We wanted a special way to celebrate our 10-year wedding anniversary, so we figured we’d do the kind of trip we never do—one focused on relaxation.

ITINERARY

1 night in Fa'a'ā on Tahiti at the InterContinental Tahiti.
7 nights on Moʻorea at the Hilton Moʻorea Lagoon Resort & Spa.

LOGISTICS

Ferries from Tahiti to other Polynesian islands like Mo’orea (and Bora Bora) do not operate 24 hours a day, so depending on flight timing, you may have to stay on the island of Tahiti at either end of your trip. That was the case for us. Our flight arrived to Tahiti late on a Friday, so we stayed at a nearby hotel and then took a ferry out to Mo’orea Saturday morning.
We rented a car while on Mo’orea. This made excursions off of the resort much easier for us.

We normally structure our blog posts by day. This trip was quite different than our normal trips though, so we’re going to organize instead by “on resort” and “off resort”.

ON RESORT

We had an overwater bungalow with a private deck onto the ocean, and we spent most of our time there, swimming, laying out, reading, watching sunsets, etc. Additionally:

The resort had standup paddle boards available to use. We took them out one morning. It was fun, but they ask that you stay inside the inner lagoon, so you run out of places to explore pretty quickly.
The resort also had snorkeling equipment available to use. We had actually never done this before, and we’re so glad we finally tried it. This was the perfect place to do it—there was so much to look at: fish, rays, little reef sharks, and more!
The resort put on regular “Polynesian nights” with traditional music, dancing, and fire shows. We went one night and had a lot of fun.

There were 3 restaurants on resort:

Arii Vahine Restaurant:
- Breakfast buffet every morning. Amazing spread of all kinds of food. Tasty, but definitely overpriced for how little we eat in the morning.
- They also serve dinner, but we never ate there.
Rotui Grill & Bar: Not too vegetarian friendly, and what we could get was hit or miss. We tried it a couple of times.
Toatea Crêperie & Bar: Went here many times. Quite the treat!

OFF RESORT

Mo’orea is a small island—roughly 8 miles by 8 miles. But there’s plenty to see and do!

Magic Mountain hike: Short and sweet. Excellent views. Lots of mango and coconut trees.
Pineapple Circuit hike: One of the highlights of the trip. So many beautiful views. Lots of pineapple sightings. We barely saw another soul.
Belvedere Lookout: Panoramic view of the 2 bays on the north side of the island.
Toatea Lookout: Looks out over the Sofitel resort. Beautiful views. Can really see the vivid color of the water from here.
Plage Temae: Pretty public beach.
Rotui Juice Factory & Distillery: Fun little self-guided factory tour and juice tasting.

We were very happy to have a car so that we could see and do everything Mo’orea has to offer. Another great benefit of having a car was being able to eat off the resort.

Magic Mountain Fa’aroa: Mango coolada, jam tasting plate, fresh fruit. Very refreshing.
Tropical Garden: Egg burger, egg tacos, fries. Really good. Great views.
NY Bagel: Guacamole, cream cheese, and veggie sesame seed bagels. Nice little surprise. Super tasty. Sat at a table in the shallow waters right off the beach.
Lilikoi Garden Cafe: Veggie burger and fries. This spot was actually walking distance from the resort.
Aoy Thaï Food: Yellow veggie curry. Really good.
A l'Heure du Sud: Veggie burger with fries, mango ice cream. Tasty food. Cute little spot.
Tiki Ma’a: Tofu burger with fries, chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream. Really tasty.
Vaiare Pizza: White pizza with goat cheese, almonds, and honey. Really tasty.
Allo Pizza: Tomato, garlic, and pineapple pizza. Not as good as Vaiare, but good nonetheless.
Casa Vincenzo Moorea: Burrata tomato pesto salad, mozzarella pizza, tiramisu. Tasty and fun atmosphere.
Les Sorbets de Moorea: Rico had coconut ice cream. Britt had vanilla. Tasty.