Lonely Planet Tahiti & French Polynesia

by Hilary Rogers, Jean-Bernard Carillet, Tony Wheeler

This guide is full of practical advice on what to see, where to go, local customs and cuisine, where to stay and other useful hints for the traveller. It also offers historical background, including the Bounty mutineers.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Reference

Paperback

First published November 1, 1999

Reviews

[Sandra Vel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nous préparons notre lune de miel en Polynésie française et ce guide a été indispensable car nous visiterons environ 10 îles et nous voulons profiter au maximum du séjour, en plus du classique farniente sur les bungalows sur pilotis.
Le guide offre une information très complète et utile sur chacune des îles des 5 archipels de la Polynésie. Chaque île a tout un chapitre détaillé sur ses particularités, curiosités, histoire, choses à faire, où dormir ou manger... c'est très bien organisé.
J'ai beaucoup apprécié la section sur les meilleurs lieux de plongée (pour tous les niveaux).
Il contient aussi une section pratique à la fin avec des informations plus génériques, vocabulaire et langue, etc.
C'est un guide très complet qui donne envie de voyager et qui a été clé pour préparer le séjour de nos rêves. Très recommandé. Lonely Planet est superbe.

[Desiree Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent guide to the unbelievably beautiful South Pacific (this is not your average Hawaii).

Includes topics such as:
- Planning your trip
- An overview of the various islands in the Tahitian Islands, the Tuamotus, the Marquesas, and the Australs & the Gambier Archipelago.
- Understanding Tahiti & French Polynesia

Very handy when planning your dream vacation, as well as to have on hand while deciding your next move when in your island paradise.

[Lisa - (Aussie Girl) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am seriously dreaming of over water bungalows in Bora Bora now.

Bring on the vaccinations and open those borders.. Tahiti awaits.

[Cath Cole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tahiti and Frech Polynesia are interesting but not the paradise that the book states. Tahiti is a work a day town. Hawaiian much more the paradise that we expects from Polynesia.

[Magda · Rating 3 out of 5]

French Polynesia is as far from the paradise as it can be - so the information in the guide are a bit misleading. Tahiti takes much place in it and very spare information about other archipelagos than Îles de la Société. For example don't expect much (even historical) info about i.e. Tuamotus or Îles Australes (granted - not many people reach them but some do). Overall I had the impression that despite guides length French Polynesia was not thoroughly researched by The Lonely Planet.

2.5

[Lucy · Rating 2 out of 5]

No budget recommendations here

As always LP is thorough and delivers excitment, but its not much use for planning a trip to Tahiti on a budget. Super Cheap Tahiti gave me more tips in the first 10 pages than I got in 300 pages from this. A good book if you're rocker fella, if not, steer clear.

[Don Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good guide. However, the messed up on a few things, the most important being that the electrical sockets are NOT North American but are European. Otherwise, it was a useful guide to what we were seing.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lonely planet never disappoints!

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Remind me to never use an ebook again to plan a trip. A hardcopy is so much easier.

[Jmolentin]

Pretty scimpy on details for all the islands.

[Thomas Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not up to the normal LP standards in finding off the main route places.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

The hotel & resort information is outdated but works for reference on history and culture.

[Val Robson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great book to use when travelling around French Polynesia. I did find the format different from other Lonely Planet guides I've used over the years though. There was more opinion of residents and visitors about the island. This was all interspersed with the factual info, There was also a lot of info about things that did not interest me such a chapters on scuba diving. I found it challenging to find the factual parts I was seeking at times.

[Rea]

Purchased when we were weighing the options of where we wanted to visit next.

I've wanted to visit French Polynesia for many years now, and this book helped solidify that desire even further. This Lonely Planet book also gave me some good ideas of what I'd like to visit and what I'd like to do while there.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful section on Moorea that we pretty much lived and died by on our honeymoon, though local maps were more useful than the one included in this book. And, what's with the cover picture? The children look unhappy!

[Kristi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full of useful information, much of which I wasn't able to find elsewhere. I have the kindle version and recommend reading this on one of the newer kindle tablets, or with the kindle app on an iPad to enhance the reading/viewing experience and to take advantage of the embedded links.

[Jessica Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm in Tahiti using this book right now and it's been amazingly helpful and accurate. I've used lots of Lonely Planet guides but I think this is the best one I've ever read.

[Jessi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative! I found the list of places to shark dive within all the islands very helpful as well.

[Sara · Rating 1 out of 5]

Vague

Outdated and vague
I was hoping for more specifics, not comments like,"traffic statistics are rather grim." Hopefully readers won't rely on this old information.