Super Long Honeymoon Review - Tahiti, Moorea, Bora Bora
A long honeymoon review, to go with my long wedding review! :)
For our honeymoon, we went to Tahiti (Papeete), Moorea, and Bora Bora. We had a wonderful time (although for the first few days, I was totally in a post-wedding reverie, where all I wanted to do was talk and think about the wedding!).
Honeymoon Registry: thehoneymoon.com
FH and I have been together for over 7 years, and we live together, so we have almost everything we need, house-wise. We did register at Crate & Barrel and Bed, Bath & Beyond for the guests who would prefer to buy a tangible gift, but we decided to create a honeymoon registry as our primary registry. It was a huge success! Our guests loved browsing the kinds of activities we were thinking about for our honeymoon, and they liked feeling like they were a part of the trip - many people commented on what a great idea it was. (However, many guests thought that they were actually buying the specific activity for us, which made it a bit awkward when I explained that it was more like credit for such an activity that we could use for another activity.) Honeymoon registries also take a percentage commission, but I think most of our guests treated that similar to tax.
PAPEETE
Transfers: Moana Travel (I think?)
The transfers were fine, efficient and friendly and on time - they greeted us with flower necklaces (you'll get a lot of these in French polynesia).
Hotel: Sheraton Hotel Tahiti
The hotel was fine - like most couples, we were only here to sleep en route to Moorea (our flight landed really late at night, and we left around noon the next morning). In the morning, we walked around the grounds a little, and the pool looked beautiful, but we weren't here long enough to really know. The room was also fine, quite nice, with some complimentary fruit.
MOOREA
A couple of impressions of Moorea - it was a little more chilly than I expected (and more chilly than Bora Bora), although this could have just been the weather that week. Also, although we had always heard that the underwater life is more impressive at Bora Bora, I found that the scuba dives we did in Moorea were more impressive. It's true though that Moorea has more of a 'town' that you can walk into, whereas the resorts in Bora Bora are more isolated (this could just be the resorts that we chose to stay at).
Hotel: Moorea Pearl Resort
The Pearl was very nice. We decided to stay in a garden view room, because we had heard that Moorea's overwater bungalows were not as spectacular as Bora Bora's, and I think we made the right decision. It was not far to walk to the pool and ocean (there's not much of a 'beach' at the Pearl), and the O/W bungalows at the Pearl are pretty much suspended over deep water (whereas at Bora Bora, it's almost like you have a private lagoon, with green-blue water that you can stand up in). Our room was very pretty, and the Pearl itself is well-located for walking into town (you can walk there in 10 minutes, although you are walking along a busy main road - the only road around the island, really). We never ate at the hotel, so I'm not sure what the food was like. The check-in is quick, and they give you some fruit juice while you are waiting. Also, one thing that we realized on the day we checked out (figures) is that they have free wifi near the bar!
Food:
We had brought some snacks with us that lasted through the first week, and we also bought food at the grocery store in town (I think it's called Maharepa or something) - even still, we ended up spending over $2000 overall on food alone (the single-most expensive thing on our honeymoon!). (There's also a pharmacy in town, which came in handy when I realized that I forgot travel-sickness medicine, and you can also check internet at Maria Tapas, although we didn't end up doing that.)
Rudy's restaurant - we went here on our first night, and it was good, although we were jetlagged, so I don't have many impressions. (Rudy's, like most of the nicer restaurants, will pick you up and drop you off at your hotel.)
Alfredo's restaurant – this is a nice restaurant, and on Sundays, there’s live music. The poisson cru (a famous Tahitian dish) is really nice here.
Mahogany restaurant - FH and I quite liked this restaurant, it is relatively close to the Pearl, and has pretty good Chinese-French fusion food (although neither of us ended up ordering any of the Chinese dishes)
Maria Tapas - I actually would not recommend eating here - the service is friendly, but it's really more of a bar than a restaurant, but the food is overpriced for what it is (essentially cheap Mexican food)
Honu Iti - this was probably our favorite restaurant in Moorea - really friendly service, and faces Cook's Bay (although it gets dark so early in the summer, we didn't really have much of a view). However, it's pretty fun to watch the stingrays swim in the water next to the restaurant (and they also have someone who comes to feed the stingrays, which is entertaining as well). The food was also probably among the best we had in Moorea, great French food.
