Bora Bora on a budget

Bora Bora is a French Polynesian island approximately 150 miles northwest of Tahiti.

Bora Bora is expensive and as such doesn’t often feature on everyone’s backpacking list. It is usually a destination choice for honeymooners and the rich and famous. Indeed we thought carefully about whether to include BB in our travel plans for this trip.

Most of the accommodation is £500+ per night for over water bungalow style rooms. After a bit of searching we were able to find a great budget option for a fraction of this cost. We stayed at the Sunset Lodge; an apartment overlooking the sea with a fridge/freezer, gas hob and microwave and a huge balcony with comfy outdoor sofas. The cost also included airport transfers and a good and efficient laundry service.

There are two excellent supermarkets near to the apartment in Vaitape (the capital of the island) where we brought breakfast and one dinner. We also had pizza from a nearby pizza place which enabled us to keep our costs down. The costs for both the supermarket and pizza were similar to those in the UK.

Bora Bora is formed of an extinct volcano and is surrounded by a shallow lagoon and coral reef. The picture above was taken from the plane as we left Bora Bora.

We decided the best way to see Bora Bora would be from the lagoon and had a great day of snorkelling over coral reefs and with rays and sharks! We sailed in the lagoon round the entire island of Bora Bora.