Huahine stole my heart from the moment my plane touched down on this little island of 6,000 people, isolated in the middle of the bright blue Pacific Ocean.
I can say with enthusiasm and certainty that I’ve never visited someplace as dreamy and breathtaking as Huahine, and that has as much to do with the island’s addictive, laid-back energy as it does the incredible landscapes.
Derek and I were lucky enough to spend four-and-a-half days on the island, but when it came time to sit down and write this Huahine itinerary, I thought three days seemed like a good, clean amount of time. If you do happen to have even more time on Huahine, that’s great – you won’t regret it!
Three days on Huahine will give you enough time to see all of the main sights and experience the best activities, while also allowing for plenty of time to unwind and relax…which is one of the biggest draws of traveling to such a pristine, undeveloped island, after all.
My hope is that this 3 day Huahine itinerary will help every traveler experience the best this incredible island has to offer!
3 Day Huahine Itinerary At-a-Glance
Day One
- Get acquainted with the town of Fare
- 5-6 hour self-guided bicycle tour of Huahine Nui (the larger of the two islands)
- Swimming at Fare Beach
- Happy hour cocktails and dinner at Huahine Yacht Club
Day Two
- Rent a car or scooter in Fare
- Spend ~6 hours driving around the sister islands of Huahine Nui and Huahine Iti
Day Three
- Full-day lagoon tour with Huahine Nautique (9am – 4pm)
- (Snorkel with reef sharks, visit a floating pearl farm, drift snorkel over coral gardens, picnic on a motu)
Day One: Fare + Bicycle Around Huahine Nui
Fare is the largest town on Huahine, home to the island’s only supermarket, only happy hour, and only breakfast joint. If you’ve chosen to base yourself near Fare (which I highly recommend!) you’ll be spending a lot of time here, so it will be good to get yourself acquainted with the town on Day One.
If you’re not staying near Fare, this is still your best bet for stocking up on cash, food and other supplies before heading off to your accommodations. Plus, it’s a charming and lively little town that makes for a quick, easy visit.
In the morning, vendors will line the street outside the Super U (which is fun to peruse as well) selling freshly caught fish, coconuts, bananas, eggs and other goods.
This is also a great spot for viewing the “pregnant woman of Huahine,” which totally reminded me of Te Fiti from Moana. Can you see her in the photo below?
Once you’ve had your fill of Fare, it’s time to do a bit of exploring via most islanders’ preferred form of transport: bicycle! We were lucky that our bungalow provided two bikes for us to use free of charge, but you can also rent them from many shops in Fare.
Below are all of the best sights to see on a self-guided bicycle tour of Huahine. Click the pins on the map below for more information and images of each sight.
- Lake Fauna Nui
- Maeva Marae Complex
- Fare Pote’e (Museum)
- V-Shaped Fish Traps
- Gallery Umatatea
- Beach at the Abandoned Sofitel
- Marae Manunu
You can also click here to view this map in a new tab.
I recommend budgeting around 5-6 hours for this bicycle route, depending on your fitness abilities and the length of your stops. We stopped many times for snacks, water breaks and photos, and also spent roughly one hour at the beach at the abandoned Sofitel.
The roads are very flat and traffic is sparse, so we felt safe and comfortable riding along this route. However, the combination of strong tropical sun, heat and humidity definitely made this ride feel a lot more strenuous!
It would be wise to get started as early as possible – if you’re planning to follow this full route, definitely no later than noon to ensure you’re back before dark. We started around 7:00am and were back by 12:30pm.
By the time you make it back to Fare, you’ll likely be very ready for a swim, a meal and a drink – and you’re in the perfect spot for all three!
Located directly adjacent to town is one of the island’s most scenic swimming spots: Fare Beach. Here, you can float in the unbelievably calm turquoise waters while watching the yachts in the bay.
This is also where you’ll find the Huahine Yacht Club, home to the best (…only?) happy hour on the island. Despite being a laid back, no frills beach bar, this local watering hole can get very busy in the evenings. Especially on Friday nights, when the live band starts up!
