If You’ve Been to Tahiti/Bora Bora/FP… Budget?

[mellymel]

I know this is a really personal question, but I want to start planning a bucket-list trip for DH and I to French Polynesia. I have no idea where to start in terms of budget. Our goals:

Stay in an Overwater Bungalow
Have our own plunge pool if possible
Nice views
We are able to island hop but also ok to stay in one amazing spot
1 week stay, give or take a couple days
Flying out of Detroit

If you’ve gone, how much did your trip cost?

I may be able to book through Delta Vacations as I have quite a lot of SkyMiles banked.

Thanks!

[mich1]

We are going to Fiji later this month as a dive trip for DH. Not staying in an overwater hut and 3 weeks is costing us about $25K (includes diving, but not gear). That includes first class business fare out of Vancouver.

Last September, we went to the Maldives. That trip we did stay in an overwater bungalow (no plunge pool), again for 3 weeks so DH could dive. We got a phenomenal deal flying Emirates business class and we were at about $28K. I think that trip broke down about $6K for flights, $5k for diving + gear, $1K for kenneling and the balance was the resort we stayed at.

This should give you some sort of ballpark. Both are AI, which include/d alcohol.

[mellymel]

Aug 15, 2022 12:42:34 GMT -5 mich1 said:

We are going to Fiji later this month as a dive trip for DH. Not staying in an overwater hut and 3 weeks is costing us about $25K (includes diving, but not gear). That includes first class business fare out of Vancouver.

Last September, we went to the Maldives. That trip we did stay in an overwater bungalow (no plunge pool), again for 3 weeks so DH could dive. We got a phenomenal deal flying Emirates business class and we were at about $28K. I think that trip broke down about $6K for flights, $5k for diving + gear, $1K for kenneling and the balance was the resort we stayed at.

This should give you some sort of ballpark. Both are AI, which include/d alcohol.

Thank you so much! This is really helpful.

[VacayVaca]

We went to Moorea in 2019 and I think it was all under $10,000. Air Tahiti Nui has reasonable-ish flights in economy on the Dreamliner from LAX and a few other west coast cities to Papeete for around $1,000 per person. Sign up for their emails and they frequently send out travel packages for flights and accommodations together.

We stayed on Moorea and didn't go to Bora Bora because my husband hates small planes, but I would have rather done both. I think resorts in Bora Bora are higher end and will be more expensive, but I think under $1,000 a night is doable on both islands. We stayed at the Sofitel in Moorea and splurged to upgrade our overwater bungalow and really loved it. It didn't have a plunge pool, but I didn't think it was necessary. We really loved snorkeling over the reef from the room and sunbathing on our patio. I'm sure Bora Bora probably has resorts with plunge pools on overwater bungalows, so if you're going to splurge, I would do it there.

Food and drinks are super expensive and should take some consideration in budgeting (you can easily spend $100 for two for a sitdown lunch and $200 for dinner). The Sofitel was hit or miss with food--breakfast was a amazing and they had some great buffets, but table service for dinner was not great when we went pre-covid.