French Polynesia 4 Day Itinerary

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Four days is enough to think about adding Bora Bora, and this plan deliberately doesn’t. Bora Bora is flight only from Tahiti, about 50 minutes each way plus a boat transfer to the resort motu, and squeezed into a 4 day trip that means burning most of a day on transfers for one short stay. The honest call at this length is Tahiti and Moorea done properly instead, with a note at the end on what adding Bora Bora would actually cost you in time if you want it anyway.

Day 1: Tahiti, arrival

Land at Faaʻā International Airport (PPT), the only gateway, roughly 8 hours from Los Angeles. If your route connects through LAX, clear US customs there with a valid US ESTA even if French Polynesia is your real destination, since LAX has no sterile international transit. Visa exempt nationals get about 90 days here without a visa; this is not the Schengen area, so a Schengen visa does not apply. Spend the afternoon at the Marché de Papeete, then eat at the roulottes food trucks gathered at Place Vai’ete in the evening. The currency is the CFP franc (XPF), permanently pegged at 1 EUR to 119.33 XPF, and tipping is not customary here.

Day 2: crossing to Moorea

Take the Aremiti or Terevau ferry from Papeete to Vaiare, 30 to 45 minutes across a 17 kilometre channel and the one inter-island hop in French Polynesia that isn’t a flight. Rent a car at the dock and drive up to the Belvedere Lookout, about 250 metres above sea level, for the view over Cook’s Bay and Opunohu Bay, split by Mount Rotui. The island’s true summit, Mount Tohivea at roughly 1,207 metres, is a different peak from the sharply pointed Mount Mou’aroa, the “Shark’s Tooth,” at about 880 metres, easy to mix up from a distance. Settle in for two nights.

Day 3: Moorea’s lagoon

A morning at the “Sharks Sandbank,” standing in shallow water with blacktip reef sharks and stingrays close by, is the marine highlight most people come to Moorea for. If you happen to be traveling between July 20 and November 20, this is whale swim season, and Moorea is the main base in the territory for accredited operators running them, worth booking ahead if the dates line up. In the afternoon, the Manutea distillery in the Opunohu Valley offers a free self guided stop on pineapple juice and rum, or take the drive to the lower “Magic Mountain” viewpoint for a second angle on the bays before dinner.

Day 4: back to Tahiti, departure

Ferry back to Papeete in the morning and use whatever hours remain before your flight for Point Venus, the black sand beach and lighthouse where Cook observed the 1769 transit of Venus, or the Museum of Tahiti and Her Islands, reopened in 2023. Faaʻā’s international terminal has adequate food and a pearl shop if you didn’t buy at the market on day one.

If Bora Bora is genuinely non-negotiable, you need at least 5 days total to add it without gutting Tahiti or Moorea; see the 5 day plan, which builds the classic Moorea plus Bora Bora combination properly.

Book these before you go

Worth knowing: dengue is endemic with recurring outbreaks, so pack repellent, and ciguatera fish poisoning affects some reef fish, ask locally before eating anything caught that week. There is no malaria here, a genuine plus for the region. Medical care is good on Tahiti and Moorea; outer islands have only small clinics, and a serious case elsewhere can mean an air evacuation to Papeete running $10,000 or more, a real argument for travel and evacuation insurance.

Read the full Moorea guide for the bays, the peaks, and the sandbank in more depth, or see the 3 day plan if you have less time to spend. Official tourism information is at Tahiti Tourisme .