Moorea Island Activities

Moorea Dining & Nightlife

Tiki Village Theater
This is a cultural and folkloric center that presents a Polynesian extravaganza on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday & Saturday evenings. The evening includes a Tahitian Feast with dancing and fire. Tiki Village is also available & famous for providing Tahitian Wedding Ceremonies.

Aito
Serves a good selection of seafood and meat dishes. The Poisson cru is excellent with homemade chili condiment. Aito offers excellent cocktails and desserts. Restaurant has lagoon views with nice breezes.

Alfredos
For dinner this restaurant offers nice ambiance, good food, and some evening entertainment.

Te Honu Iti
Very nice upscale restaurant that is romantic and one of the nicest places to eat on Moorea. Ask for table by the railing so you can watch and feed the fish.

Roulotte Chez Mariana
Located in Maharepa, its in the magasin parking lot next to Le Mohagany. Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Best chao mein, poisson cru and boeuf au legumes anywhere on the island.

Le Mohagany
Located in Maharepa this restaurant serves French, Tahitian and Chinese food. Nice ambiance & good food..

Le Motu Pizza
Great place to stop roadside for lunch or snack. Located across the street from the old Club Med Moorea.

Blue Pineapple Grill
Located at Club Bali Hai. Great views of Cooks Bay, serves breakfast & lunch only.

Huahine

Huahine is truly an undiscovered paradise among the Society Islands. The island itself is actually 2 islands known as Huahine Nui & Huahine Iti (Big and Little Huahine) It is located 110 miles northwest of Tahiti and is 28 square miles in size. A bridge connects the 2 islands and can be easily explored in a day or two or more. Huahine sits just opposite Raiatea and Taha'a from Bora Bora, and is larger, greener, more pristine, more culturally rich and pure than most of the Leeward Islands. It boasts the most archeological & sacred sites and the nicest people anywhere in French Polynesia.

Any place on Huahine is pure paradise. There is a lookout where you can see across the center of the island and its interior lagoons, then Northwest of Huahine Iti lies a brackish lake known as Lac Fauna Nui (Lac Maeva ). This lake is all that remains of the ancient atoll lagoon. All around the island there beautiful gardens, farms, and lagoon after lagoon. Ancient Fish Farms and Ancient Marea can be found all along your drive around the island and with only 1 major resort on the whole island, you will feel you are a resident. There are several good pensions on both islands of Huahine.

The main town is called Fare which maintains the flavor of old Polynesia with its outdoor markets and music along the waterfront with its amazing views of the green coast line. Nearby the historical town of Maeva is a former royal village and is home for many fascinating archeological objects and temples. Around the island you will see vanilla, coffee and taro plants growing. With its abundance of white sand beaches and unspoiled coast line and its proximity to its cousins Raiatea, Taha'a and Bora Bora, there is still an absence of tourists, making this island so relaxing and stress free that many people choose this to be their favorite island of all. Huahine is sure to cast its magical spell on anyone who visits

Raiatea

Just 40 minutes from Tahiti, Raiatea is the second largest of the Society Islands with its sister island Taha'a sharing the same lagoon Raiatea is located between Huahine "The Garden Island" and Bora Bora on the other side. Raiatea's name means "faraway heaven" and "sky with soft light" and is historically believed to be the main point for early Polynesians, the center for religion and culture. Polynesians arrived here over 1000 years ago and the island was first named Havai'I fanua fenua after the home land of the ancient Polynesians. To the Tahitians Raiatea is the "Sacred Island".

Raiatea has retained a pristine natural beauty with mountains, craters, waterfalls, lush valleys with Vanilla Farms, exotic flowers, and Faaroa River, the only navigable river in French Polynesia. It has the second largest population for the Leeward Islands, but you would not know it. Its chief town on is Uturoa, and is the administrative center of the Leeward Islands. Many island tour operators and pensions can be found around this area along with the islands only chain hotel, the Raiatea Hawaiki Nui Hotel.

Raiatea holds much mystery and legend, and has some of Tahiti's most significant archeological sites. There is only one main hotel on the island and many pensions with 2 luxury resorts on some of the motus of Taha'a. Among the many green carpeted mountains, the largest is Mt. Temehani and is often referred to as the Polynesian Mt. Olympus. With 2 twin islands sharing the same lagoon, there are fewer tourists here with so much more to experience and explore.

The airport in Raiatea also serves as the airport for Taha'a, its lagoon locked sister. The islands are surrounded by motus (islets) and reefs and are rich in marine life making it a great destination for good scuba diving and snorkeling. There are over 20 dive sites from drift dives through the passes, to drop offs and pinnacles, caves and coral canyons. There also a 3 masted ship called Nordby that sunk in 1900. This sacred island is an ecological and cultural treasure that should not be missed if you are looking for adventure and amazing views of Taha'a, Huahine, and Bora Bora

 Tikihau

Tikehau, the native name derived from peace or to be at peace, its other name is Porutukai. This coral atoll of the Tuamotus is only 20 minutes from Rangiroa, the worlds second largest lagoon. The island is a graceful oval shaped crown of pink sand beaches and turquoise waters with 100's of motus is 27 km long and 19 km wide. Discovered in 1815 by a Russian mariner and was at that time called Krusenstern Island, named after a Russian early explorer.

