To come to Tahiti you really to have a budget planned, there is 3 different kinds of hotels: expensive and run down hotels, very expensive 4 stars hotels and expensive family housing.
If you choose the family housing you will get a room on a property belonging by a family that will take care of everything that is about your accommodation, you will eat your meal with the family and all the other persons staying there. That type of accommodation is very good to discover Polynesia with a different eye because you will have access to information only the local population has. The rooms in those kind of place are often average so don’t expect anything fancy, those places are for people who are looking for a family feeling when they go someplace. One night can range from 100$ to 150$.
The hotels which are located in Papeete the capital city are very old, they never got repaired so they are in very bad shape but still are expensive; they are very useful for people like me who come to Polynesia to work but they offer absolutely no service. I you stay in one of those hotels, you will have to find a restaurant to have your breakfast in the morning and for dinner in the evening. One of the main interests of those places is that you can walk home when you have had a drink in a bar or in a nightclub; police security is very tight in the evening to catch those who drive drunk. One night can range from 100$ to 150$.
The 4 stars hotels are most commonly used because most tourists coming to Tahiti have a high income or come for their honeymoon. Of course those hotels provide everything you need to make your stay as pleasant as possible so that you never want to leave the hotel premises to spend your money. The swimming pool is the first thing on the list of things they provide, you can add the fitness centre and the spa, you will have access to a wide range of activities from diving or shopping in the city to hiking or visiting another island. Most hotels have a real beach (there are not that many on Tahiti Island) or an artificial one; in some cases you will have the opportunity to enjoy the luxury bungalows above the lagoon from where you will see the lagoon fishes while you are drinking a cocktail. Of course all this comes with the nice price of around 300$ a night.
In Tahiti my wife and I stayed at a brand new 4 stars hotel called hotel Manava. It is not a hotel in the strict sense of the word as it provides services apartments to the guests instead of a bedroom. The hotel is located 10km from Papeete and is just in front of the island of Moorea, if you rent a flat with the view on the lagoon you will have the pleasure to enjoy the sunset on Moorea from your terrace (photos seen in the previous post).
The hotel doesn’t look at all like what you are used to see in Polynesia, it is not a tall and long piece of concrete nor is it a garden filled with bungalows. The hotel looks like those housing communities you can find in California: you have two 2 floors buildings facing each other with a beautiful tropical garden between them, on the lagoon side you will get a great swimming pool, a deck that will lead you to a sunbathing place and on the side of that place a motu (small island in Tahitian language) that you will have to swim to to be able to be Robinson Crusoe. If you want to see what the hotel looks like, follow this link.
During the week-end you will see more people from Tahiti in the hotel than there usually is, the locals have the habit of spending a family week-end in the hotels. Polynesian housing isn’t the most comfortable, the houses often are simple and big families have to share limited space. Tahitian families have understood that staying at a 4 stars hotels during a week-end would greatly improve everyday life, hotels manager are happy because their hotels are filled to capacity: everyone wins. On one side those 2 day visitors bring life to an often dull and quiet place as there will be much more kids in the swimming pool but on the other side if you were enjoying the calmness of the place you will have to wait till Monday to get it back.
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