Exploring the Islands of French Polynesia on a Budget with Kids
French Polynesia is a dreamy archipelago in the South Pacific known for its pristine beaches, turquoise waters, and lush landscapes. It is clearly a dream destination for many but is it actually possible to do French Polynesia on a budget.
With over 100 islands to explore, this country offers a perfect blend of relaxation and adventure for families. From swimming with colorful marine life to experiencing Polynesian culture, there’s something for everyone.
While it’s often seen as a luxury destination, we have been seeking out some budget friendly ways to explore this beautiful country as we are travelling for a full year as a family without an income.
So even though you would not regard French Polynesia a budget destination, there are ways you can make sure that your budget is kept reasonable.
In this post we are going through the ways we have found to make our stay in this incredible archipelago fairly friendly on our wallets without compromising on great experiences with our kids.
Why is French Polynesia expensive?
Many things in French Polynesia tend to be expensive due to its remote location in the South Pacific Ocean, which increases transportation costs for both visitors and goods.
The country relies heavily on imported goods, which further drives up prices. The region also caters to a luxury tourism market, with many high-end resorts and activities (especially in Bora Bora), contributing to its overall higher cost of travel.
To us it’s been a little surprising that there are less tourists in French Polynesia than we expected. Actually, French Polynesia has only about 1/3 of the number of tourists that go to Fiji and less than 1/40 of those going to Hawaii.
But although the low number of tourists means that it’s easy to escape the crowds it also means that demand is not as high as in some of those other Pacific destinations and that there are less low budget options.
Island hopping is gorgeous but it can be challenging to do French Polynesia on a budget
We had been dreaming about going to French Polynesia for years. So when we decided to go on a family gap year it was obvious to us that we needed to add this place to our itinerary given the time it takes to reach these islands from Europe.
But island hopping with kids on a budget in French Polynesia presents a few challenges:
Firstly, transportation between islands can be costly, especially for families. Limited ferry schedules and expensive and sometimes limited domestic flights can make logistics tricky.
Additionally, finding affordable accommodation that caters to your family while maintaining quality can be challenging, especially during peak travel seasons.
And, managing expenses for activities and meals, considering the higher cost of living on remote islands, requires careful budgeting to ensure an enjoyable but still economical experience for the whole family.
Luckily, we found that there are ways to cut expenses down tremendously but still have a great adventure as a family. You just have to manage expectations and be willing to compromise a bit here and there.
Below we have gathered our best tips for saving money while still enjoying a lot of what French Polynesia has to offer.
Budget friendly tips for island hopping in French Polynesia
Luckily, prioritizing cost-effective solutions when island hopping with kids on a budget in French Polynesia doesn’t necessarily mean compromising on fun.
Here are some of the ways you can consider to save money, have an incredible adventure and make your family trip to French Polynesia affordable:
Make a budget for your trip
If you want to take your kids to French Polynesia without worrying about your finances, you really need to start by making your travel budget. If you do some research upfront, you can make sure that you know what things are going to cost and that you have allocated funds accordingly.
Plan well in advance
Start your research early – at least 4-6 months before you intend to go as some flights and good accommodations are limited and sell out fast.
So in order to have a good selection to choose from, you should strive to book at least your plane tickets and accommodation as soon as you can.
Booking of day trips and tours can wait longer. In our experience, they seem to be available up until at least a couple of weeks in advance with many also having availability up to a few days before.
Be flexible
If you are flexible about your travelling, you can sometimes find good deals for flying to the main island of Tahiti on days adjacent to more expensive days.
We found tickets for around $400 per person one way from San Francisco to Tahiti with the company French Bee and we thought that was a pretty good deal.
Stick to only a few islands if you want to do French Polynesia on a budget
This is an important advice if you want to save money on your French Polynesian adventure. You will be saving lots of money by keeping your itinerary limited to a few islands.
As most islands are very remote and inter-island transportation is usually expensive, there’s a lot of money to be saved if you stick to only one or a few islands.
Stick to islands close to Tahiti (the Society Islands)
The less dispersed the French Polynesian islands you choose to visit are, the cheaper your transportation will be.
So if you do wish to see several islands during your trip we recommend that you stick to the bigger of the Society Islands – Tahiti, Moorea, Huahine, Raiatea/Taha’a and Bora Bora. These are also the islands with better inter-connections so planning will be easier than if you add e.g. some of the Austral or Marquesas islands.
Travel during the shoulder season
Definitely consider travelling during the shoulder seasons to take advantage of lower flight costs and accommodation rates. Another advantage is that there will be fewer people, however, from our experience most places will not be too badly crowded even during high season.
The high season in French Polynesia is from June to September as these months are considered the most dry and cooler than October to May. During the low season, the weather can be a bit more unstable but if you aim for the months of April-May or September-October you have a good chance of making a good deal AND having nice weather!
Forget the luxury hotels
Although French Polynesia is well- known for its gorgeous overwater bungalows and luxury hotels, you should probably look for more budget-friendly accommodation types if you are trying to make a more affordable trip to French Polynesia.
We recommend you look for family-run guesthouses or airbnb vacation rentals that offer kitchen facilities for self-catering meals to both helping to save on accommodation as well as on dining expenses.
Where an over water bungalow or a fancy hotel room will easily set you back $500-700 a night, you can easily find airnnb rentals for much less.
We paid $120-150 per night for 4 people when renting houses either on or close to the beach while staying in the islands of Tahiti, Moorea, Huahine, Raiatea and Bora Bora in April and May.
Choose transportation wisely (ferries, flights, rental cars)
Planning ahead and researching affordable transportation options, like discounted ferry passes or group travel deals, can help stretch your budget while travelling French Polynesia with kids.
