Kauai Or Moorea? What You Gain And What You Give Up.

BOH readers have been bringing up French Polynesia, and Moorea in particular, for years. Some still combine it with Hawaii, which is easy to do, while others have told us they’ve shifted trips there after decades of Hawaii travel. We live on Kauai and returned to Moorea this fall, spending a week there after another week on Tahiti.

Moorea and Kauai share strong similarities, including steep green mountains, dramatic coastlines, and spectacular scenery, making comparison almost inevitable. The two islands may look surprisingly alike, but they feel remarkably different to visit. So what is it like to settle into everyday routines there, including swimming, sightseeing, grocery shopping, cooking, and just driving around the island?

Moorea rarely felt busy.

The contrast with Kauai became obvious once we started driving around. Moorea has one main road circling the island, yet during the week we didn’t encounter a place that really felt busy, including Temae, Cook’s Bay, Opunohu Bay, restaurants, and grocery stores.

Kauai is considerably larger, with a much bigger population and visitor economy. Here at home, traffic through Kapaa and Lihue can be miserable, and parking at popular beaches often takes patience. On Moorea, we only encountered congestion if we got caught in ferry traffic arriving from Tahiti.

One afternoon we were walking through the Temae Beach neighborhood and apparently looked as though we might be lost. We weren’t, but multiple residents gently and genuinely tried to help us find our way, and their concern caught us both by surprise. We had several warm, easy encounters with residents during the trip, even though we often felt like we had much of the island to ourselves.

Kauai has the beaches. Moorea has the lagoons.

Kauai has a tremendous advantage when it comes to beaches. Beautiful stretches of sand and open ocean run along the island, with different options depending on the season, surf, and where you’re staying. While public beach access can be contentious in Hawaii, the beaches themselves are always public.

Moorea is very different. Much of its shoreline is inaccessible from public roads because of private property or resorts, and its public beaches are relatively few and often hard to access. Even when you can get into the water, the experience is often defined more by the lagoon than by the broad, sandy beach Hawaii visitors expect. There were a few workarounds. You can stop at a hotel for a drink and enjoy the beach at sunset. Or, if a beach is locked before sunset, you can park outside the gate and, after sunset, exit through the nearest hotel for a drink at the bar.

Temae Beach is an extraordinary exception for us. It’s a long white-sand public beach near Moorea’s airport, with a reef-protected lagoon that has become one of our favorite places to swim anywhere. It’s never locked because it’s on a road to a local neighborhood. When we last wrote about the differences between Tahiti and Hawaii vacations, Temae was already a favorite.

We swam at least half a mile in the morning and again later in the day whenever conditions permitted. The water was generally about four to five feet deep, around 83 degrees, with at least 30 feet of visibility. Reef shoes helped with the coral at entry and exit, but after that we were swimming over sand.

There was always something beneath us, from tiny fish to some we guessed were 50 pounds or more, rays that came as close as we cared to have them, and blacktip reef sharks that generally stayed about 10 feet or farther away. Someone asked us afterward whether the fish bite, which made us laugh because nothing did, large or small.

We lost only one swimming day to the wind, and by then we were so swim-worn-out that a day off worked perfectly for sightseeing. Getting to the water was just as easy: no gate, no fee, no parking problems, and a very short walk to the beach.

We’ve swum at other Moorea beaches over the years, but we wouldn’t choose them over Temae if you want a real swim rather than snorkeling or spending time near shore. Kauai has extraordinary swimming beaches, including Hanalei Bay in the summer, but we don’t know one that matches Temae’s unique mix of shallow reef-protected water, warmth, clarity, marine life, and room to swim.

What under $300 a night bought us.

Kauai offers far more accommodation choices, from resorts to vacation rentals, plus restaurants, shopping, and activities. Moorea’s smaller selection was apparent throughout our stay, although we found some remarkable value.

Our oceanfront vacation rental had three bedrooms and three bathrooms and cost under $300 a night. It was quiet and private, although the shoreline immediately in front was coral and wasn’t where we chose to swim. Temae was about a five-minute drive away.

