Oceania Travel Guide

Whether you're on your honeymoon or not, the South Pacific is a marvelous place for romantic escapes. After all, romance and the islands have gone hand-in-hand since the bare-breasted young women of Tahiti gave rousing welcomes to the 18th-century European explorers.

I've never stayed anywhere as romantic as a thatch-roof bungalow built on stilts over a lagoon, with a glass panel in its floor for viewing fish swimming below you and steps leading from your front deck into the warm waters below. You'll find lots of these in French Polynesia -- especially on Bora Bora, the South Pacific's most famous (and expensive) honeymoon destination -- and a handful more in the Cook Islands and in Samoa.

One caveat is in order: Many overwater bungalows are relatively close together, meaning that your honeymooning next-door neighbors will be within earshot if not eyeshot. ("It can be like watching an X-rated video," a hotel manager once confessed, "but without the video.") Therefore, if you're seeking a high degree of privacy and seclusion they won't be your best choice.

On the other hand, many of the South Pacific's small, relatively remote offshore resorts offer as much privacy as you are likely to desire. These little establishments would also fall into another category: The Best Places to Get Away from It All. They are so romantic that a friend of mine says her ideal wedding would be to rent an entire small resort in Fiji, take her wedding party with her, get married in Fijian costume beside the beach, and make the rest of her honeymoon a diving vacation. Most resorts covered in this book are well aware of such desires, and they offer wedding packages complete with traditional ceremony and costumes. Choose your resort, and then contact the management for details about their wedding packages.

In the meantime, here's what the two best honeymoon destinations have to offer:

Fiji: Fiji has one of the world's finest collections of small offshore resorts. These little establishments have two advantages over their French Polynesian competitors. First, they have less than 20 bungalows each, instead of the 40 or more found at the French Polynesian resorts, which means they are usually more widely spaced than their Tahitian cousins. Second, they are on islands all by themselves. Together, these two advantages multiply the privacy factor several fold.

The atmosphere at Turtle Island Resort and the Vatulele Island Resort, both in the luxurious, superexpensive category, is active. Guests have the choice of dining alone in their bungalows or at lively dinner parties hosted by the engaging owners. Yasawa Island Resort sits on one of the prettiest beaches and has a very low-key, friendly ambience. It has very large bungalows, the choice being the secluded honeymoon unit that sits by its own beach. If you can't get that, be sure to reserve one of the newer units because a communal pathway runs just outside the bedroom windows of the older bungalows. Much less luxurious but also much less expensive, Matamanoa Island Resort caters exclusively to couples, making it a good choice for honeymooners on a budget.

In central Fiji off Suva, The Wakaya Club has the largest bungalows in Fiji, plus a palatial mansion with its own pool, perched high atop a ridge. The staff leaves the guests to their own devices. You might see a movie star or two relaxing at Wakaya.

Off Taveuni, Matangi Island Resort is one of the region's best values for honeymooners. One of its widely spaced bungalows is built 20 feet up in a Pacific almond tree, and two more are carved into the side of a cliff (they are reserved for honeymooners). Among my favorite places to stay are the charming, old South Seas-style bungalows and stunning central building at Qamea Resort and Spa. Kerosene lanterns romantically light the 52-foot-high thatch roof of Qamea's main building, and each bungalow has an outdoor shower and its own hammock strung across the front porch.

French Polynesia: The resorts here have the region's best selection of overwater bungalows. Invariably these are the most expensive style of accommodation in French Polynesia.

On Tahiti, which most visitors now consider a way station to the other islands, the Inter-Continental Tahiti Beachcomber Resort has overwater bungalows that face the dramatic outline of Moorea across the Sea of the Moon. Some of those at Le Meridien Tahiti also have this view.

On Moorea, the units at the Club Bali Hai are the among the oldest -- and the least expensive -- overwater bungalows in the islands, but they enjoy an unparalleled view of the jagged mountains surrounding Cook's Bay. Some overwater units at the Sofitel Ia Ora face Tahiti across the Sea of the Moon, and they're built over Moorea's most colorful lagoon. The Moorea Pearl Resort has a few perched on the edge of the clifflike reef, making for superb snorkeling right off your front deck.

Bora Bora has several hundred overwater bungalows, and many more will be there by the time you plan your trip. Meantime, the largest and most luxurious are at the Bora Bora Nui Resort, although they don't look out to pillarlike Mount Otemanu, which rises across the famous lagoon. Along with Cook's Bay on Moorea, this is one of the most photographed scenes in the entire South Pacific. For that signature vista, you have to stay at the Sofitel Motu or at the Hotel Bora Bora. Other bungalows at the Hotel Bora Bora sit right on the reef's edge. Ashore, the Hotel Bora Bora has large, luxurious bungalows that boast their own courtyards with swimming pools. Equally private though less luxe are the garden units at the Bora Bora Pearl Beach Resort; you can cavort to your heart's content in their wall-enclosed patios, which have sun decks and splash pools. The smaller but well-appointed overwater units at the friendly Le Maitai Polynesia are the least expensive on Bora Bora.

On Huahine, units at the Te Tiare Beach Resort have some of the largest decks of any overwater bungalows (one side is completely shaded by a thatch roof). The most charming of all overwater units are at the Le Taha'a Private Island & Spa, a luxurious resort on a small islet off Tahaa. Some of these espy Bora Bora on the horizon.

Out at the huge atoll known as Rangiroa, in the Tuamotu archipelago, Hotel Kia Ora has bungalows over the world's second-largest lagoon. On the adjacent atoll, overwater bungalows at the new Tikehau Pearl Beach Resort actually sit over the rip tides in a pass that lets the sea into the lagoon. On Manihi atoll, units at the Manihi Pearl Beach Resort are cooled by the almost constantly blowing trade winds. Isolated on their own islets, the Pearl Beach resorts on Tikihau and Manihi more closely approximate Fiji's offshore resorts than any others in French Polynesia.