Stay in a resort hotel

“We stayed in an overwater bungalow in Bora Bora and it was magical - but magic comes at a high price! Still, it was a wonderful, once-in-a-lifetime experience. We took a shuttle boat from the airport to the resort - most of the resorts on Bora Bora are actually located on small motu or islets around the lagoon, facing the main island. When we arrived at the hotel's private island, we were welcomed by a tattooed Tahitian man who blew a conch shell. Our French host served us coconut water in coconuts topped with little peach-orange hibiscus flowers. We were taken to our bungalow which had an amazing view of the turquoise lagoon and Mount Otemanu, which we literally spent hours gazing at because it was so damn beautiful. Inside our bungalow they had decorated the entire place with hibiscus and tiare flowers, and they left us a bottle of champagne and madeleine cookies and chocolate truffles dusted with coconut flakes. The room even had a glass-bottom window through which you could observe fish swimming in the water below. And every evening the staff would come in and bring different sweets - one night it was macarons, another it was chocolates, another it was fruit jellies flavored with local tropical fruits. The food at the hotel was also amazing, which we got lucky with as not all resorts in French Polynesia have great food - every night we enjoyed poisson cru (which reminded us of poke), fresh-caught lagoon fish cooked in a Tahitian vanilla sauce, and the most delicious burgers ever. Frankly the whole thing still feels like a dream! I am glad I took so many photos to better remember it.”

“For my sons, the resort's biggest selling point was simple: water slides. Lots and lots of water slides. It was the kind of "cheesy" themed resort designed just as much to trigger our 90s nostalgia as it was to entertain kids. My wife and I found ourselves reluctantly charmed - me dancing involuntarily to a kids' remix of my favorite high school song, and later, rediscovering my Street Fighter skills in the game lounge while our sons ran around making fast friends.”