Best Places to Stay Moorea
This guide to the best places to stay in Moorea gives you a list of the top places to stay to make sure you’re in the best location for your vacation in Moorea, French Polynesia.
I’ve planned 3 trips to Moorea over the past 3 years, but 2 of those had to get postponed due to Covid-19 travel restrictions. My husband and I finally got to visit the island in September 2022 and stayed on Moorea for 10 days across 2 different places. For each trip we’ve planned, we have HEAVILY researched where to stay and even checked out most of these during our trip. I wrote this to save you hours of research and hope this helps make your trip planning nice and easy!
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Key things to know about Moorea
1. Moorea only takes about 1 hour to drive around the entire island
We ended up driving around the island twice while we were there (once in each direction) to take in the views and the local vibes. Its truly beautiful
2. It is a slow-paced, sleepy island
While there is a lot to do in the daytime, we found that on weekends many places are closed after the morning hours (including grocery stores), and even during the week, most restaurants close between lunch and dinner. Restaurants typically reopen for dinner around 6:00 or 6:30 pm.
3. Moorea is a water-lovers paradise
While there are some amazing non-water activities, we found ourselves in the lagoon every single day whether it was kayaking to the motus (tiny islands), snorkeling with the black-tipped reef sharks and sting rays, swimming with whales, scuba diving, renting a boat, or just floating. The water is so clear and the reef is so alive and memorizing!
- In one version of our Moorea trip, we booked a place in the mountainside (about a 5-minute drive to the lagoon) and we did not end up staying at this place during our recent trip. We were SO happy we decided to stay on the water the entire time instead with direct access to the lagoon.
Question: What part of the island should you stay on?
Recommendation: The Northside
After a ton of research and exploring the island, I recommend for 90% of travelers to stay on the north side of the island. This is because most hotels and rental properties are located here along with the majority of restaurants, shops, and excursion companies.
That last 10% of travelers I saved for the experienced surfers. If you come specifically to Moorea for great non-beginner surfing, I highly recommend staying on the southwest side, in Ha’apiti, to catch some waves. One great place to stay on this part of the island is Mark’s Place. It’s a more remote part of the island and very beautiful!
Best Places to stay Moorea: on the northside
Near Les Tipaniers Beach
Les Tipaniers Beach is a vacationer’s dream. Wake up in the morning for sunrise over the mountains then walk out to the beach and the still lagoon. Relax on the beach or grab your kayak and head out to the motus or snorkel with reef sharks and sting rays just across the channel. Walk over to the scuba diving excursion bungalow or small boat rental shop and head out on the water for an hour or two. Take up kite surfing or rent a couple of jet skis for the afternoon before watching the sunset from the pier. The opportunities are endless and they are all right in your backyard. Here are the places I recommend staying:
- Moorea Sunset Beach: Residence Moe Moea through VRBO
- This is where we stayed for the majority of our stay and it was the absolute perfect relaxing getaway. We rented this bungalow through VRBO.
- Hotel Les Tipaniers
- This hotel looked very nice and had bungalows as well just steps to the beach.
In An Overwater Bungalow
The experience you will never forget of waking up to the waves and jumping right off your dock into the lagoon. It is truly an oasis. And it is way more affordable in Moorea than in Bora Bora. (fun fact: the overwater bungalow was invented in Moorea). Here are your best options:
- Hilton Moorea Lagoon Resort and Spa
- The Hilton Resort is a great place to spend your time on Moorea. They have overwater bungalows over an amazing spot in the lagoon where you can see a lot while snorkeling. They also offer garden bungalows with private pools. The food is decent, especially the breakfast buffet and the Toatea Creperie. If you stay here, I highly recommend splurging on a spa treatment…it is incredible.
- Sofitel Kia Ora Moorea Resort and Spa
- While we didn’t stay at the Sofitel, we went to grab drinks here and play some very competitive fooseball. The vibe is wonderful and the views are great. I would definitely stay here if I had a chance to go back to Moorea.
As a result of Covid, the InterContinental Resort and Spa Moorea is unfortunately closed.
In an Airbnb
If you don’t want to splurge on an overwater bungalow and you are okay with being 5 minutes from the water, these are some amazing options I’ve found on Airbnb:
I’ve really enjoyed using Booking.com recently as an easy, stress-free way to find great places to stay. I love that most places offer free cancellation up to a few days before the start of your reservation. This has made it so easy to plan trips and even shift my plans around if I need to.
If you found this blog post helpful and are planning to book your stay in Moorea, please consider using the map below. By doing so, you’ll support my blog since I earn a small commission for bookings made through this map, which helps me continue to provide valuable content. Your support is greatly appreciated!
I hope these best places to stay Moorea tips help you plan your trip. Feel free to drop a comment below if you have other places you would recommend staying in Moorea or if you have any questions before your trip!
Once you have a place booked, I highly recommend looking into Moorea rental cars.