Greece or Bora Bora [Archive] - Beyond.ca - Car Forums

shakalaka

07-27-2015, 05:30 PM

So the fiancée (wife in 3 weeks) and I will be going to our honeymoon either at the end of this year (December) or early next year (January). The places I have short listed are either Greece or Bora Bora. I have always wanted to go to Bora Bora and it was always on the top of my list but Greece has been enticing me for quite some time as well. In particular somewhere on the Santorini Islands.

Now I know some of you have been to both of these places and I am looking for advise/opinions/tips/suggestions as to where to go, what to do, where to stay etc. I am trying to decide between the two right now and to be honest will happily go to either of these places.

Ideally if we could go somewhere and rent a car to drive around in and check out the area/landmarks then that would be nice but it is not a must. I know Bora Bora especially would most likely have no such option? If you guys have other suggestions in regards to the places to visit then I am open to that as well. We still have some time before we book something (couple of months) so I am just putting in some advance research into the matter.

Tik-Tok

07-27-2015, 06:03 PM

Personally, Bora Bora is on my bucket list, so im not impartial. However all this Greece EU crap would deter me, who knows what could happen in 6 months.

jampack

07-27-2015, 06:08 PM

With all the events in EU/Greece, I would just relax in Bora Bora. :) But like what Tik-Tok has said, who knows what could happen in 6 months.

CompletelyNumb

07-27-2015, 06:45 PM

Greece is my favorite country on earth, hands down. But I cant argue with the previous posters.

My friend did Bora Bora, and from what I'm told, you can expect to relax on a beach. Unless you have a large budget, then theres some water sports and skydiving I believe. Looks beautiful though.

shakalaka

07-27-2015, 06:48 PM

I am aware of the Greece issues and I thought if anything that was a good thing as you'd get a lot more for your money, no? I am not sure what the crime situation is under the circumstances, but if you're just staying on the resort, I'd think it should be safe for the most part? I am worries about getting bored in Bora Bora in a couple of days with nothing to do, but that could very well be the situation in Greece as well if all we are saying is staying at the resort and hanging out at the beach.

max_boost

07-27-2015, 07:06 PM

Bora Bora simply cuz it looks epic.

Greece, when they sort their finances out.

darthVWader

07-27-2015, 07:34 PM

Dec Jan in Greece would be there off season. Athens and the popular Islands will cost you the most. But look into Naxos, Ios and Milos islands. Naxos was great to whip around on mopeds. Ios was a great party and Milos has some awesome hiden beaches. Never had a bad meal and everyone was pretty friendly. Love Greece

taemo

07-27-2015, 07:59 PM

Bora Bora for sure!
Greece is more accessible and affordable.

IMO Bora Bora and Polynesian islands in general are for special occasions, ie wedding or anniversaries.
What makes Bora Bora special is that you get a really nice lagoon and luxurious 5 stars hotels.
Fantastic place to relax.

to give you an idea of cost to Bora Bora, expect atleast $1800 per person to fly down there, the nice over the water bungalows will cost you at least 700$/night.
if you have any questions about Bora Bora, feel free to ask or look the previous threads about Bora Bora

we are planning to hit Fiji or Maldives next

Env-Consultant

07-27-2015, 09:04 PM

I am currently in Raiatea and am heading to Moorea in a few days for 8 more nights. Cheaper than Bora Bora - still really expensive, but same paradise, different pile. Staying at Opoa Beach Resort in a beach bungalow here and then in an overwater bungalow at the Pearl (Moorea). I literally can walk from my bungalow here and be snorkeling in coral with fish everywhere in <10 seconds. Whole trip cost us around 15K. Honeymoon. No D-bags here so far/no pompous assholes that think the world owes them something.

Opoa is secluded and quiet - you can rent cars from the resort, but when I'm on vacation, I typically just like to relax and do whatever the hell feels right, so I have just been snorkeling and reading basically. Free boat transfer to an island with a coral garden daily here too. Bora Bora trips are also available, but there are so many snorkel and diving areas all over FP that it's not really necessary. Used a travel agent due to the various inter-island flights and general logistics of the trip. Agent did everything through Tahiti Tours - found that out after, probably could have saved $500 or so with a bit of research, however, when I checked Expedia, it was about 18K originally. While planning a wedding, working full time, and going to school in the evenings, I didn't have time to dick around with vacation planning too.

