Tahiti - my dream holiday destination

You can fly to direct to Tahiti from Hawaii (Honolulu) or from Los Angeles. Many cruise lines visit the island as well, including international companies like P&O and Saga. There are also smaller cruise lines that you can join at various Pacific locations such as Haumana. Then there are bespoke yacht cruises and charters.

Travel between islands is by air. There are no regular ferry services other than to and from Moorea, although one site I found mentioned a cargo line that takes a few passengers.

You can stay in a luxury hotel, or you may prefer a garden villa surrounded by lush tropical vegetation or an over-water apartment where you can swim almost direct from your bedroom.

Tahiti is a very popular honeymoon choice and there are plenty of special deals available. However, it isn't possible to get married here other than in a make-believe ceremony, unless you get special permits from the island you are staying on and also, that you stay more than 30 days.

And of course if diving is your passion, there are few more beautiful places on earth. The surrounding islands of the archipelago , such as Rangiroa offer interesting and challenging diving locations where you can meet creatures including sharks, barracuda and graceful manta rays.

Oh yes you CAN have a beach bungalow, but it isn't going to come cheaply. I really winced at the prices shown on one UK-based holiday site - £240 per NIGHT for instance - but I mused that this was all day dreaming and the budget wasn't a problem.

There are plenty of hotels, internationally known chains such as Meridien, Sheratorn, Holiday Inn and Radisson with a variety of accommodation styles.

Most of the holiday accommodation is on 'Big Tahiti' - the main island is almost split in two with just a narrow neck of land separating the two parts. It is actually two extinct volcanoes.

Papeete is the capital, not just of Tahiti but of all French Polynesia and a very busy city nowadays. It's not going to be very relaxing, and most tourists head out of town and to the neighbouring islands like Bora Bora and Moorea for more picturesque and quieter places to stay.

See the links list for some of the best websites to checkout all aspects of travel to the islands and also click on the pictures.

What do you like? As an international resort, the islands cater for most tastes and the fact that French is the offical language of the people and of the kitchen will reassure you that the food will be good.

The local street food (the stands are called 'roulottes') are very good, and safe to try. You'll find lots of fish on the menu of course, fresh fruit and vegetables grown in the fertile volcanic soil. Pigs are kept locally and some chickens, other meat is imported, so will be more expensive. Vegetarians will not be disappointed in the variety of food on offer.

You will also be able to find food from many other countries -Chinese, Vietnamese, French of course and even Italian.

Many hotels will have an opportunity to try local food in the shape of a buffet dinner with entertainment, or you can visit a 'traditional village' - reconstructed of course - for a feast called a 'tamaíaraía'

You can visit the Paul Gauguin museum to see some of his work and learn about his time in the islands. The museum is in the capital Papeete.

There is also a beautiful Botanic Garden, just across from the Gauguin museum. It was originally part of the estate of Harrison W Smith, an American physics teacher who brought out other tropical species in addition to cultivating local ones. The estate was inherited by a Mr J Boubee when Smith died in 1947 and he sold it to another American, Cornelius Crane who then left part of the land to the French Territory of Polynesia when he died in 1962 since when that part has been open to the public.

You can discover where the crew of the doomed ship, the 'Bounty' first came ashore on the black volcanic sand beach at Point Venus in 1788 as part of a Tahiti tour which will also take you to some impressive waterfalls and mountain scenery.

There are plenty of opportunities to find out about the ancient history and culture of the islands, but it is heavily overshadowed by European influences. Why was it that when colonising such places, European invaders not only sought to take over land, but also to insist that their culture and religion was 'better' than what they found?