Bora Bora is the honeymoon. Moorea is the family trip, and it is thirty minutes by ferry from the airport in Tahiti, with the same lagoon, the same mountains and a third of the price.
Moorea is a heart shaped island with two bays cut into the north side, jagged green peaks in the middle and a lagoon all the way around. The resorts are on the north coast with overwater bungalows for the families who want one. The pensions, family guesthouses with bungalows on the beach and dinner included, are the way I book it, because a week of resort dinners for five on this island is a mortgage payment.
The lagoon is the day, every day. A boat tour to the sandbar where the stingrays and blacktip reef sharks come to the boat and the kids stand in waist deep water with rays gliding around their legs. A snorkel over the coral gardens. A picnic on a motu, one of the islands on the reef. Then a swim off the beach in front of the bungalow.
The mountain and the rest
The Belvedere lookout is the drive up between the two bays for the view of both, with the pineapple fields on the way. A four by four tour goes further up and stops at the juice factory. Kids over eight can hike the Three Coconuts pass from the lookout.
A Polynesian dance show at one of the resorts on a set night, with fire and drums and the kids invited up. A jet ski tour around the island for teenagers. A tour of the vanilla farm. A visit to the Tiki village where the kids learn to open a coconut and tie a pareo.
Five nights on Moorea. One night either side on Tahiti for the market and the food trucks. Then, if the budget allows, two nights on Bora Bora for the overwater bungalow, because the kids will have seen the photo.
Planning French Polynesia with kids? Start with the full French Polynesia family travel guide, or send me the ages and the dates and I will come back with what is really available.
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