The Society Islands are French Polynesia's most populous and most visited archipelago — fourteen volcanic islands and atolls scattered across the South Pacific, roughly midway between Australia and South America. Administratively they split into two groups: the Windward Islands (Îles du Vent) — Tahiti, Moorea, Tetiaroa, Maiao and Mehetia — and the Leeward Islands (Îles Sous-le-Vent) further west, which include Bora Bora, Raiatea, Taha'a, Huahine, Maupiti and several smaller atolls. Together they cover around 1,590 km² of land and, per the 2022 census, roughly 246,000 people — close to 88% of French Polynesia's entire population concentrated in this one archipelago. Papeete, on Tahiti's northwest coast, is the territory's capital.
Geologically, the Society Islands are a textbook case study in the life cycle of a volcanic island. They formed over the same fixed mantle hotspot, and each island's age increases as the Pacific plate drifts across that fixed point: Maupiti, the oldest and most eroded of the group, is around 5 million years old, while Mehetia, still volcanically active, marks the hotspot's current position. Bora Bora was active between roughly 3.45 and 3.10 million years ago; its central peak, Mount Otemanu, rises 727 m inside a lagoon ringed by a barrier reef with a single ocean opening, the Teavanui Pass. Moorea formed as a shield volcano between 1.5 and 2.5 million years ago and is today encircled by a continuous coral reef. This is precisely the volcano-to-barrier-reef-to-atoll sequence Charles Darwin described from these same Pacific islands.
Long before any European contact, Raiatea — known in ancient tradition as Havai'i — was regarded as the spiritual center of the eastern Polynesian triangle. The Taputapuātea marae complex, on the island's southeast coast, served as the region's political and religious center for close to a thousand years, and oral tradition places the departure of the great voyaging canoes — including the Tainui and Arawa — toward Hawai'i and New Zealand from here, in the late 13th or early 14th century. UNESCO inscribed Taputapuātea on the World Heritage List in 2017 under criteria (iii), (iv) and (vi), covering a 2,124-hectare protected zone with an additional 3,363-hectare buffer.
The first Europeans to sight the islands were Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen in 1722, followed by Britain's Samuel Wallis (1767), France's Louis de Bougainville (1768) and James Cook, who visited Tahiti, Moorea and Raiatea from 1769 onward. France established a protectorate in 1843 and annexed the islands progressively as a colony between 1880 and 1888 — Bora Bora was annexed in 1888, forcing Queen Teriimaevarua III to abdicate. During World War II, the United States built a base on Bora Bora, "Operation Bobcat," with around 7,000 troops; the airstrip built for it was, until 1960, French Polynesia's only international airport. Decades later, Bora Bora also gave the world an icon of luxury travel: Hotel Bora Bora opened in 1961 and, in 1970, built the first overwater bungalows anywhere — a concept that later spread across the Pacific and beyond.
There are no bridges between the islands — travel is by boat or plane. Tahiti connects to Moorea by a roughly 30-minute ferry crossing (operators Aremiti and Terevau), while the other Leeward Islands are reached only by Air Tahiti domestic flights out of Papeete — about 50 minutes to Bora Bora, 45 to Raiatea. The climate splits into two seasons: the dry season, from around April/May to October, cooler and less humid, is generally considered the best time to visit; the wet season, November to March/April, brings more heat and humidity.
Within the Society Islands, CoveTrip already documents two public beaches in detail: Plage de Matira, Bora Bora's only genuinely public beach, at the island's southern tip; and Plage de Temae, on Moorea, next to the island's airport and golf course, with views across the channel to Tahiti.
The archipelago comprises fourteen islands and atolls split into two groups: the Windward Islands (Tahiti, Moorea, Tetiaroa, Maiao, Mehetia) and the Leeward Islands (Bora Bora, Raiatea, Taha'a, Huahine, Maupiti and several smaller atolls).
Moorea connects to Tahiti by ferry, with crossings of around 30 minutes run by Aremiti and Terevau. The other islands, including Bora Bora and Raiatea, are reached only by Air Tahiti domestic flights out of Papeete, taking between 45 and 50 minutes.
The dry season, roughly April/May to October, is generally considered the best time, with milder temperatures and lower humidity. The wet season runs from November to March/April.
Yes. Bora Bora belongs to the Leeward Islands group within the Society Islands archipelago in French Polynesia.
