Top 5 Travel Tips for French Polynesia

I honestly never thought I would be writing my experiences and tips on traveling to French Polynesia because I almost gave up on the whole trip multiple times. French Polynesia was one of my wife’s bucket list trips, and it is on almost everyone’s list. You see the beautiful beaches, crystal clear waters, the overwater bungalows and you instantly wish you were there. Once we had our date picked for our wedding we instantly knew we wanted to spend our honeymoon in Bora Bora.

I began my research and found that Costco Travel was having a sale with a lot of perks included. I booked it right away. Everything seemed to be going smoothly for our wedding and honeymoon on May 4, 2020; what could go wrong right? Well as you know we couldn’t have our wedding or honeymoon in May 2020 because everything was shutdown and there were no flights going to French Polynesia. We had to reschedule everything about 4-5 times and it was exhausting and frustrating for about a full year. This actually brings me to my first tip on Traveling to French Polynesia or anywhere for that matter.

1. Book through a reputable travel agency or have protection

I can honestly say that booking through Costco Travel was well worth it. They always took care of the changes and helped us every step of the way. A lot of things were out of their hands but they managed to always book us on a new flight or even a new resort. Unfortunately our resort for Moorea went out of business so Costco Travel reached out and booked us another resort for the same price. The airlines were the most difficult because they operated outside of the United States. Most people who fly to French Polynesia fly with Air Tahiti Nui, and they can be a pain to get a hold of but Costco took care of everything.

I did hear of other people completely losing out on all their money because their travel agency wouldn’t help rebook their vacation or they went out of business. My recommendation if going through a travel agency is go with a well established travel agency that will take care of you and hopefully not go out of business. If you decide to do book everything on your own I would recommend using a credit card because a lot credit cards offer travel protection in case your flights are cancelled or your hotel stays are cancelled. I will give you my personal suggestions later in this post.

2. Traveling during Covid

This is subject to whenever you’re reading this post so it might or might not apply to you. We visited French Polynesia in August 2021 and there were a lot of guidelines and procedures we had to follow even before stepping foot on the airplane. Although these are the guidelines we had to follow they might be different for you so please constantly check https://tahititourisme.com/en-us/covid-19/ for updates.

-1. Covid test; We had to take a covid test within 72 hours of our flight and receive a negative result.

-2. Register on www.etis.pf  between 30 to 6 days the latest, prior to departure. Very important to complete everything because if you do not, they won’t let you fly. Unfortunately we did see a family who wasn’t allowed to fly because they did not register with ETIS.

-3. Congratulations if you have made it this far! Now you’re flying to Pape’ete and going to arrive at the Faaa International Airport. Once you land you will wait in line to submit your documentation and take another Covid-19 test. Once completed they will give you some documents with a login so you can see your results in a day or two. After your test you can continue on your vacation.

-4. Hopefully all is well and you had a great vacation but now its time to go home. You will take a Covid test before flying back. We heard of people taking the tests at their resorts and hotels but we took ours at the Faaa airport. We received our results in about 45 minutes and we had to show security the negative results before entering the terminal.

-5. Masks; We did have to wear masks throughout our flight, inside the airports, and sometimes during our resort stay. During our excursions we didn’t really wear masks because we were outdoors and in open areas but I recommend to follow any guidelines they might have.

3. Transfers & Transportation

I will be honest, if I booked everything myself and didn’t use Costco Travel I would have been lost or stuck in the airport. Depending if you’re going to be visiting Islands other than Tahiti you definitely need transportation and transfers setup. Our trip itinerary was to land in Tahiti and go straight to Moorea for 4 days and then Bora Bora for 5 days. Once we landed a shuttle was ready to take us to the fairy boats, and then the fairy would be taking us to Moorea. After we docked another shuttle was going to take us to our resort.

After our stay at the Manava Beach Resort and Spa we took a shuttle to the airport. At the local airport we boarded a plane to Bora Bora. FYI if flying from Moorea to Bora Bora sit on the left side of the plane because it has the best views, and returning sit on the right side of the plane. Once we landed we took a boat ride to The Intercontinental La Moana. The boat dropped us off right at the resorts dock where we were greeted by staff. On our last day we took the boat back to the airport in Bora Bora, and then we flew directly to Faaa International Airport in Tahiti.

