Rangiroa's Tiputa Pass district

Fakarava & Rangiroa, French Polynesia

Home to Hotel Kia Ora Resort & Spa and the legendary drift-diving pass with rays, sharks and dolphins.

Places in Rangiroa's Tiputa Pass district

Hotel Kia Ora Resort & Spa fine dining Fine dining paired with beachfront bungalows and overwater villas.
Rangiroa beachfront bungalow breakfast Breakfast service at the beachfront bungalows overlooking the lagoon.
Hotel Kia Ora Resort & Spa bar A bar setting alongside the resort's overwater villas and spa.

Best time to visit: June to October, for the annual grouper spawning aggregation that draws hundreds of grey reef sharks to Fakarava's Garuae Pass.
Getting around: Both atolls are reached via domestic flights from Tahiti, roughly 55 minutes to Rangiroa and just over an hour to Fakarava; once on either atoll, boats are essential for reaching dive sites in the Tiputa and Garuae passes, with bicycles covering the limited roads on land.
Currency: CFP Franc (XPF), pegged to the euro
Language: French and Tahitian; English is common with dive operators.
Timezone: TAHT (UTC-10, no daylight saving)
Current trends: Fakarava and Rangiroa continue to anchor French Polynesia's serious diving tourism, with Fakarava's UNESCO Biosphere Reserve status and Garuae Pass shark aggregations increasingly drawing divers away from the more developed Bora Bora and Tahiti circuit, while Rangiroa's Hotel Kia Ora Resort & Spa remains the region's benchmark for combining genuine luxury with the Tiputa Pass's legendary drift diving.

Fakarava's Garuae Pass district — Home to Tetamanu Village et Sauvage, offering technical diving and phenomenal shark encounters.
Fakarava's southern end — Home to the remote, rustic Pension Raimiti eco-lodge.