Allo Pizza – this is a really cute pizza place that you can order takeout from or drop by to eat (there’s pretty much a bar with stools, but it’s all open-air). We stopped by when we rented the scooter. The pizza’s great! Really inventive and creative, and thin-crust, so New Yorkers will feel at home. :)
Activities:
We booked all our activities through the concierge at the hotel, which was convenient and easy - I think there's kind of a monopoly of activity providers, and the prices are more or less fixed, so unless you know specifically of a tour group you want to go with, it's probably easiest just to let the concierge book it and put it on your room bill.
Snorkelling and Kayaking - these activities are free at the hotel, and although the snorkelling is a little difficult (there are some great schools of tropical fish in the water near the Pearl, but at the bungalows, where most people jump in to snorkel, there's a steep dropoff right away, which makes snorkelling a little difficult), kayaking is a lot of fun, and I noticed that some guests took snorkelling equipment and kayaked out to the shallow reefs to snorkel.
4x4 Safari around the island - FH and I had a lot of fun on one of our few 'dry land' activities. We drove inland to a pineapple plantation, which was interesting and beautiful, and we also went to a tropical fruit jelly tasting. We also got to see Cook’s Bay and a high point on the island that overlooks the lagoon (and the driver scares you on a steep hill they call “Magic Mountain”). Finally, they take you to a pineapple distillery, where you try increasingly lethal shots. FH is a big drinker, and even he was flagging by the end!
Scuba Diving – we did 2 dives in Moorea, and 2 dives in Bora Bora (FH and I are PADI certified open water divers). We went with the dive center at the Pearl, and it was actually just us and the two instructors. The dives were amazing! On the first dive, we dove with around 10 lemon sharks and numerous black-tipped reef sharks. We also saw two moray eels, a couple of lion fish, etc. On the second dive, we dove with sea turtles, one of which was so friendly, she came straight up to us – beautiful. If you like diving, I highly recommend diving in Moorea!
Tiki Village – we went to the Tiki Village dance and dinner, which was a lot of fun, and the food was actually really good (although they make you wait a long time until you get to eat it!). I think it’s open during the day as well, although you don’t get food, of course – you just walk around. The dance portion (with the professional dancers) was entertaining as well, and you can take photos with the dancers afterwards (FH was excited to take a photo with one of the prettiest dancers!).
Scooters – we decided to rent scooters and drive around the island, which we highly recommend! It was a lot of fun to be able to go where you want, and it’s virtually impossible to get lost, as there’s really only one main road. We got to try some of the small food shacks by the water this way, and it was just a lot of fun to ride around the island.
Dolphin and Whale Watching – we went on the boat tour with Dr. Michael Poole to watch whales and dolphins in their natural habitat (which is supposedly much less environmentally harmful than swimming with the dolphins in the lagoonarium). Well, the flipside is that you don’t always see whales and dolphins, although apparently you do 95% of the time. When we went, we saw whales, but not dolphins (apparently, if you see spinner dolphins, and the water is calm, you can jump in and snorkel with them). However, if you decide to do this, and you get seasick, take travel medicine! I forgot mine, and needless to say, I didn’t get to see too much of the whales dancing around us (one breached and one flashed his tail).
BORA BORA
Bora Bora is REALLY beautiful – and we LOVED having an O/W bungalow here! The water was such an amazing blue-green, and it was like having your own private lagoon. It was also much warmer and more paradise-like and luxurious.
Hotel: Intercontinental Hotel and Thalasso Spa
This hotel is really amazing – so beautiful, and the O/W bungalows are just breathtaking. The bungalows themselves are spacious and clean and beautiful, but if you add to that the amazing lagoon, it really is like you’re in paradise. One piece of advice – sign up for the Ambassador program! You pay a fee, but you get more than the value of the fee through free bungalow upgrades and late checkouts (we had a really nice bungalow that faced outward to the lagoon and had a great view of the main island, and we really took advantage of the late checkout, since the flight back to New York is late at night – it was like having an extra day). You also get the American (i.e., hot) breakfast, which is great. For lunch, we often ate at the Sands restaurant (at the hotel), and for dinner, we only ate at the hotel once (the Reef restaurant), but it was very good and the prix fixe menu is actually great value, once you compare it with the pricey (but good!) restaurants on the main island! Be prepared for a really long check-in time, though.