Check a few sites to get ideas of prices - they vary throughout the year - I think ours were about $2600 pp just for flights, which includes flights from Calgary to LA, LA to Papeete, Papeete to Raiatea, Raiatea to Papeete, Papeete to Moorea, Moorea to Papeete, Papeete to LA, and LA to Calgary (you can see why I didn't want to deal with booking and timing this).

Shit is expensive here - suggest bringing a 2L of hard alcohol with you if you drink, as well as a bunch of items you use day to day (some good lists are available online).

It is the most beautiful area I've ever been to and I will 100% be back to this part of the world many times over.

Greece is still on my bucket list, so I can't compare the two; however, I will say that French Polynesia is fanfuckingtastic!

Congrats on the upcoming wedding!

shakalaka

07-27-2015, 09:38 PM

Thanks a lot guys, keep the posts coming. I have always wanted to go to Bora Bora and I think I am getting more and more convinced to just do that. It is quite a bit more expensive than Greece but it's a special occasion so why not. For the people that have been there, what hotel is a good one to stay at? And are there different areas within Bora Bora itself that I need to be looking at or do they just have the one area called Bora Bora and all the resorts are around there? I would definitely want the overwater bungalow if that's where I am going.

For Bora Bora Pearl Beach Resort which seems to have overwater bungalow's from expedia pictures, for the there best overwater bungalow it's coming it just under $10K including flight and everything. The resort seems like a 4.5 star as well. Is that something that's good? Opinions from experience? I booked a week however due to flight timing it would be for 6 nights at the hotel.

kaput

07-27-2015, 10:16 PM

taemo

07-27-2015, 10:35 PM

Originally posted by shakalaka
Thanks a lot guys, keep the posts coming. I have always wanted to go to Bora Bora and I think I am getting more and more convinced to just do that. It is quite a bit more expensive than Greece but it's a special occasion so why not. For the people that have been there, what hotel is a good one to stay at? And are there different areas within Bora Bora itself that I need to be looking at or do they just have the one area called Bora Bora and all the resorts are around there? I would definitely want the overwater bungalow if that's where I am going.

For Bora Bora Pearl Beach Resort which seems to have overwater bungalow's from expedia pictures, for the there best overwater bungalow it's coming it just under $10K including flight and everything. The resort seems like a 4.5 star as well. Is that something that's good? Opinions from experience? I booked a week however due to flight timing it would be for 6 nights at the hotel.

the four best hotels are the ones on the east side islets off the main island. Four Seasons, St Regis, Le Meridien and InterContinental Hotel.
Expect at least 1000$/night though but the view and perks of these hotels are well worth it.

We met a couple that stayed on the ICH main island (Le Moana) first and even that was nice..
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7432/13921801776_404f7cfd05_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/nddSD7)DSC01449 (https://flic.kr/p/nddSD7) by Earl Dieta (https://www.flickr.com/photos/itaemo/), on Flickr

then for the last part of their trip they went to the ICH on the east side (Thalasso)

staying off the main island means you'll get a nice view like this
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7113/13887066025_d63e5b8375_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/na9QUR)GF670309 (https://flic.kr/p/na9QUR) by Earl Dieta (https://www.flickr.com/photos/itaemo/), on Flickr

We stayed at the Sofitel Private Island since it was cheaper, wouldnt mind staying at Thalasso next though.

I would avoid staying at the Hilton as it's on the west side islets facing west so you dont even see the main Bora Bora island, just the open ocean.

Don't know much about the Pearl Beach Resort but being on the west side over looking the main-island, might be an awesome spot for sunrise and sunset!

gwill

07-27-2015, 11:11 PM

So much good info here. I looked into bora bora in January for a 2 week get away. The one resort was only 2700 per person for 11-12 days... Then the 2 days travel time. That was through Vancouver, South Korea then on to bora bora. 27 hrs travel time in total that way and not too many lay overs.

