Shopping on Tahiti
Visitors enjoying the islands of French Polynesia on their Tahiti honeymoon will find the best shopping opportunities in Papeete, the capital city. This charming place, which combines island casual with European flair, is located on Tahiti?s northwest coast.
Marché Municipale (City Market)
The largest selection and best prices can be found at the Marché Municipale (City Market) in Papeete on Tahiti.
This large tin building houses dozens of stalls selling locally-grown fruits and vegetables, freshly-caught fish, and other foods.
Visitors will also find an endless selection of souvenirs both inside the building and lining the sidewalks that surround it.
Check out the colorful pareos (sarongs), inexpensive shell jewelry, hand-woven handbags, shell buttons, wooden bowls and tikis (figurines of ancient gods), and tiare- (gardenia), coconut-, and vanilla-scented soaps and fragrances. The atmosphere is lively, making shopping on Tahiti fun even for non-shoppers.
Centre Vaima
The Centre Vaima in Papeete is a Tahitian version of a shopping center, a collection of stores and restaurants on several levels. Most interesting are the French bookstore and the pearl shops, which offer good prices.
Tahitian Pearls
Shopping on Tahiti invariably includes browsing for pearls. The French Polynesians are proud of the black pearls that are only grown locally in the warm, pristine lagoons of French Polynesia.
The process begins by inserting a spherical nucleus made of mother-of-pearl harvested from the Mississippi River into a black-lipped pearl oyster, which over the course of many months covers the intruder with a lustrous coating. While the result is called a black pearl, the colors vary from nearly black to nearly white, with tints of pink, blue, green, silver, and even yellow.
Each pearl?s value is determined by luster, surface, size, and shape, all of which vary greatly. The magnificent pearls are made into necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings, and men?s jewelry, with a vast range in prices.
Shopping on Tahiti should include a visit to the Robert Wan Pearl Museum (Musée de la Perle Robert Wan), where visitors can learn about the history of pearls and the process that creates them. The museum also has a large jewelry store. Robert Wan operates shops in several hotels on Tahiti, Moorea, and Bora Bora.
Pearl shops abound in the rest of Tahiti, Moorea, and Bora Bora, with shops located in most large hotels. Other shops with several locations are Virgin Pearls, Sibani Perles, Tahitian Native Jewelry, and World of Pearls. Competition is most fierce in Papeete, where the abundance of fine jewelry stores specializing in black pearls makes it easy to compare quality, designs, and prices.
The only pearl farm on Bora Bora that is owned and operated by natives of Bora Bora is the Bora Pearl Company. Barbara Tea Suchard opened the farm and jewelry shop in 1977 after studying gemology in France and the United States.
Informative tours are available, in which each step of the pearl-making process is actually demonstrated. In addition to the shop on the premises, Suchard operates a boutique down the road, Keana, which specializes in clothing, creative jewelry, and other gift items.
Marché Municipale (City Market)
The largest selection and best prices can be found at the Marché Municipale (City Market) in Papeete on Tahiti.
This large tin building houses dozens of stalls selling locally-grown fruits and vegetables, freshly-caught fish, and other foods.
Visitors will also find an endless selection of souvenirs both inside the building and lining the sidewalks that surround it.
Check out the colorful pareos (sarongs), inexpensive shell jewelry, hand-woven handbags, shell buttons, wooden bowls and tikis (figurines of ancient gods), and tiare- (gardenia), coconut-, and vanilla-scented soaps and fragrances. The atmosphere is lively, making shopping on Tahiti fun even for non-shoppers.
Centre Vaima
The Centre Vaima in Papeete is a Tahitian version of a shopping center, a collection of stores and restaurants on several levels. Most interesting are the French bookstore and the pearl shops, which offer good prices.
Tahitian Pearls
Shopping on Tahiti invariably includes browsing for pearls. The French Polynesians are proud of the black pearls that are only grown locally in the warm, pristine lagoons of French Polynesia.
The process begins by inserting a spherical nucleus made of mother-of-pearl harvested from the Mississippi River into a black-lipped pearl oyster, which over the course of many months covers the intruder with a lustrous coating. While the result is called a black pearl, the colors vary from nearly black to nearly white, with tints of pink, blue, green, silver, and even yellow.
Each pearl?s value is determined by luster, surface, size, and shape, all of which vary greatly. The magnificent pearls are made into necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings, and men?s jewelry, with a vast range in prices.
Shopping on Tahiti should include a visit to the Robert Wan Pearl Museum (Musée de la Perle Robert Wan), where visitors can learn about the history of pearls and the process that creates them. The museum also has a large jewelry store. Robert Wan operates shops in several hotels on Tahiti, Moorea, and Bora Bora.
Pearl shops abound in the rest of Tahiti, Moorea, and Bora Bora, with shops located in most large hotels. Other shops with several locations are Virgin Pearls, Sibani Perles, Tahitian Native Jewelry, and World of Pearls. Competition is most fierce in Papeete, where the abundance of fine jewelry stores specializing in black pearls makes it easy to compare quality, designs, and prices.
The only pearl farm on Bora Bora that is owned and operated by natives of Bora Bora is the Bora Pearl Company. Barbara Tea Suchard opened the farm and jewelry shop in 1977 after studying gemology in France and the United States.
Informative tours are available, in which each step of the pearl-making process is actually demonstrated. In addition to the shop on the premises, Suchard operates a boutique down the road, Keana, which specializes in clothing, creative jewelry, and other gift items.
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