LAXlocal

We seem to get a $500-$600 RT fare from LAX to Tahiti a few times a year out of LAX ,

But how can you stay there for a week on a budget ?
Mostly concerned with a budget room , I am not a foodie so eating simple things like the locals is Ok for me,
Any other tips ? Local buses . Places to stay away from ?

Thanks for your ideas

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zboub345

Airbnb ?

Romelle

I'd definitely second the Airbnb suggestion. Really carefully go over the reviews. Especially when it is a different country than one's home base, standards can be different. Cheerfully ignore the whiney babies that expect things to be just like at home, but listen up when things that are important to you are mentioned.

I've found that many Airbnb hosts will give really useful answers to a few questions. I don't waste their time unless they are my final 2 or 3 candidates, but then their helpfulness (or lack) can be part of the final decision.

I did take a peek at Airbnb Tahiti possibilities, and was pleasantly surprised at both how many there were and what looked like reasonable rates.

Also, I always thing travel guides are a good thing. Free from your local library. My personal favorite, the Lonely Planet series, tends to have a budget, DIY, How-to orientation. Things like local buses and cheap eats are usually covered.

thebakaronis

I believe there are hostels in addition to small boutique hotels all over French Polynesia.

- Book as far in advance as possible & off season to get cheaper accommodations.
- If you don't mind staying away from the hotspots on the various islands, especially the farther out you go, the cheaper the accommodation.
- Bring non-perishable foods with you. Groceries are very expensive there. Things like peanut butter, nuts, cookies, jams, etc., are easy to carry with you. Carry energy bars.
- Fix up meals for yourself while there. Buy stuff you need from a local grocery store.
- In Tahiti, eat at the food trucks near the ferry terminal; conversely, I'm sure you'll know to avoid the expensive restaurants & resorts where you can easily spend $150 for a dinner for 2.
- Inter-island flights are expensive. The more islands you want to go to, the more your budget gets out of control.

French Polynesia is beautiful, but is unavoidably expensive. If you want an approximation of that experience but much cheaper, go to the Dominican Republic. Bali is much cheaper, but simply not comparable in terms of beauty. There are, however, other, less visited, islands in Indonesia that are more beautiful than Bali. Look into them.

nancypants

hat attack

nancypants

RustyC

I stayed for a week on Tahiti and Moorea back in 2006. Cost-wise it was even more expensive than Japan and the roughest I'd ever seen in that category. Back then the XPF was around 95 and now it's 106, so you might be a tad better off, but it'll seem expensive.

I stayed in a private room at a hostel on the road to the airport for around $37/night. Shared bath, chain-smoking owner. Le Truck worked well to get into town. The food trucks were around $10/meal and some had good food, whereas a cheeseburger meal at McDonald's was $7.50, so the food trucks were better.

With the island nights you could try hanging out at the bar and nursing a draft beer, which I did a couple of times (like at the Intercontinental). The meal package was around $50, IIRC.

Splurged on a round-the-island group tour one day at $52. Even the cheapest t-shirt was around $20, so I skipped that.

On Moorea I stayed at a KOA-like place on the west coast in one of the huts with a mattress, light bulb and fan (shared bath outside) for $40. Same thing in Thailand is $10 or so, but it was on a beautiful beach. Bicycle rental was $10/day. The town was a bit of distance away and they had food trucks, but I did the bit with buying the baguette and the ham at the nearby grocery a time or two. Some people at the Koa-like place had only tents, BTW, so they were paying less but I didn't like leaving stuff out.

With Bora-Bora the disconnect was getting there and back and I thought about doing deck class on the freighter but decided I didn't have enough time.

I totaled up the cost and averaged it out and it came to around $120/day, all in, on land costs. About twice my usual for a place like SE Asia and I've never had to live so much like a monk, but it was good overall.

I gotta say, though (and I've done this spiel before), I think more people should consider the COOK ISLANDS as an alternative. Same latitude, similar culture, better dancers, less crowded, and total costs around half of Tahiti's. Just compare aerial views of Rarotonga with Tahiti and Aitutaki with Bora-Bora. With the Cooks I got fan rooms in guesthouses around $37 (you DON'T NEED air-con and it's what really drives up the price!), rented the motorbike rather than the bike, was able to buy the meal at the island nights and generally lived higher on the hog. Inter-island flights are also a lot more reasonable. Instead of Hinano it's Steinlager and instead of the French colonists it's the Kiwis, but it's solidly Polynesian. Ootu Beach is the great lagoon-facing one on Aitutaki and boat tours to One Foot Island are great. All the water at the guesthouse was rainwater and that took some getting used to.


OK, I'll rub it in a slight bit...Ootu Beach

lalala

I did this by arranging to stay at the UC Berkeley field station in Moorea between semesters. If you have a connection to a marine station or a field station in a place like Tahiti, see if you can leverage it. The rooms were basic, but the bathrooms were great, there was housekeeping a few times a week, I could do laundry, cook in the kitchen. We ate a bunch of the leftover beans and rice the students had left behind. We also helped one student collect samples, which was a great way to see parts of the island that most visitors wouldn't necessarily visit. The room beat the budget hotel I spent Christmas night in Papeete and the area around the market and harbor, which for a single woman in her late 20s was not a ton of fun.

So, it is always a good thing to have a field biologist in the family, its amazing where it can get you. ; )

LAXlocal

Thanks for the ideas ,
The cheap Tahiti flights show up a few times a year ,

But I have never seen flights from Los Angeles to the Cook islands , maybe I will have to look for them ,

As far as Dominican republic , is there actually that nice of island beaches there?

Cheers

RustyC

Air New Zealand still has the weekly LAX-RAR-AKL and vice-versa...check on Saturday departures and Friday returns for LAX-RAR-LAX. For June 8-21 it came in at $596 RT. The northern-hemisphere summer is generally the best time to go.

LAXlocal

Thanks , cheap enough for a week away from home ,seems to be a dengue outbreak there now ,

I will have to see how bad it is in next month or 2 , mosquitoes love me !

OZFLYER86

for that sort of money you should be able to get to Fiji or Australia. Last week air new zealand were selling fares from Australia(Gold Coast near Brisbane) to San Fran return for AUD$669 (USD$475). The economy in Australia is heading south, so many more fares like this should be around.

For slightly more (AUD$750/USD$533) you could also fly from Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne or Adelaide to LAX or San Fran return with Fiji air. You can stopover in Fiji for up to 72 hours & avoid paying their high departure tax of FJD$200/adult(about USD$95)

So presume, that fares in the other direction from LAX & SFO, will be similar(airlines have to fill seats somehow). Fares ex Australia, seem to be on constant sale. Only times they aren't is when Australia school holidays are on, which vary slightly from state to state & public vs private school.

EmailKid

Bad assumption @:-)

ex US prices are very often higher, sometimes much higher.

LAXlocal

I have been to Fiji and do not have any pull to go again ,
plus I have been to Australia 3 times and when I go again it will be to see friends and travel around Queensland.

Cook islands seem interesting so far except for the Dengue right now , simplier than Tahiti , maybe a little less cost , and good bragging rights because no one I know ever went there !

But pulling up the pack for island groups is Ishigaki island in Japan , tropical and looks interesting with some close by smaller islands.

Yeah Hawaii would be easier and cheap , but I have been there a couple times , and it's close enough to LA for a long weekend when I am older and it's harder to get around.......

But always interested in other ideas , thanks