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Island in French Polynesia
Photo: DANIEL JULIE from Paris, France, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Moorea is an island in the Society Islands archipelago, a few kilometers off the northwest coast of Tahiti. If you are visiting French Polynesia on a budget, Moorea is the place to be. Moorea is like Tahiti but cheaper and less touristy.
From the travel guide. Select a place for details, a map and what is nearby.
You can see sacred Mt. Rotui, Cook's Bay, and Opunohu Bay. There's also the ruins of an ancient temple along the road to Belvedere Lookup.
There are several scattered around the island. None are very big. All require some hiking. Some you are supposed to pay a few dollars to see although there may or may not be anybody around to accept payment.
Jus de Fruits de Moorea
The juice factory and distillery and the gift shop provides a "tour" of free sample of juice and various liqueurs. The distillery is available for tours M-F 9AM-4PM.
A shop selling fresh fruit juice (500 F), jams, vanilla, souvenirs, and clothes, set in a garden with a beautiful view of Opunohu Bay. It's up a steep and narrow road off the main road, and is well signed. On Friday and Saturday (only), they sell a Polynesia lunch from 11:30 to 14:00 for 1500 F including grilled fish, raw fish, taro, plantain, bananas, coconut bread, manioc and fruit juice.
You can rent or buy snorkeling stuff but do yourself a favor and bring your own. Just about anywhere in the lagoon is pretty decent. The channel between Motu Fareone and Motu Tiahura off the northwest point is particularly nice. You can swim out to it from the beach but it's a long swim and there are strong currents in this area. Otherwise hire a boat. A good tour to take is Hiro's Tour from Club Bali. It is a reasonable price and you get to do a feeding with sharks, stingrays and also a picnic on a motu.
Reef breaks mostly, not a good place for beginners.
There is a pretty extensive trail network on Moorea. If you take the ferry across from Pape’ete, you can head up the road from the Bayside Moorea Market - at the end of this road the trail begins to the Col de Vai’are (1 hr approx). From the col, you can see most of the island’s north side. Going southwest from here, the trail continues to the viewpoint at Trois Pinus, and onward to Belvedere (2 hr approx). From Belvedere, there is a trail map posted. Continuing on from here you can go to the viewpoint at Trois Cocotiers (45-60 minutes). Maps of the hiking trails on Moorea can be found on the MAPS.ME app, including some viewpoints, waterfalls and landmarks. Bring insect repellent and lots of water because it's hot, humid and buggy. It also tends to be muddy, depending on the weather.
These are guided tours of Moorea's amazing interior. Trips will vary based on the tour company. Most trips are about 4 hours in length and will travel to four distinct locations. Some of the locations visited are listed in the previous section. This is an easy method for visiting multiple locations in a short period of time.
This is a great way to see the beautiful interior of the island. Your guide will pick fresh fruits from trees and pineapples from the ground for you to eat when you reach the high lookout point. Wear jeans and good shoes.
Instead of paying for your hotel's Tahitian buffet and show, spend the money and go to the Tiki Village for a much better dinner and show. You will be shown around a replica of a traditional Tahitian village, educated about the local Polynesians' way of life, served a buffet dinner, white and red wine included, then entertained by a talented 60-person troupe of dancers, singers, and musicians. Transportation and tickets arranged by your hotel activities desk.
Shopping
The Moorea Store offers many things from souvenirs, to lotions to Black Pearls. Xavier and his partner own the store and are very friendly and helpful. This store is across the road and to the right of the Intercontinental Resort and Spa. Tuatini Activities is also operated by Xavier and his wife Taina, they provide sunset cruises, private tours, Motu transfers with picnic, motu rental, fare rental, wedding and glass-bottom boat.
Has all the essentials, and is close to most of the lodging and resorts.
Across the road from the ferry station is a pizza place well worth a visit. It's run by a French couple that speaks no English, but the menu has English explanations and the ham and pineapple are highly recommended.
The local bread. Make a sandwich with meat, cheese, etc. Nothing fancy. Very portable. Along with a beer, this makes for good eats on the beach.
French cuisine with Island influences, specializing in steak and seafood dishes.Seating is limited, so it is highly recommended you make a reservation. If you are staying at one of the larger hotels on the Island, they will arrange to pick you up and drop you off if you have a reservation.
A traditional French Polynesian "snack" restaurant offering grab and go Chinese food and pastries.
