Anniversary Trip to Bora Bora

We celebrated 20 years of marriage by traveling to Bora Bora in French Polynesia for a romantic getaway in one of the most breathtaking settings we have every experienced. If Tahiti or Bora Bora is a bucketlist destination for you as well, this post is for you with a recap of our favorite experiences from this unforgettable place!

We had the most incredible, relaxing, romantic anniversary trip to Bora Bora in May of 2024. Paul and I have been fortunate to have traveled a lot together over the course of our marriage, and when it came to choosing a special getaway for just the two of us for this milestone anniversary, French Polynesia was the perfect answer. (For the record, Croatia was our runner-up and we still hope to visit there someday!)

Planning the Trip

We have had a number of friends go to Bora Bora in the past few years, so most of our planning was already done for us just by asking them for their recommendations! I’m sharing all of them here with you, too, so you can benefit from the highlight experiences that we also tried while we were there.

We opted to book accomodations ourselves online rather than go through a travel agent, although I have heard that Costco Travel is a great option, especially for Bora Bora, and you can sometimes get deals there so it’s worth checking out for your luxury getaway.

One thing that wasn’t explained very well anywhere that I found is that there are only a handful resorts on the motus around Bora Bora. The most popular ones are:

• The St. Regis Bora Bora Resort
• Conrad Bora Bora Nui
• Four Seasons Resort Bora Bora
• InterContinental Bora Bora
• Le Bora Bora by Pearl Resorts

You can see some of them on the left side of the plane as you fly in to Bora Bora with their over-water bungalows jutting out into the lagoon from the motus surrounding the main island.

A motu is a ring of small islands formed over centuries by coral reefs around a much larger island that is a remnant of a volcano that is slowly sinking back into the ocean. Sand builds up on the motus until they become small, flat islands themselves. While it is possible to stay on the actual main island of Bora Bora itself, most of the luxury accommodations are on the motus surrounding the island.

The motus aren’t connected by land or roads, so the only way to get from place to place is by boat transfer. So when you book your accommodations, you will want to be sure to include your flight plans because each of the resorts has a boat to transfer you from the small Bora Bora airport to the resort when you arrive. If you want to resort hop (I heard of some folks spending the day at the Four Seasons just to check it out while we were staying at the Conrad), you will need to arrange a private boat transfer with the resort concierge.

You can make your reservation to include breakfast and dinner or choose to pay for those separately. It’s totally personal preference, but we like including breakfast in our package and paying for dinner separately.

Where We Stayed

We opted to spend 3 nights at the St. Regis Bora Bora and 3 nights at the Conrad Bora Bora Nui just so we could see some of the differences between the resorts. We loved both resorts and would happily stay at either of them again. The Conrad is probably our favorite between the two (it has only the slightest edge overall for us), although if you are planning your first trip to Bora Bora and you are only going to stay in one resort, we would recommend the St. Regis for reasons I will explain in a bit.

Both resorts have exceptional service, fantastic food, and breathtaking scenery. Honestly, you really can’t go wrong. But you might decide to do what we did and opt for switching resorts partway through your stay just to decide for yourselves which you like best.

Staying at the St. Regis Bora Bora Resort

This was our first stay of the trip and it couldn’t have been a better choice. The resort picked us up from the airport in their boat and we were met by our personal butler at the resort dock when we arrived.

One thing the St. Regis does really well is personal service. Everyone who stays is assigned an individual butler or concierge who will help you plan everything from dinner reservations, activities, and more. Our butler, Manu, gave us a guided tour of the entire resort by golf cart to orient us.

We had an overnight flight from San Francisco to Tahiti, followed by the quick air transfer to Bora Bora, which had us arriving around 8:00am. This is a really common occurrence and the resorts are very accommodating and had a room for us to change into swimsuits and stow our luggage so we could immediately start enjoying the beach, pool, and lagoon until our room was ready in the afternoon.

