Museum of Tahiti and Its Islands

Te Fare Manaha — the Museum of Tahiti and Its Islands — sits on the coast in Punaauia, a 25-minute drive west of Papeete. It is the most serious cultural institution in French Polynesia, with strong galleries on geology, pre-contact Polynesian society, the early-contact era of the late 18th century, and Tahiti's evolving relationship with France. Allow a half-day; the labelling is bilingual French and English and goes into proper depth.

The setting is part of the attraction: the museum overlooks a lagoon with marae stones in the grounds, and Moorea sits across the channel. Bus 1 runs from Papeete to Punaauia or a taxi costs around 2,500 XPF one-way. Closed Mondays; entry around 800 XPF.

things to do museum
A story
The collection's centrepieces are the carved wooden tiki figures and the to'o — wrapped sennit bundles that represented ancestral gods. Many were repatriated from European and American museums in the late 20th century, after a campaign that took decades. The Captain Cook-era artefacts include a feather mourner's costume made for chiefly funeral rites: even Cook's officers were forbidden to look at the wearer.