The Yacht Club is a great place to watch the sunset over the lagoon, enjoy the warm evening sea breeze, indulge in a frosty cocktail (we liked the Chi Chis best), and sample some delicious Polynesian seafood. Be sure to stay until the stars come out…the magic just doesn’t stop here in Huahine.
(Tip: The coconut fish with rice, poisson cru and tuna sashimi were among our favorite dishes, and so satisfying after a long bike ride!)
Day Two: Rent a Scooter or Car + Drive Around the Island
If your legs are aching after yesterday’s bicycle excursion around the upper portion of Huahine Nui, you’re in luck; today, you’ll be swapping out the bike for a different set of wheels!
There are several locations where you can rent a scooter or car on Huahine:
- Europcar (near the post office in Fare)
- Avis (near the Mobil gas station in Fare)
- Isabel Location (near the supermarket in Fare)
As far as I know, all of the vehicles on Huahine are manual transmission (whomp), which is why we ended up going with a scooter. 4-hour, 8-hour, 24-hour, and multi-day rentals are available for both scooters and cars.
We did not make a reservation in advance, but I think we just got lucky that Europcar still had scooters available when we stopped by around 8am. I do recommend reserving in advance if possible.
Once you have your wheels, it’s time to hit the open road!
Driving around Huahine is an absolute dream. There isn’t much traffic to speak of, and every turn delivers you to another stunning view of wild, lush valleys or sparkling turquoise bays.
Huahine Iti is even quieter and more sparsely populated than Huahine Nui, a quality that is noticeable as soon as you cross the bridge connecting the two islands.
We spent roughly 6 hours (from 8am to 2pm) exploring both islands in their entirety, making countless stops to soak in the views and snap photos.
Below was the route we followed, along with a list of highlights. It doesn’t matter whether you go clockwise or counterclockwise on either island, as long as you hit all the sights. Click the pins on the map below for more information.
- Sacred Blue-Eyed Eels in the town of Faie
- Belvedere Lookout Point for the best views on the island
- Maroe Bay
- Avea Bay
- Alllll of the miscellaneous views on Huahine Iti
You can also click here to view this map in a new tab.
While you’re on Huahine Iti, it is definitely worth stopping to have some lunch and check out the stunning beaches. We opted for the Sunday Feast at Chez Tara, which is widely touted as a “must do” on Huahine.
To be totally blunt, the experience was underwhelming for us. From a purely cultural perspective, it was fun to learn a little bit about traditional underground cooking methods and sample some Tahitian cuisine. The pork was genuinely delicious!
But overall, this was easily our least favorite meal from our entire 10 days in French Polynesia. Just my two cents, as I know this is a popular recommendation.
Day Three: Huahine Nautique Lagoon Tour
My friends, we’ve saved the best for last: the full-day lagoon tour with Huahine Nautique.
It is no exaggeration to say that this group tour was one of the most fun, thrilling and enjoyable travel days I have ever experienced…anywhere!
The exact tour we booked was the Motu Picnic 3-in-1, which cost approximately ~80 USD. Our guide picked us up from the Huahine Yacht Club at 9:15am, and at the end of the day, around 4pm, we were dropped off at the Maitai Lapita Village docks (the hotel directly next to our bungalow).
As for those hours in between? They were filled to the brim with smiles, good vibes, laughter and happy memories.
After the whole group (there were maybe 15 of us in total) had arrived to the dock and everyone was settled into the boat, our captain guided us to our first stop, and one of the overall highlights of the day: the Natural Aquarium.
It was here that we all donned our masks and snorkels, and willingly jumped into the crystal clear water…which was teeming with sharks.
Yep, you read that right! Snorkeling with dozens and dozens of black-tipped reef sharks (and countless other colorful, tropical fish) was hands-down one of the coolest experiences of my lifetime.
Everyone held onto an underwater line to help keep the waters calm and organized while the sharks swarmed around us. It was beyond amazing being so close to these gorgeous creatures in their natural habitat!
I’m not completely sure how long we had with the sharks – 20 minutes? 30? Those first anxious minutes after easing into the water seemed to stretch on endlessly, but by the time it was all said and done, I was ready to do it all over again.
And then just like that, the sharks were gone and we were climbing out of the sea back into the boat. It was time to head off to our next destination: the Huahine Pearl Farm.
