The little-known Pacific Island arguably even better than Bora Bora
Friday, 19 June 2026
I’m luxuriating in the see-through cyan lagoon surrounding my overwater bungalow when I spy a pointed black fin zipping across the surface. Towards me.
An overdose of adrenaline surges through my veins, but I’m considerably less scared than I would have been if I hadn’t encountered blacktip reef sharks on a guided lagoon tour a few days earlier.
Averaging about 130kg and 1.5m in length, they look intimidating to foreigners but are considered tāura—totem animals and guardians—to the indigenous people of French Polynesia.
While their healthy appetite for lagoon fish helps maintain the delicate balance of the coral reef ecosystems they inhabit, they’re not known to be aggressive toward humans. I stand still in the torso-deep water as the sharks glide by, mercifully disinterested in my sunburned flesh.
It’s one of many close encounters of the surreal kind that I experience in my too-short time on Taha’a—a quieter, lower-key neighbour to world-famous Bora Bora.
As renowned for the luxury of its hotels as it is for the dramatic scenery, Bora Bora is, one local guide tells me, a bit of a “Disneyland” these days, while Taha’a, a flower-shaped island 38km to the southeast, boasts the beauty—and overwater bungalows—without the bustle.
Reached by boat from the “sacred” island of Raiatea, itself a 45-minute flight from Tahiti, it’s a coconut palm-fringed paradise of family-run pearl and vanilla farms, boutique rum distilleries, pearlescent beaches and villages half swallowed by the untamable jungle that surrounds them.
You can stay in an overwater bungalow if you choose—the remoteness and five-star facilities of Le Taha’a Pearl Resort & Spa have attracted celebrities such as Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis—but you don’t have to be a movie star or multimillionaire to stay there. The 90km² island is scattered with more affordable but still blissful B&Bs and there’s an eco-friendly campground amid tropical fruit trees and vanilla vines with traditional-style bungalows and tent sites.
I’m lucky enough to spend two nights at Le Taha’a, which sits on a private motu to the west of the eponymous island, rocketing in on the resort’s shuttle boat from Raiatea as unseasonable rainclouds part enough for spears of sunlight to uncover the lagoon’s impressive spectrum of blues. With its sandy white bottom, the water is such a clear milky blue I can see reef sharks, stingrays and multi-coloured fish dart through it as I cross the pier to my bungalow.
Traditional in style with its thatched pandanus roof and decorative tapa cloths, it’s as opulent inside as any Bora Bora honeymooner could hope for. A standout feature: The glass floor panels that make you feel like you’re spending the night in an aquarium.
Tired after an early flight from Mo’orea and a day-long tour on Raiatea, I lay on a lounger on the private deck as I gazed across the lagoon to a scattering of palm-covered motu and the dramatic silhouette of Bora Bora beyond. Even if I wasn’t so exhausted I feel like I’m starting to see things, I’d struggle to believe such a sublime scene is real—and that I’m in it.
A pre-dinner stroll through the resort’s flower and sculpture-filled gardens, I take a seat in the treetop main restaurant, the sweet, lemony scent of the endemic tiare flower drifting in through the open walls on the warm sea breeze like some priceless perfume.
I am tempted by divine-sounding French-style dishes such as foie gras infused with local vanilla and rum, but eventually opt for two of the specialties: korori (the sweet and salty muscle of the oysters producing French Polynesia’s coveted black pearls) with fish roe, passionfruit and Marquesan lime, followed by a big seared roll of red tuna in a mango, citrus and galanga vinaigrette.
The food I try during my week in the semi-autonomous French territory far surpasses that I had in Fiji, and Le Taha’a’s is among the best. The breakfast buffet the following morning offers the same greed-inducing combination of bold tropical flavours and French culinary flair. Think coconut creamy French toast, pastries sweetened with local honey, papaya the colour of a particularly pretty Pacific Island sunset, and chia pudding made with homemade coconut cream and the island’s highly prized vanilla.
Belly full to bursting, I climb aboard a speedboat for a lap of Taha’a with Vanbass Tours, stopping off at pearl and vanilla farms and a rum distillery to learn how they are produced before sitting down to a smorgasbord of traditional dishes at waterside picnic tables on the opposite side of Motu Tautau to Le Taha’a resort.
Two of our group take their plates of poisson cru (tangy lime-cure raw tuna mixed with diced cucumber, tomatoes and coconut milk), grilled lagoon fish, chicken, pork and local root vegetables to a table partly swallowed by the incoming tide in what is perhaps the best Monday lunch scene I have ever come across.
We’re wondering if we’ll sink or swim when we’re whisked off to the coral garden beside the resort, where the tide carries us swiftly across regenerating coral swarming with multi-coloured fish. I feel as though I am swimming through a kaleidoscope.
Waking the next morning to papaya-pink rays of sunlight streaming through my open-curtained windows, I descend the ladder from the deck for one last swim in the bath-warm water with that incredible view of Bora Bora. Even if I never make it to that fabled island, I’ll die happy knowing I spent a couple of days in another, surely equally beautiful, slice of heaven on Earth.
Fact file
Getting there: Raiatea is about a 45-minute flight from Tahiti, itself about a five–hour flight from Auckland. From there, most visitors catch a boat to Taha’a arranged by their accommodation. See: nz.airtahitinui.com
Staying there: Le Taha’a Resort & Spa is about 40 minutes from Raiatea Airport on the resort’s shuttle boat. See letahaa.com.
The author was a guest of Tahiti Tourisme.