PAPEETE’S HIDDEN PEARLS: WHAT TO DO IN TAHITI
Around every corner, you’ll discover magnificent flowers, colors, flavors, and smiles. Their spirit is woven into the new Vilebrequin Cruise 2025 collection.Prepare for an overload of joy. And very good food.
When painter Paul Gauguin returned to France from Tahiti, he wrote: “I’m leaving two years older, but feeling twenty years younger.” Visit Papeete, and you’ll quickly understand why. Like a serum for the soul, the capital of French Polynesia radiates a refreshing, pure, and authentic energy that’s hard to resist.
DISH YOU WERE HERE! DINE LIKE A LOCAL AT ROULOTTE ‘CHEZ DOMINIQUE’
La roulotte ‘Chez Dominique’
Place Vaiete, Papeete 98714
Daily from 6pm to 2am
WE RIDE AT DAWN BEAT THE CROWDS AT PAPEETE MARKET
Thought vacation was for sleeping in? Wrong. To get the best of the city’s fresh food and craft market, you’ll need an early start—around 4 am. Spread over 75,000 square feet and two floors, Mapuru A Paraita has been a gathering place for sailors, traders, and foodies since 1847. Begin your visit with a glass of freshly pressed sugar cane juice and perhaps a firi firi donut or two—the perfect breakfast to fuel your morning. The market's many treasures include rows of colorful pareos, stacks of tifaifai quilts, and handmade souvenirs from the Marquesas Islands. Even more impressive are the many exotic fruits and vegetables—uru, taro, mapé, fe’i bananas… Vitamins never looked so appealing.
Le marché de Papeete
Papeete 98714
Daily from 4am
JUICE CAN’T GET ENOUGH GRAB LUNCH AT CAFÉ MAEVA
By now, you and your wallet are probably ready for break. Head up to the first floor of Papeete Market and pull up a stool at Café Maeva juice and coffee bar. Maeva has become something of an institution, with a handful of addresses across the island. They offer a variety of healthy smoothies, salads and tartares, as well as some less ‘virtuous’ options. You need their taro and uru fries in your life.
One thing we love about Café Maeva: you don’t plan a visit, you just rock up―probably in your swim trunks. There’s no point trying to find out more on their website, either. It’s completely empty except for a message that reads “profite du soleil”―”gone tanning”, as we say at Vilebrequin! Ah, the island life…
Café Maeva
Marché de Papeete
Papeete 98714
Mon-Sat from 7:30am
MANUIA! CHEERS! SANTÉ! TOAST THE SUNSET AT LES 3 BRASSEURS
If you hear someone saying “Are you in 3B?”, they’re not comparing plane seats. This is code for the micro-brewery with the best views on the island: Les 3 Brasseurs. Imported from metropolitan France, this family-run business uses only traditional methods to produce non-filtered craft beers with incredible aromas.
The place to beer in Papeete since 1998, this popular spot recently opened the Baroof rooftop restaurant and cocktail bar, offering front-row seats to the lagoons and volcanoes. The perfect end to a perfect day. Nānā Papeete!*
*Until next time!
Les 3 Brasseurs
61 Bd de la Reine Pomare IV
Papeete 98714
Daily from 7am to 1am
