Thirty minutes by ferry from Tahiti, Moorea gives you Bora Bora's drama — shark-tooth peaks, twin bays, a lagoon full of rays — at a gentler price and with an actual island to explore. Hire a car for a day and climb to the Belvedere lookout above Opunohu Bay before the tour buses arrive. Pineapple fields, juice stops and empty beaches fill the rest. May to October is driest.
Featured in Ten dreamy honeymoon islands worth the long flight · Tropical