Things We Loved About the St. Regis

Many of the resorts have similar offerings in terms of excursions and spa services and we obviously didn’t stay at every resort, but they each have some amenities that stand out from the others. Our short list of favorite things about the St. Regis includes:

• The Lagoonarium – The St. Regis has a really large, enclosed lagoon that is perfect for anyone like me who is inexperienced or somewhat timid about snorkeling. I have a harder time doing it in the ocean, but the lagoon is so calm and there are so many fish that it made it super easy. There are so many fish and coral and clams to see, right in the lagoon. We had even better snorkeling on the reef at the “coral gardens” on another day, but the lagoon itself is fantastic if you don’t want to spend the money on the pricey excursion.
• Electric Paddle Boards – These were at the Conrad also, but the area for using them was much more fun and interesting at the St. Regis. Paul and I scoffed at them at first, but they were actually super-duper fun and I loved taking them out and riding around in front of the beach area.
• The “beach boys” – It’s not unusual for resorts to have attendants to set up lounge chairs, bring towels and drinks, etc., but I have to say that we have never had friendlier, more fantastic service than the beach boys at the St. Regis. We got to know a couple of them and they were just so fun and nice and cool.
• Bikes – We loved that each room had two dedicated bicycles that can be used to ride all around the resort, which is sprawling. We used them every day and thought it was super fun to cruise around to the tennis courts and over for dinner. The whole resort is very walkable even without the bikes, and you can always call the concierge and ask for a golf cart to pick you up from your room to drive you to dinner or the beach, if you prefer, but the bikes were a nice touch.
• Tennis Court – We had so much fun using the tennis court on this trip! We liked this court better than the one at the Conrad.
• Restaurants – The resort boasts multiple restaurants on site, which is good because it’s not like you can just go into town for dinner at any restaurant you choose (even if there were options available, which there mostly aren’t). However, a couple of their restaurants share the same space and kitchen and operate on alternate nights. Aside from that funny quirk, we love the Bamboo restaurant (our favorite) and the grill best. The Italian restaurant was also good. We honestly weren’t that impressed with the fanciest (and most expensive) French restaurant, but it might just be personal preference. Favorite things we ordered included pizza from the grill, basically everything on the Bamboo menu, and the virgin pina coladas and mocktails from the swim-up bar.

Foods I recommend trying at the St. Regis: The pizza from the grill (excellent) and the moana pizza (a crisp sushi rice crust with sushi toppings).

Staying at the Conrad Bora Bora Nui

After staying at the St. Regis (and loving it!) we almost regretted our decision to switch to a different resort. But we ended up being so glad we did because they were so different from each other!

The Conrad is located in a very different part of Bora Bora and actually faces out to the open ocean instead of in toward the mountain. Instead of being on a flat motu made of coral and sand, this resort has a more lush, tropical setting of a small mountain made of lava rock. You can hike up Spa Hill (the spa is at the top of the hill area and golf carts will drive you there or you can hoof it) and get a gorgeous view of the mountain, but just keep in mind that the rooms don’t offer this view like at the St. Regis.

There was more foliage on this island and it just had a different kind of beauty that felt more like what we have seen in Hawaii or Costa Rica than what we saw at the St. Regis. I’m not saying it was better, just different and maybe worth considering when deciding between the two.

The beaches are ringed by the overwater bungalows. In the picture below you might be able to pick out Paul snorkeling in the middle of the lagoon. Like at the St. Regis, you can check out paddle boards and other beach equipment to use in the lagoon.

The bike situation was a little different at the Conrad from the St. Regis. Instead of bikes being assigned to each room, there are random bikes all around the resort and when we checked in we were told that anyone can use any bike that they see anywhere on the property.

Which felt funny because if you rode bikes out to the Presidential suites at the far end of the property (where the Kardashians stayed when they visited Bora Bora), you might end up having to walk back if someone else out viewing the sunset decided to take those bikes back. It always worked out fine for us, but we just preferred having assigned bikes at the other resort instead.

What We Loved About The Conrad

• Luxury – Between the two resorts, the Conrad felt more richly appointed and luxurious than the St. Regis and that is saying something.
• Breakfast Buffet – Both resorts had great breakfasts, don’t get me wrong, but the Conrad had more variety with different pastries offered each day.
• Access to Vaitape – The main town on Bora Bora is Vaitape and there are two or three boats that will take you to and from the Conrad to Vaitape each day, if you want to go. It’s only a 20 minute ride that takes you start to the marina in Vaitape versus the single boat shuttle per day from the St. Regis which drops you off on a different part of the island and you then have to take a bus ride into the town.
• Beach Restaurant – We loved that one of the main restaurants is right on the beach and actually has a sand floor. It just added to the feeling of a tropical, casual beach vibe and the food was fantastic.