While many of the people in our tour group seemed to be genuinely enjoying themselves during this stop, my honest opinion is that I would have happily skipped the pearl farm if given the opportunity.
Upon our arrival to the farm (which is actually a floating house in the middle of a lagoon, so that’s pretty cool), we were given a brief lesson on how pearls are harvested and processed. Then we had a bit of free time to visit the shop, were you can purchase genuine Tahitian pearls.
Derek and I took a whirlwind lap around the shop, before ultimately heading back out to the dock to soak in the views while the rest of our group made their purchases. Fortunately it was a fairly short stop overall, and before long we were back in the boat and heading off to do some more snorkeling.
Speaking of, does drift snorkeling over coral gardens sound like your idea of good time? Because it’s certainly mine, and that’s exactly what we did at our next stop!
After hopping out of the boat into the calm aquamarine water, we allowed the strong currents to carry us over the coral gardens below. By the time we reached the other side, the boat was already waiting to pick us up.
There weren’t nearly as many fish as there were in the natural aquarium (although we did see several clownfish nesting in an anemone!) but we had a blast drifting over the coral and enjoying the views. There’s just something so relaxing, surreal and dreamy about getting lost in an underwater world.
And then it was time for our final stop of the day: the motu picnic.
First, a brief lesson in Polynesian terminology! A “motu” is a small, flat islet formed by sand and broken coral. Many French Polynesian islands (such as Huahine) have several surrounding motus…and if you thought the main islands were quiet and remote, just wait until you see what it’s like all the way out here.
Our guide explained to us that the locals who live on the motus around Huahine lead very simple, rustic lives; the families here collect rainwater for bathing, use generators for electricity, and fish and farm to supply their own food.
But the fact that I found most mind-boggling is that parents on these motus transport their children back and forth across the lagoon by boat every single day so they can attend school. Talk about a commute!
But hey…for views like this on a daily basis, I’d highly consider forgoing wifi and running water, too:
But seriously, the scenery here was like something straight out of a movie about paradise; I may or may not have spent the entire duration of our time on the motu humming How Far I’ll Go.
After a highly entertaining demonstration on how to properly crack open a coconut, it was time for lunch: freshly prepared poisson cru, roasted chicken, saffron rice, fresh tropical fruits, and banana slices coated in coconut shavings.
…Oh, and an open bar with all of the rum punch and Hinanos you could desire!
Sipping strong rum punch out of a paper cup while stuffing my face with Tahitian food, with my feet were in the crystal clear seawater…? Yeah, I was in heaven.
We spent around two hours on the motu, and every moment was filled with tropical, sun-soaked bliss. I was so happy that this portion of the tour wasn’t rushed at all; floating in the lagoon after our meal was one of my favorite parts of the day.
After reluctantly bidding adieu to the motu, our boat captain took the long way home. Overall, a large part of the tour was spent simply navigating the beautiful waters surrounding Huahine, which was incredible all on its own.
Even after exploring the interior of the island via bike and scooter on the previous days, seeing Huahine from the water was like rediscovering it all over again. This new perspective made the island seem even more beautiful, more wild, and somehow much bigger than we had realized.
Derek and I were back in our cozy little bungalow just after 4pm, which meant we still had plenty of time in the day for lounging in our hammocks and enjoying happy hour and dinner at the Yacht Club.
Really, that kind of sums up our entire Huahine experience in a nutshell: wake up with the sun, spend all morning playing, relax and unwind in the afternoon, fall asleep when the stars come out, and do it all over again the next day.
And that, my friends, is my take on the perfect 3 day Huahine itinerary.
Read Next: The Ultimate Huahine Travel Guide
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Is Huahine an island you would like to visit one day? If you’re planning a trip to Huahine, what questions do you still have about creating YOUR perfect Huahine itinerary?
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Hi! thanks for sharing all the details of this wonderful place. we are planning to go in september and considering to split our 10 days between Huahine and Bora Bora, do you happen to know if bora bora worth the travel? the thing that I’m most concern is about the boat tours, I’m very sensitive and sometimes I get sick, do you think it was easy or is it shake too much?
We also don’t know if tours will be allowed because of all this situation.
Thank you!