Le Tikehau by Pearl Resorts

Absolutely stunning location, in a beautiful set of atolls. Lovely snorkelling from the pier. Free kayaks to explore the area. Newly refurbished over water huts, which were nice. I expected a better bathroom for the price point, and much better outdoor loungers, but it was all usable. I’m a big snorkeler and Tikehau probably had the best marine life I saw in FP: The resort had a few areas in which improvements are desperately needed; 1) the food is absolutely horrendous. Not just bad, but almost inedible. The chef has a pretentious menu, and things look fancy, but the taste is absolutely awful. Badly cooked, weird flavour or no flavour, salty, lots of ingredients that are straight from a can. I appreciate the resort is remote but so are many other places I travelled to in the South Pacific. They used local ingredients - lots of fresh fish, coconuts, hydroponic ingredients etc. it’s It’s so bad that I wouldn’t return purely for this reason which is such a shame as Tikehau is spectacular. 2) The staff seem entirely disinterested in their jobs/hospitality. If sat at the pool, it was almost impossible to flag a waitress to order a drink. When you did, it seemed a huge inconvenience. The staff that provide snorkels or kayaks offer absolutely no advice on where to paddle/where not to paddle or any risks/things to be aware of when snorkelling. Given there are stone fish and lion fish in the area - and very dangerous currents in some places, I’d be a bit more proactive! 3) there was only one excursion actually running via a third party operator. It was okay, not great. They took us to the Tikehau pass, where tiger sharks are often spotted. Hugely dangerous, very strong currents going out to sea, and kids were on the boat! Recipe for a shark bite or drowning. They shouldn’t be taking people there - many other nice snorkelling spots which are much safer for a family/general outing I could see the GM was trying hard to improve things. I felt sorry for him. But I really think he has to bite the bullet and sack the chef; it was absolutely appalling. And I travel maybe 50% of any year and stay in 5* hotels, so know what the standard is. It’s so far from this.

The Pearl over the water bungalow experience is beautiful. But the food was really very bad. The breakfast buffet had a poor selection of pastries. A lot of chocolate but I don't do chocolate for breakfast They had warmer trays of cool wet scrambled eggs , tepid boiled vegetables, slimey bacon sitting in its fat, and sausages that were only cooked on one side. The dinner menu often had multiple varieties of raw tuna which wasn't inspiring , and then very fancy sounding food that was swimming in over salted sauces. The lobster bisque was inediblely salty. There were really no vegetables, and there was no meal that was really good. Even the deserts were often weird and not appetizing. By the end I was eating off the kids menu getting grilled fish that was edible but really bland and not good, and I had ice creme for desert off the kids menu. The vanilla ice creme was good. But for the cost and the luxury experience ,this Pearl resort really needs to up it game in food department. Suggestions make some good fresh fish dishes with mahi, sword fish,moonfish, ECT. Make a good bouillabaisse, good risotto, a nice rack of lamb, or fillet mignon with bernaise. For desert make good French pastry. We had good pastry at a little place in Moorea " Carmaline", we had good wood fired pizza, . You could do so much better.

Le Tikehau was the perfect spot for the last leg of our honeymoon. It was so quiet, romantic, and relaxing. The food was great at every meal, and there were plenty of wine and drink options. There were plenty of things to do, from kayaking, to snorkeling excursions, to simply swimming or lounging! On top of that, all the staff were helpful, knowledgeable, and friendly. A great spot for a relaxing paradise getaway.

We spent 15 days in French Polinesia staying in 3 Pearl resorts: Le Bora Bora for 1 week, Le Taha’a for 5 days and the last 3 days at Le Tikehau. We appreciated all of them where we always have been treated with passion and a “savoir-faire” hard to find anywhere else in the world. What we bring home are the smiles of this beautiful people full of joy and dedication. Having to decide where to write our comments we decided to use Le Tikehau where we really leave a small piece of heart. Starting with the head of Conciergerie Raipuni able immediately to organise every single aspect of your stay (not only activities but we organised the birthday party of our child and in 10 minutes everything was already done) and continuing with the captain of the boat Fara together with an exceptionnel chef Mania that took care of us for an unforgettable day at bird’s island and on a private Motu where we thought to be really in a dream and ending with a romantic dinner on the beach where we experienced a “in my opinion Michelin-starred cuisine” served by a joyful and perfect waiter. Thank you all this people! You know how to do!

My husband and I stayed in many incredible 5* hotels during our honeymoon in Tahiti, Moorea and Rangiroa - but none compare to the magic that is Le Tikehau. It was by far the highlight of our wonderful honeymoon - this hotel and this atoll are something else, true and still almost untouched paradise. Starting from the staff, who are unbelievably welcoming and attentive - special shout out to Varaii who was wonderful and taught us and played us local music the whole boat ride to the airport, and to the hotel manager Stefano who personally greeted us on arrival and always checked in on us. Also thank you so much to Shiro, Nati and Turo, and all the rest of the staff who made our stay so amazing. Secondly, I am a diver but I was blown away by the snorkelling around the overwater bungalows - the coral was so colourful and diverse, and there were so many fish, giant clams, black tip reef sharks, sting rays. We also did the manta ray tour nearby and our guide Mahutika put so much effort into finding us a Manta and they absolutely did not disappoint- it was breathtaking. Tikehau has perfect pink beaches, the lagoon water is warm and full of fish. You literally turn a corner in the hotel or swim/canoe to the nearby Motu and you are suddenly alone in a truly wild paradise. It’s unreal. We were half-board so we had a buffet breakfast and a three course dinner which was like a Michelin star experience every evening complete with amuse-bouche and post dessert treat. The only thing that could be improved in this hotel is that the dinner menu should be labelled with all the allergies, because it was slightly difficult to navigate avoiding dairy - but the staff were very helpful and the food wonderful. Tikehau is not a famous destination in Polynesia, which is probably why it ended up being the best. We can’t recommend it enough.