Tahiti is the largest, most populated landfall in French Polynesia.  Known for the beautiful landscape that has been muse to great painters such as Paul Gauguin, Tahiti and her islands are popular for artists, adventurists, and lovers alike, it’s peaks rising through the mist from the lagoons below.

 Of the more well-known islands of Tahiti, Bora Bora is most popular.  With its renowned beauty, it has tragically grown more popular by the passing years.  Among the other popular spots in Tahiti, Moorea features jagged volcanic peaks and lush jungles.

 Some of the lesser-known islands offer what the more popular ones don’t, that is, they are equal in beauty and charm, but rich with tradition and the romanticism that comes along with the less developed areas.  Hauhine features its ancient ruins, as one of the heartlands of ancient Polynesian culture; it’s so much more than just a spot for endless white sands.  In Hauhine you will find Maeva, the old royal village of this island, where you will find hundreds of black stone ruins scattered along the shores of Lake Fauna Nui.  Several of the palaces and temples have been restored, but you can still see other artifacts that are housed in a thatched-roof museum set on stilts over the lake.  Taha, or “Vanilla Island,” is surrounded by coral gardens and beaches.  About an hour’s flight north of Papeete, The Tuamotus is a chain of coral atolls that is generally untouched.  Only four of them (Rangiroa, Tikehau, Manihi and Fakarava) have hotels, and the rest are ideal for diving with manta rays, kayaking lagoons, or bicycling along the sandy roads.  And Marquesas is where one season of Survivor was filmed.

 When visiting Tahiti, you won’t want to pass up a visit to the James Norman Hall Museum, a Victorian house on Tahiti’s north shore that was transformed into a museum for this man who penned Mutiny on the Bounty and many other classics.  Also visit Cook’s Bay, an inlet on Moorea’s north shore, and one of the most beautiful spots in the South Pacific.

 Tahiti and its islands cover 1,200 miles of the Pacific ocean, a top romantic destination, and a diver’s dream, Tahiti offers beauty for any occasion.  Its lagoons are legendary, filled with sharks and a vast collection of species including Mantas and whales.  There are many must-see spots within Tahiti, and here are a few of them.

 First is Bora Bora, the most popular among couples on their honeymoon or romantic getaway.  The morning light lights up the lagoons and the peak of Otumanu, which dominates the island of Bora Bora, which makes this as close to paradise as you can get.  Divers also flock to this destination, diving in Tapu, just outside the main channel, where you can watch surgeonfish, marbled grouper, and bluestriped snapper.

 Second is Rangiroa.  Rangiroa is a ring of land, a narrow stretch of sand and palm trees, consisting of the second largest coral atoll in the world.  Here there are only two places where water flows between the lagoon and the Pacific Ocean – Tiputa Pass and Avatoru Pass.  These lagoons are ideal for diving, with eagle rays and blacktip reef sharks filling the waters.

 Third is Rurutu, where the humpback whales bring in quite a crowd.  every year between July and October, the humpback whales converge in the warm waters to give birth.  Due to Rurutu’s shallow waters which are relatively free of predators, this is the perfect nursery.  There are also two protected bays in which to escape storms here.  The island is only about 35 square miles in size, which makes it easy to have a whale encounter, as they gather just offshore.  This island sees few tourists, which allows tradition to live strong in Rurutu.  One of the most famous traditions here is the amoraa ofal.  Unique to Rurutu, this show of strength occurs in January and July of every year, when the village men and women lift volcanic boulders to show their strength, once the champion is chosen; the island throws a national feast.

 Fourth is Nuku Hiva, full of mantas and eagle rays, hammerhead, barracuda, snapper, trevally, and soldierfish, this island offers a remote area with many dives off its islands.  One of which, Motumano Point, is full of whitetip reef sharks and trevallies.  Another is the shallow Ekamako on Taiohae Bay.  This is a large cavern under a cliff and is one of the few sites in Nuku Hiva with calm water.  Within the cave, dozens of stingrays cover the floor.  These isolated islands offer more than others, with a greeting distinct to this area (“ka oha” rather than the regular “ia orana” one would hear in the rest of Tahiti), the tattoos and woodcarvings that are specific to these islands, and one of the world’s highest waterfalls, Vaipo Waterfall, falls loudly from 1,148 feet high.  It is no wonder that Gauguin and Melville found inspiration here.

Though we know that it has great scuba diving and fascinating Polynesian culture, almost all leisure travel in Tahiti is for romance and honeymoons.  Tahiti is popular with honeymooners because the beauty in the mountain profile of Bora Bora, the waters of Moorea’s Cook’s Bay and the culture of Tahiti.  All of their resorts are small and intimate and built in nature, and usually with no more then 70 to 100 rooms per property, which allows for privacy and exclusivity.  Due to the popularity of Tahiti to honeymooners, Tahiti has added spas throughout the islands that have special packages for couples, and many have added special couples’ table that overlook the moonlit lagoons, along with the addition of breakfast in bed.

 Many honeymooners nowadays are looking for a more “one of a kind” honeymoon that includes more adventure and bonding activities.  This is one reason why Tahiti Legends will put out a “Tahiti Lifestyles” brochure, which will feature unique experiences that honeymooners can look into, such as private showings at art galleries, private guided hiking and historical tours, private jetboat excursions, private Tahitian dance classes, traditional fishing and cooking with locals and week-long spa packages.  The spas in most of the resorts offer couples’ treatments using Tahitian oils and elements, and those that are located in adventurous environments such as the treetop location at the Bora Bora Lagoon resort.

And if you want to truly emerge yourself in the culture of Tahiti, you can perform a traditional Tahitian wedding ceremony on the islands.  Most of these ceremonies begin with the bride being massaged by her Tahitian bridesmaid, using Tahitian oil, and while being sung to and layered with fragrant flowers and treated like a Tahitian princess.  During this, the groom is taken to a small island by canoe and is painted with tattoos and given a crown of leaves.  The bride wears a traditional Tahitian wedding flowered headpiece.  Once together, the wedding vow is conducted in Tahitian by a priest and each couple is given a Tahitian name and a name for their firstborn child.  The ceremony is often followed by a romantic cruise at sunset.