Food:
The resorts on Bora Bora seem to be more isolated on the whole than resorts on Moorea (the Thalasso, for example, is on a separate motu, or small side island, and you need to take a boat to the main island – the boats run relatively frequently though, and many people take them to and from dinner). Also, most of the nicer restaurants will pick you up and drop you off at the dock.
Kaina Hut – this is a great French restaurant – the setting is very pretty and outdoors, and the food is great! There was a slight delay in picking us up, and to make up for it, they gave us complimentary desserts. Kaina Hut was probably our favorite restaurant, apart from Villa Mahana, of course!
Villa Mahana – this restaurant is INCREDIBLE! It’s also very famous, so you need to book very far in advance (we literally booked months in advance by emailing Damian, the chef). There’s only 6 tables, I think, with one seating a night. We emailed early enough to reserve the head table, which is the top table that is placed outdoors and overlooks the terrace, and it was wonderful! Apparently Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban sat there, which I repeatedly informed FH. :) We got the honeymoon prix fixe menu, which was wonderful – and you get to meet Damian, and he is so nice. It’s just an amazing dining experience (pricey, though!! I think we spent around $400)
Matira Beach – this was probably our least favorite restaurant of the honeymoon, not because the food wasn’t amazing – it really is – but because the service is just so painfully slow. We almost missed our boat back! And we had to choke down our $50 dessert like it was jello. So if you don’t mind arriving early and having a very leisurely dinner, it might be a good experience, but if you get impatient like us, maybe consider an alternative!
Bloody Mary’s – this is the tourist staple that every couple should try – the food was okay, but I think people go more for the experience (and to see the list of famous patrons that’s prominently displayed at the entrance). All of the fresh fish and meat is laid out, and you point to what you want to “order” your dinner. The floor is covered with sand, and you sit on tree stumps. It’s pretty fun and entertaining. (You might also want to book this with the concierge when you get there or even before, this is the other restaurant that tends to book up).
Activities:
Moana Jet Boat tour – this was so much fun, we highly recommend it. If you’re interested in snorkeling with stingrays and sharks, there are pretty much two options – a stingray and shark feeding (which is less environmentally friendly, I’ve heard), and this option, where they don’t feed the stingrays and sharks, but you still swim with them. It was amazing! There were so many stingrays and sharks that swim all around you, it’s just incredible. The boat tour also stops at coral gardens, where you can swim around for awhile (it’s near a private island that is owned by the owner of NARS cosmetics).
Scuba diving – FH and I completed 2 more dives here – we went with Nemo Dive tours. They were fine, although they really crowded the boat, and for the first dive, there was no visibility at ALL – I think that was because we were forced to go to a less visible area due to some of the more advanced divers, who wanted to do a drift dive. The second dive was lovely, there were more lemon sharks. However, if I were to go again, I might try another dive company – I’ve read TopDive is good. Nemo was okay, and it was the one recommended by the hotel, but we really took it because they seemed to be the only one who offered 2 tank dives. We also tried to go on a night dive, but there wasn’t enough other interest to organize one – if you are interested in a night dive, definitely mention something to the concierge early.
Aquasafari – we definitely recommend this as well! This is aimed more for people who don’t scuba dive, so we were skeptical whether it would be worth it for us to go, but it was a completely different experience – we’re glad we went. You wear an air helmet, and they constantly pump air into the helmet, so you don’t need to breathe through a regulator. Also, you’re only down at 15 feet. There are stingrays and tropical fish, and they give you a loaf of bread to attract the fish. It’s like walking around with a giant fish tank on your head. Lots of fun!
Snorkelling/kayaking – this is also free at the hotel (I think you can windsurf as well, but we didn’t try that), and it’s a LOT of fun to kayak or snorkel up to your O/W bungalow. There’s also a lot of interesting underwater life around the bungalows – FH and I saw a shark, a stingray, a puffer fish, and an octopus.