If you are planning on Island hopping I would make sure all the transfers are setup before you arrive in Tahiti. I would also recommend to have them included in your package because if you were to pay each transfer out of pocket it can be pricey.

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4. Money

The thing that we were most unsure about was money. We had so many questions like how much money do we need to take, how do we change from US dollar into CFP franc, how much do things cost, and how much do you tip? All we heard was that things are really expensive on the islands, especially alcohol. I tried to plan out our finances and what cards to take as best as I could but we were going to have to learn how much things cost when we arrived in French Polynesia.

1. Exchanging US dollar into CFP franc: I had been planning this trip for over a year now and I did my research on the best ways to convert currencies while traveling and I learned to use the Charles Schwab debit card. I saved up our spending money and placed it into the Charles Schwab checking account for us to use in French Polynesia. The best thing about this debit card is that you can use it in any ATM around the world and withdraw money in their currency without any fees. This debit card does not charge any foreign transaction fees. This was awesome because I could use the ATM at the airport or at any bank on the islands and take out CFP Francs and not have to pay a dime in fees. Here is the link if you wish to check it out. https://www.schwab.com/checking
2. Cost: Everything in French Polynesia is relatively expensive because they import a lot of their goods, and their pricing is way different than the United States. For example a soda in the US is about $2.00 US but in French Polynesia its $2000 francs so be prepared to see big numbers. I would say some goods there can be about twice as much as you’d normally spend in the US. We did go to the markets to buy some things but luckily our food was included in our stay, and that brings me to my next point. The local food can be expensive depending on where you go. On average a lunch or dinner with cocktails for two usually came out to be between $50-$100 US. If you have the option to include your breakfast and dinners in your package I would definitely recommend it. The resorts usually does a buffet style breakfast and an entree and appetizer for dinner. We felt we saved a lot of money with the breakfast and dinners included. We only at out a few times for lunch because we wanted to try some local authentic food.
3. Tipping: It is not customary over there but they usually will say tip if you want and however much you want. We usually tipped about $1000 CFP franc which is equal to about $10 us.
4. Credit Cards: I always travel with credit cards so I was happy to see that they accepted VISA almost everywhere but AMEX not so much. You can book your excursions directly through the hotel and at the end you will pay for your excursions and tabs. You can pay with your credit card on file if you wish.
5. PRO TIP: If you know which resort you’re staying at, it doesn’t hurt to see if that resort has a co-branded credit card. I wish I had realized that Intercontinental is part of the IHG group and they have a credit card with Chase. I would have opened an IHG Chase card and paid my entire bill with it at the Intercontinental Le Moana and I would have received 25x points per dollar spent. Now I know to always check to see who owns the resorts we are staying at and see if they have a co-branded credit card.

5. Stay in the Overwater Bungalows

I cannot recommend the overwater bungalows enough. The pictures of the bungalows stretching out over the water was the reason we came to Bora Bora. Is it worth the extra money?? Yes! We loved it because of the added privacy and the access to the water right from our deck. I love love love the water. I could spend all day swimming and having access to the coral reefs right outside our deck was amazing. Every day I would snorkel and feed the fish outside our bungalow. My wife doesn’t enjoy being in the water as much as I do but she does enjoy sitting outside and enjoying the views and the sound of the water. This was perfect for her as well because she was able to sit and relax and enjoy the lagoon privately on our deck. Like I said I love the water but experiencing nighttime there sitting on the deck was magical. Every night we would sit outside and look up at the beautiful night sky. The stars were magnificent and bright, and in one night I counted about seven shooting stars. There is no greater feeling than laying on the deck with the water beneath you and the stars above you. It was truly a once in a lifetime moment.

Thank you for reading and hopefully some of these tips helped you. Please consider subscribing to our newsletter and continue to check back as I might add more French Polynesia travel tips and tricks later. Safe travels and let’s continue to master leisure together.