PRICE:
Frommer's Exceptional

This is the best all-around resort on Tahiti. Built in the 1960s as the Tahiti Beachcomber Travelodge (most folks here still call it "the Beachcomber"), it sits at Tataa Point on the island's northwest corner, from whence souls supposedly leapt to the ancient Polynesian homeland. Today, planes leap into the air from the nearby airport at Faaa, although the infrequent jet noise seldom penetrates the rooms here. It has a range of accommodations, including smaller rooms dating from its original Travelodge incarnation, newer and more spacious "Panoramic" rooms, and overwater bungalows with unimpeded views of Moorea. Whatever the vintage, all units now are luxuriously appointed with the likes of canopy beds and marble bathrooms, and all have private patios or balconies with views of Moorea. The original overwater units are smaller than newer models on the resort's south end, which have separate sitting areas and steps leading from their decks into the lagoon. The resort doesn't have a natural beach, but bulkheads separate the sea from white imported sand. Or you can frolic in two pools -- one in a large complex sitting lagoonside before the main building, or the other smaller pool with water cascading over its horizon (and apparently into the lagoon). The latter is adjacent to the romantic Le Lotus, one of Tahiti's best restaurants. Features here include an all-night lobby bar, and Tahiti's top watersports center. I love to stay here between jaunts to the outer islands because I can clean my dirty clothes in the free washers and dryers, a real money-saver given the exorbitant cost of laundry services (buy your soap powder before the boutique closes at 7pm). Another plus: The lobby bar serves coffee and snacks all night. Facilities: 2 restaurants; 2 bars; 2 outdoor pools; tennis courts; health club; Jacuzzi; watersports equipment rentals; concierge; activities desk; car-rental desk; salon; 24-hr. room service; 24-hr. business center w/high-speed Internet access; massage; babysitting; laundry service; coin-op washers and dryers

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Tahiti & French Polynesia, 2nd Edition, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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