French Polynesia: 8 Day Itinerary of Tahiti and Mo'orea
Day 1: Arrive PPT in the evening
At the moment most flights from the US arrive in the evening so we booked two nights at the InterContinental Tahiti. It is the only resort on the island of Tahiti that has overwater bungalows and it's only a 5-10 minute drive from Papeete airport (PPT).
You can take a taxi to the hotel but we found a taxi to be almost as much as a day long car rental and we wanted to explore the next day so we reserved a car from Hertz. If your flight is arriving outside of typical business hours, double check that your car rental agency will be open as Hertz was the only one open when we arrived. I also highly recommend reserving your rental in advance as they may run out!
Day 2: Tahiti
I tend to shy away from hotel restaurants and I found the breakfast buffet to be incredibly expensive at the InterContinental. We opted to take our car and seek out a local bakery instead! We ended up getting breakfast pastries from L'Arbre a Pain both mornings we were in Tahiti plus treats for later in the day because it was that delicious!
After a late morning swim in the ocean we drove down to Taharuu Beach, a public black sand beach. We laid out our travel towel to soak up a little sun and enjoy an almost completely deserted beach!
For lunch we stopped at a collection of food trucks on the water and had Poke. We enjoyed it so much and it was so reasonably priced we came back for dinner!
We spent the afternoon relaxing in our bungalow and enjoying the pools on site.
Day 3: Mo'orea
After checking out of our hotel, we returned our car to the airport and took a taxi down to the ferry terminal. Near the ferry terminal is the Papeete Market. If you've ever been to more commercialized island destinations like Hawaii, you might be surprised to find that souvenir shops are not common on Mo'orea. So, if you like to shop I recommend checking out the Papeete Market!
There are two ferry companies that will transport you to Mo'orea and lots of taxis on the other side waiting to take you to your hotel. The ferries operate on different time tables so I recommend just booking a one way ticket. It doesn't save any money to book a round trip and that way you have flexibility on which company to take when you return.
Day 4: Mo'orea
This was the one day we made no plans. We spent time by the pool, snorkeled off of our back deck and explored town. Our room was equipped with a small fridge so we stopped at a grocery store in town and picked up a couple bottles of wine and some local juice and snacks.
Day 5: Mo'orea
We spent the morning on a jetski tour with our wonderful guide, Jay. We followed a pod of spinner dolphins and swam with sting rays.
Our Jetski/ATV tours were booked through the Moorea Activities Center. They will book them back to back but if you message them they will separate them out to two different days. I highly recommend splitting the tours up as it would have been one very long, exhausting day if we had done both tours in one day. They will pick you up and drop you back off at your hotel for both tours.
We had lunch in town and spent the afternoon relaxing by the ocean. After a lazy afternoon we ventured out to Kaylakea for dinner and found the food to be fresh and very reasonably priced!
Day 6: Mo'orea
We spent the morning on an ATV tour with the same guide we had the day before, Jay! We also had Kevin on our tour who was visiting from the Bora Bora office. We had some difficulties with our ATV not wanting to start so we ended up trading ATVs with Kevin at the first stop. We didn't have an issue after that. We ventured through jungles, to amazing lookouts and had a tasting at a local juice factory.
For dinner we walked to Rudy's. I had the crab stuffed parrot fish and it was delicious! I recommend getting a reservation in advance. We didn't have one and they were accommodating but made it clear they wanted us to call ahead in the future.
Day 7: Mo'orea
For our last tour of the trip we wanted to try a food tour. French Polynesia has eclectic influences and this was a great way to try a bunch of foods with a local who could tell you where all the best spots to eat are! Looking back, we should have done this tour on our first day so we would know where to eat all week long!
After our first tasting we stopped at the Toatea lookout to enjoy some beignets with a view.
For dinner we decided to try Moorea Beach Cafe. If you are looking for a romantic dinner with a great view and nice champagne, this is a great option. We had a table right by the water and encountered a ton of mosquitos so make sure you have bug spray!
Day 8: Mo'orea and Home
We stopped at anything that looked interesting and stumbled upon the Tiki Village. There weren't any shows going on at the time but the staff was very friendly and welcoming. It's free to walk the grounds and explore.
If you are staying at the Sofitel Kia Ora or have transportation around the island, there is a public beach just north of the resort with really great snorkeling!
After returning the scooter we took a taxi to the ferry terminal and hopped back over to Tahiti. From there we took a taxi to the airport and headed home!
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