Five minutes by launch from Bora Bora's east coast and 25 minutes by boat from the airport, this well-managed resort is the best hotel on the island for families.
The main building overlooks a powdery white beach, the lagoon and a seawater pond stocked with endangered sea turtles. Mirroring Le Meridien Tahiti, this unusual hotel showcases Melanesian-theme architecture.
Sharing the high, peaked roof main building with the activities desk and air-conditioned lounge containing big-screen TV, DVD player and Internet access, the restaurant serves ample breakfast buffets and French-accented dinners.
A casual poolside spot with sandy floors provides lunch, snacks, dinner buffets and drinks. A beach bar serves daytime libations and snacks. Tahitian dancers perform thrice weekly on the pond's pontoon, and musicians appear nightly in a canoe-shaped bar with a marvelous view of Mount Otemanu's skinny side.
The beach is one of Bora Bora's best, and the snorkeling is excellent, with some of the world's best coral gardens nearby. Swimming, sailboarding and sailing in Polynesian-style canoes are free, but guests pay for diving, lagoon trips and island tours. A full-service spa is on the premises.
Two 
long piers stretch out to 85 identical overwater bungalows, and 15 beach units flank the pond. Many of the pond-side units have better views of Bora Bora than most of the overwater units, which generally face north or south along the lagoon. Large glass floor panels are the distinguishing feature of the overwater units.
Although elegantly appointed and paneled in dark woods, the lodgings are smaller than those at other deluxe hotels on the island; moving around the sofas, chairs, canoe-shaped coffee tables, TV carts, desks and convertible king beds can be awkward. Air conditioners, data-port phones, TVs, minibars, coffeemakers, safes, large baths with hair dryers, tubs and showers, and pond view porches or modest overwater decks come standard in the lodgings.
Better bets for families are bungalows around the man-made lagoon, in which children can safely swim with baby turtles. The staff provides 24-hour room service.
Although foliage provides some shade, blazing white sands may make this hotel too hot to handle for some, and expensive taxi fares from the hotel to Vaitape may rile others, but a children's program and the protected pond make this the best family choice in French Polynesia.