I would definitely splurge for those water bungalows for a honey moon. Bora bora or Vietnam would be our honey moon short list.

shakalaka

07-27-2015, 11:13 PM

Originally posted by taemo

the four best hotels are the ones on the east side islets off the main island. Four Seasons, St Regis, Le Meridien and InterContinental Hotel.
Expect at least 1000$/night though but the view and perks of these hotels are well worth it.

We met a couple that stayed on the ICH main island (Le Moana) first and even that was nice..
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7432/13921801776_404f7cfd05_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/nddSD7)DSC01449 (https://flic.kr/p/nddSD7) by Earl Dieta (https://www.flickr.com/photos/itaemo/), on Flickr

then for the last part of their trip they went to the ICH on the east side (Thalasso)

staying off the main island means you'll get a nice view like this
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7113/13887066025_d63e5b8375_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/na9QUR)GF670309 (https://flic.kr/p/na9QUR) by Earl Dieta (https://www.flickr.com/photos/itaemo/), on Flickr

We stayed at the Sofitel Private Island since it was cheaper, wouldnt mind staying at Thalasso next though.

I would avoid staying at the Hilton as it's on the west side islets facing west so you dont even see the main Bora Bora island, just the open ocean.

Don't know much about the Pearl Beach Resort but being on the west side over looking the main-island, might be an awesome spot for sunrise and sunset!

Where did you book your Bora Bora holiday from? Would you use something like Expedia? I intend to research a whole bunch of sites to see what offers best pricing/options etc. I will keep a look out for the resorts you mentioned! The Pearl seems to be the 'cheapest' of what shows up on Expedia. How long did you go for? Would you say a week is enough or longer?

KO22

07-27-2015, 11:19 PM

Honestly people have been telling me to stay away from Greece since 2012, I still went and had a blast, even when the riots were going on! All the little islands, example Mykonos will be away from any conflict. Dec/Jan is off-season.

Now the French Polynesia... Dec/Jan is during their cyclone season and typically January is their most wettest month. Thing is, in the FP it could be like Florida where it's thunderstorming one minute, sunshine the next so if I had to choose between the two it would DEFINITELY be going to the FP for my honeymoon. Bora Bora is obviously most expensive, but take a look at the other islands like others posted, such as Raiatea, and Moorea and others (Moorea is 15 min ish ferry ride from PPT, Tahiti and ~$36 CAD roundtrip on the ferry as opposed to roughly ~$575 pp roundtrip flight from PPT to Bora Bora)

If you do decide to go to the FP (which I do recommend), go look on the forums there on what to do, places to see, stay etc. will save you ton's of money and keep you from wasting your time/money on other crap.

Ask away:
http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowForum-g311415-i869-Bora_Bora_Society_Islands.html

Env-Consultant

07-28-2015, 12:37 AM

Originally posted by shakalaka

Where did you book your Bora Bora holiday from? Would you use something like Expedia? I intend to research a whole bunch of sites to see what offers best pricing/options etc. I will keep a look out for the resorts you mentioned! The Pearl seems to be the 'cheapest' of what shows up on Expedia. How long did you go for? Would you say a week is enough or longer?

Considering it will likely take you about a day of travel on each end, I would go for a minimum of 10 days. I'm here for 16 and a week would not be enough. After day 3, you'd already be starting to countdown to hometime, IMO.

My flight from YYC to LAX was 3.5 hrs, followed by a 2 hour layover (almost required to deplane and rip over to the Thomas Bradley terminal), followed by an ~8.5 hr flight from LAX to PPT - thank fuck that was an Air Tahiti flight - ridiculous amount of leg room, great food, drinks, free headphones/blanket/eye cover/towel/etc. - just miles ahead of the BS we put up with from our Canadian/American Airlines. Once in PPT, we had about an hour and a half before we flew to Raiatea. Total travel time from my house to the hotel was about 20 or so hours.

taemo

07-28-2015, 07:27 AM

Originally posted by shakalaka
Where did you book your Bora Bora holiday from? Would you use something like Expedia? I intend to research a whole bunch of sites to see what offers best pricing/options etc. I will keep a look out for the resorts you mentioned! The Pearl seems to be the 'cheapest' of what shows up on Expedia. How long did you go for? Would you say a week is enough or longer?

