french polynesia – You Should Go Anyway

Tahiti has always been on my list and for the longest time I thought it would be so wheelchair unfriendly, I’d just get off the plane and be stuck on a beach with my wheelchair all week. Depending on how you look at it, that might not be the worst thing in the world! But Tahiti, and specifically Moorea where we stayed most of the time was almost perfectly accessible for my low key experience.

Having said that, I did not tool around in downtown Papeete at all and have seen that there is a lack of curb cuts there. I wouldn’t expect much in the way of true wheelchair accessibility anywhere, but my experience was barrier free for all the things I wanted to do.

My biggest takeaway from the trip is THE PEOPLE ARE AMAZING there. I don’t agree that French people are particularly rude, but if that’s your experience then you will be happy to know that the people in French Polynesia are perfectly wonderful — including the non-Tahitians.

The Flight to Tahiti

We flew from Chicago to Minneapolis to Los Angeles and finally to Papeete. This sounds like a lot, and it was, but the flight from LA to Papeete was only about eight hours. You could easily spend a day or two in LA to break up the trip. The main reason I chose these tickets was price! It was $550 round trip on Delta and Air France thanks to an alert I got from Scott’s Cheap Flights.

On arrival in Tahiti, I was carried off the plane by helpful flight attendants and crew on the ground. They had an ambulift truck to use since there was no jetway. The international flights to Papeete arrive infrequently so it was a quick breeze thru immigration, to baggage claim and out to my wheelchair accessible(ish) taxi I had booked about a week prior to arriving.

The taxi too us to the Papeete ferry port where we took a ferry to Moorea where we were staying.

Staying on Wheelchair Accessible Moorea

I booked all but one night on Moorea where we stayed at the Sofitel resort. It was amazing. We stayed on the resort the entire time except for one circle-island journey we arranged with the Moorea wheelchair accessible(ish) taxi company.

Accessible things to do in Tahiti/Moorea

On our day tour we drove around and visited the juice/alcohol distillery and picked up some great treats, including bottles of Tahiti Monoi oil which is amazing. We also headed to the Intercontinental resort to see the dolphin center and sea turtles. There are many little restaurants and shops around the island, but we didn’t do much shopping. We made a very nice stop up at Belvedere lookout and had an amazing view of the bay. The island is just beautiful.

Most of all, I just enjoyed relaxing at the resort. There were paved paths everywhere and great service. Breakfast was amazing and being over the water was very relaxing.

Staying one last night at the Tahiti Airport Motel

I don’t like messing around with getting to the airport, and especially when there are few accessible taxi options. Because of this we took the ferry back to Tahiti and stayed our last night at the Tahiti Airport Motel across the street from the airport since the flight was at 8am.

It’s a very basic place to stay, but it had a HUGE wheelchair accessible bathroom in the PMR room on the first floor. MAKE SURE you request this room beforehand. If you have the taxi drop you off at the door, you won’t have to deal with the steep driveway or hills. But we rolled to the airport the following morning and although it was steep, I could do it in my power chair. There was very little traffic at 5AM so having to roll a little on the streets at the airport was ok. Just be careful. I would definitely not recommend trying to sleep at the airport the night before. It’s all outdoors and HOT.

Why you should go to French Polynesia anyway, even if you use a wheelchair

If you have ever wanted a true tropical experience, this was as close as I have gotten to an imagined island experience and I used to live in Hawaii. Moorea was what I think most people think Hawaii is. And while you can certainly find tropical experiences in Hawaii, the cost is likely more and or the hospitality will be less if you find somewhere affordable.

Even though you’re going to have to sacrifice a little bit in terms of accessibility, if you prefer to relax, watch for deals to Tahiti and just go anyway!