I think that’s it, FM me with any questions!
For our honeymoon, we went to Tahiti (Papeete), Moorea, and Bora Bora. We had a wonderful time (although for the first few days, I was totally in a post-wedding reverie, where all I wanted to do was talk and think about the wedding!).
Honeymoon Registry: thehoneymoon.com
FH and I have been together for over 7 years, and we live together, so we have almost everything we need, house-wise. We did register at Crate & Barrel and Bed, Bath & Beyond for the guests who would prefer to buy a tangible gift, but we decided to create a honeymoon registry as our primary registry. It was a huge success! Our guests loved browsing the kinds of activities we were thinking about for our honeymoon, and they liked feeling like they were a part of the trip - many people commented on what a great idea it was. (However, many guests thought that they were actually buying the specific activity for us, which made it a bit awkward when I explained that it was more like credit for such an activity that we could use for another activity.) Honeymoon registries also take a percentage commission, but I think most of our guests treated that similar to tax.
PAPEETE
Transfers: Moana Travel (I think?)
The transfers were fine, efficient and friendly and on time - they greeted us with flower necklaces (you'll get a lot of these in French polynesia).
Hotel: Sheraton Hotel Tahiti
The hotel was fine - like most couples, we were only here to sleep en route to Moorea (our flight landed really late at night, and we left around noon the next morning). In the morning, we walked around the grounds a little, and the pool looked beautiful, but we weren't here long enough to really know. The room was also fine, quite nice, with some complimentary fruit.
MOOREA
A couple of impressions of Moorea - it was a little more chilly than I expected (and more chilly than Bora Bora), although this could have just been the weather that week. Also, although we had always heard that the underwater life is more impressive at Bora Bora, I found that the scuba dives we did in Moorea were more impressive. It's true though that Moorea has more of a 'town' that you can walk into, whereas the resorts in Bora Bora are more isolated (this could just be the resorts that we chose to stay at).
Hotel: Moorea Pearl Resort
The Pearl was very nice. We decided to stay in a garden view room, because we had heard that Moorea's overwater bungalows were not as spectacular as Bora Bora's, and I think we made the right decision. It was not far to walk to the pool and ocean (there's not much of a 'beach' at the Pearl), and the O/W bungalows at the Pearl are pretty much suspended over deep water (whereas at Bora Bora, it's almost like you have a private lagoon, with green-blue water that you can stand up in). Our room was very pretty, and the Pearl itself is well-located for walking into town (you can walk there in 10 minutes, although you are walking along a busy main road - the only road around the island, really). We never ate at the hotel, so I'm not sure what the food was like. The check-in is quick, and they give you some fruit juice while you are waiting. Also, one thing that we realized on the day we checked out (figures) is that they have free wifi near the bar!
Food:
We had brought some snacks with us that lasted through the first week, and we also bought food at the grocery store in town (I think it's called Maharepa or something) - even still, we ended up spending over $2000 overall on food alone (the single-most expensive thing on our honeymoon!). (There's also a pharmacy in town, which came in handy when I realized that I forgot travel-sickness medicine, and you can also check internet at Maria Tapas, although we didn't end up doing that.)
Rudy's restaurant - we went here on our first night, and it was good, although we were jetlagged, so I don't have many impressions. (Rudy's, like most of the nicer restaurants, will pick you up and drop you off at your hotel.)
Alfredo's restaurant – this is a nice restaurant, and on Sundays, there’s live music. The poisson cru (a famous Tahitian dish) is really nice here.
Mahogany restaurant - FH and I quite liked this restaurant, it is relatively close to the Pearl, and has pretty good Chinese-French fusion food (although neither of us ended up ordering any of the Chinese dishes)
Maria Tapas - I actually would not recommend eating here - the service is friendly, but it's really more of a bar than a restaurant, but the food is overpriced for what it is (essentially cheap Mexican food)
Honu Iti - this was probably our favorite restaurant in Moorea - really friendly service, and faces Cook's Bay (although it gets dark so early in the summer, we didn't really have much of a view). However, it's pretty fun to watch the stingrays swim in the water next to the restaurant (and they also have someone who comes to feed the stingrays, which is entertaining as well). The food was also probably among the best we had in Moorea, great French food.
