French Polynesia

French Polynesia is not one island but 118, scattered across an expanse of Pacific the size of Europe, each a green peak or a ring of coral around impossibly clear lagoons. Almost everyone arrives through Tahiti, the largest island, with its black-sand beaches, waterfalls and the lively market of Papeete — but the dream lives just offshore. Half an hour by ferry, Moorea rises in jagged emerald ridges above a turquoise bay, still affordable and, to many, more beautiful than its famous neighbour. And that neighbour is Bora Bora, the lagoon that launched a thousand honeymoons, where thatched overwater bungalows stand on stilts above water so clear the fish cast shadows on the sand. Beyond them lie quieter worlds: the vanilla plantations of Taha'a, the vast diving atolls of the Tuamotus. This is Polynesian culture at its source — the tattoos, the dances, the gentle rhythm caught in the local phrase aita pea pea, "no worries." Expensive and gloriously remote, it remains the South Pacific at its most iconic.

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