For the cheapest LAX-PPT flight, I was checking kayak.com, booking.com, flighthub and expedia.
Cheapest fare that I found was through booking.com
edit: check also flighthub

Calgary to LAX flights are easier to find so I booked it separately, we had 6 hours layover going to FP so we had dinner and watched a movie in LA.
Then returning back we stayed an extra 2 nights in LA.

There's only Tahiti Airline that flies to Bora Bora from Papeete, IIRC RT flight is around $350.
Try to get a window seat and also take note that it stops in Raiatea first so dont disembark right away :rofl:

Hotels were booked through Expedia, we stayed 2 nights in Moorea, 1 night in Papeete and 3 nights in Bora Bora.
There's a cool street market in Papeete and awesome food trucks at night by the pier.
We equally enjoyed Moorea, it has a more Hawaiian vibe than Bora Bora which is all luxury.

Cheapest currency converter is either at the Papeete airport or also your hotel.

and here's my travel/photo log of our trip from last year
http://forums.beyond.ca/st/381639/moorea-and-bora-bora/

phreezee

07-28-2015, 09:39 AM

Greece is simply amazing and would get my vote. It offers some awesome beaches, urban and ancient sites to see with a lot of history. The people and food are great as well.

$15k to stay in one spot/beach seems steep to me. For the same price I could take a family of 4 on a multi-city tour of Europe.

SR54RNR

07-28-2015, 10:31 AM

The wife and I did 5 nights in Moorea and 5 nights in Bora Bora last year. We stayed at the Hilton on both islands. we booked with Tahiti travel planners, since it was our honeymoon, and there are lots of transfers involved. (Boat to moorea, plane from moorea to BB) I would recommend this trip to anyone, and would do it again for sure.. But we are doing Fiji this year.

Mitsu3000gt

07-28-2015, 10:55 AM

Too much shit going on in that side of the world to go to Greece IMHO, not to mention their financial issues.

Also, Bora Bora is one of those once in a lifetime holidays (for most people, anyway). I feel like a Honeymoon or some distant milestone anniversary is the only time most people would be likely to do a trip like that. Do it now while you're younger and don't have kids (I assume). You'll never regret an extravagant holiday and a Honeymoon is the best excuse. Do the more expensive stuff before you have 4-5 people to pay for haha.

taemo

07-28-2015, 11:48 AM

Originally posted by SR54RNR
The wife and I did 5 nights in Moorea and 5 nights in Bora Bora last year. We stayed at the Hilton on both islands. we booked with Tahiti travel planners, since it was our honeymoon, and there are lots of transfers involved. (Boat to moorea, plane from moorea to BB) I would recommend this trip to anyone, and would do it again for sure.. But we are doing Fiji this year.

what did you think of the Hilton Bora Bora, did you stay on the main island or the west islet?
Hilton Moorea is actually really nice and wouldn't mind staying there, took some awesome shots of that resort!
Hilton Bora Bora looked disappointing as you're just looking at the open ocean.

Also, like any other travels you can do French Polynesia on a budget.
It's not like these places doesn't have 100-200$/night hotels.

But there are some places in the world and milestone celebrations that are worth spending extra and IMO Bora Bora and Honeymoon goes well together.

Getting to Moorea from Papeete was an adventure of its own for us.
With no GPS and only a map that looked like drawn by a kid, we managed to drive to the town, get lost, have breakfast at a McDonalds and get to the dock for the ferry.

To the OP, Bora Bora Pearl Beach Resort actually looks good and price is not as high as the other 4 I mentioned, very similar to the Sofitel Private Island that we stayed at.
I would say go for it, especially since those rooms comes with breakfast too.

shakalaka

07-28-2015, 01:08 PM

Thanks to everyone for the input and links provided. I have started to read and learn a lot about the island and would like to be knowledgeable about the place before I go. I am pretty set on Bora Bora myself and just have to convince the fiancée and well that shouldn't be too hard.

