4 Day Itinerary for Bora Bora

Planning a trip to French Polynesia and planning to visit Bora Bora? If you don’t read this you may miss out on the best things that Bora Bora has to offer.

Views of palm trees along the road around Bora Bora where we stopped to take pictures during our bike adventure.

Bora Bora is a bucket list destination for most. Hawaii gets as many visitors in a weekend as Bora Bora gets in a year. I was lucky enough to book a cheap flight ($500 roundtrip from New York) through Scott’s Cheap Flights to French Polynesia this past August and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to visit this stunning island.

What to Know When Planning Your Itinerary

It’s important to understand that unlike most of the other islands in French Polynesia, almost all of the gorgeous beaches that you see in pictures, are located on the Motus and are privately owned by the resorts. So that begs the question, should you skip staying on the main island and head straight to the resort when you arrive? If you do, you’ll miss out on a lot!

Map of Bora Bora showing the main island and the motus where all of the resorts reside. — Map of Bora Bora

We spent a total of four days in Bora Bora; two days on the main island and two days at one of the resorts on the motu, which I feel is a perfect way to explore Bora Bora.

Sitting on the left side of the plane when flying into Bora Bora will give you the best view. — View From the Left Side of Plane

Helpful Tip: Make sure to sit on the left side of the plane when you fly to Bora Bora. Sitting on the left side will give you all of those stunning picture and video opportunities!

Incredible view of aqua blue water and palm trees upon arriving at Bora Bora airport. — View Bora Bora Airport

How to Get From the Bora Bora Airport to Vaitape

If you stay on the main island, you will take the free ferry from the airport to the port. Even the scenery at the Bora Bora airport is photo worthy! The water is a perfect shade of greenish blue. Bora Bora is, by far, the prettiest airport that I’ve ever been to!

Airport Ferry in Bora Bora that transports you from the Bora Bora Airport to Vaitape on the main island.

Where to Stay in Bora Bora

For our first 2 nights, we decided to stay at the Oa Oa Lodge and although we enjoyed our stay, if we visit again, we would choose to stay on the south side of the island, near Matira Beach.

The View from the Pool at the Oa Lodge Bora Bora — Oa Oa Lodge Bora Bora

Oa Oa Lodge is located on the west side of the island. We did appreciate that is was close to a grocery store (5 minute bike ride) and close to the main port (10 minute bike ride) but riding a bike in the dark down the one-lane road that circles the island, isn’t something that I wanted to chance, so we didn’t experience much of the nightlife that we might have if we stayed closer to Matira Beach, which has a lot more restaurants, including the famous Bloody Mary’s!

R ead about my picks for the top 3 places to eat in Bora Bora.

View of Matira Beach in Bora Bora, French Polynesia. On the day we visited, we had the entire beach all to ourselves. — Matira Beach Bora Bora

How to Save Money in French Polynesia

On our first day, we arrived on the mainland around 3pm. So we checked into our hotel and then walked to the grocery store. It’s very expensive to eat and drink in French Polynesia, so most days we made our own breakfast and lunch to save money and then ate dinner out. We were a little tired from our adventures in Moorea the day before, so we just hung out by the pool at the hotel and walked to the local Chinese restaurant for dinner. You can read all about our adventures in Moorea here.

Renting Bikes in Bora Bora

The next day, we rented bikes from the Oa Oa Lodge ($20 per bike) and biked around the entire island, which I would highly recommend. It’s a fantastic way to see Bora Bora! To circle the entire island, which is about 18 miles, took us about 6 hours, which included stopping for lunch, some beach time, hiking, and snorkeling. The road around Bora Bora is mostly flat, so it’s a fairly easy ride.

We made quite a few stops on our bike tour to hike, snorkel, eat, and take photos of all the beautiful scenery. We also needed to give our behinds a break! It had been quite a few years since either of us had ridden a bike and I remembered the seats having a little more padding:) Read all about our bike adventure in Bora Bora which included hiking to see WWII cannons.

Staying in an Over Water Bungalow

Dave walking back to our over water bungalow at the Le Meridien Resort in Bora Bora, French Polynesia. — Over Water Bungalows at L e Meridien Resort

For our final 2 nights, we booked an over water bungalow at the Le Meridian Resort. The Meridian’s private shuttle boat picked us up at the port on the main island and transported to what I can only describe as paradise! We spent the next 2 days sipping drinks on the resorts private beach, visiting the turtle sanctuary, taking a jet ski tour, and best of all, jumping off the porch of our over water bungalow!

Read how we scored a great deal on an over water bungalow.

View of palm trees, lagoon, and mountains when checking in at the Le' Meridian Resort in Bora Bora in French Polynesia. — View Checking into the Le’ Meridien

Dave and I on the jet ski for our Bora Bora Lagoon Tour at the Le Meridian Resort in French Polynesia. — Jet Ski Time!

As much as we enjoyed the resort, we were really glad that we spent our first 2 nights on the main island. We had so much fun exploring Bora Bora on our bike adventure and we were able to eat at some of the best restaurants on the island.

Read about our picks for the best places to eat in Bora Bora.

A view of our over water bungalow at the Le Meridien Resort in Bora Bora from our back deck. — Over Water Bungalow Le Meridien Resort

So, was it worth the money to visit Bora Bora? In my travels, I’ve been lucky enough to visit some of the world’s most beautiful beaches. I can safely say that Bora Bora lives up to the hype! I will definitely be back!