When we were planning our honeymoon, we asked our travel agent (Lisa Corso @ Tahiti Legends) for an island off the beaten path. We were definitely going to visit Moorea and Bora Bora, and she suggested Huahine. So, to start of with, we knew that we were not going to a massive ‘resort island.’ There are only 2 resorts remaining on the island, and we booked an overwater bungalow at the Te Tiare, which is the better of the two resorts. I had read the reviews previously on this website, but was still going into the resort with an open mind.
The resort is only accessible by boat, as there are no roads on that part of the island. The boat transfers were very efficient and did not cause any problems. The one thing about the boat transfers is our hotel felt cut off from the rest of the world. In the other islands that we stayed at, we could leave the resort to go to an outside restaurant. We could have probably done that here, but it didn’t seem worth the effort. We did have the breakfast/dinner meal plan which helped, and the restaurant had wonderful food, though the service at the restaurant took forever. Granted, I went into this vacation with a totally open mind, but this even seemed slow for the ‘Polynesian’ way of life.
On to the room; as mentioned, we booked an overwater bungalow. There are 5 total in this category. Four of the five are attached to land with the balcony reaching over the water. At high tide, there may have been two feet of water at the swim step. Most of the time though, there was probably less than a foot. I didn’t really feel that I was getting my money’s worth out of this category of room, whereas we could have had a beach bungalow with just about the same amount of water under it. The inside of the room was exactly what previous posters had mentioned….seemingly in need of some upgrades. The inside of the room just felt old, though there was nothing wrong with it. We did have the excitement of spotting two lizards in the room the first night that we stayed there. Those were exciting pictures to take.
Finally, my one complaint, which the hotel has very little control over. Outside of our room, there was a tree, which was full of birds. These birds were quiet for most of the day, going about their own business. Yet, at 5 PM and 5 AM, the birds came to life, chirping like no tomorrow. This was not your average, everyday chirp; this sounded like hundreds of birds chirping in unison. Even with earplugs in the second night it was difficult to sleep through. It probably only affected our room, and maybe one other. So, just a heads up to anyone staying in the overwater bungalow…if you hear the birds in the evening, be cautious of the early morning.
So, long story short…great hotel for the elements, very helpful hotel staff, and just know what to expect as you go there. Huahine was definitely worth the visit.











