Fodor's Expert Review Pape'ete City Hall

Alternatively known in French as Hotel de Ville and Mairie, this impressive building, opened in 1990, is a replica of Queen Pomare's mansion—who ruled in 1845 when Tahiti became a French Protectorate—which once stood at Place Tarahoi. The town hall is the office of the mayor of Pape'ete and is open to the public during business hours and when art and historical exhibitions are held on the third floor gallery. The buttercup-yellow building has spacious wraparound terraces on two levels decorated with cream balustrades and columns.