French Polynesia: Nine Attractions and Natural Wonders

Islands across an ocean

French Polynesia is an overseas country of France made up of about 120 islands across five archipelagos, spread over more than 2,000 kilometres of the South Pacific — a land area of only about 3,500 square kilometres, in a vast expanse of ocean. The high volcanic islands of the Society group (Tahiti, Moorea, Bora Bora) have the jagged peaks and lagoons of the postcards; the Tuamotus are low coral atolls famous for diving; the remote Marquesas are steep, surf-battered, and forested. The culture is Mā'ohi Polynesian, with a strong revival of language, dance, and voyaging.

The nine below concentrate on the Society Islands and the Tuamotus, where almost all visitors go, with the Marquesas for those with time. It is warm year-round; the drier, cooler season (May to October) is the best time to visit.

1. Bora Bora

Bora Bora is the island the whole destination is sold on: a double peak of black basalt — Otemanu and Pahia — rising from a lagoon of impossible colour, ringed by a barrier reef and a necklace of palm-covered motu carrying the famous overwater-bungalow resorts. Lagoon tours snorkel with rays and blacktip sharks; a 4x4 track and a tough hike climb toward the peaks past Second World War coastal guns.

It is a short flight from Tahiti, and among the most expensive islands in the group.

2. Tahiti

Tahiti, the largest island and home to about 70 percent of the population, is where almost every visitor arrives. Papeete, the capital, has a busy covered market and a lively waterfront, and nearby Puna'auia has the Museum of Tahiti and the Islands, the territory's national museum. The mountainous interior of two old volcanoes is cut by deep valleys, with waterfalls such as Faarumai on the east coast.

Most people spend a night here at the start or end and island-hop from its airport and ferry quay.

3. Moorea

Moorea, an island just 17 kilometres northwest of Tahiti, is the easy favourite — a wall of green shark's-tooth peaks around two deep bays, pineapple plantations, and a shallow lagoon good for snorkelling and stand-up paddling. The road up the Opunohu valley climbs past ancient marae to the Belvédère lookout over both bays; the lagoon has rays and sharks, and humpback whales pass from July to October.

A short ferry ride from Papeete makes it an easy add-on or day trip.

4. Huahine

Huahine, a short flight from Tahiti or Bora Bora, is two islands — Huahine Nui and Huahine Iti — joined by a bridge over a turquoise channel. It is the quiet one: vanilla and melon farms, a slow main village at Fare, freshwater eels up to nearly two metres long in a village stream, and one of the largest concentrations of Polynesian archaeological remains, including many marae, around Lake Fauna Nui.

It rewards renting a bike or scooter and simply circling the coast.

5. Raiatea and Taha'a

Raiatea, the second-largest of the Society Islands, was the ancient religious and voyaging centre of eastern Polynesia; its Taputapuātea marae, a great open-air temple complex, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2017, and Raiatea is thought to be where voyages to Hawaii and, in tradition, to New Zealand set out. Raiatea shares a lagoon with Taha'a, the "vanilla island", ringed by motu with small hotels and known for its pearls.

Raiatea is also the main yacht-charter base, often called the nautical centre of Polynesia.

6. Rangiroa

Rangiroa, in the Tuamotus, is one of the largest atolls in the world — a ring of coral 80 kilometres long enclosing a lagoon so big the far side drops below the horizon. The two reef passes, Tiputa and Avatoru, are world-class drift dives: the incoming tide sweeps divers past gatherings of sharks, with manta rays and, in season, hammerheads. Boat trips across the lagoon to its islets are the other highlight.

It has a handful of small hotels and pensions and a vineyard beside the lagoon.

7. Fakarava

Fakarava, a long rectangular atoll southeast of Rangiroa, is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and a diver's pilgrimage. Its southern pass, Tumakohua (Tetamanu), is famous for the "wall of sharks" — hundreds of grey reef sharks hanging in the current — and for the annual spawning of marbled groupers that draws them. The northern village of Rotoava is the base; the beaches of the southern motu are some of the quietest in the territory.

Getting to the south pass means a boat transfer and a stay at a rustic dive pension.

8. The Marquesas

The Marquesas, about 1,400 kilometres northeast of Tahiti, are a world apart: volcanic islands with knife-edge ridges, plunging valleys, and Pacific swell breaking straight onto black cliffs, with no lagoon. They have many stone ceremonial platforms (tohua and me'ae), the largest tiki in French Polynesia, a distinct language and tattoo tradition, and the graves of Paul Gauguin and Jacques Brel on Hiva Oa. In 2024 the islands were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, "Te Henua Enata – The Marquesas Islands".

Most visitors arrive on the supply ship Aranui or fly to Nuku Hiva or Hiva Oa for a hiking- and archaeology-focused trip.

9. Teahupo'o and the surf coast

At the end of the road on Tahiti Iti sits Teahupo'o, home to one of the heaviest, most photographed waves on earth — a thick slab that breaks in shallow water over a sharp reef, ridden only by experts and surfed at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Even for non-surfers, a boat trip out to watch from the channel is a spectacle, and the green, sleepy end of the island — the Te Pari coast reachable only by boat or on foot — is a quiet contrast to the resorts.

The village has simple pensions and lies where the coast road ends.

Distances and airfares make French Polynesia a trip to plan carefully. A common route is a night on Tahiti, then Moorea, then one or two of Bora Bora, Huahine, or Raiatea; adding a Tuamotu atoll for diving or the Marquesas for hiking needs 10 days or more.