French Polynesia · Society Islands
Bora Bora
The lagoon every other lagoon is measured against, with Mount Otemanu standing black and sheer in the middle of it.
Bora Bora is the postcard the South Pacific is sold on: a small green volcanic island with the sheer black tooth of Mount Otemanu at its centre, ringed by coral motu that enclose a lagoon running through every shade of blue there is. The island itself is modest and workaday, one road, a few villages and a single town at Vaitape. The fantasy lives out on the reef, where overwater bungalows stand on stilts above the shallows. People come to be on the water and in it, and the lagoon really is as good as the photographs.
Suggested stay
3–5 days
Language
French, Tahitian
Currency
XPF
Timezone
UTC-10
Why you'll love Bora Bora
The lagoon shallow, sheltered and absurdly clear, shading from pale turquoise over sand to deep blue at the pass, and calm enough to swim, paddle or snorkel most days of the year
Mount Otemanu a sheer basalt tooth that changes colour through the day and stands in the frame of almost every view from the water
Rays and sharks manta rays over the cleaning stations, blacktips and stingrays in waist-deep water, all inside the reef rather than out in the open ocean
Doing very little the island is small and slow, and the day is measured by boat times and the light moving across the water
Best time to visit
Jun-Sep
29-29° days
16.504° S, 151.737° W
UTC-10 · Pacific/Tahiti
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Weather & when to go to Bora Bora
Month by month: typical highs and lows, rainfall and rain days.
✓ Best Jun-Sep
Watch for Dec monsoon flooding risk
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
When to avoid Bora Bora
December is the one to skip: the hottest, most humid stretch of the year, wet, and sitting inside the southern cyclone season while holiday demand peaks. January to March stay muggy and squally. The dry middle of the year is the island at its best and also its busiest, so book far ahead for it.
Top things to do in Bora Bora
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Mount Otemanu - the peak you circle but cannot climb
scenic 👍 PopularThe island's volcanic plug, a sheer-sided tower of rock too crumbly to summit, so the view is the thing: from a boat crossing the lagoon, from the ridge on neighbouring Mount Pahia, or from a helicopter tracing the reef.
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Lagoon tour - the classic day out on the water
nature wildlife ⭐ Highly recommendedThe island's set-piece day: an outrigger or motorboat working around the reef with stops to snorkel over coral, drift with stingrays and blacktip sharks in chest-deep water, and eat grilled fish on a motu with the peak across the lagoon.
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Manta rays at Anau - the lagoon's headline dive
diving ⭐ Highly recommendedA shallow site off the east coast where manta rays circle the cleaning stations, sometimes several at once, in water calm enough that snorkellers see them too. Sightings are not guaranteed, which is the only thing wrong with it.
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Matira Beach - the one great public beach
scenic 👍 PopularA long, shallow sweep of white sand at the southern tip of the island, wading-depth for a very long way out and open to anyone. The nearest thing Bora Bora has to a town beach, and the sunsets are the local event.
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Tapu and the outer drop-off - dive with lemon sharks
divingOff the western reef, where lemon sharks and grey reef sharks patrol the slope in the current. It is the counterpart to the gentle lagoon snorkelling: proper open water, best with a guide who knows the tide.
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Coral Gardens - snorkelling straight off the motu
nature wildlifeShallow coral heads on the inner edge of the barrier reef, full of parrotfish, butterflyfish and the odd moray, reachable by fins alone from several motu. The easiest good snorkel on the island for anyone nervous about depth.
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The ring road - cycle the whole island in a day
adventureOne sealed road, a little over thirty kilometres, loops the main island past churches, small marae, roadside snack stands and the bays under the peak. Flat, hot and entirely doable by bike or scooter with stops.
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The American coastal guns above Faanui
historyRusting seven-inch naval guns still sit on the hillsides where the United States installed them in 1942 to guard the pass. Short, steep tracks lead up to several of them, and the view over the lagoon is the real reward.
