5 Days in French Polynesia: A Plan

Heads up: some links here are affiliate links. Book or buy through them and we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only point you to things we would actually use.

Five days is the point where the classic French Polynesia combination, Moorea and Bora Bora, 2 to 3 nights each, actually works without feeling rushed. This plan splits the trip roughly in half: Moorea first for the bays and the lagoon, then a flight to Bora Bora for the overwater-bungalow half of the trip. Read to the end for an honest sense of what this pairing actually costs.

Book these before you go

Day 1: Tahiti arrival, on to Moorea

Land at Faaʻā International Airport (PPT), French Polynesia’s sole international gateway, and keep Tahiti to a short stop, the Marché de Papeete market and Point Venus, the black-sand beach and lighthouse where Cook observed the 1769 transit of Venus. Then take the Aremiti or Terevau ferry to Moorea (30 to 45 minutes, 1,000 to 2,030 XPF each way, sailings roughly every 60 to 90 minutes). Check in for the first of 2 nights; the full island rundown is in our Moorea guide .

Day 2: Moorea’s bays and lagoon

Drive up to the Belvédère Lookout (about 250m) for the view over both Cook’s Bay and Opunohu Bay, split by Mount Rotui, then spend the afternoon on a lagoon tour to the Sharks Sandbank to snorkel with blacktip reef sharks and stingrays, or, in season, on a regulated humpback whale swim through a DIREN-accredited operator, boats keep 100m back and cap swimmers at 6 in the water.

Day 3: Moorea morning, fly to Bora Bora

Use the morning for the Manutea distillery in the Opunohu Valley or the Tiki Village cultural center, then connect back through Tahiti for an Air Tahiti flight to Bora Bora (about 50 minutes from Tahiti). Bora Bora’s airport is on its own motu, so budget a boat transfer on arrival, longer still if your resort sits on an outer motu.

Day 4: Bora Bora’s lagoon

Spend the day on the water: a lagoon tour past Mount Otemanu (727m) for snorkeling with rays and blacktip sharks, coral gardens, and a motu picnic lunch. Bora Bora’s overwater bungalows are the style the island is known for, it’s where the format took off rather than where it was invented (Hotel Bora Bora’s 1970 stilt bungalows; Raiatea has a competing claim from around 1967).

Day 5: Bora Bora, then depart

Use the morning for Matira Beach or one more swim, then fly back through Papeete to Tahiti for your international departure. Build in real buffer for the transfer chain, boat off the motu, the flight, the connection, French Polynesia’s inter-island logistics don’t reward tight timing.

Food and culture along the way

Both islands share the same food culture: poisson cru (raw tuna in lime and coconut milk) is the national dish, on every casual menu, and Tahiti’s roulottes food trucks are the affordable way to try it on your first day in Papeete before it turns up again, more polished, on a resort menu in Moorea or Bora Bora. Look for Hinano, the local beer, and Tahitian vanilla on the same menus. Tahitian black pearls, cultured from the Pinctada margaritifera oyster, are French Polynesia’s second-biggest export after tourism and a genuine souvenir rather than a gimmick, both islands have shops worth a look. Tatau, the origin of the word tattoo, is still a living practice here, not something confined to a museum case.

Language and events

French and Tahitian (Reo Tahiti) are both official; English covers the resorts and tour desks but isn’t a given elsewhere, a few French or Tahitian phrases go a long way with pension owners and ferry staff. If your dates land in July, the Heiva i Tahiti festival (2026: July 2 to 18) fills Papeete’s To’atā Amphitheater with dance and sport competitions that have run since 1881, and the WSL’s Tahiti Pro Teahupo’o surfing event usually runs around August, worth checking against your dates if you’re extending past this 5 day plan.

What this actually costs

Moorea is genuinely the more affordable half of this trip, its pensions and mid-range hotels sit well below Bora Bora’s resort prices, and the Papeete-Moorea ferry (1,000 to 2,030 XPF) is the one cheap inter-island hop in the whole collectivity. Bora Bora’s overwater bungalows, by contrast, sit at the luxury end even by French Polynesia’s already-high standards, expect the Bora Bora half of this trip to carry a disproportionate share of the total budget. French Polynesia overall is a genuinely expensive destination, imported goods and a small domestic market push prices well above what a similar trip costs in Southeast Asia or the Caribbean.

Before you go

  • Visa and entry: not Schengen; roughly 90 days visa-free for most Western nationalities, verify yours on Tahiti Tourisme’s site . Connecting through Los Angeles requires a US ESTA , there’s no sterile transit at LAX for connecting passengers.
  • Money: the CFP franc (XPF) is fixed at 1 EUR = 119.33 XPF. Tipping is not customary. An Air Tahiti multi-island pass is worth pricing out once you’re booking 2 or more islands, though it only pays off for 3 or more.
  • Health: no malaria; dengue is endemic and ciguatera fish poisoning is a real, occasional risk, ask locally before eating unfamiliar reef fish. Outer-island medical care is thin, evacuation to Papeete for a serious issue can run $10,000 or more, travel insurance with evacuation cover is worth having.

Is 5 days enough for Moorea and Bora Bora?

Yes, this is close to the honest minimum for both islands without feeling rushed, 2 nights on Moorea and 2 on Bora Bora, plus travel days either side. For a third island or a slower pace on each, our 6 day or 7 day itineraries add more room, both keep the same Moorea-then-Bora Bora backbone but give each island an extra night rather than adding a third stop on top.