Kappy

Just back from Bora Bora
Stayed at the Intercontinental La Moana Bora Bora in a Horizon Over the Water Bungalow for 4 nights.
It was fabulous. The staff were great and the food was out of this world. (French)
If you like Vanilla you are in for a treat.

Do the Canoe breakfast atleast once which the hotel is famous for.
Have fun.

AlanJG

Looking forward to the trip report.

ItsMeMary

I've read your posts about your trip and it sounds nice. My husband and I are planning a trip later this year to Bora Bora as well. Currently I am struggling with a few things and could use your input.

1. Which hotel? I gather from your post that you will say the Intercontinental (we stayed at the Intercontinental in Knob Hill, on our trip to San Francisco; though the room was small we enjoyed it) yes? Can you tell me how the OTW is set up in the rooms there? Are they the see through floor, the small little square in floor in the hall or the table top glass? I've seen ads for all three.

2. Are the activities plentiful in Bora Bora such as tours, shopping, bars (nothing night clubby or crazy) etc? Though I do LOVE the beach and love to relax and take in the beauty it can get pretty boring for me......which leads me to this question..

3. We plan to travel from the mid-west region of the U.S. and plan to be gone from home 8 days/nights. Keeping this in mind; would you say it's too much travel time to consider another destination prior to Bora Bora then ending the trip with this nice relaxing romantic destination? If not where would you suggest? Are NZ or AU too far, if yes. I'm up for suggestions.

Thanks

ItsMeMary

Oh and one more thing I forgot to ask....

From other sites/posts I've read seemingly Bora Bora is becoming too commercial/touristy due to cruise ships etc in the area and losing some of the natural lagoon beauty due to the OTW's. Did you find this to be true? If so....we may consider a different area with OTW's that is similar to Bora Bora in the 80's; which is when I first heard about and saw photos of this wondrous place.

voyager61

I haven't been to French Polynesia or New Zealand, but we have been researching trips to both areas and we fly regularly to the Hawaiian Islands. We depart from Seattle, but I think Los Angeles is the standard west coast gateway for French Polynesia, so you would probably end up changing planes there. Really, traveling from the Midwest to FP will be exhausting enough and 8 days isn't that much. Don't try to add anything else. And I think most flights to FP fly into Papeete, Tahiti and then you do a small plane or ferry hop to other islands, like Bora Bora or Moorea. So you may end up having to spend a night either coming or going in Papeete.

New Zealand and Australia deserve their own separate trips.

Hopefully, other people will respond on the night life and other activities in Bora Bora.

Kappy

Hi
We were planning to head to Sydney and the Great Barrier Reef but that is for another trip. Australia is about 8 hrs further with a stop in Nz. which is about 4 hrs from Papette. Great Barrier is 5 or 6 hrs north by plane from Sydney. We came from Boston and did 5-6 Hrs to La then a 6 hr layover and 8 hrs to Papette. We only had 2 weeks for vacation. We got in late and stayed at the Intercontinental near the airport that was very nice in a high floor garden room and the best ever baffet breakfast in the morning . Then we were driven to the airport for our half hr ride (about 1 hr takeoff and landing) to beautful Bora Bora. Sit on the left side for the view.

The hotel we stayed at was La Moana Intercontinental Bora Bora. The food was French and Vanilla was used alot as the Island next to Bora Bora Taha is famous for Vanilla.
The set up was beach bungalows on the beach , Over the water bungalow Beach near the shore, lagoon owb and horizon owb.
We stayed in the Horizon OWB straight a head toward the left side. Do not stay at the far end horizon right side to many mosquitos we were told by a couple staying there. There is a coffee table that the top opens up and you can see the lagoon and feed the fish. The place is quite large octagon shaped with a thatched roof and bamboo walls outside. Two ouside decks , the bottom one with a ladder into the lagoon a kingsize bed , a livingroom with a refridgerator couch, desk, flat screen tv, dvd, vcr, phone and mp3 docking station. Bring some cds with you. There is also a great bathroom with a shower and bath as well as toilet and two sinks.We paid a little more but got breakfast and dinner included which ended up being a great deal and atmosphere was great. We did the canoe breakfast one morning for a fee and boy was it worth it. We even had extra the next day
We loved staying at this hotel as it was on the mainland and easy to get to places. Most of the hotel are on the motu (island and you need to take a boat to get to civilization otherwise you are just stuck at the hotel.
The hotel has plenty of tours and evening events. shops and bars. You can walk out of the hotel and go to a variety store and ther are also some souvenier stores and a couple of eating places down the street. You can also rent bikes. Not alot of shopping though. Fairly rustic onin town.
All boats and snorkel equiptment are included other than motor boats are for rent.
We stayed ther 4 nts and 5 days. It was well worth it to take the last plane out to Papette at about 6pm. We had a nt flight back to La.
We were going to do only 3 nts but decided to stay one more. It is to quiet to stay much longer even for us. We like quiet but it was really quiet but the most beautiful place on earth and swimming and snorkeling in the lagoon was a real treat in the beautiful turqoise water. Most people do 2-4 nts. Since this was a long way we decided to stay four days with friends of ours in northern California on the way back.
A neighbor of our said Bora Bora was commercial but we did not see that at all.We were told cruise ships only come in once per week. We were going to go to Moorea but thought it was commercial as it is not far from Papette. We met a couple who stayed in Moorea for a few nts and they said it was even quieter than Bora Bora. Bora Bora was quiet enough for us. We were there from Tuesday to Saturday and it started to be a little busier on the weekend but February is the low season there.
My suggestion to you is stay in Papette the first nt Bora Bora 4 nts and either Moorea 2nts or stop in Hawaii (3 hrs) or California (8Hrs) for a few nts. to break up the trip.
The rest of the South Pacific is to far unless you have a month to travel.

By the way May to October is high season.

Kappy

Hi
By the way Bloody Mary's the restaurant and Bar which has a sand floor and thatched roof is a place tours take you to for dinner. Do not be fooled. We decided to take about a two mile walk there from the hotel and go for a drink. That is about all it is good for do not waste your money on dinner.
Just to let you know to the town Vaitape is the town and very rustic and not much there. Bora Bora is known for its beauty not shopping. Outside of the hotel area it is very rustic and islandy. I do not know why people think it is a commercial place.