Honeymoon Review~Bora Bora, Moorea, Tahaa

I found this on tripadvisor.com

i am staying at the sheraton on moorea for my honeymoon. YAY!

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I just got back from my two week honeymoon in French Polynesia and wanted to write up a review for everyone reading this site. I found this site to be very helpful while I was planning my honeymoon and I am hoping to return the favor by posting a thorough review of my time there. This might be a little long, but when you are planning such a big trip, more information is better than less in my opinion!

MOOREA:

My husband and I stayed at the Sheraton Moorea and COULD NOT have imagined staying anywhere else. The Sheraton Moorea is the perfect hotel. First, there are only 2 other "main" "well known" or "good" hotels on the island- the intercontinetal and the Pearl. We only stoped at the Pearl briefly to drop another cab passenger there so I didn't see the inside, but what I didn't like about the pearl was its location- closer to the airport and sort of near the main town. The Intercon and the Sheraton are further away near the bays, which is nicer. The Sheraton is in the perfect location, right smack between the two famous bays of Moorea. The Intercon is a little further along after the bays.

We spent some time at the Intercon because we did the Dolphin adventure, so we saw the resort. The biggest difference between this and the Sheraton is that the Intercon is a much bigger, more resort-ish place. And I don't really mean in a good way. There's so much going on there (they have people in the huge lobby selling necklaces like at a flea market, etc) that it felt too crazy for us. The Sheraton is a gorgeous resort too, with all the resort amenities, but smaller so more honeymoon-ish to us. There were kids all over the Intercon when we were there, but not at the Sheraton. Anyway, the Sheraton's bungalows are AWESOME (#107 or 109 is the best- all the way out and faces the sunset for an un-obstructed view- we had 107). Really big, such comfortable beds, great deck for sunbathing and dining. There's also an overwater bar at the sheraton which is cool. The food is good and the staff friendly and very attentive. Best of all, there is unbelievable snorkeling right outside your overwater bungalow. We saw tons and tons of crazy fish. There is coral everywhere, we spent hours each day exploring. We even saw an eel. (gross). I really can't recommend this resort enough for its tranquility, beauty, location, service. There are tons of activities like jet skiing, kayaking, etc there, its just smaller and more relaxed than what's happening at the Intercon I think.

On Moorea itself- rent a car or scooter and drive around the island and up to Belvedere point. Its really beautiful. Best restaurant we ate at was Aito (weird place, but great food) and Te Hono Iti. We didn't love Le Maghony or Le Plantation, but they weren't awful.

BORA BORA:

First, BB is beautiful. The island itself isn't as pretty or mountainous as Moorea, but it still has the one main mountain, Mt Otemanu, which is gorgeous to look at. But we weren't as interested in exploring the island in BB as we were in Moorea, which is fine since the point of coming here is the lagoon. And it really is something to be seen- Unbelieveable colors, truly remarkable. We went jet skiing (a must, because you get up close and personal with the island and lagoon more than you do in boats) and we did the shark and ray feeding tour. (This was Ok, not as cool as we thought.... but its definitely something everyone does on BB, so we felt like we had to at least go and see the rays. They do a circle island tour in the boat and then stop in one spot where they know there are sharks and rays and you can get into the water and see them, swim with them. Then there's additional snorkeling in coral gardens, which was OK).

We stayed at the Bora Bora Pearl Beach. This hotel was good, but I won't say I think you have to stay here. Its in a good location- its on its own motu, so there aren't other hotels in sight, and you have a direct view of Mt Otemanu. BUT, you get a direct view on the other side of the island where the Thalsso is, and I think the colors of the lagoon looked better on that side. More varied- deep, to emerald, to clear. At the Pearl, the water all around the hotel is only like 3-5 feet deep so its all clear. This is nice, but I just think its more interesting to see the different colors. Also, the rooms at the pearl are nice but not spectacular. The bed is VERY hard and uncomfortable. VERY. The food is pretty good, service was good, the pool is very nice. The new spa is AWESOME, such a beautiful setting and great services. So really there are good and bad things about it. I'd say the location, view of the mountain, service, and spa are excellent but then like I said its not totally plush rooms, bad bed, and i think it may have been more interesting to see other water. I am not staying don't stay here, but also look into the Thalsso, 4 seasons (if affordable). The hotel bora bora also looked like it had great snorkeling and color water, when we went past it in the boat (but no direct view of Mt Otemanu and no pool). I wouldn't stay at the Nui, simply because of its location. Its on a motu but it faces away from the main island and beautiful view of Bora Bora. You just look out into the sea... can't you do that anywhere? Also, don't stay at the old Intercontental, it looked ugly and its right near a million other old hotels, too crowded.

Restaurants: Villa Mahana was by far and away the BEST food we had in French Polynesia. GO THERE! Next best was Kaiha hut. Great seafood, and cute sand hut atmosphere. Top Dive is just like any New York City restaurant, so even though the food was pretty good I wouldn't recommend it. Bloody Marys was OK, I didn't think the food was good at all but its such a tourist thing to do that its hard not to go there, because you want to see what its all about, but I thought the service and food was poor.

Tahaa:

The whole reason to go here is to stay at Le Tahaa private island resort and spa. Not a lot of peope venture to the main island, because I don't think there's a lot going on there. I know they have activities like shark/ray feeding, etc but we didn't do any of that, we stayed at the hotel. AND WHAT A HOTEL IT IS. If you are even considering going here, DO IT. Tahaa is unbelievably gorgeous. I imagine it might be what Bora Bora was 30 yrs ago because all the development. This hotel is the only one on the island so you really feel like you are at the end of the earth, totally checked out in paradise. The color of the water is gorgeous, just like BB (not quite as spectacular but still unreal and gorgeous). And the hotel is unreal. The overwater bungalows are HUGE. HUGE! And so luxurious. The entire hotel is like this- gorgeous grounds with beautiful vegetation, a beach with palm trees, an open air restaurant in the main building, and an infinity pool with swim up bar. (the pool isn't huge but it doesn't matter, its beautiful and there's plenty of room). Its just a great hotel, GREAT service, great food. GO!

Hope this is helpful to someone. Post if you have questions

There is nothing better than finding a great detailed review of your future destination like that. Are you sure youre going to be able to get on the plane to come back home. I think you might have found paradise.

tahiti sounds so amazing...wish we could fit bora bora in but we can't so we are going to do tikihau and moorea.

Thanks for the reviews Tammy. We looked at a ton of reivews on tripadvisor.com before we booked our honeymoon. We can't wait to see for ourselves. Everyone says how amazing the water is there.

Matt and are leaving for our honeymoon on April 13th 2007. We will stay 1 night in Papeete, 3 nights at the Bora Bora Pearl Beach Resort and 3 days at the Le Tahaa private Island Resort and Spa. We will take a helicopter ride from Bora Bora to Tahaa....we are so excited!!

Thank you so much for this post! Those are the islands my fiance and I are planning to visit for our Honeymoon. Did you go through a travel agent, or have a package deal?