Bora Bora

Bora Bora is warm all year, with water around the high twenties Celsius. From May to October, the drier season, days are a little cooler and less humid, with steady trade winds, and this is the most popular time. From November to April, the warm wet season brings heavier, often short-lived showers, higher humidity and a small risk of tropical cyclones, mainly from December to March; check forecasts with Météo-France Polynésie. Christmas, New Year and the July and August holidays fill up quickly, and the Heiva festival in July brings music, dance and sports competitions across French Polynesia.

Most visitors fly into Faa'a International Airport on Tahiti, then take an Air Tahiti flight of about fifty minutes to Bora Bora. Air Tahiti also links Bora Bora with Moorea, Huahine, Raiatea and Maupiti, and multi-island air passes can work out cheaper than separate tickets. Bora Bora's airport is on Motu Mute, a flat islet on the northern reef, built as an airstrip during the war, so every arrival continues by boat: resorts send their own launches, and a shuttle boat runs to Vaitape for everyone else. The scenery is spectacular on the flight in, so try for a window seat. Cargo ships on the Leeward Islands route carry some passengers, slowly; check schedules locally.

On the main island, a single road of about 32 kilometres runs around the coast. Bicycles, electric bikes, scooters, small cars and two-seater buggies can be hired in Vaitape and Matira, and Le Truck runs irregularly along the road. To reach the motu or the reef, you'll need a hotel boat, a tour or a rented boat.

• Greet people with "Ia ora na" (hello) and thank them with "Māuruuru". Tipping is not customary, though it is appreciated.
• The local currency is the CFP franc (XPF), tied to the euro. Cards are widely accepted at hotels and larger shops, but carry cash for roulottes and small pensions.
• Book flights and accommodation well ahead for the dry season and holidays.
• Bring reef-safe sunscreen, a hat and a rash vest; the sun is fierce on the water.
• Use insect repellent, as dengue occurs in French Polynesia.
• Sundays are quiet, with many shops closed and families at church or at the beach.
• Supermarkets in Vaitape help keep costs down if your room has a kitchen.

The national dish is poisson cru, or i'a ota, raw tuna marinated in lime and mixed with coconut milk and vegetables. Look out for mahi-mahi, parrotfish and tuna; po'e, a sweet pudding of fruit and starch with coconut cream; uru, breadfruit; and firifiri, a twisted doughnut eaten at breakfast. The roulottes in Vaitape serve generous plates of grilled fish, steak frites and Chinese-Polynesian dishes at a fraction of resort prices. A ma'a Tahiti, a traditional feast cooked in an underground oven, the ahima'a, is sometimes offered at hotels and festivals. Hinano is the local beer.

The overwater bungalow was popularised in French Polynesia, and Bora Bora's luxury resorts, mostly on the motu, are why many people come. They're beautiful and private, with ladders straight into the lagoon, but they are very expensive, rates in high season often run to four figures a night, and meals, transfers and activities add up quickly on an island where almost everything is imported.

For a more affordable and more personal stay, look at pensions, family-run guesthouses, on the main island around Matira and Vaitape, and on a few motu. Rooms and bungalows are simple, sometimes with shared kitchens, and hosts often arrange tours, transfers and meals. Some travellers split their stay between the two. Tahiti Tourisme lists registered pensions and hotels.

Bora Bora's old name is often given as Pora Pora, "first born", and in Polynesian tradition it was home to powerful chiefs and warriors, part of a world of islands centred on the great sacred site of Taputapuātea on nearby Raiatea. The Reo Mā'ohi, the Polynesian languages, are still spoken alongside French, and a few words go a long way: "Ia ora na" for hello, "Māuruuru" for thank you, "Nana" for goodbye, "fare" for house and "motu" for islet. Dance, the ori Tahiti, drumming and tattoo, tatau, are living arts. The flower behind the ear also has meaning: by custom, behind the left ear signals you're taken, the right that you're single.

In early 1942, weeks after Pearl Harbor, the United States landed several thousand troops and tonnes of equipment in what was code-named Operation Bobcat, turning Bora Bora into a fuel and supply base for the South Pacific. They built the airstrip on Motu Mute, roads, a seaplane base and coastal batteries of 7-inch naval guns, most of which still stand on the island's headlands. The island saw no fighting, and the base closed in 1946. The airstrip was French Polynesia's only international airport until Faa'a opened on Tahiti in 1960.

Bora Bora combines easily with other Society Islands. Taha'a, the "vanilla island", and Raiatea, home to the UNESCO-listed Taputapuātea marae, share a lagoon to the southeast, and Moorea, with its jagged peaks and humpback whales from roughly July to November, is a short hop from Tahiti. Tiny Maupiti, to the west, gives a taste of Bora Bora as it was before the resorts. All are reached by Air Tahiti, and some by boat.

Bora Bora's lagoon is fragile, and its coral has suffered from warming seas and bleaching. Never stand on or touch coral, keep your fins away from the reef, and use reef-safe sunscreen. Don't chase, touch or feed rays and sharks; French Polynesia protects sharks in all its waters, and choosing operators that keep a respectful distance helps keep the animals wild. Water and waste are a strain on a small island, so use refillable bottles and take rubbish back with you from the motu. Ask before photographing people or entering private land, and remember that marae are sacred sites: walk around them, not on the stones.