French Polynesia travel guide

2 minute summary Best time to visit Small ship cruising

French Polynesia travel guide

“Parau api? Parau api?” The cry goes up from Tahitians asking for news; and as you disembark and search for the nearest crepe caravan or seafood stall you’ll smile and wonder whether you’ve become a source for the gossip grapevine. Of course, if you chose to travel onboard a cargo vessel then you’ll already be well aware of what news has been brought from neighbouring islands but you’ll still long to impart your own adventures just as soon as you find the nearest internet cafe and work out that pesky French keyboard.

With more than 50 airports, only one of which serves international flights, French Polynesia is an accessible island nation but still relatively untouched by mass tourism.

Thrilling whale encounters off Moorea, that incredible church on Tahuata, or an enthralling traditional Bird Dance on Ua Pou; whatever experiences form your front pages they’re bound to remain indelibly printed. From ancient carvings and sacred symbolism to snorkelling, swimming and sniffing for slowed cooked pig (hima'a), French Polynesia is well worth the column inches.

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French Polynesia is...

a chance to practise French amongst the brush strokes of Paul Gauguin.

French Polynesia isn’t…

just another destination for coral destroying cruise liners.

Things to do in French Polynesia....

Swim with whales. From August to October the sheltered waters surrounding Moorea, around 15km west of Tahiti, are a haven for calving humpback whales. The sight of mother and newborn calf is just mesmerising and the chance to get into the water and swim whilst accompanied by an experienced wildlife photographer is just an awesome privilege, not to be missed. Chartering a small ship to cruise amongst the islands of French Polynesia is one thing but booking a place on a working cargo freighter is quite something else. This is a relatively new means of combining tourist and passenger transportation with cargo deliveries, and has proved successful in subsidising local trade links as well as reaching out of the way destinations that large cruise ships, thankfully, cannot touch. Feel the rhythm of the islands. For over two millennia Polynesian culture has developed within its eastern archipelago, and despite French being the official language and Christianity the main religion it’s essentially a tropical island beat that best describes French Polynesia’s natural cultural rhythm. Traditional welcome ceremonies differ from one island to the next as do handicrafts and carvings, with tapa cloth, flower stones, boulders, bones, coconuts and shells all providing unique canvases for intricate designs and sacred inscriptions.

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Things not to do in French Polynesia…

Forget your hiking boots. As you'd expect from a cluster of volcanic islands, there are some rather rugged walking trails in French Polynesia with archaeological sites and mysterious stone statues adding to fertile slopes and sweeping views over the Pacific. Trails on Fatu Hiva and Atuona, in particular, are well worth remembering and offer energetic alternatives to the beach with some exceptional rewards from well-placed lookout points. Settle for familiarity. Tahiti has been welcoming tourists en masse since the early 60s and has become a hub for global hotel chains. Although many Tahitians benefit from urban infrastructure projects, much of the money raised through tourism bypasses the local economy and goes directly into the pockets of foreign investors. Staying at a locally owned pension, using local guides and visiting island communities away from Tahiti helps to spread the wealth and promote practices that are essential for maintaining a sustainable future. Destroy the coral. Large cruise ships, motorised watersports, and general stomping around, all help to destroy coral and in so doing damage the fragile ecosystems surrounding the islands and atolls of French Polynesia. Collecting live coral is also a terrible idea and although coral crafted souvenirs may look tempting, buying this sort of product is just going to perpetuate the practice of picking it so do the local economy a favour and leave coral underwater.

French Polynesia travel guide