Traditional French Polynesian "Snack" restaurant offering local Polynesian dishes like poisson cru and more. Offers outdoor seating.
Small little pizza place with a very large selection. As you sit you have a view of them hand making their pizzas from the dough to putting it in the oven. This place only has outdoor bar-style seating, so plan accordingly depending on the weather. They also can deliver depending on where you are staying on the island.
Non descript but delicious place to get fish, raw or cooked, on the less visited side of the island. Often will do delivery without a fee to areas near there too if you call them.
On the north side in between the two bays. A kitchen is available for use, with refrigerator.
On the north side between the two bays.
The bungalow is clean, has a new bed, big fridge, small cooking oven, a TV, a shower, a toilet and is 2 m from the water and your own private beach.
Camping Moorea?
Cheap and right on the beach. It's a nice beach too, good sand, in the lagoon, palm trees, the whole megilla. Great reef snorkeling. Nice grounds with trees and flowers. Tent camping is available, as are dorm style, and motel style rooms. Kitchen facilities. Shared bathrooms, cold water (you won't want hot water anyway). Very basic accommodation, bring your own soap, TP, etc. No mosquitoes. Very social. Definitely the backpacker spot.
The other cheap place. Definitely second best beach-wise, and definitely cleaner than Moorea Camping.
Motel rooms and overwater bungalows. Very scenic location. There is only a small artificial beach here. The water is fine for swimming, warm and deep. It's not very good snorkeling though, it's not so clear and there isn't much coral. Good snorkeling can be found nearby though. There is a decent restaurant and a pool. Rooms are in good condition and have air-con and some have kitchenette. Within walking distance there's only one other restaurant (Italian) and a small bodega. There's no night life. If you get an over-water bungalow, beware of the one closest to the road, it's not over very much water and it's quite close to the road. Friendly staff, decent poisson cru.
Meaning "boarding house" in French, these are very small no frills lodging facilities. Typically less than 10 rooms or bungalows. Family operated along with a few extra employees. Accommodations will vary among the different pensions. Highly discouraged by travel agents as they do not receive commission on the bookings. Visitors must book their room directly with the pension, but contact info can be very difficult to find. And what little information is available on the internet is not the most reliable.
One of the top-rated resorts on the island and frequented by honeymooners. All rooms are bungalows, either "garden" or overwater. The lagoon around the resort are rife with coral & sea-life, making for terrific snorkeling.
This is the cheapest of the high-end resorts. Room types range from motel rooms to overwater bungalows. The views, along with the beach, are not spectacularly and thus the most you should splurge on is the garden bungalow. This resort has more than 80 rooms, and crowds will frequent the common areas. Mainly the pool, bar, and restaurant areas. The resort guest list is a mix of families and couples only. Snorkeling at the resort's beach is not very good. The big buffet dinners are Wednesday and Saturday nights. Wednesday (about US$63 + service fees per person) with song and dance by a local dance troupe. The Saturday buffet (US$76 + service fees per person) concludes with a fire dance. Better non-entertainment dining options are available within walking distance of the resort for half the price. Within walking distance of the resort is a small village. Exit the resort to the main road, turn right, and proceed for five minutes. You will arrive at a market, bank, snack bar, and a pizza restaurant. Exit the resort to the main road, this time turn left, and proceed for ten minutes, and you will arrive at another market with better prices and greater selection. There's also a neighbouring Japanese and seafood restaurants as well.
Quite pricey (more than US$700 for 2 people in overwater bungalow) but is a pristine, beautiful resort with fantastic staff and facilities. Reefs and coral were not as spectacular off the bungalows as they were at Le Meridien on Tahiti, but Ia Ora's has the bonus of having individual stairways to the water at each bungalow.
Also lovely and has overwater bungalows, but they were built on sand/rock instead of on docks over the water, so they are only a little over the water. However, they offer the best variety of activities. It is under construction.
The largest supermarket on the island, on the south side of Vai’are, the town with the ferry terminal. Freshly baked bread, pastries, all manner of goods. An ideal top to provision before heading elsewhere on the island.
Take the Aremiti high-speed ferry from Papeete: 1770 F each way, 10-11 times a day, and takes approximately 40 min (Oct 2022). The website will have up-to-date fares and schedules.
Read in the guideOther transportation
After the ferry arrives, one bus leaves from the ferry terminal in each direction around the island (clockwise and counterclockwise). The fare is 300 F.
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Papeete · International · PPT
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