Foods I recommend trying at the Conrad: The brownie sundae from the grill (I think it’s maybe only on the snacks menu or bar menu, but it’s the same kitchen and when we asked for it off-menu they said “no problem” and brought us one to enjoy poolside), the grilled mahi-mahi (possibly the best mahi-mahi of my life), and the burger (surprisingly excellent).

There are a bunch of great spots for catching sunset at the Conrad but our favorites were either at the top of spa hill or at the far end of the property at the Presidential Suites where there is a dock between the two suites looking out over the open ocean. It’s a stunning setting.

Fun Things To Do

We are fairly adventurous travelers and were honestly a little concerned that we would be bored in Bora Bora since we don’t typically just lay around the pool on vacations. But there was plenty to keep us entertained (and we ended up quite enjoying relaxing by the pools and reading books on the beach after all anyway).

Jet Skiing Excursion

I had never been jet skiing, so we jumped at the chance to do a guided jet ski tour around the island. We each opted for our own jet skis, which we were glad about later. I’ll admit I found this activity a bit intimidating since the water was particularly choppy. The weather was off-and-on this day and our guide said later that it isn’t usually so rough, which made it harder, but also more exciting.

We stopped for lunch on the main island at the Bora Bora Beach Club. Paul had the chicken curry and I enjoyed the grilled mahi mahi sandwich, both of which were fantastic. The burgers looked legit too, if you are craving a taste of home.

Swimming with Stingrays and Sharks

I’m a bit of a fraidy cat when it comes to encounters with wildlife. Or any animals, really. But our day-long boat excursion where we stopped at various locations to swim with stingrays and sharks was absolutely incredible and I’m SO glad I overcame my fears and did it.

The best advice we got was to have physical contact with another person at first until I felt safe. I’ll admit that I was panicking a little bit and had an irrational reaction where I did NOT want to put my face in the water, even with a mask and snorkeling gear, when I first got in. But when Paul realized I was freaking out, he just held my hand and it almost immediately helped me calm down enough to put my face in. Once I could actually see where the stingrays and sharks were and that they were swimming around the other tourists just minding their own business, I felt so much better and had a blast.

This wasn’t comforting for me to hear before, so I’m not sure how helpful it will be to anyone, but it really wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be once I was able to calm down.

Snorkeling at Coral Gardens

As part of our full-day boat excursion, after spending the morning swimming with stingrays and sharks we headed to another area known as Coral Gardens to go snorkeling. It is on the reef and a large area so that there was plenty of room to spread out from the numerous other boats that showed up in the same spot.

I have never enjoyed such pristine snorkeling conditions. The water is so clear and blue and there are just so, so many gorgeous tropical fish, clams, coral, and other aquatic life. I didn’t see the octopus, but other people in our group saw one. Sea turtles are another common sighting.

After snorkeling we were taken to a little beachy area where a buffet lunch had been prepared for us. This was hands down my favorite meal of the trip. Everything was served on woven palm frond and banana leave plates and the picnic tables were actually set in the shallow water under shaded covers.

There was a rice dish, lots of fresh fruit, grilled meats, the famous poisson cru (a raw fish dish marinated in coconut milk that is so, so good and was my favorite part of the meal), coconut bread, and some kind of banana coconut pudding thing for dessert that didn’t look so pretty but tasted divine.

Our guides gave a demonstration on weaving plates, crowns, and purses with palm fronds and showed how they husk coconuts. They also serenaded us with songs on the ukulele most of the day and at lunch, which was really fun.

I’m pretty sure most of the organized boat tours stop at this spot if you package includes lunch. It wasn’t a restaurant – there was no signage or anything – but our friends who had previously gone to Bora Bora said it was exactly the same when they were there and did a similar snorkeling tour.

Canoe Breakfast or Private Dinner

Many of the resorts we looked at in Bora Bora offer special private dining experiences. They are all pricey and more than you would pay just eating at the resort restaurants, but if you are there for a special occasion and want to splurge on a more intimate dining setting, it might be something to consider.