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Mount Pahia - the hike above Vaitape
adventureThe island's other peak, and the only serious walk on it: a steep, muddy, rope-assisted climb through forest to a ridge looking straight across at Otemanu and down onto the whole reef. Guided is the sensible way.
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Vaitape - black pearls and the island's only town
shoppingA quay, a market hall, a church, a couple of banks and a run of pearl shops selling the dark Tahitian pearls farmed across these islands. Half an hour of real life between boat trips, and where the ferries and cruise tenders land.
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Poisson cru - raw tuna in coconut milk
foodThe dish of the islands: tuna cubed and cured briefly in lime, then folded through fresh coconut milk with cucumber and tomato. Eaten everywhere from resort terraces to the roulottes, the food vans that park up in Vaitape.
Best areas to stay in Bora Bora
$ Budget $$ Mid-range $$$ Premium
Matira and Matira Point
First-time visitors $$Sandy southern point, the island's beach hub
Explore hotels in Matira and Matira Point →
The motu
Couples and honeymooners $$$Overwater bungalows on the barrier reef
Explore hotels in The motu →
Vaitape
Good value $Working town around the ferry quay
Explore hotels in Vaitape →
Anau and the east coast
Quiet and local $Quiet village road facing the reef
Explore hotels in Anau and the east coast →
Live nightly prices from Booking.com, Agoda and others, centred on Bora Bora
Getting to & around Bora Bora
Getting there
Fly from Papeete to the airstrip on Motu Mute, then finish the journey by boat - there is no road in.
Flight
Bora Bora Airport (Motu Mute) (BOB)
The runway has a coral islet to itself at the north of the lagoon, so every arrival ends on the water: a shuttle boat crosses to the quay at Vaitape in about fifteen minutes, and motu resorts send their own launch to meet the flight. The hop from Tahiti takes under an hour.
Flight
Motu Mute
The domestic network flies in from Papeete, with connections from Moorea, Huahine and Raiatea and a short hop on to Maupiti. There are no direct international flights, so nearly everyone changes planes on Tahiti.
Ferry
Vaitape quay
A fast catamaran runs down the Leeward chain from Papeete, and cargo-passenger ships call at Vaitape on the same route. Both are slower than flying, sail on sparse schedules and can be cancelled by swell.
Cruise
Vaitape, by tender
South Pacific cruise ships anchor inside the lagoon and tender passengers ashore at Vaitape for the day, which is why the town can feel busy and then empty again by evening.
Getting around
Boat and resort shuttle
The real transport system here. Resorts run scheduled launches to Vaitape, and life on the motu depends on their timetable.
TBC
Rental car, scooter or bike
One flat sealed road rings the main island, so a bike or scooter covers everything with time to stop.
TBC
Taxi and transfer van
A small number of vans work the main island. Book ahead through your hotel rather than expecting to flag one down.
TBC
Walking
Fine around Vaitape and the Matira strip; the rest of the ring road is long, hot and short on shade.
Free
Day trips from Bora Bora
Lagoon circuit and motu picnic
Full dayRays, coral and sandbars
The day everyone does, and rightly: coral gardens, a shark and ray stop in shallow water, a slow circuit under the peak and lunch grilled on a coral islet. Book a small boat rather than a large one.
Getting there
ferry | tour
Boats leave Vaitape and the resort docks each morning, roughly 5 hr on the water
Raiatea and Taha'a
1-2 daysVanilla and the great marae
Two islands sharing one lagoon: Taha'a for vanilla plantations, pearl farms and a drift snorkel through its coral garden, Raiatea for Taputapuatea, the marae that anchored Polynesian voyaging across the Pacific.
Getting there
flight | ferry | tour
Short flight or a fast catamaran down the chain, about 40 km south
Maupiti
1-2 daysBora Bora without resorts
A near-twin lagoon with none of the machinery: family pensions instead of resorts, one road, a peak you can walk up in a morning and manta rays inside the reef. The pass is narrow and the sea decides the boats.
