From December 14, Air Tahiti Nui’s new direct flight between Sydney and Papeete will connect Australia to French Polynesia without a stopover in Auckland, cutting hours off the journey to Moorea.
Among the properties set to benefit is Cook’s Bay Hotel & Suites, a boutique 3-star hotel on Moorea’s Cook’s Bay, currently ranked as the island’s highest-rated hotel. Unlike many of the island’s larger overwater-bungalow resorts, Cook’s Bay is built around a smaller, more personal model of hospitality, with design-led suites considerably larger than the island average, each fitted with a kitchenette for guests who want the flexibility of self-catering alongside full hotel service.
Every suite looks out over Cook’s Bay, widely regarded as one of the most beautiful bays in the world, framed by the Pacific Ocean beyond. For guests keen to get in the water, the hotel’s own pontoon allows snorkelers and divers to be picked up directly from the property, with some of Moorea’s richest dive sites, and abundant marine wildlife, just minutes away.
“We’re a small hotel, and that’s deliberate,” said Virginie Hanot-Pons, General Manager of Cook’s Bay Hotel & Suites. “Our guests get to know our team, and we get to know them. That’s not something a 100-room resort can easily offer.”
The property’s offering includes a reknowed overwater terrace restaurant serving à la carte dining, weekly Polynesian dance and music performances, daily yoga sessions in a dedicated studio, and a cocktail programme built around local Tahitian ingredients. The hotel has also reduced its use of single-use plastics across rooms and outlets as part of an ongoing sustainability effort.
With the new direct route significantly easing access from Australia, Cook’s Bay Hotel & Suites is inviting Australian travellers to discover Moorea in 2027, not as a resort destination, but as a place to actually slow down.
