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I remember it must have been about fourth grade when I was learning geography at St. Mark’s Grade School in St. Paul. There was a chapter on Polynesia, with an image of a boy about my age, sitting under a palm tree, eating breadfruit. I thought the idea of getting bread from a tree was just about the craziest thing ever. I wondered if bread from a tree tasted anything like real bread (Spoiler Alert – it is nothing like Wonder Bread). At the time, the idea of traveling halfway around the Earth to a distant tropical island to taste their breadfruit seemed impossible. 

French Polynesia is a collection of islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Polynesian people first settled the islands more than 1,000 years ago, arriving by canoe from thousands of miles away in Asia, guided only by the stars. It was colonized by the French in the 1880s and is now considered a French “Overseas Collectivity,” which is a sort of mashup of a territory (like Puerto Rico) and a state (like Hawaii). 

The local people consider themselves French. They speak French, drink rosé wine and coffee at sidewalk cafes, eat croissants and baguettes and don’t understand anything less than perfect French (including imperfect French). When the summer Olympic Games were in France in 2024, Tahiti was the venue for surfing, even though it was nearly 10,000 miles away from the other Olympic venues around Paris. 

Whatever you imagine of idyllic beaches, coral reefs and tropical volcanic landscapes, French Polynesia offers all of this and more. For many people, the iconic image of Tahiti is the thatched palm-roofed “over water bungalows” set in shallow turquoise lagoons. The vibrant marine life and lush tropical environment make these an appealing “slice of paradise” getaway destination. 

French Polynesia has 121 islands across five island groups, spanning 1,359 square miles in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The most famous islands are Tahiti and Bora Bora. The rest of the islands are pretty spread out. While there are dozens of small airstrips throughout the archipelago, most people travel between islands by boat. The big international airport is Faa’a International Airport in Papeete, the capital city on the island of Tahiti. Many cruise lines offer week-long jaunts from island to island. 

French Polynesia suffered a catastrophic drop in tourism during COVID in 2020. They still hadn’t recovered when we visited in 2022. Many hotels and overwater bungalows sat empty. On the plus side, it is not busy or crowded with tourists. 

In addition to tourism, French Polynesia has two additional unique and appealing industries. The first is Tahitian vanilla. Vanilla comes from the seed pods of an orchid. The only place in the world where Vanilla germinates naturally is Mexico, so the plants in Tahiti must be pollinated by hand. While this is labor-intensive, Tahitian Vanilla is prized worldwide for its aroma and flavor. Vanilla plantation tours are a real treat, and vanilla pods are available for sale in the gift shops, so you can make your own vanilla extract when you return home. 

The other uniquely Polynesian industry is Tahitian Pearls, especially the coveted black pearls. Pearl farms consist of thatched palm huts set in the bay above coral reefs. The reef under the pearl farm huts we visited was among the most colorful and varied ecosystems we have seen anywhere in the world. 

Inside the huts, “grafters” implant small organic beads into oysters, which are then strung out on nets to feed and develop. The oyster coats the bead irritant over several years to grow the pearl. They don’t use sand because it isn’t perfectly round and would produce irregularly shaped pearls. Instead, they use beads produced from freshwater Mississippi River mussels. 

French Polynesia is remote, so it is expensive. But it is a tropical paradise, offering some of the world’s best beaches, reefs and tropical landscapes, along with uniquely French sensibilities and food. When I visited in 2022, I finally had a chance to try the breadfruit. It is still cool that it grows on trees, but the taste was nothing special. I am glad I could save you the trouble.