Experience the best of Papeete

Papeete is the main port of Tahiti, the largest island in French Polynesia, and a French-speaking town laid out around a sheltered harbour, with the island of Moorea rising on the horizon across the water. Steep green volcanic peaks stand behind it. The Marché de Papeete, a two-storey covered market, sells fruit, flowers, fish, vanilla, monoi oil and shell crafts.

In the evening, food trucks gather on Place Vaiete beside the harbour. Along the coast, Pointe Vénus is a black-sand headland with a lighthouse where Captain Cook's astronomers watched the transit of Venus in 1769, and the Arahoho blowhole spouts on the rocks further east. Mount Orohena is the island's highest peak, Teahupo'o on the south-west coast is a famous big wave, and the painter Paul Gauguin lived on Tahiti.

Poisson cru, raw tuna in lime juice and coconut milk, is the dish of the islands, alongside poe, a baked fruit pudding, and chicken with taro leaves. Heiva, a festival of dance, song and traditional sports, is held around Papeete in July. The air is warm all year, and the heavy rain falls from November to April.