Le Taha'a Island Resort & Spa

This is going to be a long review. If you’re going and want very specific tips, go to the bottom. Overall: this is a smaller resort as far as resorts go, with 3 main dining options that are well operated. The weather changes 3-5 times a day, but it always warm. The staff realllly tries to make your stay comfortable (they CHANGED the mattress when we said it was way too firm?!?!?), the grounds are beautiful. If you want to relax and/or snorkel / swim; this is a great place to be. If you want to pack your days end to end with excursions, probably not. What we heard over and over was that this was far better than Bora Bora. The over the water bungalows all have very different orientations so you’ll want a point of you on what’s most important for you there. They all have two small windows (one by the bath, one at the foot of the bed) that looks down into the water. Fish activity is strongest at peak low tide and around 11pm-1am. You can see sharks at those times in March. The bungalow itself is spacious (large bed, day bed, large bathroom area behind the bed). A small ladder off the deck gets you in the water, and if the currents aren’t crazy, there’s fish close by. The walk from end to end the island is maybe 15min? But the tiny pebbles make doing so in flip flops uncomfortable, so if you’re going towards the ends to see the view of Bora Bora, get reef shoes. How to make the most of Taha’a - the resort - say hello “ayo-rana” and thank you “marooroo” and cheers “manooya” in the local language - Bring reef shoes and your snorkel equipment. The resort does provide them but the snorkeling is exceptional, and you’ll want reef shoes both in and out of the water. - Bring baby shampoo to defog your snorkel equipment - Bring mineral sunscreen and sunscreen for your hair, it can really be strong sun out there. The pool station also has a pump of 30 spf sunscreen available. You’ll want a combo of makeup remover cream and cleansing oil to get rid of mineral sunscreen. - Check the tides daily. This is super important for both snorkeling facing Taha’a and for the coral gardens. Low tide makes the coral garden harder to access overall, you want to go at least 30min after for the best experience. On the side facing Taha’a, you do NOT want to be snorkeling in the 30min before peak tides, as the currents are no joke! Once peak tides is achieved things are wonderful. - You can ask for a little box at breakfast to get a couple extra items for snacking later. It’s been great to have a snack available after snorkeling. The room minibar came with a bag of chips and a bounty bar, but the breakfast bar is varied and having fruit handy was great. - Bring mosquito repellent. The resort is an island and while it’s not swarming, they’re definitely there. The multiple shifts to change bedding and do turn down service all include staff leaving the doors WIDE open and so you inevitably end up with some bugs in the room to fend off. - The pool is warmer than the ocean year round, and there is a side of the pool facing the bar so you can drinks from there. Their cocktail of the day is usually delicious but not advertised, so ask about it! - the beach restaurant was the best, hands down. The upscale restaurant had experimental dishes that just didn’t pan out, a lot (like way crunchy quinoa coating something, super hard to eat). The beach restaurant seafood in particular was outstanding. - the room service wine menu is extremely restricted, BUT you can go to the beach restaurant or bar, buy a bottle, start drinking it there, and take the rest back to your room! The mini fridge doesn’t have space for bottles or stem glasses but you can pour the wine in the smaller glasses and you’ll have cold wine again in about 20min. The French wines are delicious. Experiences Tip: multiple experiences require 4 people to get a significant price break. You can either go around the pool and ask around (someone we knew did that), or you can tell the concierge that you’re interested and if someone else wants to go, you’re in. We were able to book with that method. - Book through the concierge it’s never a line there - ask people what they tried! The pamphlets are really bare bones so it’s really hard to know what to expect. Just, don't leave without doing the Safari Lagoon with Samuel. (And leave a cash tip!) - Safari lagoon experience. just. Do. It. Don’t even think about it. We went while it was raining and it was an unforgettable experience! This tour is on a boat 9am to about 1pm, includes some fruit and drink but not lunch. Sting rays first (that behave like dogs!), then different coral garden (so big!), then the reef sharks and their cute little pilot fish. Amazing! Samuel was outstanding. - rum / pearl / vanilla. 4/5. We had a great guide and the places were cool (the vanilla in particular), but to be honest it kinda felt like tourist traps (didn’t expect to see $5,000 a single pearl). The vanilla place was very educational - the vanilla is currently very expensive so know this going in.

This was our first visit to Le Tahaa and we had a lovely time. This was such a hidden gem - not too crowded with all the perks of the other "popular" islands. The resort and destination were incredibly beautiful and it was like waking up in a dream every day. The hotel itself was lovely as well as the accommodations. We had a great overwater bungalow with a view of the sunset. The room was very comfy and spacious. The staff throughout was very friendly and really made us feel welcome wherever we went. Also, we really enjoyed the food. It was very fresh and delicious and we especially liked that they had local dishes available to try. We also loved being able to snorkel the coral garden, such a great experience. Saw lots of fish and throughout our stay also saw several sharks and sting rays right from our bungalow. We also want to give a special shout out to Henry - who let the breakfast + lunch staff. He was super friendly and always delivered the best service and was always super helpful. All in all, we really, really enjoyed our stay and definitely plan to visit again. We highly recommend Le Tahaa.

We had a wonderful stay, highly recommend resort. Staff were excellent at all levels. Snorkeling at hotel was amazing, black tipped sharks, stingrays. My wife loved the outdoor soaker tub.

It’s such a beautiful resort, we stayed on the water facing the coral bay such a great spot to look out . Just a beautiful view. Bungalow was so nice inside and was fun to watch fish at night in our bungalow. We loved everything about this resort , shallow water and snorkeling in coral bay was fantastic. The food was excellent and pool area so nice. We visited the pearl farm and vanilla farm and atv excursion was very interesting and fun and ate with the owner afterwards was excellent. Pacific for Less lined up our stay and did a great job. Everything was perfect. The staff was so friendly and accommodating. Will definitely be back. Was hard to leave .

After going to Le Bora Bora for the first half of our vacation, this resort was disappointing. The good: Snorkeling was good in the inlet. The landscaping was beautiful. The food was good, but dining options were limited and my husband struggled to find food that he liked. My grilled “chicken breast” was dark meat and covered in fat. I’ve never eaten duck before but I suspect it was duck because it was too big to be a chicken thigh. The wait staff at the main restaurant were slow. The desserts were good, especially the crème brûlée. There was a lot of vegetation debris from the reef floating in the water which piled up at the edge of the water throughout the day (it was raked up every morning). I know they can’t clean it out of the water but I think it’s good to know it’s there if you normally enjoy swimming in the ocean or want a picturesque vacation. The snorkel masks we were given were child size and made snorkeling unpleasant. Spray to prevent fogging was unavailable. Many maintenance issues: There were loose deck boards on the pier. Our conditioner dispenser contained body lotion and it wasn’t corrected when I called housekeeping — I had to empty it myself and then ask them to refill it. The toilet smelled like sewage. There were soft, creaky floorboards in our bungalow (#8). The AC unit lit up every time it came on which woke me up. The tugboats used for transfers to the airport or Taha’a lack airflow and made me feel queasy. The most disappointing thing was the lack of a nice beach and activities. The cost for normally free or inexpensive experiences like yoga, cultural dance lessons, or palm weaving were outrageous. The weather was good despite being the rainy season but the water could get choppy when the wind kicked up. Truthfully, we were bored and ready to leave after two days here. No desire to come back to this resort. I did enjoy our two excursions: one was snorkeling with sting rays, manta rays, and sharks and the other was a tour of Taha’a where we visited a rum distillery, a vanilla farm, and a pearl farm.