Best destinations in the Pacific region

The most extraordinary remote destinations to visit across the Pacific region

Ask us for the top destinations in the Pacific, and we won’t point you to one island. We’ll point you to six. French Polynesia gives you the lagoons. Fiji gives you the reefs. Tonga lets you swim beside a humpback whale. Each corner of this ocean has its own personality, and together they form one of the most rewarding regions on earth to explore.

At Exclusive Expeditions, we’ve spent years designing journeys through the South Pacific, and these are the places we return to again and again. 

French Polynesia: Bora Bora and the Society Islands

Bora Bora sets the standard that every other lagoon gets measured against. Its water shifts through shades of turquoise that genuinely don’t look real in photographs, let alone in person. Stay in an overwater villa here, and you can step straight off your deck into water shallow enough to watch rays glide beneath you. Wake early as light hits Mount Otemanu, and the quiet stillness of the morning lagoon feels entirely your own.

 

Beyond Bora Bora, the wider Society Islands and the pearl-farming Tuamotu atolls reward slower exploration. Raiatea offers sacred archaeological temples nestled in jungle valleys, while Rangiroa’s vast inland sea houses some of the most marine-rich drift dives in the world. Our Bora Bora & Beyond journey combines an overwater stay with a Society Islands cruise, so you get both the icon and the islands around it.

Fiji: soft coral and warm village welcomes

Fiji spreads across more than 300 islands, and no two feel quite the same. Divers head straight for the Somosomo Strait, often called the soft coral capital of the world, where currents feed reefs in colours you rarely see anywhere else. Soft corals in vivid pinks, purples, and golds sway in the tidal currents, attracting sea turtles, eagle rays, and swirling shoals of tropical fish.

 

Away from the water, village life runs deep here. A traditional kava ceremony with a local chief tells you more about Fijian culture than any guidebook ever could, and it’s an experience that stays with travellers long after they’ve flown home. Taking part in these age-old customs offers a genuine window into the warmth and communal spirit that defines everyday life across the outer island groups.

 

Tonga: swim beside a migrating humpback whale

Few wildlife encounters anywhere match this one. Between July and October, humpback whales migrate through Tonga’s warm waters to breed and calve, and licensed operators allow small groups to swim alongside them under strict, respectful guidelines.

 

It’s an encounter that genuinely humbles you. Floating beside an animal the length of a bus, moving with total calm, puts your own place in the world into sharp perspective.

 

EE recommends: Book a Tonga whale swim well ahead of the July to October season. Group sizes stay deliberately small to protect the whales, and the best operators fill up fast.

 

Cook Islands: barefoot and wonderfully undiscovered

The Cook Islands move at their own unhurried pace. Aitutaki’s lagoon rivals Bora Bora for colour, yet somehow still feels like a secret, while Rarotonga’s lush volcanic interior offers hiking and waterfalls just minutes from the coast. A short boat trip out to the unpopulated islets dotted around Aitutaki’s outer barrier reef rewards you with powdery sandbars where the only footprints belong to seabirds.

 

This is barefoot luxury without the crowds. Private boat charters and quiet evenings of Polynesian music replace the queues you’ll find on more famous islands nearby. The lack of branded high-rise hotels preserves a rare, relaxed rhythm where life naturally centers around the tide, the sea, and local hospitality.

Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands: Melanesia's wild frontier

Push further west, and the Pacific turns genuinely wild. Vanuatu’s active volcanoes and the Solomon Islands’ remote reefs and wartime history attract travellers who want somewhere few others have reached. In the Solomons, WWII shipwrecks and aircraft have been reclaimed by thriving coral growth, creating extraordinary underwater marine habitats.

 

Our Cruising the Pacific Islands journey threads through New Caledonia, Vanuatu, and the Solomons in a single expedition, reaching villages and ancestral sites that most cruise itineraries never touch.

The Marquesas: remote islands aboard a working ship

For something entirely different, the Marquesas Islands sit further from any continent than almost anywhere else on Earth. There are no barrier reefs here, so the ocean meets dark volcanic cliffs directly along the coastline.

 

Our Discover the Marquesas journey travels aboard the Aranui 5, a working passenger-freighter that still delivers cargo to island communities along the way. It’s raw, real, and completely unlike a conventional cruise. You’ll share the ship with cargo bound for villages that few outsiders ever visit, stepping ashore at remote bays to explore ancient stone tikis concealed within dense rainforest canopy.

Planning your South Pacific voyage

Good to know: The Pacific’s dry season, from June to August, brings the clearest skies and calmest seas across most of the region. It’s also peak whale season in Tonga, so the timing lines up well if wildlife is on your list. Should you travel during the shoulder months of May or September, you will often find even quieter anchorages, warm seas, and ideal light for photography.

Ready to choose your own corner of the Pacific? Browse our featured South Pacific journeys, explore each featured region in more depth, or contact our team to start planning.

 

Keep exploring

Love a remote, unspoilt coastline? Our guide to Costa Rica’s beaches shares the same appeal; discover the region’s marine life and coral gardens in our guide to the South Pacific’s natural wonders.

Get in touch

Ready to start planning? Our specialists are here to help.

+44 (0)808 164 4210
[email protected]

How should we contact you?

Your information will be treated in accordance with our Privacy Policy