World Tour

01.03.09 We leave at 5:15 to go to the airport (another £40). They have a club class lounge. Good coffee and helpful staff. Now less stressed. Until we get on the plane which is Air Tahiti and has seats that recline so that they crash into the dining table of the person behind and make it completely impossible for the person by the window to exit to the aisle. This is both hazardous and inconvenient. At the request of the cabin crew we fill in a complaint form - it's a constant problem for them. We cross the international date line, so now it's 02.03.09, and arrive in Auckland glad to be out of all things Tahitian.
29.02.09 Enjoyed another (and differently choreographed) aqua aerobics followed by yoga on the grass. There is a repeat performance of the guitar festival tonight. For some reason they need to practice with full loud speakers - another guest gets this silenced. Ian goes to discuss the disruption with the reception staff. We are invited to the top restaurant on the site as guests of the hotel. The food is absolutely superb - it could just about justify the £200 that we didn't pay for.
28.02.09 Took the hotel bus to Papeete. This was a mistake. The town has no redeeming features. The cultured pearl trade is promoted, but the prices need a 90% reduction to compete with those in Dubai. Why did we book such a late bus back? We have a guitar festival at the hotel immediately below our window. It is not particularly enjoyable and a large section of the hotel is given over to it.
27.02.09 Excellent (expensive) breakfast in a lovely location. Excellent aqua aerobics class in the pool (instruction in French). Found local roadside fruit sellers and some local restaurants - only rip-off prices compared with extortionate.
26.02.09 Landed at 23:00 Tahiti time (03:00 Easter Island time). Charged £40 for a 2km trip from the airport to the hotel. Tahiti has got off to a bad start. Hotel nice.

  • Hotel Meridien
    Papeete

Hotel Meridien

View from our balconyA lovely sunsetThe hotel complex was delightfully located, as these views from our room show. The hotel pool was actually all sand, so it felt like sea. Activities like water aerobics and yoga took place almost every day, and were expertly delivered.

The restaurants were so expensive, but just out of the complex was a little shopping center with (slightly) more reasonably priced restaurants.

 

Papeeteview of PapeetePapeete town viewed from the old governmant building, currently used for exhibitions. (Japan was not well represented by the one we viewed.)

The whole town is tatty, the shops contain goods that no one in Europe wanted and the prices are unbelievable.

Tourism is Tahiti's only income other than French subsidy, but who would ever go back there?

Tahiti cannot be a recommended location. If Easter Island was expensive, it is cheap compared with Tahiti, where everything appears imported at vast expense from France.

The ambience in the hotel complex was good, but the same can be found in many other more realistically priced hotel complexes around the world.

Avoid.