Plage Taharuu
17°46′18″S 149°28′49″W
Papara
- Black
- Sand
- Sandy
- Water entry
- Strong current
- Swimming
- Intermediate
- Surf
- None
- Snorkelling
- Quiet
- Crowd
Taharuu at Papara is black — properly black, volcanic sand off a young island, and the only beach in this directory recorded that way. It absorbs heat, so the walk from the car park in the middle of the day is one to do in something on your feet.
It faces the open ocean with no reef in front of it, which is why Tahiti learns to surf here and why it is not a swimming beach. There is current and there is shorebreak, and both are the reason the wave exists.
Plan of the bay
Facilities
- Food
- Showers
Access and parking
Road access at Papara with a large mapped parking area and showers. There is a surf school on the beach; there is no reef, so conditions change with the swell rather than with the tide.
What the survey found
Everything here is read from OpenStreetMap at the coordinates above, not from a press pack.
- Toilets
- Not mapped
- Showers
- Mapped
- Food or drink
- Mapped
- Rentals
- Not mapped
- Lifeguard
- Not mapped
- Parking
- 22 areas · charge not recorded
Nearest settlements: Papara 2.79 km, Mairipehe 2.87 km, Nairiri 5.26 km.
SourceOpenStreetMapsurveyed 2026-09-21
Nearby beaches in Tahiti Nui
- Plage Publique Vaiava
White · Calm · Moderate