May 19-24, 2019
There are plenty of things that Raiatea island can offer. Obviously and luckily, not for everyone. That is why you can see very few tourists there. Anyway, we felt right at home. And regardless of quite bad weather. Maybe the main reason why we loved the island was our young host family from AirBnB and their spacious house set on a hill with a wonderful view of Taha island. We spent plenty of time on their spacious terrace. Mainly for three reasons. We loved the view, we were a bit lazy and it was raining relatively a lot. However, it doesn’t mean we have not explored Raiatea out and out. Well, the island is big and we rented a motorbike only for one day to ride around. Therefore, not really out and out. But at least we had a lot of time for Uturoa city and their eateries and cafes.
There are practically no beaches, but there is probably the best pool in the world. It is a half pool and half lagoon. No surprise it is a popular spot by locals as well. Since it was not far from our “home” we were regular visitors too. Another perfect place, if you have a means of transport, is a little wooden pier that belongs to the Hotel Raiatea Lodge. In theory, it is only for the hotel guests but nobody kicked us out. Definitely worth visiting was Marae Taputapuatea historical place. Not just for the historical significance but also for chilling out and swimming. As we could see, it is a favourite place for a picnic for all kinds of people on the island.
Raiatea is not so spectacular as Bora Bora or Huahine, that is for sure. On the other hand, we did not have that touristy feeling like in Moorea. We would definitely love to do more there, for example taking a boat trip around the Taha or going to a shark spot in the lagoon. Hiking trails or visiting Taha itself and do even much more. I believe we would love the island even more. But because of the weather, we rather visited Patisserie Bon Apetahi a few times, relaxed on the terrace, and still enjoyed the island on maximum.
