French Polynesia

French Polynesia is the destination other islands get compared to, usually unfavourably. Bora Bora's lagoon, ringed by motu islets and watched over by its jagged green peak, invented the overwater bungalow fantasy and still executes it better than anywhere: glass floors above coral gardens, breakfast delivered by outrigger canoe, water so vividly turquoise it looks generated. But the archipelago rewards those who go further. Moorea's pineapple valleys and humpback whales. Taha'a's vanilla farms scenting the air a mile offshore. Rangiroa and Fakarava, where divers drift through passes crowded with sharks and dolphins in water of impossible clarity. The Marquesas for wild, sculptural drama. French flair runs through the food and wine, Polynesian mana through everything else. It is far. That is precisely why it still feels like a dream.