Destination
Photos & words by
Coco Tran
THE TRIP
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The short answer
At a glance
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The set-up
When we were planning our honeymoon I had exactly the decision you’re making now: Bora Bora or the Maldives. Both promised warm turquoise water, an overwater bungalow and a reef to swim over, so I wrote myself a short list of what I actually wanted from the week. A landscape unlike anywhere else. Water warm enough to live in. An easy journey from the US. And marine life, because I love to snorkel more than almost anything.
Bora Bora won three of the four, and it won the one that mattered most to me, the view. We spent our honeymoon at Le Bora Bora by Pearl Resorts, in March, and I would make the same choice again tomorrow. The Maldives is still very much on my list, and I’ll tell you honestly below where it would have been the better answer for you.
The location
Bora Bora is a small volcanic island in French Polynesia, ringed by a barrier reef and a lagoon that turns every shade of blue, with Mount Otemanu rising 727 metres out of the middle of it. The Maldives is the opposite shape of paradise: 26 atolls and more than a thousand coral islands scattered across the Indian Ocean, and the whole country tops out at about 2.4 metres above the sea.
That difference was the deciding factor for me. From our overwater bungalow you see the turquoise of the lagoon, the deeper blues beyond the reef, and Otemanu standing behind all of it; the mountain gives the water depth. In the Maldives the water is every bit as clear and the lagoons run for miles, but the horizon stays flat. If you care about the view the way I do, Bora Bora wins this one easily.
Getting there is the second half of the location question. From the US, Bora Bora is the easier trip: you fly to San Francisco or Los Angeles, take the eight-hour direct flight to Tahiti, then a short domestic flight across to Bora Bora [VERIFY: current flight times and carriers]. One thing to know: the long-haul flights land in Papeete at night, so most people end up spending a night there. I planned our connections ahead and avoided it, and that is exactly the kind of detail I take care of for clients. The Maldives from the US usually means a 12-hour flight to Dubai and another four and a half hours on to Malé, or 15 hours to Hong Kong and five more from there [VERIFY: current routings]. If you’re coming from Europe, Asia or the Middle East, the Maldives is the simpler journey, with direct flights into Malé.
The weather is more alike than different. Bora Bora sits at 70 to 80°F all year, with a dry season from May to October. The Maldives is warm all year too, around 86 to 90°F in the dry months and 77 to 83°F in the rains, but it has a true monsoon, so the dry season from November to April is the safe window. We went to Bora Bora in March, the shoulder season, and it was sunny about 80 per cent of the time; the rain came a handful of times and lasted ten or twenty minutes. My tip: don’t let the forecast scare you. It was still warm enough to swim, and swimming in warm rain in that lagoon is a lovely thing in itself.
The rooms
Both places are built around the idea of waking up over the water, and both do it beautifully. Bora Bora’s resorts are a small, exclusive set of top-tier hotels, most with overwater bungalows that have a private plunge pool, a glass panel in the floor, an outdoor shower and a concierge on call, and many include breakfast on a half-board plan. The Four Seasons Resort Bora Bora and the St. Regis Bora Bora Resort are the two everyone knows, and they are the two I want to resort-hop between on our next visit.
The Maldives plays a different game: one resort to an island, a much longer list of them, and a culture of butlers and all-inclusive packages built around the overwater villa. Gili Lankanfushi and Soneva Fushi are the names I hear most often from clients who have been [VERIFY: my old post said “over 500 resorts”; the official count is far lower, so confirm before quoting any number].
We stayed at Le Bora Bora by Pearl Resorts, and for a honeymoon it was wonderful value: a bungalow on stilts, a deck with a net strung over the lagoon, and that mountain in the frame every morning. I’ve written a full review of the stay, linked below. When I book the Four Seasons for clients they typically enjoy daily breakfast, a hotel credit and an upgrade whenever one is available, and the St. Regis carries similar extras wherever they apply [VERIFY: Four Seasons Preferred Partner and Marriott STARS perks for these two hotels].