Allo Pizza – this is a really cute pizza place that you can order takeout from or drop by to eat (there’s pretty much a bar with stools, but it’s all open-air). We stopped by when we rented the scooter. The pizza’s great! Really inventive and creative, and thin-crust, so New Yorkers will feel at home. :)
Activities:
We booked all our activities through the concierge at the hotel, which was convenient and easy - I think there's kind of a monopoly of activity providers, and the prices are more or less fixed, so unless you know specifically of a tour group you want to go with, it's probably easiest just to let the concierge book it and put it on your room bill.
Snorkelling and Kayaking - these activities are free at the hotel, and although the snorkelling is a little difficult (there are some great schools of tropical fish in the water near the Pearl, but at the bungalows, where most people jump in to snorkel, there's a steep dropoff right away, which makes snorkelling a little difficult), kayaking is a lot of fun, and I noticed that some guests took snorkelling equipment and kayaked out to the shallow reefs to snorkel.
4x4 Safari around the island - FH and I had a lot of fun on one of our few 'dry land' activities. We drove inland to a pineapple plantation, which was interesting and beautiful, and we also went to a tropical fruit jelly tasting. We also got to see Cook’s Bay and a high point on the island that overlooks the lagoon (and the driver scares you on a steep hill they call “Magic Mountain”). Finally, they take you to a pineapple distillery, where you try increasingly lethal shots. FH is a big drinker, and even he was flagging by the end!
Scuba Diving – we did 2 dives in Moorea, and 2 dives in Bora Bora (FH and I are PADI certified open water divers). We went with the dive center at the Pearl, and it was actually just us and the two instructors. The dives were amazing! On the first dive, we dove with around 10 lemon sharks and numerous black-tipped reef sharks. We also saw two moray eels, a couple of lion fish, etc. On the second dive, we dove with sea turtles, one of which was so friendly, she came straight up to us – beautiful. If you like diving, I highly recommend diving in Moorea!
Tiki Village – we went to the Tiki Village dance and dinner, which was a lot of fun, and the food was actually really good (although they make you wait a long time until you get to eat it!). I think it’s open during the day as well, although you don’t get food, of course – you just walk around. The dance portion (with the professional dancers) was entertaining as well, and you can take photos with the dancers afterwards (FH was excited to take a photo with one of the prettiest dancers!).
Scooters – we decided to rent scooters and drive around the island, which we highly recommend! It was a lot of fun to be able to go where you want, and it’s virtually impossible to get lost, as there’s really only one main road. We got to try some of the small food shacks by the water this way, and it was just a lot of fun to ride around the island.
Dolphin and Whale Watching – we went on the boat tour with Dr. Michael Poole to watch whales and dolphins in their natural habitat (which is supposedly much less environmentally harmful than swimming with the dolphins in the lagoonarium). Well, the flipside is that you don’t always see whales and dolphins, although apparently you do 95% of the time. When we went, we saw whales, but not dolphins (apparently, if you see spinner dolphins, and the water is calm, you can jump in and snorkel with them). However, if you decide to do this, and you get seasick, take travel medicine! I forgot mine, and needless to say, I didn’t get to see too much of the whales dancing around us (one breached and one flashed his tail).
BORA BORA
Bora Bora is REALLY beautiful – and we LOVED having an O/W bungalow here! The water was such an amazing blue-green, and it was like having your own private lagoon. It was also much warmer and more paradise-like and luxurious.
Hotel: Intercontinental Hotel and Thalasso Spa
This hotel is really amazing – so beautiful, and the O/W bungalows are just breathtaking. The bungalows themselves are spacious and clean and beautiful, but if you add to that the amazing lagoon, it really is like you’re in paradise. One piece of advice – sign up for the Ambassador program! You pay a fee, but you get more than the value of the fee through free bungalow upgrades and late checkouts (we had a really nice bungalow that faced outward to the lagoon and had a great view of the main island, and we really took advantage of the late checkout, since the flight back to New York is late at night – it was like having an extra day). You also get the American (i.e., hot) breakfast, which is great. For lunch, we often ate at the Sands restaurant (at the hotel), and for dinner, we only ate at the hotel once (the Reef restaurant), but it was very good and the prix fixe menu is actually great value, once you compare it with the pricey (but good!) restaurants on the main island! Be prepared for a really long check-in time, though.
