Experience warm, laid-back island chic

Sculpted by sky-piercing, moss-green peaks and lined with vivid turquoise lagoons, sultry French Polynesia is a place to take it slow. 

Lagoon Spectacular

While there are plenty of slim stretches of white, pink and black-sand beaches in French Polynesia, they are just pretty springboards into the real draw: the lagoons. Most high islands are surrounded by fringing reef that creates a protected swimming pool of the most intense hue of aqua imaginable. Coral atolls have this same calibre of lagoon minus the big clunky island in the middle. Fish, dolphins, rays, sharks, turtles and more inhabit these clear-water coral gardens that are as excellent for snorkelling as they are for diving and swimming. Surfers ride glassy wave faces at reef passes while kitesurfers and windsurfers fly across the water terrain with the trade winds.

Location

French Polynesia includes 121 islands scattered across more than 1,930,500 square miles (five million square kilometers) in the southern Pacific Ocean between Australia and South America. It is divided into 5 groups of islands. The capital city, Papeete, is on the island of Tahiti, the largest of these islands and the first to experience European conquest. It is the international gateway island. Most visitors holiday in the Society islands of Tahiti, neighbouring Moorea or venture to the famed Bora Bora, Tahaa and Huahine.