FRENCH POLYNESIA · SOUTH PACIFIC
Turquoise lagoons and jagged volcanic peaks.
Bora Bora, Moorea, Tahiti and the islands of the South Pacific. Lagoon cruises, snorkel safaris with sharks and rays, whale season off Moorea, and the slow barefoot days in between.
Only in French Polynesia
Three days you can only have here.
Beaches and boat trips exist all across the Pacific. Swimming beside humpback whales, standing in the lagoon among reef sharks, and a barefoot afternoon on your own motu do not. Build the trip around these three, then fill in the rest.
Open water
Swim Beside Humpback Whales
From roughly July to November, humpbacks cross the warm water off Moorea and Tahiti to calve. French Polynesia is one of the only places on earth where you can legally slip in and watch a mother and calf glide past in open ocean. A guide reads the whales; you float, and they pass below you.
- 1 Whale Tour – Observe and swim with whales
- 2 Whale Watching Tours in Bora Bora
- 3 Swim with humpback whales
In the lagoon
Stand With Sharks & Rays
The boat anchors on a shallow sandbar and you step out into waist-deep, bath-warm water. Blacktip reef sharks cut slow circles around you; stingrays the size of dinner tables press up against your legs looking for a hand. It is the calmest wildlife encounter you will ever find genuinely thrilling.
- 1 Reef Discovery Half Day Group Signature Tour
- 2 Full-Day Bora Bora Lagoon Cruise Including Snorkeling with Sharks and Stingrays
- 3 Bora Bora Eco Snorkel Cruise Including Snorkeling with Sharks and Stingrays
Island days
A Whole Day on the Lagoon
The classic French Polynesian day: an outrigger or catamaran gliding over coral gardens in ten shades of blue, a barefoot picnic of poisson cru on a private motu, and Mount Otemanu or Moorea's green spires watching over the whole thing. This is the day the postcards are made of.
- 1 Full Day Lagoon Group Tour in Bora Bora with Lunch
- 2 Bora Bora: Full day Lagoon Safari & Lunch on a Motu – ST
- 3 Full Day Combo ATV & Jet Ski with a Polynesian BBQ on a Motu
If you do one thing
If you only book one day, book this.
The single most popular experience across the islands. A fair measure of what a great day on the water looks like out here.
The classics
French Polynesia's Most Popular Experiences
Bora Bora lagoon cruises, Moorea's wildlife, the snorkel safaris everyone remembers. The experiences most travellers come to the islands for.
By island
Pick your island.
Each island is its own trip. Bora Bora for the lagoon everyone pictures. Moorea for the peaks and the whales. Tahiti for waterfalls and surf. Raiatea to raise a sail, Rangiroa to drop below the surface.
By experience
Or choose your kind of day.
A lagoon cruise for the whole picture. Snorkel safaris if you want the sharks and rays up close. Whale season off Moorea, a catamaran for golden hour, a 4x4 into the volcanic interior, and plenty more.
The famous lagoon
If you came for Bora Bora.
Mount Otemanu, the overwater bungalows, that impossible blue. Bora Bora is the island on the postcard, and these are the three days we’d book first.
Thirty minutes from Tahiti
Magical Moorea.
Two deep bays, a green interior you can climb into by 4x4, and the humpbacks that arrive each winter. The island a lot of locals quietly prefer to Bora Bora. Three favourites to start with.
When the light goes gold
Sails, sunsets and the open lagoon.
Trade the engine for the trade winds: a catamaran heeling gently over, a drink in hand as the sky turns coral, the day boats long gone home. Three we’d happily spend an evening aboard.
When you trade the lagoon for land
Into the volcanic interior.
Behind every beach is a green volcanic spine: pineapple plantations, jungle waterfalls, lookouts over both of Moorea’s bays, and roads only a 4x4 should attempt. The days worth saving for once you’ve had your fill of sun on the water.
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