Paul and I opted to do the canoe breakfast at the St. Regis because we had never done something like it before. There are only 3 time slots each morning for this experience, so it’s something to book ahead if you are interested in it. An outrigger canoe paddles right up to your overwater bungalow and sets up a sumptuous spread right on the balcony overlooking the mountain (or lagoon if you are on that side of the resort).

While it is being set up, you get into the canoe and are paddled around for a fun little ride before coming back to enjoy your feast.

There were all kinds of tropical fruits, poisson cru (a traditional Tahitian raw fish dish that is absolutely wonderful), avocado toast with smoked fish (my favorite part of the breakfast), pastries, juices and drinks of your choice, and you can choose a main like french toast or eggs, etc.

Although this was a really neat experience, I probably wouldn’t do it again. Mostly just because it was so expensive when things are already so expensive in Bora Bora. But also because it was pretty much the same breakfast that you get at the main restaurant that was included in our package anyway. But if you are the type that loves room service and splurging once in a while on something like this, I think it would be perfect for you.

Visit the Spa for Some Pampering

Both resorts have beautiful spa facilities with all kinds of offerings for massages, facials, pedicures, and other relaxation techniques. We spent an afternoon enjoying a couples massage and the spa area at the St. Regis is just fantastic. We opted to skip the spa at the Conrad since we had already done massages on this trip, but we walked up to check it out and it looks incredible too.

Head Into Town

I’m slightly hesitant to recommend this as an activity because there honestly doesn’t seem to be a ton to do on the main island. You can sign up for an ATV tour, which we considered doing but ultimately bailed on in favor of spending more time at the beach. But the main town of Vaitape is small with just one major road going through it.

There are a handful of souvenir shops and black pearl shops, and this adorable bright yellow church, but not much else to see. It was fun a couple of hours though!

Catch a Tahitian Dance Show

Most of the resorts seem to have one night a week when they host a polynesian dancing show like a luau where you can enjoy dinner with fire dancers, hula dancers, and plenty of Tahitian drums and music. If this is something you would enjoy, check with your resort to figure out which night the performance will be before locking in your reservation if you plan to switch between resorts like we did. We almost missed seeing either show because the St. Regis held theirs the night we left to go to the other resort.

Do a Couples Photo Shoot

We made friends with another couple visiting from Arizona who had done a photoshoot with a local photographer and raved about the experience. So we figured, why not? Lucky for us, their same photographer, Sasa, was able to fit us in to his schedule. It ended up being a really fun and special experience because it reminded me of when we were talking our wedding photos 20 years earlier! I’m so glad we did it.

Other Activities

We didn’t do any of these on this trip, but they might be worth looking into!

• Visit a Tahitian vanilla plantation. This is on the island of Ta’haa and involves a full day transfer by boat (or just staying on Ta’haa as part of your trip). I would love to go back and give this experience a try!
• Go on an ATV adventure.
• Helicopter tour of the island.
• Weaving or crown making lesson. Some of the resorts offer cultural activities for free each day and this is one of them that we missed because we were there on a different day of the week from when this was offered.

Things to Know

• Don’t bother packing sunscreen. You need reef-safe sunscreen to protect the marine life in Bora Bora and both resorts we stayed at provide sunscreen stations where you can load up for your day.
• You will probably live in your swimsuit for your entire visit. I don’t love swimsuits, but it was so hot and humid and the water is so clean and beautiful that you will end up in your suit the majority of the time. Take at least a few options so you don’t have to put on a wet swimsuit the next day.
• Consider bringing your own snorkel gear. You can check out gear from the resort if you don’t want to pack your own, but we wanted to make sure we had snorkeling gear that fit well. And it was nice having it for snorkeling right off our rooms since we could jump right off our dock and see a lot anyway rather than going to the resort beach first. We only brought masks and snorkels and just checked out fins to use while we were there and it worked out really well.

Have you been to Tahiti or Bora Bora? I would love to hear your stories or experiences as well! We love talking with fellow travelers and maybe there is something you loved from your trip that I didn’t include in my post that could help someone else!