Top Things to do in Tahaa
Top Restaurants in Tahaa
What to do and see in Tahaa, French Polynesia: The Best Places and Tips
The charming island of Tahaa is scattered with small villages nestled along hillside bays. Known as the "vanilla island" because of its large-scale production of the fragrant bean, Tahaa is the ultimate in romantic escapism, tickling your nose as it tickles your fancy with gorgeous views, beautiful beaches and serendipitous lagoons.
Restaurants in Tahaa
1. Jardin de Corail
Overall Ratings
5 based on 133 reviews
Reviewed By Sophie C - Paris, France
This place is magical as you will be able to admire small (and not so small) beautiful, colorful lagoon fish as well as some reef sharks or rays, in their living habitat, reef corals in a literally crystal clear water! Don't forget your waterproof cameras!
But be careful not to hurt yourself by getting too close to the corals (you will know it too soon ...), wear shoes, and to be able to continue enjoying this wonderful place, keep it nice by not breaking the corals.
2. Vallee de la Vanille
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 146 reviews
Reviewed By RC30319 - Georgia
This is a small local farm that produces Vanilla in the most traditional ways. From an education perspective it was very informative. Especially seeing first hand how labor intensive it is. The owner who gives the tour seemed very frustrated at having to explain things, maybe it was just a bad day. Regardless, it was a fun way to spend an hour and there is a small shop on site where you can buy the products. Would recommend a stop here if you are on the island.
3. Coral Garden Tahaa
Overall Ratings
5 based on 52 reviews
Reviewed By Finallyfree - Saint Lucia
Most visitors to French Polynesia enjoy snorkelling. for reasons of global warming and recent cyclones many of the snorkelling and SCUBA diving sites have been damaged. It may take many more years until they recover. The Tahaa coral garden seems to have been lucky in this regard. The main danger there is the easy access to a large number of people and one can regularly observe tourist touching if not trampling on living coral. We were lucky to enjoy it.
4. Champon Pearl Farm
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 104 reviews
Selling the pearls we produce on our farm, providing one of the largest stock of pearls in various shapes, round, baroque, and sizes, from little ones to big pearls. Several big pearls, rare stock. Jewels mounted on the farm. The quality of our pearls is of highest importance to us, and much-sought. We offer our guests a free visit of the farm, to get the public into a deep knowledge of the pearl culture, of our work process, and of the quality criterion that apply to a pearl. Give us a phone call to plan your visit, in the morning or the day before, so we can give you our best.
Reviewed By Greg M - Warragul, Australia
For us, this was THE place to purchase pearls as it ticked so many boxes; friendly, family run, no pushy sales pitch, plenty of time to mull over the extensive range, very knowledgeable staff (thanks Paula), idyllic location and competitive pricing. Credit cards are welcome and purchases come with a certificate of authenticity.
Also, don't forget your camera and take a peek at the tree house.
5. Tahaa Tour Excursion Day Tours
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 58 reviews
Reviewed By PKDenton - Denton, Texas
Taha’a is sometimes called the vanilla island. They told us that over ¾ of French Polynesia’s vanilla is produced from this island. This takes nothing away from the Tahitian pearls that are also plentiful. On this tour, we started by seeing coconut plantations, copra sheds and given explanation of how they work to dry coconut shells. Virtually every aspect of the coconut is processed into something. We learned about much of the gorgeous flora on Taha’a and were provided with lots of information about Tahitian Gardenias that smelled incredibly sweet. We wondered if it had something to do with the proximity of vanilla or maybe it’s just the rich soil. One of the other anomalies of Taha’a is that it is an island with the bread Delivery boxes which were on virtually every home next to their mailbox. French bread is baked early in the morning and delivered to the home. The tour would stop frequently and we had beautiful scenic views from the road all around the outside of the island, including views of Moorea. We visited a black pearl farm (Love Here Pearl Farm) – which we covered separately in another review. We learned how the pearls are cultivated and
6. Heremana Tours
Overall Ratings
5 based on 35 reviews
here is my business is to make you visit the island of Tahaa boat with a scheduled stop for visit the pearl farm and vanilla with snorkeling stop feeding stingrays and sharks
Reviewed By 14Roger - Ontario, Canada
We were emailing back and forth with Samuel. We had agreed on the date of the tour and the price. We were booking the full day private Polynesian tour which included touring the run factory, vanilla plantation, and pearl farm in the morning. Then we'd have lunch and spend the afternoon fishing. Originally he asked for 68000xpf but he dropped the price to 58000xpf. That's considerable cheaper than the 78000xpf that the hotel wanted for booking a similar tour so we were happy about that. However, we wrote back to him to ask about changing one aspect of the tour and he didn't write back. Reached out again and no response and he didn't show on the day of either. He was MIA so overall a poor experience with the communication and perhaps this speaks to the benefit of booking with the hotel because at least you know they're reliable. Perhaps he found someone that would pay him more but when we went to the main island of Taha'a on 2 other occasions we saw his boat at the dock each time.
