2026 French Polynesia - January - Day 01 - Welcome to Papeeté Tahiti.

Tahiti, January 15, 2026

 I’m writing this to just kind of kick off this blog.  A few weeks ago I looked at flights and saw that travel to Tahiti from San Francisco was wide open…over 190 seats available.  So I proposed to Denise that we make a quick run down there to check it out.  And so…here I am!

We started our trip on a flight out of SLC at 8 AM.  It, too, was wide open.  So getting seats to SFO was quite easy too.   We arrived with about a 3+ layover so we headed to a Priority Pass lounge in the A wing of the International terminal in SFO.  In SLC, while being de-iced, I had Denise use her Capital One card to book a hotel for the first night here in Papeeté.  We found the Royal Tahitien which was a ‘mid-ranged’ price hotel.   With the Capital One Venture X card, they give you 100,000 bonus points plus a $300 travel credit.  So we used part of Denise’s travel credit.  I, too, have this card which works now because Capital One option with Priority Pass does not allow any guests (unless you spend $75k in a year).  You used to be able to take 2 guests in with you.  Anyway, while flying, Denise got a confirmation email that she forwarded it to me.  As I read it, I noticed that the hotel indicates that their check-in desk closes at 8 PM and that if a guest were to arrive later than that, they need to make special arrangements for a late arrival.  Well, as we walked to the lounge in SFO, we called Capital One and they were awesome to call the hotel and confirm our arrival with them.  Turns out they actually keep someone there until 11 PM.  Our flight was a bit late landing around 8:15 PM and by the time we had our rental car, it was pushing 9 PM.  All good.   Interesting note about the Papeeté airport is that they use stairs to board and exit their large planes.  They have no jetways to receive passengers.  You must get wet for a second walking to the terminal if it is raining.  I thought that was interesting in this day and age.

The drive to the hotel was about 15 minutes and we stopped at a gas station that had an ATM to pull some local money from an ATM.  Their currency is the form of the French Franc and the exchange rate $. 97 equals 100 XPF.We arrived at the hotel feeling like we were in the middle of a neighborhood.  The entrance was dark with very little lighting.  We found the parking lot, parked the car and went to the building where lights were on.  It turned out to be their restaurant, bar and dance floor.  It was not the reception area.  So I went to the bar and asked a young lady, who spoke little English, where to check in.  She came out into the parking lot and pointed to it.  We were close, yet so far away.  We were checked in easily and then made our way to the room on a dark path that went through a tropical garden.

I’m writing this in the morning of Friday (we flew on Thursday).   I think our adventure here is going to be a wet one…and not because I’ll be in the ocean.  I think we are going to get a lot of rain.  We woke up to a down pour and it continues to rain.  Fingers crossed, however, it lets up at some point.

Here are a couple of pictures:

Polaris (Business Class)…the only way to travel.  Non-stop food, lay flat to sleep and nice entertainment setup.

The welcome party in the airport as you entered the terminal.  Pretty nice touch.

Sitting outside to get the rental car.

The restaurant and dance floor here at the Hotel Royal Tahitien.

A picture of our rental car.  I took many for insurance sake.  Small…but all we need.  And since we are taking it on a ferry to Moorea today, it is a bit cheaper.

Looking outside our window to our patio this morning watching the rain come down.  Looks pretty out there now that we can see it in the daylight.

Flowers are pretty!

Denise enjoying day one…although it is only 7 AM!

The mountains here on Tahiti are amazingly beautiful.  So lush.

More pictures of our grounds and mountains.

Feeling good…we love our beach time!

Lots of lovely flowers all over the grounds.

She’s up, happy and streaming videos back to her family.

The beach here is a black sand beach.  Would not be a good snorkel spot.  But to go out and swim a bit, it might be nice. 

Another shot of the beach.  It is only about 50 yards from our room.  Not too bad.

That is the reception house looking across the garden from our room.

This is the pool area.  We are thinking about coming back here and using a day pass on Tuesday next week before we travel.  We have to be off Moorea island pretty early as the ferries shut down around 4 PM.  If we came over to Tahiti early, we might come here to hang out.  We shall see.