Certainly, the first thing that comes to mind when you think of a trip to Bora Bora, is how expensive it can be. With this destination everything is possible, but it is not indeed a cheap destination, and only the plane ticket could be a high investment. But if you organize the travel in a smart way, you’ll probably find some alternatives and more affordable options.

Where is Bora Bora? How to arrive?

The first question that needs to be answered is: Where is Bora Bora? In order to understand all the other things, it is necessary to locate it and to understand that it is at a lost point in the middle of the Pacific, the most populated place and near is Tahiti which is 1 hour away. And for the rest, any place is at least 6 hours away (6h from New Zealand, 8h from Los Angeles, 6am to Easter Island).

Therefore, the way to get there will depend a lot on the place you live, and the price will depend on the airport where you start your travel. The season will also change a little the price of the tickets, but not much.

From all over Latin America you must pass through the USA to continue to Tahiti. With technical stops or stopovers in Los Angeles or San Francisco. This does not make the ticket more expensive, it will depend on the country of departure, and the airlines that cover the route.

From Europe, there is the option to follow the classic route through the USA, or travel on a tourist stopover on the other side, in Japan, New Zealand, or Hong Kong. It depends on your budget and the airline.

How many days is a deal in Bora Bora?

For the most, the travel is going to last a lot of hours. At least 8 hours if you live on the west coast. So I recommend staying at least one week if you are going to only visit Bora Bora.

We recommend combining Bora Bora with another island of French Polynesia and considering 3 or 4 nights in Bora Bora, which we think is the minimum to really enjoy the island, less than that is too short, more it could be expensive.

Do you need help with The Itinerary of your travel to Bora Bora?

Check our personal travel planner service.

Examples of Flight Ticket Prices

Here are some examples of airfares for the month of May or October 2024. Of course, all is very variable, you can still find some good promotions but prices are still high because of a big volume of traveller during 2023. But it seems that during 2024 the volume will be normalized, buuuuuut after Olimpic Games. Remember that Tahiti will be a location for surfing competitions.

FLIGHT LATAM + AirTahiti Nui from:

$ 1700
  • Round Trip from Santiago de Chile to Tahiti, passing through LA. 36h on the road with a 17-hour Layover.
  • This depart city could be interesting for people in LatinAmerica.
$ 1500
  • Round trip from Paris to Tahiti, passing through LA. About 24 hours of travel with a technical stop to LA of 2h
  • The price depends on the day and month.
$ 1200
  • Round trip from Los Angeles to Tahiti. Direct flight, 8h of travel. Tahiti is reached the next morning.
  • if you are lucky you can maybe find a ticket for 1000 $. Attention with prices including checked bagage.
$ 1100
  • Round trip from Paris to Tahiti, passing through San Francisco (SFO). About 24 hours of travel with a technical stop at SFO of 2h
  • The price depends on the day and month. Attention with prices including checked bagage.
$ 700
  • Round trip from SAN FRANCISCO to Tahiti, passing. About 8h30 hours of travel, no stop
  • The price depends on the day and month. Attention with prices including checked bagage.

I usually use Google Flights for checking the best fare existing, but I don’t buy directly from the links proposed. I do not use sites like Lastminute or Kayak. the only site that I use sometimes for flights (besides the airline’s sites) is booking.com, a platform that I use a lot for hotels.

Do not forget the season when you plan a trip to Bora Bora. Price can change a lot depending on the season, even if in 2023 variation of prices seems less strong, and they keep high even for low season.

HIGH SEASON: Between April and October, December (Christmas and New Year)

LOW SEASON: January-March and November-December (before Christmas)

How much does cost accommodation on a trip to Bora Bora?

First of all, I could say the price can be whatever you want, very little or very high. It all depends on the experience you seek. Here are the accommodation alternatives for a trip to Bora Bora:

AIRBNB: and here you can find everything, from a single room to a luxury villa. You can even sleep on a boat if you want to. All these accommodations are located on the main island, so for obvious reasons, you will not have a view of Mount Otemanu, but in many cases, you will have an excellent view of the Lagoon.