7. Love Here Pearl Farm
Overall Ratings
4 based on 47 reviews
Situated on the paradisiac island of Tahaa since 20 years, Love Here Pearl Farm offers a vast choice of loose cultured pearls of Tahiti and its Islands, jewel and mother-of-pearls original creations. Elegance, Charm and Exception ! We always care for the quality of our products & our customers satisfaction.
Reviewed By 289Kat - Fort Wayne, Indiana
We cruised with PG in September booking a snorkeling excursion including a visit to this pearl farm. The demonstration of pearl cultivation was informative. Wish we would have quit at that. Instead, we let ourselves be pressured into a pearl purchase we should have avoided. When we attempted to return the pearls after learning they were not worth the price we were charged, we were refused. PG, although authorizing this pearl farm as an approved vendor on their excursion, in their on-board literature was not successful in assisting us with our request for a refund, as the vendor exhibited excellent "stonewalling" tactics. The snorkeling excursion itself was unpleasant, the current strong with the visibility poor. Further, when we returned from our cruise and pursued the matter with PG Guest Relations to continue to assist with our return request, their Vice President, Sandy Stevens was unhelpful, insulting and rude. Unbelievable for a cruise line of this status.
8. Poerani Tours- Day Tours
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 22 reviews
Reviewed By PKDenton - Denton, Texas
We met Linda (the wife of the husband wife team) on the island of Motu Mahana. They operate Poe Rani Tours out of Taha’a. Pearls seems to be Linda’s forte while her husband will take you all over the island on many different adventures. We felt the pricing of the pearls was better than others that we saw and all of their items were very high quality. They take credit card or local currency. They don’t have a web presence that we were aware of but they have an email
9. Pari Pari
Overall Ratings
5 based on 12 reviews
Come and visit our distillery. You will discover how we prepare our finely perfumed rum and others artisanal products like virgin coconut and tamanu oils, vanilla, soaps,...
Reviewed By DC196 - Washington DC, District of Columbia
On a weeklong charter through Polynesia our local captain and chef gave us a tour of Tahaa (their home island) and we stopped at what must be the world's smallest distillery. Very welcoming French hostess showed us the process, the still, the aging "cave," and let us sample the really excellent rum. And they even have a website! And a Trip advisor presence! What they don't have is a credit card machine, although they cheerfully accept US dollars. One step at a time on their march to to put Bacardi out of business. Clearly a labor of love, and we--even our pet Bear--wish them much success. Bottoms up!!
10. Turtle Conservation Center
Overall Ratings
4 based on 30 reviews
Tahaa turtles have a savior in their midst: Leo Morou, center founder, rescues turtles caught in fishing nets, caring for them until healthy enough to be set free. Children, especially, will enjoy their visit here.
Reviewed By 14Roger - Ontario, Canada
They have a team of staff that work on turtle rehabilitation. We went for the turtle feeding and they did a power point educational component first to explain the different kinds of turtles, sizes, what the turtles are there for (most because they became entangled or consumed plastic), etc. We met one turtle that had it's front legs amputated. We also fed the turtles and they each had a specific diet that had to be adhered to.
The staff do great work and we were happy to make a small donation to their cause.
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