Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - Is flying 12 hours to Tahiti worth it?

And visiting a few other French Polynesia islands.......

Is there any place closer to get the same extreme tropical "hit"? Hawaii? Somewhere in Mexico?

I live on the West coast.

Since OMNI and it's PR counterpart are generally for non-travel topics, we'll transfer this over to our TravelBuzz! forum.

Please follow at it's new home.

Thanks.



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Cholula
OMNI Co-Moderator

How long to you intend to spend once you get there? My personal rule is that I like to have at least 3 times as much time in a destination as I spent in transit, but others may feel differently.

I had a 14 hour flight to get there. Was it worth it? ABSOLUTELY! But, my experience wouldn't have been so great if we had just stayed on Tahiti. It's a vibrant place, but you will have more stories to tell and better memories if you go onto another island or two. We did our first two days on Tahiti and enjoyed the markets and a few beers in the downtown area. We stayed at the Intercontinental, which was also nice, although it doesn't compare to the Intercontinentals here. Our journey continued on to Bora Bora and Moorea and it was captivating.

I love Hawaii, but it's not as quaint as the French Polynesia. The water is certainly nicer in the FP. A beautiful turqouise color, warm, and the snorkeling is the best I've ever done anywhere. Amazing coral and colorful fish. We swam right with the stingrays and sharks on an excursion. Additionally, the FP is more remote and less commercial.

Moving to the (Australia, New Zealand &) South Pacific forum. Thanks for your understanding.

Jouy31
TravelBuzz moderator

I agree - French Polynesia is amazing. Yes, it's out of the way but if you can get to Moorea or preferably Bora Bora they are stunning. Bora Bora has the clearest water that I've ever been too and some amazing diving.

It is an expensive place to visit but well worth it.

Yes, it is worth. From Europe you have to fly about 24 hours and yes, I will do it again !! ^

Whether or not it is worth it is a very individual value, but if you have to ask, it might not be worth it for you.

I went to French Polynesia last year for the first time and am returning this year. It's a similar experience to the Maldives - and since the Maldives are so far away, to me, French Polynesia seems relatively close.

I prefer the greater isolation of the outer islands compared to Hawaii - and I love over the water bungalows, which you don't have in Hawaii. On the downside, food is very expensive and you won't find the range that you do in Hawaii.

I just checked, and the flights are roughly 8 hours long to Papeete from LAX.

I think the old slogan was that Hawaii gets more visitors in 10 days than Tahiti gets in a year.

It's a very beautiful place, though I had to see it on a very tight budget and it felt at times it was like living like a monk (total daily spend for everything (lodging, food, transport, any souvenirs) at $120). Got to Tahiti and Moorea. With more time I might have tried deck class on the ferry service to get to Bora Bora.

I think the Cook Islands are less hectic and give much better value. Would rate Rarotonga (the main island and "high" island) as better than Tahiti and Aitutaki as maybe 80-90% of Bora Bora. It's roughly the same latitude, and having the New Zealand dollar as currency rather than the XPF is a huge help on costs with the way exchange rates have been going. The hula-dance shows are also better in the Cooks.