Moorea

Moorea is forty minutes by ferry from Tahiti and is the answer to a problem French Polynesia otherwise has: almost all of its sand is private. Land here is largely held by families rather than hotels, and the result is that Moorea carries public beaches you can simply walk onto.

Temae is on the north-east corner by the airstrip, a long white stretch facing the channel with Tahiti on the horizon. Ta'ahiamanu is on the north coast by Ōpūnohu Bay, smaller and quieter, with the lagoon shelving gently enough to wade a long way out.

Both sit inside the same barrier reef, which is why the water at each is flat almost all the time. The swell breaks a kilometre offshore and never reaches the sand.

SourcesOpenStreetMap