Food:
The resorts on Bora Bora seem to be more isolated on the whole than resorts on Moorea (the Thalasso, for example, is on a separate motu, or small side island, and you need to take a boat to the main island – the boats run relatively frequently though, and many people take them to and from dinner). Also, most of the nicer restaurants will pick you up and drop you off at the dock.
Kaina Hut – this is a great French restaurant – the setting is very pretty and outdoors, and the food is great! There was a slight delay in picking us up, and to make up for it, they gave us complimentary desserts. Kaina Hut was probably our favorite restaurant, apart from Villa Mahana, of course!
Villa Mahana – this restaurant is INCREDIBLE! It’s also very famous, so you need to book very far in advance (we literally booked months in advance by emailing Damian, the chef). There’s only 6 tables, I think, with one seating a night. We emailed early enough to reserve the head table, which is the top table that is placed outdoors and overlooks the terrace, and it was wonderful! Apparently Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban sat there, which I repeatedly informed FH. :) We got the honeymoon prix fixe menu, which was wonderful – and you get to meet Damian, and he is so nice. It’s just an amazing dining experience (pricey, though!! I think we spent around $400)
Matira Beach – this was probably our least favorite restaurant of the honeymoon, not because the food wasn’t amazing – it really is – but because the service is just so painfully slow. We almost missed our boat back! And we had to choke down our $50 dessert like it was jello. So if you don’t mind arriving early and having a very leisurely dinner, it might be a good experience, but if you get impatient like us, maybe consider an alternative!
Bloody Mary’s – this is the tourist staple that every couple should try – the food was okay, but I think people go more for the experience (and to see the list of famous patrons that’s prominently displayed at the entrance). All of the fresh fish and meat is laid out, and you point to what you want to “order” your dinner. The floor is covered with sand, and you sit on tree stumps. It’s pretty fun and entertaining. (You might also want to book this with the concierge when you get there or even before, this is the other restaurant that tends to book up).
Activities:
Moana Jet Boat tour – this was so much fun, we highly recommend it. If you’re interested in snorkeling with stingrays and sharks, there are pretty much two options – a stingray and shark feeding (which is less environmentally friendly, I’ve heard), and this option, where they don’t feed the stingrays and sharks, but you still swim with them. It was amazing! There were so many stingrays and sharks that swim all around you, it’s just incredible. The boat tour also stops at coral gardens, where you can swim around for awhile (it’s near a private island that is owned by the owner of NARS cosmetics).
Scuba diving – FH and I completed 2 more dives here – we went with Nemo Dive tours. They were fine, although they really crowded the boat, and for the first dive, there was no visibility at ALL – I think that was because we were forced to go to a less visible area due to some of the more advanced divers, who wanted to do a drift dive. The second dive was lovely, there were more lemon sharks. However, if I were to go again, I might try another dive company – I’ve read TopDive is good. Nemo was okay, and it was the one recommended by the hotel, but we really took it because they seemed to be the only one who offered 2 tank dives. We also tried to go on a night dive, but there wasn’t enough other interest to organize one – if you are interested in a night dive, definitely mention something to the concierge early.
Aquasafari – we definitely recommend this as well! This is aimed more for people who don’t scuba dive, so we were skeptical whether it would be worth it for us to go, but it was a completely different experience – we’re glad we went. You wear an air helmet, and they constantly pump air into the helmet, so you don’t need to breathe through a regulator. Also, you’re only down at 15 feet. There are stingrays and tropical fish, and they give you a loaf of bread to attract the fish. It’s like walking around with a giant fish tank on your head. Lots of fun!
Snorkelling/kayaking – this is also free at the hotel (I think you can windsurf as well, but we didn’t try that), and it’s a LOT of fun to kayak or snorkel up to your O/W bungalow. There’s also a lot of interesting underwater life around the bungalows – FH and I saw a shark, a stingray, a puffer fish, and an octopus.
I think that’s it, FM me with any questions!
