This post is reprinted from the WeChat public account of a reader from the WeChat group, Lazy 33's Food, Drink, and Fun. Original link.

The previous post covered transportation in Tahiti. This one starts with the hotels! Hotel experiences are affected by many factors, and reviews of hotels you haven't stayed at are inevitably subjective. I'll focus on our actual experience at the hotels we stayed in, while also mentioning some information I learned from other sources, in an effort to stay objective. During our time in Tahiti, we basically ate at the hotels, so I'll talk about the food as well.

Choosing the hotel

We mainly chose between Hilton and Sofitel for our stay on Moorea. After reading the Google Maps reviews, we went with Sofitel. As for Hilton, the elderly white couple in our car said the hotel was quite nice. The water around the overwater bungalows is very shallow, and they would snorkel straight from their room every morning. But during the pandemic, a large number of staff changed, and the new staff didn't know the hotel well or what they were supposed to do, so service dropped significantly.

By the time we booked, the overwater bungalows were already sold out, so we could only book a garden-view bungalow. We stayed four nights in total.

Our stay

It was our first time staying in a bungalow. As a friend put it, it's basically a deluxe hut. The bungalows we stayed in at different hotels were all much bigger than ordinary hotel rooms in the U.S., with a deck and a view.

Sofitel is very close to the Moorea ferry terminal, and the shuttle from the pier takes only a few minutes. The downside is that most of Moorea's water activities seem to be on the other side of the island, which means about an hour round trip. If you need cash, you can withdraw it at the ferry terminal; Sofitel doesn't have an ATM. You can exchange money at the front desk, but the rate isn't very good. Our flight landed at 5:30 a.m., and after all the transfers we only made it to Moorea around 8:00 a.m. At the airport, the travel agent had already put Tiera garlands on us, and when we arrived at Sofitel we got another round of colorful garlands, which was quite different from other places.

We checked in at the front desk using the voucher issued by the agency. It was still too early and the room wasn't ready yet; if I remember correctly, the standard check-in time was 2 p.m. On the other side of the lobby was the concierge desk, and the prices for activities there were generally a bit higher than what the agency quoted. I'll talk about activities later in the activities article.

Since the room wasn't ready yet, we decided to head to the hotel's beach first and relax. Right next to the front desk there was a shower room and a changing room. We changed into swimsuits, left our luggage at the luggage desk across from the porch, and went to the beach.

The hotel beach was beautiful, and the water was very clear, but there were quite a few pebbles on the sand, so remember to wear water shoes. The hotel was fully booked during our stay, but the beach was still very quiet, much calmer than crowded Hawaii. There were plenty of lounge chairs and umbrellas, no reservation needed, and they were free to use. We had brought the small beach tent we always use in Hawaii, but we never used it once in Tahiti. There were also hammocks on the beach, and you could fall asleep on them in no time. Because we hadn't slept well on the plane, once we reached the beach and felt the sea breeze, my husband and I each dozed off in a beach chair while our kid played in the sand and watched chickens. Yes, there were chickens wandering around the hotel from time to time.

Food

Tahiti's weather changes constantly. We slept until noon, and with the sky looking a little gloomy, the three of us slowly walked to the restaurant for lunch. Everything I'd read said the food in Tahiti wasn't very good, and considering that my companion and I are very picky about food, we hadn't expected much from the local cuisine. Maybe because our expectations were low, we ended up finding that the hotel restaurants along the way were actually pretty good.

The package we booked at Sofitel only included breakfast. During our stay, one lunch was a free 3-course meal, and everything else was charged. We used that free lunch for our first meal in Tahiti. My kid was under 3 years old, so all meals were free throughout the trip. TIP: For some reason, almost every meal bill at every hotel included the child's meal charge, so we had to remind the waiter and have it removed. Families traveling with small children should pay extra attention to the bill.

Sofitel only has one restaurant, and the menu is pretty similar to a typical American restaurant, with appetizers, salads, sandwiches, meat and vegetarian entrees, pizza, and pasta. If you like sashimi, you should try Tahiti's local raw fish, marinated with lemon and coconut milk. We really liked it. The fries are also a highlight. The prawn pasta was oddly delicious too, and we ordered it twice during our stay. You can skip the grilled fish, though—the grilled fish at Tahiti restaurants generally wasn't very tender or fresh.

At Sofitel, kids can order 2 courses for free. Everyone would probably choose an entree and dessert, right? The kids' menu is pretty similar to the adults' menu. My kid liked pasta best and ate it from start to finish. For dessert, we almost always ordered ice cream.

Our kid fell asleep halfway through the meal, so we were able to finish dinner at a rare leisurely pace. When the kid woke up and we returned to the front desk, the room was already ready. The front desk arranged for a golf cart to take us to our room.

Our bungalow wasn't an overwater or beachfront bungalow, but it was still only a few steps from the beach. The bungalows we stayed in all had high ceilings, which made them feel very spacious. The hotel's crib was a Pack 'n Play, which didn't quite match the price, but fortunately it was larger than the U.S. size. My kid had already outgrown the Graco Pack 'n Play, but this one was fine. Our room didn't have a bathtub, so if your child isn't comfortable with showers, you can ask the hotel for a baby tub.

I really liked the bathroom in the room; taking a shower there was genuinely relaxing. But there was a gap in the floor-to-ceiling window, and a gecko moved in and made our room its home. It would hide whenever we turned on the light. On the last night, the gecko was darting around the cabinet behind the headboard, knocking cups and drinks around with a clatter, and it kept us from sleeping well. At checkout, the front desk said this was completely normal—Moorea is the island of geckos.

The drinks in the hotel's mini bar were all free, and you could get one free refill per day.

The hotel has an infinity pool, but it's not big, so we took a quick look around and left. After all, the beach was more comfortable, and the water wasn't cold.

The surf shop next to the restaurant offers free use of snorkeling gear, kayaks, stand-up paddleboards, canoes, and more. For beginners, kayaks are easier to handle; canoes are more likely to tip over. The free snorkeling masks were the regular kind, while the full-face masks cost extra. I'm not sure whether the life jackets Sofitel provided were just too old, but they didn't have much buoyancy, which indirectly kept us from swimming with the whales later on. That said, the woman working at the surf shop was super gentle and lovely.

There is a small patch of coral reef near the overwater bungalows, where you can see some fish while snorkeling. There is also a larger coral reef near the beach next to the hotel, where you can see quite a few fish as well.

We confirmed the check-out and luggage pick-up time with the front desk 24 hours in advance, and the hotel made sure there was plenty of time for us to transfer to the next island. When traveling with a small child, time flies even when you're just relaxing at the hotel. On our last evening, we took a walk on the beach and watched the sunset. Early the next morning, we headed to Taha'a.

Tahiti series

This original article was published in 2021, so some of the content still refers to the pandemic. I hope this series gives anyone planning a trip to Tahiti a useful overview.

About the author

This post is reprinted from the WeChat public account "Lazy 33's Food, Drink, and Fun". They are all original, high-quality articles, so if you're interested, please follow along.