Bora Bora: One of the most beautiful islands on the planet

Some couples come to Bora Bora with shiny new wedding bands. Others visit this exclusive Polynesian island to tick off a long-held bucket list item. All bring heavy wallets.

I came to Bora Bora with none of the above. On assignment for a travel magazine, I was the only solo traveller in a sea of loved-up couples.

On my second morning at the Four Seasons Resort Bora Bora’s sumptuous breakfast buffet – just me, my phone and a stack of pancakes – another guest approached me. “Sorry to bother you, but we were wondering if you’d been stood up at the altar and decided to come on your honeymoon on your own,” she asked.

When I explained that I had a partner and was here for work, she invited me to sit with her and her husband, who she’d married in a lavish Texan wedding ceremony five days earlier (I know this because she showed me many, many photos).

It turns out that the brash Texan wasn’t so far off the mark: staff at another resort later admitted at least six or seven women fly solo each year, having had their weddings called off at the last minute.

“They’ve paid a lot for their honeymoon, so they turn up anyway,” said the staff member. “But oddly, it’s only the women who ever do it, never the men.”

Bora Bora isn’t a bad place to get over a broken relationship (or to celebrate a successful one): if your heart quickens even a little at talcum-powder sand and warm temperatures, then you’ll be in heaven.

Because throw whatever tropical island cliches you want at Bora Bora and they’ll stick: palm trees, pristine waters and multicoloured fish and exotic fruit you probably can’t find a name for.

Bora Bora isn’t technically one island but 12 low-lying motu (slender coral islets) sprinkled around a lagoon so luminous the only words that comes close to describing it are ‘ridiculously blue’.

Rising up in the middle of the lagoon is Mt Otemanu, an extinct volcano that reaches 727m into the air. Some more figures: Bora Bora is only 8.8km long and 4km wide, it’s allegedly seven million years old and was once believed to be the last remaining tip of the sunken continent of Atlantis.

Historically, Bora Bora attracted adventurers such as artist Paul Gauguin and the late Marlon Brando (who liked it so much he bought his own island nearby). Author James Michener called it “the most beautiful island in the world” while explorer James Cook was similarly moved by what he named “the pearl of the Pacific”.

Today, the island that’s so nice they named it twice is a favourite with Hollywood heavy hitters such as Nicole Kidman, Justin Bieber, the Kardashians and Jennifer Aniston (who apparently occupied my room at the Four Seasons a few weeks before me).

If that kind of thing is important to you, there are plenty of opportunities to follow in their footsteps. If it isn’t, just being in Bora Bora will earn you major social media bragging rights.

One of this island’s real attractions is its remoteness – the only way to get there is by sailing yourself, getting someone to sail you (Hawaiki Nui shipping line offers two or three inter-island sailings a week) or flying from Tahiti, a 50-minute hop. If it’s the latter, make sure you grab a window seat for a view of this postcard pretty island as you land at the tiny airstrip.

Once you’ve stopped sniffing the perfumed air (that will be the tiare you’re smelling, Tahiti’s tiny but beautifully fragrant national flower), head to the compact airport’s jetty where the speed-boat to your resort will be waiting.

If you can swing it, try to score an over-water bungalow where you can watch ‘Tahitian TV’, the nickname given to the raised glass windows in the floors of some villas that allow guests to eyeball fish and manta ray, and sometimes even feed them. Fun fact: Tahiti is the OG of over-water villas, as the concept was invented here in the 60s when a group of Americans decided to perch traditional Tahitian fishing huts on stilts above the water.

But if you haven’t won Lotto or, like a character from The White Lotus, sold your wildly successful IT start-up, then Bora Bora isn’t necessarily off limits.

Some resorts, such as the Conrad Bora Bora Nui, offer garden bungalows and hotel block-style apartments which can run you to much less than over-water bungalows. So too does the Sofitel Marara Beach. And there are a range of pensions and guest houses which will be kinder to your budget, such as Village Temanuata, a collection of 11 rustic Polynesian huts near Matrira Beach.

The temptation to lie next to the pool/beach is strong on this magical island, but should be resisted for long enough to check out a few of the sights.

Head to the Bora Bora Lagoonarium, a natural aquarium on a small motu east of the main island. Snorkel in the translucent water for safe encounters with turtles, manta rays, sharks and more fish than Nemo ever found. If you sign up for a full day tour, they’ll even throw in a barbecue lunch.

Bring your togs because you’ll spend a lot of time on the water with jet-skies, paddleboards, sail boats, out-rigger canoes and catamaran sailing options. Big game fishing and deep-water diving are also possible once out past the coral reef.

Once you’ve had enough of the water, head into Bora Bora’s cooler interior to walk or hire a bike or scooter. The island is mostly flat, apart from Mt Otemanu which you can climb as far as the ‘shoulder’ (around 4km) but no further as the fragile rock isn’t suitable for climbing.

Or sign up with Polynesian Island Tours which runs a number of nature walks, from the Valley of Kings, a three-hour relatively easy hike, to more challenging full-day tours. If you’re super fit and don’t suffer from vertigo, then the trek to the summit of Mt Pahia, the 658m younger sibling of Mt Otemanu, is a six-hour slog that will reward you with outstanding views.

I was once charged NZ$35 for a tiny salad at a Bora Bora resort so keep an eye out for more budget-friendly eating options. That means eating where the locals eat, including the snack stands at Vaitape and Matira Beaches, which sell burgers, pizzas, French crêpes, Chinese chow mein and po’e, a local mash-up of bananas, taro and coconut milk.

Also look out for the Les Roulottes, or food trucks, a popular feature throughout Tahiti, which offer cheap and tasty meals for around NZ$20.

You can’t leave French Polynesia without trying poisson cru. Meaning ‘raw fish’, this Tahitian speciality is usually tuna, salmon, snapper, salmon or mahi mahi marinated in coconut milk and served with rice and some kind of greenery, from salad to diced carrots and cabbage. It’s especially delicious eaten while on a solo trip to one of the most beautiful islands on the planet.