Air Tahiti Nui Short Break Review - Vacation Packages to Tahiti Under $900 | Splash Magazines

Tahiti. Just say the word

and most people get a faraway glaze as they imagine paradise on earth. Well, if you are one of those who dream of a South Pacific idyll, you can live your dream for under $900 thanks to Air Tahiti Nui (review). The “Tahiti Short Break” starts at $898 per person and includes round trip airfare, four nights accommodations, airport transfers and daily full American breakfasts. This amazing offer is for a limited time, so you have to hurry to get this opportunity for an exotic getaway for less than the price you’d pay for four days at a local resort.

The vacation starts the minute you board the plane. Air Tahiti Nui is one of the best airlines in the world, winning awards for its food and service every year. After an 8-hour flight, you touch down in Papeete and enter a world of white sands, cerulean seas and gentle people.

My package took me to two hotels chosen

by Air Tahiti Nui to complete the dream. First stop was the four-star Manava Suite Resort Tahiti (full review here) which just opened on March 1, 2009. Designed by a local architect, the resort exudes an authentic French Polynesian air while providing all the comforts an international traveler could desire. The amenities are not merely new; they also do homage to traditional Polynesian culture. Ultra-modern and neo-primitive, every single item from the bathroom fixtures to the pictures on the wall present an authentic fusion of style that is Tahiti today.

The rooms and suites at the Manava Suite Resort Tahiti all have kitchens, which means you don't have to sneak in a loaf of French bread past the desk clerk. The desire is to give travelers a home base from which to explore and enjoy this tropical paradise, so the rooms feature state-of-the-art technology and in-suite kitchens for a combination of luxury and comfort.

The great thing is that if you don't want to cook,

the hotel also has a wonderful restaurant that is reasonably priced - by Tahiti standards. Breakfast is included in the package, and you will want to try some of the hotels home made beignets and firi firi, a roll lightly sweetened with coconut. Scrumptious. There are also two bars, one of which is literally attached to the infinity pool in such a way that you can sit on a submerged "stool" while you sip.

The pool itself is the largest infinity swimming pool on Tahiti. Even while you are in it, it is hard to tell where the pool ends and the lagoon begins. The illusion is so strong sometimes, you'd swear you could swim from the pool straight over to the nearby nearby island of Moorea.

Moorea is a sleepier and less developed island that the big island of Tahiti. It is where Tahitians go to get away and de-stress. For a small supplement, you can take your short break there with a stay at the Moorea Pearl Resort (full review here). The Moorea Pearl Resort is as different from the Manava Suite Resort Tahiti as the island of Moorea is from its big sister.

The entrance to the Moorea Pearl Resort is a spectacular open-air lobby with soaring wood ceilings in traditional Polynesian style. The welcome is genuinely warm as the hostess presents you with a tiaré lei and offers a cold drink. The resort is made up of mostly bungalows. The overwater bungalows are the postcard image dream and the beachfront bungalows are another kind of fantasy. I actually preferred my stay in a garden bungalow with a private plunge pool. The hotel also has garden view rooms and a family of four staying in one of the split-level duplexes there was thrilled with the amount of space, the privacy on the balcony, the amenities and the general air of hospitality exuded by the staff.

One of the great pleasures at the Moorea Pearl Resort

for me is the wonderful snorkeling made possible by the underwater geography of the lagoon. Just a short distance off the beach, the sea floor drops away and the slope is covered in coral, which in turn is inhabited by the most amazing variety of brightly-colored tropical fish. The premium overwater bungalows are out at the edge of this drop, so that you can jump off the decks into deep water. Or you could sit on your deck and gaze out at the infinite water. Waking up and doing my morning exercises over the quiet lagoon waters that stretched out to the open sea was a mind-clearing, stress-erasing, life-restoring experience.

The Short Breaks Package offered by Air Tahiti Nui means that a dream trip like this can be made within most summer travel budgets. Both the Manava Suite Resort Tahiti and the Moorea Pearl Resort are unique in that they are world-class and, at the same time, genuinely local hotels. The Air Tahiti Nui and the island resorts of French Polynesia are ready to take you away.