We chose to be backpacking and visiting 5 of the Society Islands on our way. A few of the islands have public ferry routes with the one between Tahiti and Moorea being the most convenient, affordable and frequent with several departures each day.
The Aremiti Moorea ferry costs around $15 per person one way and takes around 30 minutes. You can even bring a car which costs around $45 (just check if your car rental company allows it).
A few of the other Society Islands also have ferry routes from Tahiti but these are much longer and less frequent – only leaving 2-3 times per week.
As an example, you can get to Huahine from Tahiti using the Apetahi Express Ferry which costs around $50 per person and takes 3 hours. This ferry also serves Raiatea, Taha’a and Bora Bora.
We found that using the Air Tahiti Island Pass was a fairly good deal for doing some more island hopping than where the ferries could take us.
We paid $425 per person for our Air Pass with Tahiti Air which covered 4 flights taking us from Moorea to Bora Bora to Raiatea to Huahine to Tahiti.
However, getting the logistics in place for the Air Pass was quite difficult. It was impossible to see which departures we could book into online so we ended up calling Air Tahiti to get everything sorted.
On most of the islands we do recommend renting a car if you want to be able to move around. Public transportation seems to be almost non-existent in most islands.
In terms of saving money, renting a car will allow you and your family to have great options for grocery shopping as well as making lots of DIY day tours.
Bring your own snorkel gear
The incredibly clear turquoise water is probably one of the reasons you want to go to French Polynesia in the first place so it should definitely be on your list to explore the seas around the islands you’re visiting.
However, only exploring them on organized tours or renting all the equipment you need can be super expensive. So we highly recommend that you bring your own snorkelling equipment for the whole family. This way you can also ensure that everyone has proper and well-fitting gear.
Purchase and try on the gear you need before leaving for French Polynesia. We found the selection of masks, snorkels and fins to be very limited (and expensive) on the islands.
We have collected lots of tips in the post about how to take your kids snorkelling in French Polynesia and what to look for.
DIY tours
Tours in French Polynesia are fairly expensive and can easily cost up to $200 per person or more. So although many tours are great outings and good ways to explore some more we suggest to keep them to a minimum to keep a reasonable budget.
While some places/experiences are only accessible through organized tour companies, there are actually a lot of tours you can arrange yourself. Especially, if you have a car available, there are many options to go to snorkel sites near the coast – such as this place where you can make a DIY snorkel trip with kids in Bora Bora.
In some places it’s possible to rent kayaks or small boats that can take you to a pretty motu (sand island on the reef) or to places to snorkel with sharks and stingrays like this one in Moorea.
DIY cooking will help you do French Polynesia on a budget
Going out to eat for all meals can quickly empty a wallet in French Polynesia and you can make your trip much more affordable by cooking your own meals. Just make sure that you use primarily local ingredients as everything else can be expensive because it’s imported from far away (many foods in supermarkets come all the way from France!).
We found this to be a good and fun way to try to learn to make some of the local dishes like the delicious Tahitian Poisson Cru (fresh raw fish with cucumber and onions in a coconut and lime sauce). Yum!
By going for cooking your own food using mostly local ingredients you can easily make a delicious dinner for $5-10 per person including drinks instead of $20-30 for a one course dinner plus $10-25 for drinks at a not-too-fancy restaurant.
Most fruits and many vegetables are very affordable as well as eggs, fresh fish, chicken and some meats so you can easily live well on the islands by self catering.
Add in some free activities
Although you can easily spend a lot of money in French Polynesia, there are also plenty of stuff you can do for free or at a very low cost.
We recommend making DIY picnics at some of the public beach parks or go on some of the scenic hikes to beautiful lookouts in the mountains.
Beach days are in general very enjoyable here as a family and you can also spend some time exploring local markets.
If you are lucky, there could be a local festival or other events you could participate in.
It’s also worth mentioning that many of the local museums and historical sites are either free or cost very little. This can make for an exciting activity as well and you and your family can learn about Polynesian culture and history.
Prioritise to spend your money on what matters to you (save on the rest)
Although you need to be a little careful to make your stay in French Polynesia affordable, there are also things you should consider even if they come with a higher price tag simply because you are here and probably won’t come back anytime soon.
So if something matters to you a lot or you’ve always dreamed of doing certain things, prioritize to do it now that you are here!
Whether it’s a couple of fancy restaurant dinners, staying at an over water bungalow for a few nights, doing a fancy day trip or buying a beautiful Tahitian pearl, do choose to spend your money consciously and keep expenses low on other stuff.
We splurged on a couple of day trips (at $50-100 per person with our kids at half price), a Polynesian night show ($45 per person) and some scuba diving ($100 per person per trip) while in French Polynesia and don’t regret it for a second!
Our experience of French Polynesia on a budget
We had an absolute blast in the beautiful islands of French Polynesia and feel that we managed to balance our urge to explore amazing sights and doing incredible activities while still staying within a reasonable budget.
Even if you don’t have a huge budget for all of the luxury offerings in French Polynesia, it’s definitely worth it taking your family here. We loved our time here and hope to go back to explore more with our family at some point in time.
Final words
You are probably not going to be thinking about your vacation in French Polynesia as a cheap one and it’s not going to remotely compete with the low prices of travelling some countries in Central America, South America and Southeast Asia, but we do believe that there are ways to make a family island hopping adventure in French Polynesia at a reasonable cost.
If you take the tips we have provided in this post and embrace the adventure you can easily create fantastic, long lasting memories while travelling with your kids in French Polynesia on a budget.
