When people describe Bora Bora as the most beautiful place on earth, they aren’t joking. The postcards and pictures we see of Bora Bora, don’t do it any justice. There is something magical about the calming, clear, turquoise waters that can only be captured in the actual moment. The water is a million shades of blue and green and its beauty is absolutely unreal. I will share everything you need to know to indulge yourself in the perfect Bora Bora vacation!
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Book using an experienced travel specialist
Nowadays, everything can be booked piecemeal online. Many people prefer the option of self-booking their vacations, especially as we can take advantage of earning extra points with certain providers. However, when booking a Bora Bora vacation, it’s recommended to use a travel agent who has experience in Bora Bora travel. Bora Bora is a luxury destination and you’ll be spending a decent chunk of money for your trip, so you should take the initial effort to make sure it’s planned right! The agents are able to provide you personal concierge service and get meal deals and other perks you may not get if you book things on your own. They can personalize the vacation to your individual needs and prepare you for your perfect Bora Bora vacation! We booked using an agent from Virtuoso.
When to go
The weather in Bora Bora is pleasant all year round. The high season runs from May to October and this is the period you will find the most crowds. April and November are considered the best months to visit because they are the shoulder seasons. Temperatures are in the mid 70’s to 80’s (mid to high 20’s in celsius) and if there are rain showers, they are normally short and clear up quickly.
We took our trip in November and the weather was perfect. Hot days, warm sea water and limited rain. If there was rain, it didn’t last long.
When you’re booking your vacation, book in advance, especially if you are looking for a certain room type at one of the luxury resorts. We booked our vacation 6 months in advance. It isn’t unheard of to book a year in advance; especially if you are booking in the high season.
What to pack
Now that you have booked your dream vacation, time to start packing! You’ll want to make sure you are prepared with some travel essentials:
Purchase your own snorkeling set and beach shoes
- If you stay in an overwater bungalow you will literally have the ocean to yourself right outside your room. Each room has a balcony, with a shower and lounge chairs and just a few steps to get into the ocean
- Even if you aren’t staying in an overwater bungalow, the entire hotel beach waters are ripe for snorkeling. The best excursions are also snorkel based and it’s always better to bring your own equipment
- Here is a link to the ones I purchased: https://ebay.us/p95fXR
Alcohol
- Buy what you’re allowed at the duty free shop at the airport. Alcohol in Bora Bora is extremely expensive – especially at the hotels. If you need more, it’s better to buy at a supermarket when you are able to visit the main town of Vaitape
Underwater camera
- The water in Bora Bora is the clearest you will ever see! I have never seen so much marine life in one destination in my life and you can literally see for miles as soon as you dip your head under the crystal clear waters. An underwater camera is a must have to take all those great shots
- The camera I purchased can be found here: https://ebay.us/91QWN8
The usual beach essentials
- Swimwear, sunglasses, sunscreen, bug spray, sunhat etc
Clothing
- Bring a few sets of fancy clothes for when you are dining in the higher end restaurants at the hotels or in town. Especially at dinner time, people usually dress up for the meal
- Casual and beachwear for the rest of your vacation
Getting around the island
Sit on the left hand side of the plane on the inter-island flight into Bora Bora
Once you get your flights details booked, for the inter-island leg of the flight when you are going to land in Bora Bora, the flights are all open style seating. You can sit anywhere on the plane and it’s first come first serve. After you enter the plane (from the rear) pick a seat on the LEFT hand side of the plane. Most people know this, so get to the airport early! You will have an amazing view of the island of Bora Bora as the plane approaches it and if the sky conditions are favourable, you can take some amazing photos.
Please note the pilot could make slight changes to flight path based on weather, however, on average, the left side of the plane is where to be! If you are unable to get a seat on the left, enjoy your ride on the right! The pilot normally does a quick u-turn at the end where you may be able to get a quick glimpse. When I was on this flight, almost everyone on the right side of the plane took off their seatbelts and ran towards the left side to get a better look and snap some pictures!
Getting to your hotel
Bora Bora is made up of a ring of little islands surrounding the main island. Many of the hotels are on their own ‘motu’ (small island) When you arrive at the airport, a lot of the luxury hotels will arrange for a boat (or yacht) to pick you up and you can travel in style to your hotel! Our travel agent had set everything up for us with the hotel so the boat was waiting for our arrival to pick us up. If you book on your own, and your hotel is on it’s own motu, make sure you contact the hotel prior to your arrival to arrange the transportation. Boat is the main form of travel around Bora Bora.
