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Bora Bora

Its airstrip is a 1943 American wartime airfield, French Polynesia's only air gateway until 1960.

French PolynesiaCapital: Vaitape

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The runway on Motu Mute was laid by the United States during the Second World War, when Bora Bora served as a supply base, and it opened in 1943. For the next seventeen years it was how anyone flew into French Polynesia at all; Tahiti's Faa'a airport did not open until 1960. Because the strip sits on an outer islet, every arrival still finishes with a boat ride.

What is left of the volcano is the middle: Mount Otemanu, 727 metres of near-vertical basalt, ringed by a lagoon inside an almost unbroken barrier reef. The motu on that reef are where the overwater bungalows went, which is also why it is the lagoon, rather than the island, that people book.

Quick facts

Currency

XPF

CFP franc

Language

French

+ Tahitian

Power

—

Driving

Right

US-style

Airport

BOB

Bora Bora (Motu Mute)

Emergency

—

Police · Fire

When to go

Monthly breakdown

Storm risk: Moderate

Jan

Rain

Feb

Rain

Mar

Rain

Apr

Rain

May

Best

Jun

Best

Jul

Best

Aug

Best

Sep

Best

Oct

Best

Nov

Rain

Dec

Rain

Best monthsRainy season

Major events

Jul

Heiva i Bora Bora

A month of dance and singing competition plus traditional sports such as stone lifting, coconut husking and outrigger racing in the lagoon.

Cultural

Nov

Hawaiki Nui Va'a

A three-day outrigger canoe race across open ocean from Huahine that finishes on Matira Beach, watched by most of the island.

Sporting

Nov

Matarii i ni'a

The rising of the Pleiades, which opens the Polynesian season of abundance. Revived across French Polynesia as a marked observance with chant, offerings and shared food.

Cultural

Hidden gems

Viewpoint

Mount Pahia

Bora Bora's climbable peak. Otemanu, the famous one, cannot be summited because its rock is too rotten, so Pahia is the real hike: roughly five hours return with rope-assisted sections.

Historical

WWII Coastal Guns

Seven-inch American naval guns still sit on the ridges above Anau and Fitiiu Point, left from the 1942 supply base that gave the island its first road and airstrip.

Beach

Matira Point

The southern tip of Matira is the one stretch of genuinely public beach on an island where resorts hold most of the shoreline. The sand shelves gently far out, so it stays shallow.

Local food

Poe

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Starchy fruit such as banana or papaya cooked with arrowroot into a firm pudding and eaten with coconut cream poured over.

Firi firi

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A coconut-milk doughnut twisted into a figure of eight and fried in the morning, sold at the roadside with coffee.

Uru

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Breadfruit roasted whole in the coals until the skin blackens, then split and eaten like a starchy vegetable.

Safety tips

Health

Coral cuts get infected fast in warm water and are the most common injury here by a distance. Rinse and treat them the same day rather than the next.

Water-Safety

There is no hyperbaric chamber on the island and serious cases go to Tahiti by air. Check that your insurance covers inter-island medical transfer before diving.

General

Almost everything is imported and prices reflect it, and some smaller vendors and pensions do not take cards. Draw cash in Vaitape rather than assuming a resort ATM.