French Polynesia
French Polynesia – this is the most correct and self-explanatory name of the country. It is Polynesia, but a little bit French. French influence is the strongest in Tahiti and surrounding Society islands but dissolves the further you get.
Most people imagine a handful of French islands lost somewhere in deep waters. Actually, there are 118 islands in French Polynesia. 118! It is a ridiculously huge territory, much more extended than France in Europe. Besides the famous Tahiti and Bora Bora, there are other 65 inhabited islands with local communities, towns, local languages (besides French and Tahitian) and their own customs!
How to travel to and inside French Polynesia
The cheapest flights to get to Tahiti are organized from Paris via San Francisco (with Frenchbee), and from Auckland (with Air New Zealand).
Whichever other islands you want to reach, you have to take another domestic flight or boat from Tahiti. The below map is a photo taken from Air Tahiti magazine onboard. Europe contours are shown just to give a perspective of distances. All the islands are grouped in five archipelagos: Society (in the centre on the left), Marquesas (in the North), Tuamotu (in the middle), Gambier (in the South-East), Australes (in the South).
By the way, those islands marked in red and green on the map are 14 islands which we have visited during this trip, yellow ones are the islands visited by Adriano alone some years ago.
The distance to get from one end to another is like crossing the whole of Europe. It takes 3.5 hours flight to get from Tahiti to Marquesas and five days on a cargo boat to get to Rapa Iti in Australes islands. Boats are not fast, they stop everywhere and have to unload cargo, but gives you a chance to see many islands on the way and unique experience of crossing the Pacific ocean. Not every island has an airport, but all islands get cargo brought by boats, so cargoes are a chance, for very stubborn travellers, to reach remote places. And of course, another and probably the nicest way to travel is by a private yacht.
Is it touristic?
The Society Islands (including the main island Tahiti, Bora Bora, Moorea, Raiatea, Huahine, Taha’a, Maupiti) are the most touristic and modern. However, I could not call it massive tourism. Not even in the most famous Bora Bora. Bora Bora is extremely expensive and it mainly hosts honeymooners. Funnily enough, even in Bora Bora, tourists tend to stay in their luxurious 5-star resorts, so the main village in the centre of the island is almost free of tourists. Once a week or so, a cruise from the United States passes and stops at Nuku Hiva, Bora Bora and Tahiti.
Is it worth to go to French Polynesia?
A million times YES! For us, this is one of the best and most interesting places visited. Every archipelago is different in landscape and its history, there is lots of archaeology of ancient tribes. It is probably the most famous for luxurious all-inclusive, honeymoon type of holidays, but even for us wanderlusting with backpacks and looking for adventures and new experiences, French Polynesia is amazing. For example, the Marquesas, almost empty from tourists, covered in lush mountains, exciting because of their cannibalism history, are completely different from Tuamotu atolls covered by white coral sands, or from nowadays industrial Papeete city in Tahiti, which once upon a time was that painted paradise, land full of fruits and welcoming people for exhausted first world travellers. Australes are so very isolated and remote, that even locals from Society islands feel like in exotic place there.
We crossed three archipelagoes one after another. It was very hot in Marquesas, we were bathing daily in Bora Bora, but in Australes islands, we walked covered by a few layers of all our warmest clothes. Look at the map, the distance between Marquesas and Australes is like from Rome to Stockholm.
Like many travellers, writers and painters, we fell in love with these islands. They are so very far from Europe to travel and very expensive, but the travel is worth the pain and emptying your bank account. French Polynesia is unique, has an original Polynesian population with local Polynesian customs, art and dances. Food is fantastic and offers unique Polynesian dishes, even different ways of cooking underground to try. Thank God, these islands were not colonised by English or Americans. Joking. However… mixing great Polynesian ingredients and traditional cooking with excellent French taste, makes French Polynesia a gourmet destination.
Where to stay
We tried hotels and Airbnb. For us, it wasn’t a honeymoon or a luxurious city escape. We wanted to get to the most remote spots, see many islands in one month, therefore we were very savvy about the budget. After this trip, I can openly say that renting rooms at local families was the best decision. We achieved much more experience of local life this way. In French Polynesia, as in most other places in the world, life in hotels and local daily life are two different worlds. One particular feature of local B&B (which at least happened to us) was that hosting families were very much welcoming us to participate in their daily life. It always felt that also for them it was interesting to meet new people. Some of them, openly told us that they didn’t care about the payments, they did not do it for business, but for entertainment, meeting people from other countries.
Colonial vibes
When Adriano was looking for all the flights and connections in the Pacific, one thing stood out – there are no connections between French Polynesia and its neighbour countries. It is well connected with Western world (Australia, the USA, Europe, New Zealand, Japan), but not with neighbouring Samoa, Kiribati, not even Fiji, which is another big hub of flights in the Pacific. More to this, when you travel around Pacific countries, local people talk about all their neighbours but nobody knows anything about French Polynesia, and the opposite – people in French Polynesia know much more about daily news in Europe than what is happening in the closest country next to them. It is like there was a big wall around all those islands with the only one communication channel from France. The majority of tourists are from France, the locals travel (if they ever do) to France, products are imported from France, any expat foreigner (even the English teachers) are from… you guessed it… France! It is like the rest of the world would not exist.
Travel advice
There are three major challenges to travel in French Polynesia. One is the costs. We saved every penny, with no doubt spent half of what many other tourists would spend, and still, I am ashamed to tell loud how much was one month in French Polynesia (Adriano is not ashamed – it cost 9000 EUR, and to save money most of the time we ate bread with spread pate from the supermarket). It is a very expensive place. The only cheap thing is fresh tuna. If I remember it correctly – 4 EUR for a kilo.
The second challenge is language. You need at least some basic French. Outside luxurious hotels in Bora Bora for honeymooners, you will not get far with English.
The third is the challenge to get service. Probably, it does not apply to Society islands, which are the most modern and host most of the tourists, but anywhere further, it is surprisingly challenging to find motivated people to do any service and agree on something precise.
Imagine the islands, where life goes slow; everyone is wealthy (salaries here are 1200-4000 Eur per month, and often people work only a few days or hours per week). Every French colony which we have visited had this characteristic of super friendly, cheerful, always laughing, but a bit bored, a bit lazy, little motivated people when it comes to working. They will do anything even for free if you are their friend if it is fun and amusing, but working for work, doing some service for foreign tourists, seems that the whole concept makes everybody yawning.
We had one funny story with our transfer to the airport. Upon arrival, the lady who brought us to the airport asked +30EUR more from each of us than what we knew other tourists were paying. I asked why we have to pay more. Her answer was something like, “You know, it is the beginning of the school year, and I want to buy some more things for my children”. People are very kind and it leaves you perplexed with how much honesty they tell you these things. Such reasoning would not make sense in Paris, but in French Polynesia it does. Somewhere deep inside, there is still a shade of tribe culture. The wellbeing of family, community needs, time together, actual goods and food are valued, but this whole new thing of economy, price lists, services… often gets tourists lost in translation.
The best thing to do is do your homework: search for other tourists recommendations, read reviews. If you are limited in any resources (time, money, patience, language), it is very much advised to land on remote islands with all your flight tickets, hotels and transfers from the airport pre-booked.
Finally, relax. French Polynesia is worth it. Get ready for a completely new experience. This is not France, just a little bit French but still exotic and very little seen Polynesia.
Visited in October, 2018