Best Bora Bora 5 Night Itinerary

Overwater bungalows. Idyllic white sand beaches. Volcanic islands rising out of the pure blue sea. Vibrant marine life. Sipping pina coladas. Big floppy hats. Breathtaking sunsets. Best honeymoon destination: Bora Bora, yes please.

Tahitian: Ia Orana (yo-rah-nah) – Hello.

Ia Orana, Wanderers!

Bora Bora had been our dream honeymoon vacation for years. As we do with all of our long distance trips, we wanted to make sure we could get to Bora Bora on points to spend our money on what would inevitably be a memorable and expensive trip! After scoring some business class tickets on points, we were ready to go! We stayed in Bora Bora for 6 days, 5 nights thanks to Marriott’s buy 4 nights and get 1 night free promo. Here is the best Bora Bora Itinerary for you!

Getting to Bora Bora (via Tahiti)

Afternoon flight? Stay in Tahiti overnight and spend the full day in Bora Bora! Most resorts allow you to check in early or use their facilities while your room opens up. What does that mean? More time lounging by the white, sandy beach!

Our flight: HA 481 HNL➞PPT (3:35pm-9:30pm)

As excited as you may be to get to Bora Bora since the only international airport in French Polynesia is located in Papeete (PPT), you always have to make a stop on Tahiti before heading to Bora Bora (P.S. there are worse places to have a layover). Not a lot of food option there so we highly recommend bringing snacks (if you’re a plant-based traveler, check out our favorite travel snacks here!). From Faa’a International Airport in Papeete, Tahiti, you can then take a short 45 minute hop to Bora Bora’s airport (BOB). After landing at the airport in Bora Bora you will take a (previously arranged) speedboat to your resort property, which is usually included as a fee when booking the hotel.

We didn’t want to waste any part of the our resort vacation days not enjoying the overwater bungalow and resort so we planned on staying one night in Tahiti before heading to Bora Bora first thing the following morning. It was an easy decision since our flight into Tahiti arrived so late. All we did that night was eat dinner and get some rest because the next morning we were going to Bora Bora!

Pro tip: Especially for a quick overnight layover, instead of staying in a hotel, check out a local Airbnb location. Our Airbnb host picked us up and dropped us off at the airport!

If you’re looking for an Airbnb coupon code, click the green button below and instantly get $45 off your next Airbnb booking!

The morning after we landed in Tahiti our Airbnb host dropped us off at the airport, and at 10:45AM we took a quick 45 minute flight over to the Bora Bora!

Our Le Méridien Bora Bora Itinerary

We will be speaking about our experience at Le Méridien Bora Bora (a Marriott property); however, many of the resorts offer similar experiences.

Note: there were a few activities that we were unable to do (such as visiting the famous Bloody Mary’s restaurant) because we went during holiday season (Christmas) and some locations were seasonally closed.

Itinerary Outline

Day	Summary
1	Fly to Bora Bora, Check In, Explore the resort, Book activities
2	Resort Snorkeling & Ray, Turtle Center, Polynesian Dance Show
3	Ray and Shark Dive Excursion, Rest & Relax
4	Vaitape Town Visit, SUP, & Private Beach Dinner
5	Underwater Aqua Safari Adventure & Wedding Dress Photos
6	Pack, Relax & Kayak, Check out & fly to Tahiti

Day 1: Check in, unpack and unwind

After landing at Bora Bora airport, we went to the booth that was marked Le Méridien where they were also waiting with leis so we got DOUBLE leis!

We gave them our information and luggage and shortly afterward loaded our luggage on the Le Méridien speedboat along with a few other guests and we were on our way!

Once we arrived, we went to get checked into our villa. They offered us some cold, refreshing juice and held onto our suitcases for us while we explored the resort. They gave us a mini-tour and sent us on our way! We hung out by the inner lagoon for a short while until they said our villa was ready and they drove us in a golf cart to the door.

Explore your villa – Whether you have a beach villa or overwater villa, they are AMAZING! We booked the overwater villa and it did NOT disappoint. Le Méridien Bora Bora is known for having the biggest floor window to see the water below. It was incredible to see some sea life from our charming little hut and have the green glow in the evenings. They do have a carpet to cover at night if you’d like but we enjoyed the glow.

