At the beginning of this year I spent a lovely week in Tahiti. Tahiti feels and is a faraway place though the flight there isn’t as far away as you think (if you are traveling from the US West Coast.) From Seattle to Papeʻete - the capital and largest city of French Polynesia - it is approximately a ten hour flight. The West Coast flights to Papeʻete are generally offered as overnight flights that have you landing in the early morning so you arrive will a full day ahead of you to enjoy (a good or bad thing depending on how well you sleep on planes.)
Before I headed off to Tahiti I did a bit of research to try to pack as smartly as I could. I was loose on details on my itinerary because I mostly wanted to relax and explore this destination without much structure and that worked for my particular flavor of travel style. No matter what time of year you visit Tahiti the temperature range is generally between 20°C to 30°C / 68°F to 86°F. I did visit during the wet season which did dictate what the days’ activities looked like to some extent but also allowed me to explore the island during the lushest time of the year. The rain storms tend to run though pretty quickly and luckily the strongest one of my visit happened just before boarding my plane to head back home.
All of that considered I have outlined below what I packed apparel and footwear-wise - and truly actually wore - for my one week in Tahiti. I do have a tendency to over pack for trips but this one I feel like I nailed the proportions perfectly for all that I got up to during these travels.
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Three swimsuits
One was always ready for the beach, another one ready for the pool, and a third in the rotation that was drying out from the last water activity.
Swimsuit cover-up dress
Mine is the Speed Racer Dress from Title Nine
Sun Hat
Travel beach towel
Helpful for the days venturing away from the resort to explore to lay out on or just to wipe off your feet from a beach walk elsewhere on the island.
Cover-up/Travel Pants
I love the Slaycation Wide Leg Pants from Title Nine. These are a nice option to throw on from the walk from the room to the pool at the resort as well as a way to get some leg sun protection while at the beach.
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1 Tank Top
Simple and good for layering with my sun shirt
1 Tee
Moisture-wicking and neutral in color
1 Sun Shirt
I opted for a button-down that pairs nicely with my Slaycation Pants
2 Pairs of Shorts
I brought one hiking oriented pair of shorts and 1 casual denim shorts. I honestly mostly wore my hiking ones so I could have gotten away with only packing that pair.
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Dresses are what I wore most of the time during this trip and that’s how this gets its own section!
1 Long Dress
Mine is the Tica Midi Dress from Title Nine.
This was the dress I wore the most in the evenings for happy hour and dinners.
3 Shorter Sundresses
One of these three dresses had a bra built in.
Another dress that was dressier than my swimsuit cover-up dress but also of a quick-dry material which was very helpful on the day what we visited a waterfall.
The third dress was a simple t-shirt tank dress which was also in the rotation for casual evening wear on the warmest nights.
1 Dressier Dress
Worn for the nicest dinner of the entire trip.
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I packed four pairs of shoes and that is all that I needed:
Flip Flops
The go-to shoe of the entire trip
Sneakers
I opted for a trail runner shoe in case I found myself on a technical hike
Water shoes
As all of the guidebooks that I referenced before heading out to Tahiti (and watching Colin Jost’s experience with cutting his foot on the coral while covering surfing for the 2024 Olympics this is not something to skimp on for your packing.)
Strappy sandals
Only worn for the fancy dinner that I dressed up for.
