Tahiti's Beaches

The main island of Tahiti has few nice beaches. The only white sand beaches on the island are on the west coast, south of Papeete Town and Faa'a Airport where most of the resorts are located. But even here, the beaches are not what you expect from such tropical paradise and the lagoon is often washed with seaweed making swimming not great. The nicest beach is at Punaauia which has public access and a parking area just south of Le Meridien Hotel.

Papenoo on the north coast and Papara on the south coast are attractive black sand beaches but the swimming is usually rough and best for surfing and body surfing. There's a nice sandy beach at Toahotu on remote Tahiti Iti which is popular with locals and several beaches on the north coast of French Polynesia Iti, particularly at Tautira which is good for strolling and beachcombing with stunning coastal and mountain views.

So The beaches of Tahiti have rather poor reputation compared to those of Moorea, Bora Bora or Tuamotu islands.

It is true that the beaches of Tahiti are not the splendid beaches of white sand which you saw in the booklets of the agencies of trips, but it is not a reason to ignore them, and if you spend some days in Tahiti, why not to take an open bus and to go to relax on one of them.

The favouite beaches of most tourists are those of the west coast, between Meridien and Mahana park