  • A room can cost 70€/night
  • A room in a boat 143€/night.
  • A studio apartment 200€/night.
  • An entire apartment 150-160 €/night
  • A luxury apartment 400 y 500€/night

PENSIONES: a type of accommodation quite popular in Polynesia, a little less considered for a dream trip to Bora Bora, but it can be an option if you are traveling to Bora Bora on a budget. It depends on your expectations of a trip to Bora Bora and your style.

There are a dozen pensions that seem not bad. It should be clear that they will be quite simple and offer limited services. We consider that they are for a kind of traveler looking to connect much more with the local population and get to know Bora Bora in another way.

In this link, you will find a list of pensions on the island: https://www.boraboraislandguide.com/bora-bora-pensions.html

Prices will vary with the type of pension and the number of services offered. Between 50 and 150€/night.

HOTELS in BORA BORA: the masterpiece of this place and from where the photos of the Bora Bora island catalogs come from. Prices vary greatly depending on several things: the hotel category, the location (if it is actually on the main island or in the coral ring overlooking the main island), the services they offer, the type of room, and the season. Even inside the same hotel prices can vary quite by room type only.

Depending on the season, it is possible to get some packages with interesting affordable prices.

I’m not talking about stars, hard to rate a hotel just by the stars. I mean not very expensive hotels for the destination type. They will even find overwater bungalows in this category but what will set them apart will be the location of the hotel.

Here I include the Sofitel (Now is closed) ,the Maitai and The Royal Bora Bora.

The band is this level can be very extensive because it depends on the hotel and the room. In this band, you’ll find excellent category hotels in terms of services, location, and views, but also have entry-level rooms more or less affordable.

Here I include for example:

The Pearl: it also has very expensive overwater bungalows, but it has bungalows on the beach at more affordable prices. Some bungalows have recently been renovated, and the result is very nice.

The Intercontinental Moana: with overwaters in traditional materials, it is located on the main island near Matira Beach. A good option if you want the overwater bungalow experience during a trip to Bora Bora, which I think should be done for at least one night.

Please note that these price examples are in low season.


Here we already enter in the category of large, luxury hotels, with medium or huge bungalows, including complete private villas with butler services, I mean, luxury at its best. Almost all the pictures that you have seen about a trip to Bora Bora have been taken in one of these places.

The Meridian Bora Bora (currently under renovations): the entry-level in this category; It is where you could find the best prices on well-located overwaters bungalows. The surface of the bungalows is not huge, but they have the largest crystals on the ground in Polynesia. The hotel is relatively small but offers good services. I consider it more a 4-star than a true 5-star luxury hotel, we will see if the level will be high after renovations, real pictures are not still available. From € 1500 in the low season. This hotel is currently closed for renovation. It seems that is going to be reopened on July 2024 under the brand Westin Bora Bora.

The St Regis Bora Bora: This hotel is near perfection. The expression of luxury in Bora Bora. Super spacious bungalows, almost all well located, and a magnificent lagoon. Excellent service. The only sin is that it begins to be old and in need of renovation. Price start at 1900€ in the low season.

The Four Seasons Bora Bora: same price level or maybe even higher than St Regis. It has a good location, most of the bungalows are overwaters, and there are some villas on the beach with 1,2 or 3 bedrooms. Bungalows from € 1900 in the low season.

The Conrad: the spacious overwater bungalows of the Conrad are really fascinating. Just some of them have a view over Otemanu Mountain. This hotel has been refurbished in 2017 when Hilton became Conrad. Start at 1500€

The Pearl Bora Bora: the overwaters of this hotel were been refurbished during covid closure. The result is very niche, and the lagoon here is beautiful and shallow. The only inconvenience in this location is the wind on some days. Overwaters start on 2200€.


the st regis bora bora beach villa - trip to bora bora in 2023
Beach Bungalow St Regis Bora Bora
trip to bora bora - st regis bora bora

Discover our Luxury stay at The St Regis Bora Bora

Inter-island transport and Inside the islands

If you are organizing a trip to Bora Bora by yourself, you should consider adding two things that agencies already think about it automatically: inter-island flight and internal transportation.