After exploring our overwater bungalow, we went to the activities center to book adventures for the week. Their activities ranged from water sports and taking care of turtles, to renting out charter boats! We will talk about our paid excursions in the upcoming days. We usually take the first day or two to relax and enjoy the new areas we travel to.

We got the breakfast and dinner package included in our stay and it was a great experience! The dinner included appetizer, entree and dessert. It was a LOT of food. The dessert was definitely the best part. If (hopefully when!) we go back, we would probably just buy the meals ourselves and split the meals.

Day 2: Lagoon Snorkeling, Ray Feeding, Turtle Center, Polynesian Dance Show

We made sure to enjoy the amazing sunny day by going out on the water! Le Méridien has tons of free gear to rent: snorkels, kayaks, stand up paddle (SUP) boards, etc. We took the free snorkel gear (that we got to keep at our bungalow all week!) and explored the lagoon. The free snorkel masks are normal snorkel masks. We really have enjoyed using our full faced snorkel masks for ease of breathing!

Insider tip: The best free snorkeling spot is underneath the small Chapel in the inner lagoon!

After snorkeling, they had ray feeding around 10:30am daily where we got to see the rays be fed and got so close!

After the ray feeding, we went over to the Turtle Center. For $50 you can help support their turtle rehabilitation center and they allow you to help clean the turtles and swim in their small aquarium!

Before dinner that night, the resort had a Polynesian dance crew come in for to perform on the beach with an absolutely breathtaking sunset in the background.

Midway through the show they picked some guests out of the audience to learn the dance with them and I was lucky enough to be a part of it!

We highly recommend to raise your hand any time you are at a show and they ask for volunteers, even if it is outside of your comfort zone. It is a once in a lifetime experience and only enhances the overall memory!

Day 3: Fish, Rays, Sharks… oh my!

After an amazing breakfast buffet (french toast made with french bread is what I dream of to this day!), we headed over to the pier. Today, today we were going out to sea to swim with rays and SHARKS!

First stop: our hilarious captain sang songs until he suddenly stopped the boat, and threw “snacks” into the water. BLOODY FISH INTO THE WATER! All of a sudden tons of blacktip reef sharks came out of nowhere and I thought to myself, “I should have left a voicemail to my mom and dad.”

We were the first to go into the water. By we, I mean Eric first and then I did. He’s just so chivalrous that way. As soon as we jumped in, we were surrounded by tons of fish, sharks, and rays (who by the way were NOT shy about getting up close and personal).

Although it was the outer lagoon, we learned that the marine life in that area was used to tourists and knew not to bite the hand that feeds them. Literally. That didn’t mean they couldn’t bite us but since they were well fed, I guess we weren’t as appetizing at the moment.

After our first swim, we went to one area that was well known for having rays. There were so many! We even saw a pregnant ray (so cute!) and got to pet one.

Our captain was kind of loco (he also had hair and tattoos like Maui from Moana) and we loved it. So when he said he didn’t feel satisfied with our shark adventure, we looked at each other with intrigue. He was taking us out past the barrier reef, out of the shallow lagoon into the dark blue ocean. The goal in this deep blue area was to see some bigger sharks, lemon sharks. It’s okay. We are here writing this blog, right? We jumped in and saw many more blacktip reef sharks, but further down towards the ocean floor, lurking and circling, we saw some larger lemon sharks. My super brave (we call it brave) husband dove down and swam with one!

After an exhilarating experience (it was our favorite excursion by far) we finished the night with some delicious dinner and wine at our favorite spot by water at the restaurant Tipanie. We called it an early night to get some rest from that exciting day and re-energize for the next!

Day 4: Vaitape Town Visit, SUP, & Private Beach Dinner

When we were doing out research, everyone said we HAD to check out Vaitape because of its little shops and a change in scenery from the resort. Vaitape is the largest city on Bora Bora. It has a population of 4,927, about half of the island’s population which is about 9,000. The main language of Vaitape is French, although 20 percent of the population speaks Tahitian. You can get around easily with English.

The for a $50 round trip fee the resort will take you via speedboat to the town. Once we were on land, you could rent a car or scooter to drive around. We decided to walk a while. We walked up and down the streets and visited the little shops. We stopped by the grocery store to pick up some snacks (I wanted candy and Eric wanted ice cream sandwiches) and drinks (bottles of juice at non-resort prices) to bring back to the villa. At the set return time (around noon), we went back to the pier and hopped back on the speedboat.

It was cool side trip, but I’ll be honest, I would rather have spent that time at the resort either on the lagoon, on the beach, in the water, or relaxing at our overwater bungalow. We only stayed in the small town walking around though, we’ve read that if you rent a car and head up to the mountain to explore and hike then that might be more worth it!

After grabbing som lunch, we rented the free stand up paddle boards (SUP) and kayaks and traveled around the resort, checking out the incredible multisuite family-sized villas, view of the island mountains and more.

After quickly exhausting ourselves we docked back at our overwater bungalow to relax, but not before Eric took a couple passes floating under the bungalow… because why not when you have an overwater bungalow with giant floor windows.

While Eric spent more time jumping off our balcony into the water and doing other shenanigans (don’t worry we’ll post those videos later), I took the rest of the afternoon to just relax on the bungalow, swim in the lagoon, and enjoy the breathtaking views.

Since this was our honeymoon, Eric had planned a really romantic dinner on the beach! We got dressed up and as we arrived to our usual dinner spot, we were escorted out to the beach where they had a private table facing Mount Otemanu and the beach. We had a private server with champagne, wine and a delicious five course meal. Dancing on the beach that night will forever be one of our favorite memories!

It really was amazing night that we won’t ever forget (even though in true tropical fashion it started to rain at the very end – luckily it was after we finished dessert!).

One of the most romantic parts was that we had a private musician playing some of our favorite songs in English, Spanish and French!

Day 5: Underwater Aqua Safari Adventure & Wedding Dress Photos

On our last full day we decided to try out the Underwater Aqua Safari for an underwater “scooter bike” adventure! We woke up and met the crew at the hotel pier. From there they took us via speedboat to their private docking area out in the lagoon area near the coral gardens. The dock had two 2-seat open submersibles/scooters and they taught the driver (the person in front, in this case Eric) how to operate the scooter.

The scooters have an electrical propulsion and typically operate underwater at a depth of ~3-meters (12-15 feet for us Americans) with enough oxygen for 30+ minutes. We got into the scooters and as they lowered the top, I was getting a little nervous about feeling claustrophobic; however, as soon as we were fully submerged, that feeling went away when we saw the whole ocean around us! One of the most fun parts was as we were submerging, the fish would instantly surround us the whole way down!

Our journey started by getting use to driving the underwater scooter for a bit and then our guide would stop at different areas to mime explain about the marine life around us. It was very entertaining! Our head stayed dry in the glass bubble the whole time and we were able to breath normally which was a relief. We were able to talk inside the bubble without worrying and it made the experience even better! It was a very unique experience that we enjoyed.

Wedding Dress Photos – It rained the morning of our wedding, which limited the amount of early photos we were able to take. With the wedding over, my husband said, “Why not bring your dress on our honeymoon trip?” So we did! We took some photos on our first honeymoon spot in Maui but couldn’t resist taking some more in Bora Bora. When would we ever have the opportunity to do that again?

Insider tip: you can order a flower crown from the front office or from the activities center! Mine in 2018 was $35 and they brought it over from Viatape.

Eric was amazing. At first we took photos together in full attire using our Samsung Galaxy Note phones and the GoPro Hero 5 Back. Then he changed into swimwear and took photos with our GoPro from our villa dock. So creative!

It was a great, fun memory we will cherish forever – plus as Eric said might as well get our money’s worth out of that dress haha.

Day 6: Kayak, Relax & Fly To Tahiti

On our last morning in paradise, we packed our bags in the morning and then we got some crepes filled with warm nutella and sweet strawberries for breakfast.

Since we were packed, we headed down to do some more free water sports while we could and the relaxed in the villa until it was time to go (latest possible flight & checkout).

Once we checked out, the resort held onto our luggage for us so we were able to still hang out at the beach area and infinity pool until it was time to catch our flight to Tahiti. See you later paradise, we’ll be back.

For the same reason as we mentioned before on the outbound we also planned an overnight stay on Tahiti in order to maximize the time we could spend enjoying our overwater bungalow and resort. This time, however, we had a full day until our flight out the following night and we went on an amazing 8 hour Tahitian adventure that we’ll tell you about more next time!

We hope you enjoyed our overview of our 5 night itinerary at the Le Méridien Bora Bora! If you have any questions or comments, please drop them down below.

With wander love,

Daniella & Eric