Do you guys recommend any particular travel agents that I could use to assist me down the line or do you guys recommend booking via something like expedia?

The Pearl is certainly an option only thing being that it seems to be on an island on it's own so it will be very secluded and going to the actual town on the main island would be a chore. For that reason i am thinking of La Moana (spl?) or something as it is apparently walking distance for all the shops and is the only one on the main island.

I am still researching more for options and even the best time to go as that is quite flexible for us..so trying to see when the best 'deals' and weather would roll around. January seems to be a heavy rain season and I don't want the holiday to get washed out by rain.

killramos

07-28-2015, 01:36 PM

Wow reading this thread i think i might have to consider bora bora for my honeymoon. Im in the same boat as you wedding in 2-3 weeks and Honeymoon at Christmas. Was originally thinking Hawaii but this looks pretty cool.

?????

07-28-2015, 01:37 PM

Good choice on Bora Bora.

As some people mentioned dec/jan is the off season for Greece. It would also be relatively cold for a "beach/island" destination, pools would be closed, not all hotels and restaurants would be open...

SR54RNR

07-28-2015, 01:45 PM

Shakalaka - check out Tahiti travel planners at gotahiti.com. We booked with them, no complaints

Dr_Funk

07-28-2015, 02:54 PM

I have done both. Did Bora Bora (Les Meridien) for our honey moon, then went to Santorini and Athens last year.

I really like Santorini, however at the time you are going, the weather may not be as great. We went in early October last year and you can tell that its starting to cool down. Not cold or anything like that but its also not super warm. Good thing about Santorini is that food/drinks (and likely accommodation) will be very cheap. We got a room with a private hottub on the balcony over looking the caldera for about $200 a night.

But Bora Bora is in a league of its own. Being further south, its going to be warm all year round. The beaches are clean and not crowded, snorkelling and diving are great, and the people are super friendly and accommodating. Just a warning, once you have been there, it will ruin all the other beaches/resort that you will go to.

the only bad thing about Bora Bora is the cost. Its expensive to get there, its expensive to stay there and its expensive to eat/drink there. We ended up paying about $3000 for food and drink after a week there. And that was just 1 drink per meal at the most!!

As for booking, i booked everything online. I used expedia/hotels.com for the rooms at both Bora Bora and santorini, flights were also done online. The hotels will arrange transport to and from airports for you.

Flights, we flew from here to LA, LA to Tahiti (Papeete airport) then another quick short flight to Bora Bora. ANother option is fly to Hawaii and then its a 6hr flight to Tahiti.

Hope that helps. Go to Bora Bora while you can!!! Greece you can go any other time..

nitram

07-28-2015, 03:15 PM

Env-Consultant

07-28-2015, 03:34 PM

Originally posted by killramos
Wow reading this thread i think i might have to consider bora bora for my honeymoon. Im in the same boat as you wedding in 2-3 weeks and Honeymoon at Christmas. Was originally thinking Hawaii but this looks pretty cool.

This whole area is fucking incredible. I have been getting up at 8, eating breakfast, and going coral exploring right outside my door. I think I have another 12 days or so (8 at Moorea). I am trying to get a new a GoPro couriered out to me via GoPro customer service (see the I'm an idiot thread) - having some issues with it now - the cost is absurd, but I doubt I'll be back until my kids are grown or in their teens -assuming we start popping them out in the next year. Too cool not to capture.

I have never seen water like this (lagoons around the islands), never swam in saltwater this warm, and have never seen so many colorful fish in every direction. No fear of sharks in the lagoon area either - any sharks present are of no danger to humans. I don't have words to describe it - absolutely stuning and surreal. This is Raiatea and not Bora Bora, but based on research and talking with people here, the snorkeling is essentially the same. Have zero complaints or stress.

Agree that it will ruin other resorts, Mexico all-inclusives, etc.

