This article is reposted from the WeChat public account of a reader in our WeChat group, Lazy 33's Food, Drink, and Fun. Original link. The original was published in 2021, so some COVID-related content may still remain

Farewell to Taha'a, we set off for the final stop on our Tahiti trip — BofA BofA.

In the article Taking a Little Kid to Tahiti During the Pandemic - Hotels and Food - Taha'a, I mentioned that it had already started raining when we left Taha'a, and by the time we got to the airport we were hit with the kind of tropical downpour that is common here. Fortunately, the rain eased noticeably by the time we boarded. We still sat on the left side of the plane, with views over Taha'a and BofA BofA.

By the way, let me explain the order of our island-hopping trip. Usually, we arrange it from less scenic to more scenic, so each stop has a surprise and the scenery we leave with is the best. Of course, sometimes transportation considerations mean we have to adjust. This time, all three islands were on the same route, and we also followed the principle of "save the best for last," so we arrived in BofA BofA full of anticipation.

In Taking a Little Kid to Tahiti During the Pandemic - Documents, I mentioned that I went through a lot of trouble for the visa, mainly so I could use BofA points to redeem a hotel in Bora Bora. So when choosing a hotel in Bora Bora, there was basically no hesitation — I went straight with St Regis, part of the Marriott group, where I usually stay.

At Bora Bora Airport, as soon as you step outside you can see a row of luxury hotel counters, and a staff member from our hotel was already waiting at the counter. Although our flight was later delayed and the transfer boat arrived a few minutes late, this still was not as satisfying as Le Taha'a.

Our first impression of Bora Bora Airport was: with weather this bad, the airport is already this beautiful — how beautiful must the rest of the place be?

Luckily, after waiting only a few minutes, our transfer boat arrived. The empty boat had only our family and the staff — we had the whole boat to ourselves. Since the hotel did not book through a travel agency, we arranged the transfer ourselves as well. You can use a third-party shared shuttle boat. I booked directly with the hotel, and the cost was 14,000 XPF per person roundtrip.

When we arrived at the hotel dock, we immediately felt that the Polynesian atmosphere was not as strong as at Le Taha'a.

Many St Regis properties around the world have Butler (concierge) service, and this Bora Bora one is no exception. Before we even got off the boat, a Chinese-speaking butler was already waiting on the dock to welcome us. Unfortunately, we both forgot his name (so embarrassing). He was interning here and found that he liked it, so he stayed on. After check-in, the butler drove us around the hotel in a golf cart. The hotel is extremely large, so walking everywhere is a bit difficult. Each villa comes with a bicycle, and along the way we kept running into guests riding around on them. There is no place for a child to sit on the bicycles because, the butler said, a child once had a foot caught in the wheel. So throughout our stay, we called Butler service to have a golf cart pick us up and drop us off.

A small episode: the day before departure, I suddenly received an email from St Regis asking whether we needed to install a child proof net on the overwater villa, and if we agreed, we would have to pay $400. Was that even a question? Traveling with a three-year-old little beast, we could only "obediently" have it installed; if the kid fell in, nobody would want to deal with the aftermath. It wasn't until I was lying on the deck at Le Taha'a, looking left at the railing and right at the neighbors, that I realized Le Taha'a had already thoughtfully installed a child proof net for us free of charge before we arrived, and we just hadn't noticed it. Looking back at the "mandatory fee" from the day before, I was already a bit unhappy before even reaching St Regis. So when I checked in, I voiced my dissatisfaction. The front desk lady said she would ask about it, but either she forgot or never got an answer, and there was no follow-up through the last day. The night before check-out, I remembered it again and called the front desk to ask if there was any progress. The front desk guy who answered had a very bad attitude and directly asked, "So you just don't want to pay?" Fortunately, on the day we left, the manager finally replied that the fee would be waived, and his attitude was also very good. I thanked him on the spot and also mentioned the previous night's front desk guy's attitude. The matter finally ended on a happy note. Aside from that, the hotel service overall was still very good, and most of the staff were very friendly.

After the tour, we finally arrived at our overwater villa. The villa was extremely large and seems to have been renovated during the pandemic — take a look at the photos.

The bathtub is huge, and while our kid is still little, the three of us soak together for a while every day. Once the kid gets a little older, I’ll have to avoid any awkwardness.

As mentioned earlier, Bora Bora has a uniquely dramatic sea-and-mountain setting, and most luxury hotels are on the motus surrounding the main island rather than on the main island itself. I’d seen trip reports saying that the older a luxury hotel in Tahiti is, the better its location tends to be, and the two most luxurious ones, St. Regis and Four Seasons, are even neighbors. Setting everything else aside, at least on the “sea and mountain views” front, St. Regis and Four Seasons are indeed better situated than later openings like Conrad.

