Bora Bora

Bora Bora is less about beaches than about the lagoon. The water is clear and turquoise, protected by the reef, and stays around 26°C to 29°C all year. Most visitors swim straight off their overwater bungalow deck or the sand of a resort motu, the low coral islets on the reef. Beach life here is quiet: you swim, float and snorkel, and that is most of the day.

Matira Point, at the southern tip of the main island, has the best public beach. It is a long curve of soft white sand where the shallow water goes on far enough for waders. Other good sand is mostly on the motu, which you reach by boat.

Most meals are eaten in the resorts, where the cooking is French with Polynesian touches: tuna and mahi-mahi, vanilla sauces, coconut and tropical fruit. Some of it is very good, but you are always eating in the same small set of dining rooms. The local dish to try is poisson cru, raw fish in lime and coconut milk. It tastes best at the simple snack counters and food trucks around Vaitape and along the coast road, where locals eat too.

On a longer stay the choice feels small. Many resorts offer a Polynesian evening with food cooked in an earth oven.

There is little here to see. On the main island are a few restored marae, the stone platforms where Polynesians once held ceremonies, and some rusting American coastal guns from the Second World War on the hills above the lagoon. Vaitape, the main village, has a small church and a quay. These fill a few hours on a tour of the island, and that is all. People come for the lagoon, not for the island's history.

Evenings are for sunset cocktails, a long dinner and an early night. The resorts have bars with lagoon views, and a couple of bar-restaurants on the main island draw visitors from different hotels. After that there is nowhere to go and no club scene. Bora Bora suits couples who want quiet. Anyone looking for a night out will not find one.

The scenery is what people come for. A jagged green volcanic peak, Mount Otemanu, rises from a lagoon of every shade of blue, with a ring of palm-covered motu along the reef. Most outdoor time is spent on the water: snorkelling in the coral gardens, swimming with stingrays and blacktip reef sharks in the shallows, outrigger canoeing, kitesurfing off the motu, and diving the reef passes for lemon sharks and manta rays.

On land there is less to do. The 4x4 tracks into the hills give the classic views over the lagoon, and the steep climb up Mount Pahia needs a guide and a dry day. The peak of Otemanu itself is closed to climbers. The island is small, so a week here is about the lagoon.

For a day away, the neighbouring Leeward Islands are your only option. Tahaa and Raiatea are reached by boat or a short flight. Tahaa has vanilla plantations and pearl farms, and Raiatea has Taputapuatea, the most sacred marae in Polynesia. Maupiti, a smaller and quieter island, is a short flight to the west. All of these mean an organised trip or careful planning around flights and boats, and the destinations are small villages, not towns. Most visitors never leave Bora Bora.

The lagoon is calm, warm and shallow in many places, so swimming and snorkelling are easy for children. At Matira toddlers can paddle a long way out. The island is safe and relaxed. Beyond that, there is little made for children. The resorts are designed mostly for couples, and some overwater bungalows are not safe for small children who cannot swim. The flight is very long and the island is costly. Families with older children who like snorkelling get the most out of it, and should choose a resort with a kids' club and a pool.

The airport is on a motu, so arrival begins with a boat across the lagoon. On the main island, a single coast road of about 32km circles the island, and it is easy to do by bicycle, scooter or small hired car. Buses are few and taxis are scarce. Many resorts are on the outer motu, and from there every trip to Vaitape or Matira depends on the hotel's boat shuttle. In practice you get around by boat, and lagoon outings are mostly organised tours.

Shopping here means Tahitian black pearls, sold loose and as jewellery in showrooms around Vaitape and in the resorts. Besides pearls, the craft stalls by the Vaitape quay sell pareos, carved wood, shell jewellery and monoi oil. That is all there is, and a single morning is enough to see it.

Bora Bora is one of the most expensive places in the world to visit. Overwater bungalows are priced as a once-in-a-lifetime luxury. Nearly all food and drink is shipped in, so resort meals cost a lot, and lagoon tours, boat transfers and spa treatments add more. Family-run guesthouses on the main island, and self-catering from the grocery stores in Vaitape, bring costs down. Even so, the island is never cheap.

Polynesian dance is the only live performance here. Most visitors see it at resort dinner shows, with drumming, fire dancing and fast hip-shaking ori tahiti. The best time to see it is July, when the Heiva brings dance and singing contests between local groups to Vaitape. Outside that, there are no theatres or concert halls.

Wellness here means the spa at your resort. The larger resorts on the motu run polished spas, some with treatment rooms built over the lagoon or set in tropical gardens. They use local ingredients such as monoi oil, coconut and the tiare flower, and offer traditional Polynesian massage. The island has no bathing tradition of its own and no public baths, and no retreat scene, so once you have tried your own resort's spa there is little else to find.

What the island does give you is calm. There is no traffic to speak of, no nightlife, and days pass between the spa, a hammock and the bungalow deck. It suits a couple who want to do very little. It will not suit someone looking for thermal waters or a programme of retreats.