Come to FP for your honeymoon - you won't regret it and will know what I mean the minute you fly in here. To each their own, but I typically research where I'm going in a lot of detail and get best bang for my buck - I try to avoid places based on their names and star ratings alone - TripAdvisor ratings speak volumes. Plus, I'm a small town guy and hate bening surrounded by pompous assholes that feel like the world owes them something and treat staff like shit. Not saying everyone there does, but experience has proven that the chances of running into said people go up exponentially at 5 star locations. Again, to each their own - just something I can't stand. My wife and I usually end up treating the staff as good or better than they treat us - great way to live!

taemo

07-28-2015, 03:43 PM

Originally posted by Dr_Funk
I have done both. Did Bora Bora (Les Meridien) for our honey moon, then went to Santorini and Athens last year.

I really like Santorini, however at the time you are going, the weather may not be as great. We went in early October last year and you can tell that its starting to cool down. Not cold or anything like that but its also not super warm. Good thing about Santorini is that food/drinks (and likely accommodation) will be very cheap. We got a room with a private hottub on the balcony over looking the caldera for about $200 a night.

But Bora Bora is in a league of its own. Being further south, its going to be warm all year round. The beaches are clean and not crowded, snorkelling and diving are great, and the people are super friendly and accommodating. Just a warning, once you have been there, it will ruin all the other beaches/resort that you will go to.

the only bad thing about Bora Bora is the cost. Its expensive to get there, its expensive to stay there and its expensive to eat/drink there. We ended up paying about $3000 for food and drink after a week there. And that was just 1 drink per meal at the most!!

As for booking, i booked everything online. I used expedia/hotels.com for the rooms at both Bora Bora and santorini, flights were also done online. The hotels will arrange transport to and from airports for you.

Flights, we flew from here to LA, LA to Tahiti (Papeete airport) then another quick short flight to Bora Bora. ANother option is fly to Hawaii and then its a 6hr flight to Tahiti.

Hope that helps. Go to Bora Bora while you can!!! Greece you can go any other time..

was going to say that I noticed that the cheapest way to get to Bora Bora is through Honolulu for US$750, however they fly only on Saturdays
HNL-PPT 3:30pm-9:30pm
PPT-HNL 11:30pm-5:30am

But if you play it right and snag cheap flights to Honolulu from Calgary, you can do Calgary to Papeete for less than $1800 per person.

after I mentioned this to my wife, she's tempted to go back to French Polynesia again but I told her maybe for our 5th year anniversary :rofl:

shakalaka

07-28-2015, 03:54 PM

Taemo - I just re-read your other thread and noticed that you rented a car in Morea and BB? Did you feel that was required or that's something you need if you intend to go quite far from where you're staying? Is it required to simply get around the resort, restaurants etc?

Do they take Canadian or US money or they prefer their own currency?

taemo

07-28-2015, 04:11 PM

Originally posted by shakalaka
Taemo - I just re-read your other thread and noticed that you rented a car in Morea and BB? Did you feel that was required or that's something you need if you intend to go quite far from where you're staying? Is it required to simply get around the resort, restaurants etc?

Do they take Canadian or US money or they prefer their own currency?

Rent a car in Papeete, you can bring it with you to Moorea via ferry.
For Moorea I think it is niceto have a car, allows you to drive around the island, explore around, get to the top of the mountain and get to the Moorea Lagoonarium(a must IMO), also you can get to the cheap convenience stores around, there's one on the SW side of the island with awesome french baguette subs.
However most restaurants in Moorea and maybe activities offers pick up service as well

For Bora Bora, it's not really necessary.
Your hotel will most likely have a boat that will take you to the main island, maybe for free too.
Then you can take the bus or book a van for a set fee that will take you to the main town.
If you want to eat at Bloody Mary they will pick you up once you're on the main island but definitely talk to your concierge and they can arrange all transportation services for you.
If you're going to book a car, expect at least $100 per hour but you can circle the island in less than 3 hours :rofl:
Worth a drive though and go to Matira beach, the only public beach in the island.