After enjoying the view on the deck for a while and taking a short break, it was time for dinner. Our butler had already arranged a golf cart to take us to the restaurant, and when it arrived, they called the room to let us know to head outside.

First, a quick introduction to the dining at St. Regis Bora Bora.

The hotel has four dining venues in total.

Aparima Bar is the only lunch spot, and when kids check in they receive a wristband that lets them get free ice cream here after 11:00 a.m. every day. This restaurant also serves dinner, with two rotating themes each day: Indian Night and Mexico Night. Our first night was set aside for Indian Night here.

Te Pahu Restaurant is the only breakfast restaurant, right next to Aparima Bar, and the decor is somewhat similar. Breakfast is an order-from-menu buffet rather than a self-serve one. Like all the other hotels in Tahiti, this property also has Polynesia Night, a Wednesday dinner event held at Te Pahu Restaurant.

Bam Boo is the only Asian restaurant, located on the other side of the pool. Far Niente Ristorante is the Italian restaurant and shares the same space as Bam Boo, alternating on operating days.

Lagoon by Jean-Georges is the Michelin-starred restaurant run by the famous chef Jean-Georges, and it is also the best restaurant on Bora Bora, attracting many guests who are not staying at the hotel as well.

All restaurants share the same kids’ menu, and children under six eat for free.

For Lagoon especially, it’s best to make a reservation in advance. We went ahead and booked every night while on the shuttle boat.

If you don’t want to order à la carte, you can book the Dining Package, which is the meal plan. The prices are:

- Breakfast: 5,500 XPF per person per day

- Lunch: 6,725 XPF per person per day

- Dinner: 13,000 XPF per person per day

Lunch and dinner both have to be booked for the full stay. The dining package doesn’t include room service, candlelit dinners, drinks, and beverages, and there are some other restrictions as well.

Couples can try the candlelit dinner. We didn’t even consider it with our kid in tow because we were afraid the kid would grab a candle and set himself on fire... It costs 20,300 XPF per person.

Besides the buffet breakfast, you can also order the canoe breakfast, with staff delivering it by canoe to your overwater bungalow. We tried it once during our stay, and it was definitely worth experiencing.

Indian Night offers a set menu, with portions served according to the number of guests, so there’s no need to order, and it’s cheaper than the dining package.

After dinner we planned to walk back to our room, but then it started drizzling again. The weather at Bora Bora hadn’t been very cooperative these past few days.

Next morning we went to breakfast early, because we had a snorkeling trip out at sea scheduled for the morning. As mentioned earlier, breakfast here is a combination of ordering from the menu and helping yourself to the buffet, rather than just taking everything yourself. Since we got there early and there were almost no other guests, I foolishly went to grab things myself and found there was basically nothing to take. Only after asking a server did I realize I had misunderstood.

At breakfast, we ran into the elderly couple who had been traveling with us in Moorea again. What a coincidence.

The breakfast menu is below:

The weather was awful out on the water. Days of rain left us shivering on the boat, and I’ll go into more detail about this in the activities post later.

After getting back to land, everyone was a bit exhausted, so we rested in our rooms for a while before dinner. That night’s dinner was at the Michelin restaurant Lagoon.

We arrived early and, as some of the first guests, were seated in a corner by the window, which let us enjoy a gorgeous sunset view.

Lagoon is over the water, and the transparent glass floor made it easy to see the fish below, enclosed by nets, swimming beneath the restaurant.

Lagoon’s menu is below:

Overall, Lagoon’s dishes were quite good, and more thoughtful than the average upscale restaurant we’ve eaten at in the U.S. Bora Bora’s Michelin-starred restaurant still didn’t quite deliver the surprise factor we’d hoped for in the dishes we ordered. The foie gras with chocolate was a trendy combination, but unfortunately the foie gras was a bit overdone and wasn’t as delicious as the foie gras at Le Taha'a.

At dinner, we ran into that elderly couple again, and the wife even stopped by to chat for a while. I told my travel buddy that we always seem to make older friends on our trips. For those of us raised in a culture that emphasizes traditional hierarchy by age, friendships across generations are a pretty amazing experience.

After dinner, the weather was still bad, so we had to ride back to our room again. The restaurant gave us a small dessert to take back with us, but it was eaten by the kid before I even had a chance to take a photo. They also gave us a small bottle of sea salt, which was a nice touch.

By the time I got to this point, it seems the article had so many images that Chrome was lagging badly, so I’ll stop here for now and make this the first Bora Bora post. As the weather got better later on, Bora Bora’s beauty gradually came into full view.

Tahiti Series Posts

The original article was published in 2021, and some information in the text still reflects the pandemic period. I hope this series helps readers planning a trip to Tahiti better understand the relevant details.

About the Author

This article is reprinted from a WeChat public account by a reader in the WeChat group, "Lazy 33's Food, Drink, and Fun." They are all original articles, and if you're interested, you can follow along.