Stalls of fruit and vegetables inside Papeete's covered market

Plan · Money

What it costs.

Accommodation dominates, inter-island transport comes second, and food lands wherever you let it. The same trip exists at three prices.

Papeete market

The currency is the CFP franc, XPF, pegged to the euro at 119.33. Tipping is not customary. Cards work widely on the main islands; the atolls, the Australs and the Marquesas run substantially on cash. Every figure here is a dated range from published rates, not a quote.

01 · Accommodation

Hotel prices
by island.

Average room-night before tax, July to September 2025, from the statistics institute ISPF, plus published pension rates checked in 2026.

Bora Bora: International hotels averaged about 137,000 XPF a night. Overwater bungalows run from about 50,000 to over 200,000.The highest in the country
Moorea: About 60,000 XPF a night in the hotels. Pension bungalows 10,500–12,000; dormitory beds from 2,650 with breakfast.Under half Bora Bora
Tahiti: About 33,300 XPF a night in the international hotels. Airport Motel 14,900 a double.The cheapest international-standard rooms
Leewards except Bora Bora: About 69,600 XPF a night in the international hotels; pensions 18,000–40,000 a bungalow; Chez Guynette on Huahine 6,500 a room.
Tuamotu and Gambier: Hotels about 112,000 XPF a night on a small, volatile sample. Pensions 28,000–40,000 half board on Fakarava; camping 1,500 on Rangiroa.
Australs and Marquesas: Pensions only, mostly half board: 12,500–15,300 XPF a double with breakfast or half board in the Australs; 19,500–25,500 half board in the Marquesas.Flights are the cost there

02 · Everything else

The other
lines.

Inter-island flights: Return from Tahiti, October 2026: Rangiroa from 37,718 XPF; Fakarava and Tikehau from 45,760; Rurutu from 74,860; Tubuai from 82,060; Nuku Hiva from 87,560; Hiva Oa from 96,660; Mangareva from 107,460. Moorea by air from 16,573, against 1,100–2,350 by ferry.Passes are cheaper than two singles
Ferries: Moorea from 1,100 XPF (Tauati) or 2,350 (Aremiti, visitors). The Apetahi Express 8,000–9,000 a leg from Tahiti.
Eating: Food trucks 1,500–2,500 XPF a dish; ordinary restaurants 2,500–6,000 a head; hotel fine dining over 8,000; a set menu at La Villa Mahana 12,000–17,900. Pension dinners about 3,000–5,300.Half board removes most of it
Diving: Introductory dive 14,000–15,000 XPF; single dive 10,900–12,000; two-tank trips 15,800–23,000; south-pass day on Fakarava plus 15,000.
Boats and tours: Lagoon tours 9,000–11,000 XPF; manta snorkel 7,000–10,500; the Hakaui day 9,000–25,000 by group size; whale outings roughly 8,000–18,000 shared.
Small things: Tahiti bus 150 XPF; the museum 1,000; Te Fare Natura 2,100; Magic Mountain 200; Fautaua permit 600; Teahupo'o channel boat about 3,600 an hour.

03 · The same trip at three prices

Where the money
bends.

A fortnight through the Leewards on an air pass, sleeping in pensions, eating from the quay and the food trucks, with one lagoon tour per island, is a different budget from a fortnight in motu resorts, and neither is the wrong French Polynesia. The levers that move the total: mix the stays, three resort nights inside a pension trip; let half board work on the atolls and small islands, where it beats scarce restaurants on both price and company; time the shoulders, April to May and September to October; fly on a pass; shop at markets; share boats.

The signature experiences mostly cost patience rather than money: lagoon dawns, public beaches, reef edges at low tide, dolphins from a point at the end of a road. Budget for the few icons, then protect the empty days.

Stay

Pensions

The islands' front door, and the cheaper one.

Stay

Overwater

When the beach bungalow is the better buy.

Society Islands

Moorea

Thirty minutes from Tahiti by ferry. Rays off the beaches, humpback whales outside the reef from July.

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