Papeete's waterfront — the boulevard Pomare — runs the length of the city centre and is its only consistently pleasant strip. A green park, bandstands, and a small marina divide it from the road, and the cruise terminals and inter-island ferry docks line the harbour side. The whole length is walkable in twenty minutes.
Best at sunset, when the lights come on over the harbour, the silhouette of Moorea cuts the horizon across the channel, and the roulottes start setting up. The Papeete Tahitian Pearl Museum (small, single-room, free) sits just back from the promenade and is worth a quick visit. The Bougainville Park, with its World War I monument and bust of the explorer, breaks up the middle of the walk.