Temae Beach

Temae is on Moorea's north-east corner, a long white beach looking across the channel to Tahiti. It is public, which in French Polynesia is worth stating plainly — most of the sand in this country belongs to somebody.

The barrier reef sits well offshore, so the water inside is flat and clear and the snorkelling starts more or less where you stand. The view back east at the end of the day, with Tahiti's mountains against the light, is the thing people remember.