The air conditioning was only in the bedrooms, not throughout the house. After getting plenty of no-see-ums bites, Jeff decided that next time he’d rather have central AC and be able to keep more of the house closed up. The house still gave us a great deal of space for the price, especially compared with some of the Hawaii vacation costs we’ve been examining.

Having a kitchen worked extremely well, as it did on Kauai, and we easily made most of our breakfasts, lunches, and dinners throughout the trip. On Moorea, we shopped at Champion, where many products were familiar from Tahiti’s French grocer, Carrefour, although the selection was smaller. Grocery shopping also yielded some unexpected, delicious finds, including Tahiti-made ice cream and Moorea tofu.

When we ate out, Moorea Grill stood out, with a fresh waterfront swordfish dinner for about $22. We also went back to another small seafood restaurant we’d enjoyed on a previous trip. Cooking most of our meals never felt like a sacrifice, however.

We didn’t stay at a Moorea resort this time, so we can’t compare the vacation rental house with one. After driving five minutes to Temae twice a day for a week, however, we both came away wanting to try a resort (Sofitel) next time for one simple reason: we’d be staying right at the beach we kept going back to.

Getting to Moorea takes far more work.

Kauai is straightforward for mainland visitors, with nonstop flights from numerous cities, domestic travel arrangements, and familiar services once they arrive. Moorea involves an international flight into Tahiti, before either a ferry or another flight. Depending on arrival schedules, that often means spending a night in Papeete before continuing, with the added hotel, transportation, and luggage handling that entails.

You’ll need a passport, and the local currency is the French Pacific franc (XPF). Most businesses accept Visa and Mastercard, but it’s useful to carry some XPF cash for smaller establishments and other expenses.

French is the official language, and English usually works to varying degrees, especially in tourist areas. French and American travelers are common, but that doesn’t mean everything works the way it does in Hawaii. Learning basic greetings in French and Tahitian helps. For example, Bonjour and Ia’Orana will go a long way in saying hello.

Phone service is another consideration. Your regular carrier may or may not provide useful coverage, and it usually costs extra, so it’s worth checking international roaming or arranging an alternative before you leave. Health coverage needs attention too, since American medical insurance may not extend overseas. The U.S. State Department recommends checking overseas medical coverage and obtaining medical evacuation insurance.

Because French Polynesia is in the Southern Hemisphere, its seasons are different. Summer runs from December to February and is the wettest and warmest. Fall is March-May, with lower humidity and less rain. Winter is June-August, which is the driest and coolest, and spring runs September to May, which has long sunny days.

We also did something this trip that we somehow hadn’t realized was so easy. Instead of returning our Tahiti rental car and getting another one on Moorea, we took the same car across on the ferry, leaving the luggage, groceries, and everything else inside. The ferry cost us about $90 each way for both of us and the car. We didn’t need the car information when we initially made the ferry reservation, and only the driver took the vehicle aboard, while the other of us boarded on foot. Once we reached Moorea, we met up and drove away. Rental-company rules vary, so anyone considering this needs to confirm that taking the vehicle to Moorea is permitted.

Rob pointed out that we’d make a different decision with some itineraries. If we landed late in Tahiti and were heading to Moorea the next morning, picking up a car after the ferry might be easier. We also found a clean, inexpensive place to stay near the airport called Terei Here, with two private bungalows. A gate on the property opened to the Intercontinental parking lot, making it easy to enjoy the sunset there. With a week on each island, picking up a car at the airport in Papeete worked beautifully for us and saved us another transfer.

Hawaiian Airlines flies twice weekly from Honolulu to French Polynesia on Saturday and Tuesday, making it easy to combine Hawaii and Moorea on the same trip. Both countries share the same time zone.

Have you visited both Kauai and Moorea, or considered trading one for the other? We’d love to hear how they compare for you.

Photos: © Beat of Hawaii on Moorea. Lead photo is BOH editor Rob on Tamae Beach.

By Rob and Jeff, Beat of Hawaii.

Some of Hawaii’s most meaningful parts are the ones visitors walk right past without knowing they are there. We’ve spent nearly 20 years finding them firsthand for BOH as full-time Hawaii residents reporting on travel, culture, and island life, and telling you what they mean for your trip. Join us →