There is a particular kind of holiday that only works in a house. Nobody queues for a lift. Nobody eats dinner at the time the restaurant decides. The first person up makes the coffee, carries it out to the terrace, and watches the light come up over the lagoon while everyone else sleeps in. Villa Vaihau, at Papetoai on Moorea’s north-west coast, is built for exactly that week.
It is a private two-bedroom villa in a quiet gated neighbourhood, set on its own patch of lagoon frontage. The two bedrooms sit side by side on the ground floor. Each has a king bed, its own air-conditioning and its own bathroom, which is the detail that makes it work for two couples. Nobody is negotiating over the good room, because there isn’t one. Upstairs, a mezzanine with two single beds and its own open terrace takes a fifth traveller, and that is usually where the teenager ends up, quite happily.
The garden runs down to the water. There is a dock for fishing and two moorings, and the villa’s kayaks and canoe are pulled up ready. Swim straight off the edge and you are in the lagoon that makes people book Moorea in the first place. Between the house and the water sits a wooden Fare Pote’e, the covered Polynesian patio, with a hammock strung under the roof. That is where the afternoon goes.
Inside, the living room opens to a wooden terrace through folding doors, so the boundary between in and out is more of a suggestion. The kitchen is properly equipped, with an oven, a stove, a dishwasher, a microwave, a fridge and freezer, and the small things that make self-catering pleasant rather than a chore, being a coffee maker, a toaster and a blender. There is a washing machine and a dryer, which matters more on a beach holiday than anyone admits. Fibre internet runs through the house, each bedroom has a safe, and there is a flat-screen TV for the evening nobody feels like going out.
A villa on Moorea only makes sense with wheels, and this one has a private car park a few steps from the front door. The Island Escapes package includes six days of car hire for exactly that reason. The grocery store is three minutes away, so breakfast is whatever you feel like buying. Tiahura’s public white-sand beach is about eight minutes. Beyond that the whole island opens up, the coast road, the bays, the roadside stalls selling fruit, the lookouts above Opunohu. You go when you want, and you come home to your own kitchen.
Moorea itself sits a short crossing from Tahiti, which is what makes it such a natural first or second island for Australians. It is green and vertical and surprisingly unhurried, with a lagoon that turns every shade of blue as the day moves. Our Moorea travel guide covers the island in more detail, and the villa is one of a small set of Tahiti holiday homes we have chosen and checked ourselves.
Two couples who holiday well together, first and foremost. The layout is genuinely equal, two king rooms, two private bathrooms, shared living space in the middle and a garden big enough to sit apart in when you want to. It works just as well for a family with older children or grown-up kids, where separate bathrooms and a mezzanine of their own is worth more than a second hotel room. It is not the right fit for small children, given the open lagoon frontage and the stairs to the mezzanine, and it is not a resort, so there is no restaurant, no daily housekeeping and no activities desk. That is the trade, and for the right group it is not much of one.
You land at dawn, which is the gift of the nonstop. By the time the ferry crosses and the coast road winds around to Papetoai, the day is still ahead of you. Someone drives to the grocery store, three minutes away, and comes back with bread and fruit and something for the barbecue. The kayaks go in the water before lunch because they are right there.
The middle of the week is the part people remember. A drive to the far side of the island one day and nothing at all the next. Fish caught off the dock, or bought on the way home. Dinner at the table on the deck, with the lagoon going pink and the lights of the houses coming on along the shore. The one thing nobody does is watch the clock, because there is no sitting, no buffet closing and no other family waiting for the good sun lounger.
Villa Vaihau is packaged with everything it takes to get there and get around, so the only thing left to organise is who cooks. Six nights in the villa, six days of car hire on Moorea, Air Tahiti Nui flights from Sydney with the domestic connection from Melbourne or Brisbane, your Tahitian meet and greet at Faa’a International Airport, return ferry transfers to Moorea, all villa transfers on the island and a breakfast welcome pack for your arrival. Six nights from $3,300 per adult, based on four adults sharing the villa.
Travel is valid from 15 December 2026 to 29 June 2027, taking in Christmas, the January school holidays and Easter. Seasonal surcharges apply and availability may be restricted. See the full inclusions and the current prices on the Villa Vaihau Moorea holiday deal, or ask us for a quote and we will build the dates around you.
Two king bedrooms, both with their own bathroom, the lagoon at the end of the garden and a car for six days. Villa Vaihau at Papetoai is a house on the Moorea shore for two couples or a family with grown-up kids, with Direct Air Tahiti Nui flights from Sydney, the ferry and your Moorea transfers included. Six nights from $3,300 per adult, four sharing. Find out more.
The villa has direct access to the lagoon from its own garden. There is a dock for fishing, two moorings if you have a boat for the day, and kayaks and a canoe for the guests’ use. Swimming is off the edge of the property, in water shallow and clear enough to see what is going on beneath it.
A full kitchen with an oven, stove, dishwasher, microwave, fridge and freezer, coffee maker, toaster and blender, and a dining table indoors with another out on the deck. The nearest grocery store is about three minutes away by car. Breakfast baskets can be arranged through the villa, and the Island Escapes package includes a breakfast welcome pack for your arrival.
A washing machine and a clothes dryer are in the villa. Fibre internet runs throughout, and there is a flat-screen TV. Both bedrooms are air-conditioned and each has a safe. The mezzanine and living areas are open to the breeze rather than air-conditioned.
Parking is included, in the villa’s own private car park. Six days of car hire come with the Island Escapes package, and your consultant confirms the vehicle and the pick-up arrangements with your quote.
Check-in at the villa is between 3pm and 6pm, and check-out is 11am. The nonstop from Sydney lands at 6.35am, so your first morning usually needs a plan, either an early ferry and a few hours on the island before the keys, or a night in Papeete beforehand. Your consultant sorts that with your quote.
