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pcakes13 t1_j6kmrun wrote

Having been to a number of islands in French Polynesia I can say Bora Bora is nice, but I’d pick Raiatea & Tahaa over it every time.

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temptedtempest t1_j6l1b7q wrote

Could you elaborate? So few people have been to all and have an opinion based on experience.

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pcakes13 t1_j6locb1 wrote

>Super short version of why I'd pass on Bora Bora is that it's ALL resorts. Any piece of land on the atoll that can support a hotel, has a hotel, and they're SUPER swank. Four Seasons. The Intercontinental. You get the idea. There are a some on the main island, but that's not why you go there. You go there to stay at a super-swank $1200 per/night over-water bungalow. Now that's super crazy and awesome, and it is awesome, but for what it costs to spend 5 nights in Bora Bora you could spend 2 weeks in Raiatea AND take a cruise on a catamaran. Now I wouldn't necessarily stay for 2 weeks, but it's quiet, beautiful, and had better snorkeling than Bora Bora did. Bora Bora was a bucket list location for sure but I'm not sure I'd go back based on the cost alone.

Copy/paste of a reply I made to another person.

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tfaw88888 t1_j6m25yf wrote

my ex-gf was born and raised in raiatea and yes, what a place.

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redshift83 t1_j6lhj7n wrote

There is very little to do on bora bora relative to all the other options. It’s stunning beautiful from the room and the snorkeling is the best (must hire a tour though). Otherwise not much is there. I’ll go back but moorea is just as nice or nicer.

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twoinvenice t1_j6nam7m wrote

For diving or snorkeling trips where you are going to stick to the more developed islands, the diving around Moorea is better in general…plus it’s quite a bit less expensive. When go back, if I’m not doing a full on dive trip to some of the farther out islands like Fakarava, I’d probably do the same thing I did last time - like 5 nights on Moorea and 3 on Bora Bora.

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M0NTY26 t1_j6odn2k wrote

Bora bora? More like bora boring.

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CrystalStilts t1_j6mi4yw wrote

I’m partial to Fakarava. There’s a pass there you can snorkel and float down it takes 30 min but it’s super shallow and for snorkeling and seeing all kinds of coral. You just walk back beside the pass and you can do it over and over and over and see so much reef and life it’s pretty amazing. Plus it’s a smaller atoll with less tourists. We flew last time but my husband wants to cross the Panama Canal and then the pacific and spend a year sailing around the south pacific so we can spend 6 mos in the Tuamotus off grid before our daughter gets too old and is in school. If anyone has any other suggestions of their favourite places in the Tuamotus please leave suggestions below also if you have a favourite anchorage.

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drmcsinister t1_j6ln03y wrote

It's also worth noting that Raiatea and Tahaa are in the background of that picture. They are super close to Bora Bora, so you can spend nights on both sets of islands in one trip. Air Tahiti has island hoppers and it's like a 15 minute flight between them.

Source: my wife and I did that for our honeymoon.

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onelittleworld t1_j6lh5j2 wrote

Mo'orea is no slouch, either.

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arctander t1_j6mugun wrote

Agreed - I *really* enjoyed Mo'erea followed by Raiatea. I recently saw $800 round-trip flights from LAX to PPT and considered going for a week.

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twoinvenice t1_j6nbgb4 wrote

Air Tahiti Nui has those deals quite often - definitely sign up for their newsletter.

The thing that surprised me the most the first time I went to Tahiti was that the flight really isn’t that long, only a bit over 8 hours from LAX to Papeete. I don’t know why but before going I had always felt like the flight would be more of a looong adventure like it is getting to other places in the South Pacific (like the full day + of flights and sitting in airports that it takes to get to the eastern part of Indonesia).

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arctander t1_j6nhdjv wrote

Exactly. I've been to the Maldives and it took nearly 40 hours door to door. Tahiti is a walk in the park by comparison.

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IndignantDeleter t1_j6l214n wrote

Any specific resorts?

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pcakes13 t1_j6l6879 wrote

Raiatea Lodge. Small, like 20 rooms total.

https://raiatea-lodge-hotel.com/en/home/

Super short version of why I'd pass on Bora Bora is that it's ALL resorts. Any piece of land on the atoll that can support a hotel, has a hotel, and they're SUPER swank. Four Seasons. The Intercontinental. You get the idea. There are a some on the main island, but that's not why you go there. You go there to stay at a super-swank $1200 per/night over-water bungalow. Now that's super crazy and awesome, and it is awesome, but for what it costs to spend 5 nights in Bora Bora you could spend 2 weeks in Raiatea AND take a cruise on a catamaran. Now I wouldn't necessarily stay for 2 weeks, but it's quiet, beautiful, and had better snorkeling than Bora Bora did. Bora Bora was a bucket list location for sure but I'm not sure I'd go back based on the cost alone.

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BootyMcSqueak t1_j6l72tu wrote

Thank you so much for the suggestion!

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Ginge00 t1_j6l9fef wrote

My wife and I spent 5 days at the intercontinental on Moorea, it was amazing, we did a jet ski tour around the little islands of the coast and it was fantastic. Highly recommend Moorea.

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pcakes13 t1_j6lrj9v wrote

We swam with rays and black tipped reef sharks in the shallows by that hotel. Moorea also has a super cool marine reserve on the other side of the island where you can chill in your own hammock between snorkeling.

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Pbranson t1_j6mze5d wrote

I second Raiatea Lodge. Stayed there in March and it was great.

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Deep_Classroom3495 t1_j6l63b0 wrote

For me it’s Maldives.

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pcakes13 t1_j6l84w0 wrote

I have yet to be to that Maldives to compare them to French Polynesia. That said, Raiatea and Taha'a are other islands that also happen to be in French Polynesia.

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TheBrazenBeast t1_j6lyqtg wrote

Came here to say I preferred Isle of Pines to Bora Bora for beauty

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