I’m back from my workation in Tahiti! I’ve worked fully remote since the pandemic, and it has really opened up my travel possibilities. I worked remotely from Dubrovnik last summer and wanted to try doing it again this year. Tahiti wasn’t originally on my radar of places to go–sure, it’s a stunning paradise, but I always considered it too expensive and more geared for big-budget occasions like honeymoons and anniversaries. But I found a really low airfare from SFO and decided to book!

Traveling to Tahiti on a budget is totally doable–you don’t have to spend big bucks at luxury resorts or dine out on seafood every night. As a solo traveler, I needed to keep costs down for my 11-day trip that I’d be footing the bill for all by myself.

I would say this trip was mid-range cost-wise. It certainly wasn’t luxury, but it wasn’t backpacking/hostel cheap either. You could definitely keep costs lower with a couple of tips I’ll explain later, but first here’s a look at my total costs for airfare, accommodation, food, entertainment, transportation, and souvenirs.

Airfare

The value of my nonstop roundtrip ticket from SFO to PPT was $445.80, which I redeemed for 35,664 points through Chase Ultimate Rewards.

Total airfare cost: $0

Accommodation

Fare Suisse Tahiti Guesthouse (1 night): $95.81

Moorea Sunset Beach Residence (5 nights): $1,072.20

Airbnb Fare Hotu Cook’s Bay (2 nights): $357.48

Te Moana Tahiti Resort (3 nights): $961.95

Total accommodation cost: $2,497.44

Average nightly cost: $227.04

Food

Groceries: $149.32

Dining out: $82.66

Resort dining: $156.36

Total food cost: $378.34

Average daily cost: $34.39

Entertainment

Moorea Miti snorkel tour: $97.18

Moorea ebike rental: $48.61

Magic Mountain hike: $2

Total entertainment cost: $147.79

Transportation

Tahiti-Moorea ferry roundtrip: $29.44

Ferry to Moorea Sunset Beach taxi: $35

Rental car (3 days): $240.85

Rental car gas: $10

Taxi to/from Te Moana Resort: $35

Total transportation cost: $350.29

Souvenirs

$51.34

Free Stuff

Shuttle provided by Fare Suisse from airport and to ferry

Snorkeling at Tipaniers Public Beach

Snorkeling at Temae Public Beach

Snorkeling at Ta’ahiamanu Public Beach

Hikes at Belvedere and Route de Ananas

Kayak borrowed from Airbnb neighbor

Rotui Juice Factory tour and tasting

Ride back to ferry provided by Airbnb host

Grand Total: $3,325.20

Average Daily Cost: $302.56

Ok, let’s talk details. First off, I saved lots by booking my airfare with credit card points. If you don’t know about credit card points, The Points Guy is the only resource you need to learn everything there is to know about how to earn and use them. And obviously being based in SFO made the airfare reasonable for me, but coming from somewhere else might be more expensive.

I saved $400 in additional airfare plus god knows what in accommodation by NOT going to Bora Bora, which is the big luxury destination of French Polynesia. From photos and blog posts, it looks stunning and worth every penny, but it just was not in my budget or schedule. It’s an extra flight from Tahiti, and it looks like almost all accommodations are high-end resorts. I found the beauty of Moorea to be more than enough to quell the fomo.

For accommodation, I tried to book a variety of places so that I could get both the local and the resort experience. The $227 average nightly price I think is pretty reasonable, especially when you look into the cost of overwater bungalows at the Hilton Moorea ($1165 a night!). I didn’t have much luck finding anything with breakfast included, but I was mindful to book my first night at a place that offered a free airport pickup. There were a few more affordable places on Moorea and Tahiti, but I still needed to be comfortable enough (and with reliable wifi) to work remotely.

I went grocery shopping for the first week and cooked all my own meals while on Moorea. I’m a vegetarian and a lot of the restaurants were seafood, so it was honestly the best option for me. I only dined out the last 3 days while on Tahiti and staying at the Te Moana Tahiti Resort. Looking back, I wish I hadn’t spent so much at that resort but the location wasn’t very convenient (not near many restaurants) and I would have had to pay for a taxi to go somewhere else to eat.

You’ll note that I only paid for one snorkel tour, and the ebike rental was a solo adventure. You don’t really need to book a ton of activities if you don’t want to. The snorkel tour was definitely worth it, but I also brought my own snorkel gear and water shoes to be able to snorkel on my own at the public beaches. The ebike tour was totally worth it because while you could also hike those biking trails on foot, the weather was so humid that I didn’t want to hike anything more than a couple miles. You’ll also see ATV tours advertised, which is another way to explore the island but more expensive than hiking or biking. And I got a free kayak rental from my Airbnb neighbor! This wasn’t advertised at all; I just asked the host if she knew of anywhere I could rent a kayak nearby, and she just happened to have a connection.

For transportation, you can save a bit more money renting a manual car if you know how to drive it. I’m not confident enough, so I paid a higher price for an automatic. The company Albert Transport didn’t show availability when I tried to reserve, but my motto is “it never hurts to ask.” So I just sent them an email and yep, they reserved one for me no problem. It’s not completely necessary to rent a car on Moorea, especially if you booked a bunch of tours to see everything. But if not, I would rent for at least a day to drive up to the Belvedere lookout or to the beaches of you’re not in walking distance to one.

Tahiti and especially Moorea are so beautiful that the landscape was the real luxury to me. And it’s free! The free activities (snorkeling at Temae Beach, hiking the Three Pines trail, and kayaking in Cook’s Bay) honestly gave me more satisfaction than the fanciest resort I stayed at.

So look into Tahiti for your next trip! It may be more affordable than you think. I’ll leave you with one final tip: seek out breathtaking places and take some vacation photos that will make your trip look way more expensive than it really was!