In 1987 Jacques Cousteau's study of Tikehau's lagoon and discovered it held the greatest variety and concentration of fish than anywhere else in French Polynesia and also declared Tikehau one of the richest atolls on earth. The atoll only has 500 inhabitants and only one hotel, built in 2001, has now encouraged more flights to this destination. The residents of Tikehau are dependent on fishing and tourism as their way of life. The main village of Tuherahera is located on the south end of the largest motu and is full of flower gardens, fruit trees and the most welcoming people.

Scuba diving is the main attraction of Tikehau and a majority of the dive sites are located near Tuheiava Pass. With so many varieties of fish here there is also an abundance of pelagic species like dolphin which are encountered frequently in the lagoon and near the dive sites. Blue Nui Dive Centers is the main dive operator on Tikehau and is located both near the airport and has its dive center at Tikehau Pearl Beach Resort which is on its own motu south east of the main village.

The beaches surrounding the lagoon are amazing, pristine, secluded, and the lagoon offers the most incredible snorkeling and scuba diving experiences. The village offers and reflects a true Polynesian way of life in these remote islands. A romantic and secluded getaway, or an adventure above and below the water, Tikehau has been a well kept secret of the French Polynesia and is one of the true places for people in search of authentic Polynesian hospitality and a world class marine paradise. Ask us about Special Packages to Tikehau Pearl Beach Resort.

 Fakarava

Fakarava Island is the second largest atoll in the Tuamotu Archipelago, after Rangiroa. Located about an hours flight from Tahiti, the island of Fakarava has become a dream location for those seeking a tropical island getaway, especially for those who enjoy scuba diving. Fakarava is a developing island with accommodations that include 1 major hotel as well as several guest houses, pensions, and bed and breakfast properties.

Fakarava Island is protected as a biosphere reserve classified by UNESCO because of its rare flora and fauna, as well as an ecosystem rich in birds and lagoon crustaceans. The lagoon is outstanding and home to amazing sharks, mantas and tropical fish. The 2 major passes of Fakarava Island allow for very active water circulation between the lagoon and open ocean. The Garuae Pass on the northwest coast is 1 kilometer wide, and is the largest pass in French Polynesia.

There are approximately 1000 residents on the island, living between the villages of Rotoava and Tetamanu. Most of them live in Rotoava, which is home to the post office, churches, town hall and shops and supermarket. Fakarava is home to the first island church ever built entirely out of coral in 1862 and today the shell still remains. There is no bank on the island so make sure you have cash before you arrive.

The main dive center is located in Rotoava and offers an amazing selection of dives and sites. As the leading attraction of this island is scuba diving, you will find an amazing abundance and variety of marine life from loachs, groupers, barracuda, and hammerhead sharks to unlimited amounts of tropical reef fish and corals.

Other names for this island are Havai'I or Havaiki, & Farea. Its nickname is well suited as "End of the World" This atoll is 60 kilometers long and 25 wide with a depth of 30-50 meters in the lagoon. . On the southeast side of Fakarava is the Tumakohua Pass which is about 650 feet wide and 45 feet deep. To get from one pass to the other takes about 90 minutes by speedboat. Fakarava enjoys more than 3000 hours of sunshine per year

Manihi

Manihi is the original home to the first Pearl Farmers in French Polynesia. The island is an elongated atoll located in the Tuamotus Archipelago about 75 minutes by air from Tahiti and 20 minutes from Rangiroa. The atoll is 10 km wide and 20 km long and is ringed by innumerable motus (islets) like a pearl necklace around an emerald lagoon with amazing white sand beaches and rich marine environment. Manihi stands with Tikehau, Rangiroa, and Fakarava as being a few of the rarest places on earth for density and variety of marine life for those with interest or experience in scuba diving.

The Manihi Atoll has two remaining ancient "marea" ceremonial platforms, made up of huge blocks of coral. In all of Manihi's chain of islets, there are about 800 inhabitants and is today a home for a great number of pearl farms. The chief village is Paeua, and another important village is Turipaoa is located in the southwestern part of the atoll, and close to its only navigable pass Tairapa. Manihi is also part of a two island commune with its sister island Ahe.

With over 60 Pearl Farms here to produce much of the world's most sought after gem, the black pearl, this island is the most perfect place on earth for cultivating pearls due to its lagoon water temperature, salinity, protection from dominant trade winds and many other environmental factors that allow this particular atoll to be the most successful for black pearl farming. Aside from pearl farming, Manihi has an amazing marine ecosystem and scuba diving is the main attraction to this island, aside from romantic seclusion, overwater bungalows and pristine and private motus and pink sand beaches.

Manihi offers some of the best dive sites and most have great visibility as they are either protected from the trade winds. It also provides some of the most moderate currents in all of the larger atolls making it suitable for both beginner and advanced scuba divers. Some excellent locations are from the Tairapa pass to the reef wall inside the lagoon, and then outside the lagoon there are amazing ocean dives at "the drop off" and "the crossing". Manihi Pearl Beach Resort is the only hotel on this island and is also the location of Blue Nui Dive Center. See Scuba below