The food and the culture
Bora Bora eats French and Polynesian at once: fresh fish, tropical fruit, and resort dining that is mostly à la carte. Off the resort, Bloody Mary’s is the one restaurant everyone visits at least once. The culture is a lovely blend too. The islands were colonised by France, so French habits sit alongside Polynesian ones, and the dance shows, fire performances and handicrafts you’ll find at the resorts are the real thing. If you’ve seen Moana, you already have a feel for it.
The Maldives cooks with Indian, Sri Lankan and Arabic flavours: seafood, coconut and spice. The resorts lean on all-inclusive plans and international menus, with local dishes if you go looking. The country’s culture draws on India, Africa and Arabia, and an afternoon on a local island or at an old mosque is a different kind of day from anything in Polynesia. It is also a conservative Muslim country, which shapes life beyond the resort islands [VERIFY: alcohol is served only on resort islands].
The beaches, the reef and the days
Both have the soft white sand you’re picturing, and at the level of hotel you’ll be staying in, every major resort has its own private beach. The honest difference is that Bora Bora is volcanic, so parts of the shoreline are rockier, while the Maldives has long, powdery stretches, and on some islands the plankton glows at night [VERIFY: bioluminescence is seasonal and island-specific]. On sand alone, you can’t go wrong.
The reef is where I have a firm opinion. The snorkel we did in Bora Bora, with the blacktip reef sharks and the stingrays, was the best I have ever done, and I’ve snorkelled in Thailand, the Seychelles and Maui. It was a little nerve-racking to slip into the water with sharks circling below, and then it was pure joy. The lagoon is full of reef fish, giant clams and eels, and from June to November the humpback whales pass through [VERIFY: whale season]. Coral Gardens and the Lagoonarium are the two spots to ask for. When I was researching before our trip I didn’t find anyone raving about snorkelling in the Maldives the way people rave about Bora Bora; the Maldives is better known for manta rays and whale sharks on dive days [VERIFY: seasons and atolls].
Bora Bora also simply has more to do. A full day on a traditional outrigger to three snorkel spots, with a feast on a private motu. A private catamaran with a floating bar, which is my favourite way for a couple to see the lagoon. A 4×4 tour into the hills. Whale watching in season. In the Maldives the days are built around your island: snorkelling off the villa, a dolphin-watching boat with a sandbank picnic, a dive, the spa, and the underwater restaurants a few resorts are famous for.
The price difference
When I was planning, the Maldives was the more approachable of the two, with five days including flights starting around $2,000 a person and a far wider range of resorts at every price. Bora Bora started nearer $3,500 a person for the same five days, and the shoulder season is where the better rates hide, which is one reason we chose March. Both numbers come from my own planning at the time [VERIFY: 2023 figures; refresh against current rates before publishing]. Two things to know about a Maldives bill: almost everything is imported and taxed heavily, and labour costs more, so the top resorts there can run past anything in Bora Bora [VERIFY].
For us it came down to this: a honeymoon is once, so I chose the more exclusive island and the view that goes with it. The Maldives is still on my list, and the lovely thing is that, being the more affordable of the two, we can go any time.
Who books which
Book Bora Bora if you’re flying from the US, if the view matters to you as much as the water, if you want to snorkel with sharks and rays and come home with a story, and if you want your honeymoon to feel like the once-in-a-lifetime trip it is. Four to five nights is the right length to slow down to island time.
Book the Maldives if you’re coming from Europe, Asia or the Middle East, if you want one island almost to yourselves with a butler who knows your name, if a long powder-soft beach is the dream, or if you’d like the same overwater feeling with more choice at every budget. Give it four to five nights as well.
Whichever you choose, when I plan this for clients I handle the night in Papeete, the domestic hop, the island transfer and the villa category, and I book through the preferred-partner programmes wherever they apply, so the stay arrives with its extras.
The verdict
Both are dreams, and I’d send a honeymoon to either without hesitation. For me, for a once-in-a-lifetime week, Bora Bora is the one: the mountain in every photograph, warm clear water you can swim in even in the rain, and a reef that gave me the best snorkel of my life. The Maldives wins on choice, on seclusion and on the journey from the eastern half of the world, and it’s where I’d send you if a private island with a butler is the picture in your head. Whichever of those two pictures made you smile, that’s your answer, and I would love to plan it.