. Warmer and clearer than the photos, with rays and reef sharks in knee deep water at some lagoons. Reef shoes for everyone, including the adults.

Tahiti. A night either side. The market in Papeete, the roulottes food trucks at the harbor, a sleep after the flight.

Moorea. Five nights. Thirty minutes by ferry. Stingrays and reef sharks in the lagoon, a pension with meals, pineapple fields, the Belvedere lookout.

Bora Bora. Three nights if the budget allows. The overwater bungalow, the lagoon by boat, the mountain in the middle. One splurge, then home.

Skip it if you need things to do. The thing you do here is be somewhere beautiful. There is snorkelling, diving, a lagoon tour, a 4×4 into the interior on the high islands, and then you have largely done the list. If a week without an itinerary makes you restless, this will be a very expensive kind of bored. New Zealand is the trip you want.

Skip it if the budget is tight and the beach is the point. If what you want is a warm lagoon, a good resort and somebody watching your children for a few hours, Fiji gives you that for roughly a third of the money, with better kids clubs, and it is a shorter flight from Australia and New Zealand. There is no shame in this. It is just true.

Skip it if you have under eight nights. Between the transpacific flight, the jet lag, the Tahiti night and the inter island hop, a seven night trip gives you about four usable days. At these prices that is a poor trade. Ten to twelve nights is where it starts to feel worth what it cost.

Skip it if you want culture more than water. The Marquesas are deeply cultural, but they are a four hour flight from Papeete and a different trip. The Society Islands, which is what almost everyone means by French Polynesia, are about the lagoon. Papeete’s market and the Heiva festival are the exceptions and they are worth building around if that is your priority.

Versus Fiji. Fiji wins on price, on kids clubs, on ease and on how warmly children are treated. French Polynesia wins on scenery, and it is not a small win. Otemanu over that lagoon is on another level from anything in Fiji. Couples on a milestone go here. Families go to Fiji. That is the honest split.

Versus Hawaii. Hawaii is cheaper, far easier to reach from the US mainland, and has infinitely more to do. French Polynesia is quieter, emptier and more beautiful, and it does not feel like a US state. If you want a trip, Hawaii. If you want to feel like you went somewhere far away, here.

Versus the Maldives. The closest comparison and the one people get wrong. Similar price, similar bungalows. The Maldives are flat coral atolls and the resort is the whole world. French Polynesia has mountains, villages, culture and a place you can leave the resort into. If you want to see nothing but water, Maldives. If you want the island to be a real place, here.

Do we need to see more than one island? No, and I would rather you see two well than three badly. Moorea and Bora Bora, with a Tahiti night on either end, is the combination I recommend most.

Is it easy to visit with young children? On Moorea, yes. On Bora Bora, it is expensive and there is little for them to do once the novelty of the lagoon wears off. See the With Children section above for the honest version.

How many nights do we need? Ten to twelve, minimum, once you count the transpacific flight and jet lag on both ends. Under eight nights and the math stops working in your favor.

What’s the biggest mistake families make? Booking Bora Bora because it is the name they know, then spending three nights bored on a motu with one restaurant. Moorea is the island that works for kids.

Should we just do Fiji instead? If the beach and the kids club matter more than the scenery, yes. If the photograph is the whole point, this is worth what it costs.