This is a house, so there is no daily housekeeping and no restaurant on site. A car is necessary rather than optional, and six days of hire is in the package. Stays of seven nights or more may attract an electricity surcharge, which the villa charges directly. Ask your Island Escapes specialist about destination, resort and transfer fees in addition to the package price.
This is a private house, not a resort. There is no restaurant on site, no daily housekeeping, no kids’ club and no activities desk. What you get instead is the whole place to yourselves, a kitchen, a garden and a lagoon at the end of it.
Both bedrooms are on the ground floor, side by side, each with a king bed and doors that open toward the lagoon. Each one has its own air-conditioning and its own bathroom, and each has a safe. There is no hierarchy between them, which is the whole point in a villa shared by two couples. Choose either, or flip a coin.
Sleeps two per room. Bedding one king bed in each. Bathroom private to each room. Air-conditioning in both.
Upstairs, reached by an open timber stair from the living room, the mezzanine holds two single beds under the roofline and opens to its own outdoor terrace looking over the garden to the water. It is cooled by the villa’s open design and the airflow through the house rather than by air-conditioning, which is worth knowing before you decide who sleeps up there. For a fifth traveller, or for older kids who want their own floor, it is the best room in the house.
Sleeps up to two. Bedding two single beds. Air-conditioning no, open-air design and natural airflow. Terrace private, facing the lagoon.
The villa has three bathrooms in total. Each king bedroom has its own, and the third serves the mezzanine and the living areas, which means a house of five is never waiting on anyone. One of them is stone-walled with a timber vanity and is, quietly, the nicest room in the villa.
The living room is the heart of the house, opening through folding doors onto the wooden terrace so the sea breeze runs straight through. The kitchen sits within it, fully equipped with an oven, stove, dishwasher, microwave, fridge and freezer, plus a coffee maker, toaster and blender, and there is a dining table for the whole group. A flat-screen TV, fibre internet throughout, a washing machine and a clothes dryer cover the practical side.
Outside, a wooden terrace runs off the living area with garden furniture and a sun umbrella, and the landscaped garden runs down to the lagoon edge. The covered Fare Pote’e is the villa’s outdoor room, with a hammock and space to sit out of the sun, and it is where most groups end up for the long part of the afternoon. The dock, the two moorings and the kayaks are a few steps further on.
Choose a king bedroom for either couple, since the two rooms are a matched pair with private bathrooms and air-conditioning.
Choose the mezzanine for a fifth traveller, a teenager or an older child who would rather have their own floor and their own terrace, and who does not need air-conditioning to sleep.
Ask us about pricing for two or three adults, a fifth traveller on the mezzanine, or children aged 12 and under. The package price is set on four adults sharing, and we will quote the rest.
From 15 December 2026, Air Tahiti Nui flies nonstop from Sydney to Tahiti, 7 hours and 15 minutes over, landing in Papeete at 6.35am. Brisbane and Melbourne travellers connect through Sydney on Qantas or Virgin. The full timetable, the cabins and the connections are in our Sydney to Tahiti nonstop guide.
You are met at Faa’a International Airport, then cross to Moorea. The ferry from Papeete is a short crossing and runs through the day, and there are also short hops by air to Moorea’s domestic airport. Your transfers on the island are included in the Island Escapes package.
From the ferry terminal, the villa is about a 35-minute drive along the coast to Papetoai. From Moorea’s domestic airport it is about 30 minutes. Check-in at the villa is from 3pm to 6pm and check-out is 11am, so an early arrival usually means a first morning on the island before the keys are handed over, or a night in Papeete beforehand. Your Island Escapes consultant plans that around your flights.
Two couples travelling together, or a family with older children. The two king bedrooms are a matched pair, each with its own bathroom and air-conditioning, and the mezzanine with two single beds suits a fifth traveller or an older child. It is not well suited to small children, with open lagoon frontage and an open stair to the mezzanine.
Four to five. Two king bedrooms sleep four, and the mezzanine holds two single beds. The Island Escapes package price is per adult based on four adults sharing the villa, and we can quote two or three adults, a fifth traveller, or children aged 12 and under.
At Papetoai on the north-west coast of Moorea, in a quiet gated residential neighbourhood with direct access to the lagoon. The grocery store is about three minutes away by car, Tiahura's public white-sand beach about eight, Moorea's domestic airport about 30 and the ferry terminal about 35.
Yes. There is no reliable public transport on Moorea and the villa sits away from the main visitor strip, so a car is what makes the week work. Six days of car hire is included in the Island Escapes package, and the villa has its own private car park.
Both king bedrooms are air-conditioned. The mezzanine and the living areas are open to the breeze, cooled by the villa's design and the airflow off the lagoon rather than by air-conditioning.
Fully equipped, with an oven, stove, dishwasher, microwave, fridge and freezer, plus a coffee maker, toaster and blender, and a dining table. There is also a washing machine and a clothes dryer, and fibre internet throughout the house.
Yes. The garden runs to the water with direct lagoon access, a dock and two moorings, and kayaks and a canoe are there for guests to use.
Six nights at Villa Vaihau, six days of car hire on Moorea, Air Tahiti Nui flights from Sydney, Australian domestic connections from Melbourne and Brisbane, your Tahitian meet and greet at Faa'a International Airport, return ferry transfers to Moorea, all villa transfers on the island and a breakfast welcome pack. Six nights from $3,300 per adult, based on four adults sharing.
The package is valid for travel from 15 December 2026 to 29 June 2027, which covers Christmas, the January school holidays and Easter. Seasonal surcharges apply and availability may be restricted.
Yes. Combination packages can be added to your arrangements, and a night in Papeete before or after the villa is straightforward. Ask your Island Escapes consultant when you request your quote.
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