Getting there
flight | ferry
About 20 min by air from Motu Mute, or a slow crossing by sea
Tupitipiti and the outer reef
Half dayWall dive
The dive that regulars rate above the lagoon sites: coral canyons and overhangs dropping down the outer wall, with better visibility than anything inside the pass. Weather-dependent and not for a first dive.
Getting there
ferry | tour
Boat around to the south-east outside of the reef, sea state permitting
A little history of Bora Bora
Polynesian voyagers settled these islands a thousand years ago, and the one they called Pora Pora, the first-born, grew into a formidable warrior chiefdom whose fleets took Raiatea, Taha'a and Maupiti. Cook charted it in the 1770s, London missionaries arrived a generation later and the old marae fell out of use, and the kingdom kept its independence until France annexed the Leeward Islands at the end of the nineteenth century.
The modern island was made by an accident of war. In 1942 the United States landed thousands of troops here under Operation Bobcat, building a fuel and supply base, coastal guns on the hills and an airstrip on Motu Mute that stayed the only one in French Polynesia for years after they left. When air tourism finally reached the Pacific, the runway was waiting. The overwater bungalow, invented in these islands in the 1960s, found its perfect lagoon here, and Bora Bora became the honeymoon address of the South Pacific while its population stayed under ten thousand.
Polynesian voyagers settle the island they call Pora Pora, the first-born
Bora Bora's warrior chiefs dominate the Leeward Islands, holding Raiatea, Taha'a and Maupiti
James Cook sights and later visits the island on his Pacific voyages
Missionaries convert the islanders; the marae are abandoned and the old religion ends
France annexes the Leeward Islands, ending Bora Bora's independent kingdom
Operation Bobcat: a United States supply base, coastal guns and the Motu Mute airstrip
Tahiti's international airport opens and Bora Bora's first hotel with it, starting the tourist era
The first overwater bungalows are built in these islands, the form Bora Bora is now known for
International luxury groups build out on the motu and the island becomes the Pacific's honeymoon address
Know before you go
Payment
Cards & cash mixed
English
Widely spoken
Wifi
Workable
Power
Type C / E
230 V, 60 Hz
Dialing
+689
Monsoon flooding risk in this window; check current conditions before you go.
The months our climate read flags to avoid: the wettest, lowest-rated weather of the year.
FAQs about Bora Bora
▸ When is the best time to visit Bora Bora?
June to September is the pick: the drier, cooler southern winter, with lighter humidity and the steadiest lagoon conditions, overlapping the months humpback whales pass through Polynesian waters. December is the month to avoid, hot and wet at the peak of the cyclone season. May and October sit in between and are quieter.
▸ How many days do you need in Bora Bora?
Three to five nights. Two full days cover a lagoon tour and a beach day, a third leaves room to dive, ride the ring road or cross to a neighbouring island. Longer only makes sense if doing nothing on a deck above the water is the actual point, which for plenty of people it is.
▸ Is Bora Bora expensive?
Yes, one of the most expensive island destinations anywhere. Almost everything is imported, the overwater resorts sit at the very top of the market, and even boat transfers add up. Family pensions on the main island, self-catering and the food vans at Vaitape are the honest way to do it for far less.
▸ Do you have to stay in an overwater bungalow?
No. The main island has guesthouses, small hotels and rented rooms with the same lagoon and the same mountain, and Matira Beach is public. An overwater bungalow buys privacy, a ladder into the water and the view everyone pictures, and it is charged accordingly.
▸ Can you swim with sharks and rays here?
Yes, and it is the main event. Lagoon tours stop where blacktip reef sharks and stingrays gather in shallow water, and divers head out to the manta cleaning stations off Anau and the sharks on the outer slope. It is inside the reef, warm and calm, and snorkellers need no experience.
▸ Can you climb Mount Otemanu?
Not to the summit. The rock is loose volcanic basalt and the final tower is not safely climbable, so guided routes stop at the ledges below it. Neighbouring Mount Pahia is the real hike, steep and rope-assisted, and most visitors are content to see Otemanu from the water.