Inter-island flights can be purchased individually or with an inter-island pass that includes a specific number of islands. Its price will vary depending on which islands are included.

Pass Interiles Air TAHITI 2024

In Bora Bora Island you have to have the location of the airport, on a motu. To go to the main island you take a boat that is included in the Air Tahiti pass. If you are going to one of the ring hotels you must pay an additional transport which can usually be quite expensive if the reservation was not processed through an agency. Between 100 and 150€ per person.

Some hotels have a limited number of free round trips to the main island during the day. After landing on the island, some visitors travel to the main island with the boat included in the pass and then they wait for the boat that makes the hotel’s round trips, to avoid paying the high cost of a single trip from the airport.

It should only be considered that there are only certain schedules of navettes round trip, and depending on the arrival time of your plane you may have to wait a long time. You probably also have to pay for a taxi from the jetty to your hotel’s specific jetty, if you are elsewhere.

How much do activities cost in Bora Bora?

I will start with what you shouldn’t have as expectations of a trip to Bora Bora. This island is not like going on holiday to the Riviera Maya, where you will find nightclubs and places to party late into the night.

Bora Bora is to enjoy the calm of island life. I think the most festive place you’ll find is Bloody Mary’s, but it’s not to pass the time late at night, just like those who have to go back to the hotels located in the motus, they’ll have a scheduled time to back and you’ll feel like Cinderella, running at the last minute.

This island is essentially for daytime activities and almost entirely water activities.

Here’s a list of the kind of activities you can do, with a price idea. The cost will vary depending on the company providing the service and the number of people with which they will share. I recommend that at least one activity be done in private or in a small group.

  • Jet Ski in the Lagoon: count about € 200 per JetSki (1 or 2 people) Fishing trips: it can be a full day with food included or half a day for 1 or 2 people, between € 500 and € 600
  • Snorkeling: the activity that you should absolutely do, there are tons that offer this excursion. Some more specialized than others. Here you will take into account the number of people on the tour, the type of boat. Find out if it includes lunch or not. Between € 80 and € 100 per person.
  • Ascension parachute: between € 250 and € 400
  • Lagoon Cruises: the price will be based on whether they are private or not, if they include dinner at a restaurant in Vaitape or private dinner at a motu. Between € 300 and € 700 per couple.
  • 4 × 4 or Quad on the island: between € 150 and € 200 per couple.
  • Subscooter, aqua safari: the sub scooter you pay per scooter, about € 250
  • Combined: companies carry out combos in which several of the activities mentioned above can be combined, and it comes out at a relatively better price.
  • Diving: it depends on how many dives you do
  • Whale watching: it depends on the season, and you can do the whole day with a meal or half a day. In a group or private (much more expensive, of course): between € 150 and € 200

As you can see, the activities are not cheap, and there are many, I think I will make a post dedicated only to the activities. In any case, I recommend informing yourself well of the activity and you will see that in the end, the experience will be such, that you will quickly forget how much you paid for it.

Here are some activities that you can book directly from our blog with the service providers that we have already tested :

bora bora snorkeling con tiburones

with Moana Adventures

ECO-SAFARI Rays & Sharks & Snorkeling

46€/person

whale watching

with Tohora

Whale watching and swimming experience in Bora Bora

162 €/person

There are also things to do during your trip to Bora Bora for free (or almost):

  • A bike tour around the island: rent a bike and go around the main island, which is not huge. Take a bath at the only beach in Bora Bora, Matira. And eat and drink at the restaurant that is right in front of the beach: Matira Beach Restaurant.
  • Do a little hiking on Mount Otemanu (don’t think you are going to get to the top, the hiking is a little restricted because the rock is very friable).
  • Go to a traditional mass
  • Visit the different pearl shops in Vaitape

Where can I get the best vacation package for Bora Bora?

From our experience, we will let you know how to get the best prices and deals for a vacation to Bora Bora:

Do you need help with The Itinerary of your travel to French Polynesia?

Check our personal travel planner service.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

You might also enjoy: