French Polynesia's most beautiful island that nobody talks about — a lagoon Bora Bora forgot to advertise
Raivavae in the Austral Islands is 650km south of Tahiti and rarely on any itinerary. It should be. The island — 7km wide, rising to a central ridge at 437m — is encircled by one of the most vivid turquoise lagoons in the South Pacific, filled with small motu (coral islets) that sit like green buttons on the water. The island has about 900 permanent residents, one pension offering rooms, and a weekly supply ship. Visitors who make the effort (one small ATR72 flight from Tahiti, twice a week) find pristine beaches without another tourist in sight, a living culture of weaving (the Raivavae wove…
Raivavae was settled by Polynesian navigators probably between 900 and 1200 CE, and its pre-European population built stone platforms (marae), carved massive stone tiki, and maintained a society of some sophistication before contact. First European contact was in 1775 (Captain James Cook passed nearby but did not land here). Disease devastated the population in the 19th century — from an estimated 3,000 people to under 100 by 1850. The current population descends from that drastically reduced survivor community. French annexation of the Austral Islands occurred in 1901.