You can also rent a car, a bicycle or a taxi to explore the main island
How long should you stay?
We stayed in Bora Bora for 10 days so we split the vacation into two different hotels in different parts of the island. This was plenty of time. We were in paradise so loved relaxing and spending that amount of time there. Typically, the most popular vacation duration to Bora Bora is 4-7 days. A lot of people who are doing a French Polynesian vacation typically decide to stay a few nights in Bora Bora (water destination) and then a few nights in Moorea (which is described as more of a land vacation)
Hotel Review
Staying at the right hotel is so important as this is where you will be spending most of your time and is key to that perfect Bora Bora vacation! You will want to think about which part of the island you want to stay in (typically the stretch of hotels facing Mt. Otemanu are considered prime real estate) What type of room do you want? The most popular is definitely the overwater bungalow. You are spending good money to go to Bora Bora so you may as well indulge in the overwater bungalow. They are not cheap! Think about what other amenities you want in your room. How big do you want the glass floor in the room to be? Do you want your own infinity pool on your private balcony? Are award winning restaurants and spa options important to you? And of course, what is your budget?
The Le Meridien Bora Bora Hotel
We spent a few nights at the Le Meridien hotel in an overwater bungalow, then a few nights at the Hilton Nui resort in an overwater bungalow. The hotels were located on different parts of the islands and were quite different from each other.
I would hands down recommend the Le Meridien. It is located on the most beautiful side of the island with a lot of the rooms facing the beautiful Mt. Otemanu. If you stay in this hotel, book early and request a room facing the mountain. It is definitely worth waking up to that gorgeous view every morning. We stayed in a room located in the 300’s area. The entire resort was beautiful. The infinite pool had a great backdrop of the mountain as well as the ocean. It was a great place to watch the sunset.
Serene beauty and amazing amenities
The water is an unreal turquoise color, with calming ripples. It’s hard to describe how beautiful the water is. It’s also crystal clear so you can see the marine life and easily spot stingrays and many species of fish right off your balcony. You will also see the Bora Bora sharks on occasion. They are known to be harmless and are used to human interaction. Normally you will see them at night when you are walking around the resort to the rooms. You may also have them swim by you when you are in the water so just keep that in mind!
The Le Meridien also has one of the largest glass floors of the hotel’s offering overwater bungalow’s and that was the main selling point for me. I just really wanted to see those large glass floors! And it really was splendid. I enjoyed laying on it, taking pictures of the fish swimming by, and swimming under my hotel room and getting my picture taken doing that while my husband was in the room taking the pictures through the floor 🙂 You will be spending most of your time in your hotel room and in the balcony leading to your own private ocean area, unless you are venturing around the hotel, grabbing a bite to eat or going on an excursion.
Dining Options
The restaurant was situated over the water and you could watch the fish swim by; it was an amazing ambiance. Breakfast was buffet style with great tasting food and superb variety. Tea/coffee/juices were included in the buffet price. The lunch and dinner buffets were not very good and I wouldn’t recommend them. We had all 3 buffet meals included in our hotel package. If I were to do it again, I would include breakfast only. Lunch can be purchased a la carte from the restaurant or pool bar. You can also choose a la carte options from the dinner menu at the restaurant (which were superb). Another option would be to go into the main town of Vaitape and have dinner there. Keep in mind food is very expensive in Bora Bora so budget for that
The Le Meridien is a sister property of the St. Regis Hotel*
Because the Le Meridien is a sister resort of the St. Regis, you can book dinner or lunch reservations at the St. Regis too – bonus! The food at the main restaurant – Lagoon by Jean Georges at the St. Regis is nothing short of absolutely amazing. With breathtaking views of Mt. Otenamu and an amazing setting and ambiance, it’s definitely a romantic and beautiful way to spend your evening. They have a shark show as well where you can see the sharks get fed and watch them swim by. You will get picked up and dropped back off on the St. Regis yacht! Book dinner reservations and boat transfer in advance.
The St. Regis and Four Seasons resorts are the top 2 resorts in Bora Bora and are located in the same area as the Le Meridien. Book your yacht transport a few hours earlier then your reservation time and explore the St. Regis and take lots of pictures. This was definitely a perk of the Le Meridien.
