| Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 | ![]() |
French Polynesia self catering?Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea / Tahiti & French Polynesia | ||
Hi! | ||
All the hostel places I stayed at in FP had cooking areas for self catering. Tahiti, Moorea, and Raiatea all had ok supermarkets. I am not so sure about Bora Bora.....the only store near me was a small Chinese store with limited supplies. Things are cheaper in Tahiti so good idea to stock up on a few things there. Cheap and govt. supported French bread was my mainstay.( Need to find what time it is delivered as often run out) Buy a box of Laughing Cow cheese to go with it....does not need fridge. Carton of eggs, cucumbers and tomatoes, local fruit.... cheap cans of peanuts from Chinese stores.....you are good to go. If you are in Tahiti on Sunday, go to the early morning Sun market....there,treat yourself to some of the best roast pork in the world. | 1 | |
A funny thing though: Tomatoes from New Zealand are cheaper than local tomatoes !! | 2 | |
There is one shop in every 'village' on Bora-Bora, and a few in Vaitape, where you will arrive by boat after landing at the airport. We stayed at the only camping of Bora-Bora for 4 nights and stocked up on food prior to getting to the motu where there's absolutely nothing except luxury resorts. Food is very expensive but european/american/australian standards. As a rule french baguettes, fruits and fish are cheap. Cream cheese is widely available (Kiri, Laughing cow, ..) and you can also buy slided ham or turkey to make sandwiches. Alcohol is super expensive, unless you're happy to stick with the local beer Hinano. Local rhums can be cheap too (they call it 'rhum arrangé') | 3 | |