*This was the case when we were in Bora Bora in November 2012, please check with the hotel to ensure this is still the same
The Hilton Nui
The Hilton Nui was inferior to the Le Meridien on all fronts in my honest opinion, but it did have much better snorkeling. Just off your own private balcony, you can jump into the ocean and are immediately surrounded by schools of fish. We spent hours snorkeling around
Going to the main town of Vaitape
If you do go into town, there is a free boat shuttle from the hotel that will take you. If you book a reservation with a restaurant in town, they will pick you up and drop you off by car from the port, normally free of charge. The boat shuttle doesn’t go directly to Vaitape. It drops you off in Anau. Hire a taxi or get the restaurant to come get you. It’s a short drive into Vaitape.
We went to Bloody Mary’s restaurant for lunch in town and it was fantastic. They have very good reviews for dinner as well. Vaitape is known for its pearls, so go check out the pearl shops. It’s a great souvenir to buy some pearl jewelry if you are into that.
Excursions
We did 2 excursions, both were snorkeling tours and were very different experiences and allowed us to see different marine life. We went with Raanui Tours for the Shark and Ray Tour and Reef Discovery with Simon (he’s since moved to Tohora Bora Bora) for the marine tour. I would highly recommend both and they are a nice added touch to a perfect Bora Bora vacation.
Raanui Tours
You get picked up via boat at the hotel. There are a few stops on the tour
- First, you will stop to swim with the stingrays. You’ll be surrounded by large, playful groups of them and they will come right up to you. They are used to human interaction and are quite harmless and not shy! The tour guides are great. One even found a baby octopus and put it on my head (I wasn’t happy with that but it was an experience I guess, lol)
- Next, you stop at a spot to swim with the black tip reef sharks. They are also normally harmless and the size of dolphins. Again these guys will surround you. They seem scary at first but the guides are helpful to ease your fears and once you are in the water with them, it’s quite an experience!
- You then go to another area to swim with the larger lemon sharks – they definitely look scarier (from the pictures I have seen of them) However, we went in mid November and they were in mating season. We were told they were aggressive during this time so we were unable to make this stop on the tour
- Finally, you will stop at a beautiful private island and have a delicious barbeque lunch and time to explore
Tohora Bora Bora
This was an amazing guided tour with Simon. We absolutely loved him – great humour and a cute little man. This tour was less ‘commercial’ – which is how I would describe Raanui tours – and a more authentic experience. We weren’t stopping at the main spots where the marine life would come play with you. We were stopping in the middle of the ocean, and would swim around until we found different forms of marine life in their natural habitat, minding their own business. It had a different feel to it, it was nice to have both tour experiences. We saw different marine life in both tours as well.
Personalized service
Simon has a vast knowledge of the island and marine life and we learned so much from him.
- The first stop was to see the eagle rays and another to see the larger manta rays
- We then stopped to view the amazing coral and schools of fish. We were lucky enough to see a huge moray eel and Simone even took my camera and dove all the way down to take a picture of it for me (pictured below)
- Food was provided and of course pick up and drop off from your hotel
Simon genuinely wants all his guests to have a great time. My husband has never been very comfortable in the water and usually stays on the boat (like he did with Raanui Tours) or very near to the boat as he’s done on other snorkeling tours in other trip destinations. Simon wouldn’t have that, and literally threw him into the ocean (in a nice manner) and then proceeded with holding his hand and guiding him along for most of the journey until he was more comfortable being in the water. My husband credits Simon for helping him and now looks back on the experience fondly
Night life
We didn’t go into town at night so I’m not too sure how the night life is there. However, the night life at the hotel, is non-existent. The majority of people at the hotel are couples or honeymooners. If you are not on an excursion, you are basically at the main hotel beach or pool, or if you have an overwater bungalow, that is where you are, spending your time in your private beach quarters. If you are on the hotel beach, it’s quiet and laid back, don’t expect to hear loud music or much of a party scene. It’s pretty quiet after dinner and you don’t really see anyone around.
Tips to make your vacation even more special
You can borrow kayak’s and paddle boards during the day and explore the waters around the hotel. We loved the stand up paddle boarding! It was fun to try out.
You can also request to have breakfast dropped off for you and set up on your balcony by canoe, for a special touch. Private ocean side dinners on the beach with fire pits, personalized service and violinists serenading you while you eat, are also once in a lifetime experiences the hotels offer for their guests. Book in advance!
I hope these tips help with everything you need to know to indulge yourself in the perfect Bora Bora vacation!
Looking to lose a bit of weight before your next trip, or learn some fitness tips? Check out my post here!