The Lagoon, Privately
Snorkel gardens, motus and reef by private boat. A private, tailored journey of 5-7 days in Bora Bora & French Polynesia, designed end to end by a Forest Travel advisor — with Virtuoso privileges at the finest luxury hotels, from US$17,500 per traveler.
- Nature · Slow
- Ideal length: 5-7 days
- Best time: From May to October, the best window for Bora Bora.
- Private guiding, access and transfers throughout
- From US$17,500 per traveler — a starting point, tailored to you
- Designed one-to-one by a Forest Travel advisor
- Virtuoso privileges at the finest luxury hotels
Snorkel gardens, motus and reef by private boat. A private, tailored journey of 5-7 days in Bora Bora & French Polynesia, designed end to end by a Forest Travel advisor — with Virtuoso privileges at the finest luxury hotels, from US$17,500 per traveler.
Few places on earth pair a caldera peak, a ring of coral motus and a lagoon this luminous, all arranged for private, unhurried days.
When to go
From May to October is the best window for Bora Bora. Your advisor times it to the light, the crowds and your own calendar.
The experiences
A sense of what this journey can hold — each one arranged privately and shaped to you:
- A full day on the lagoon by private boat, tracing the coral gardens where the reef fish gather in their thousands.
- A guided drift over the ray and reef-shark grounds, in water so clear the bottom seems close enough to touch.
- A castaway lunch laid out on an uninhabited motu, prepared while you swim.
- A quiet snorkel at first light, before any other craft has left the shore.
A sense of the rhythm
The days here follow the water rather than the clock. You go out when the light is best, come in when the wind picks up, and let your skipper read the lagoon for you. Between outings there is time to do nothing at all, which on Bora Bora is its own accomplishment.
How to do it well
The counsel our advisors give travelers planning this journey:
- Go out early; the lagoon is glassiest and the light clearest in the first hours after dawn.
- Ask your skipper for the coral gardens on the outer reef, well beyond the usual anchorages.
- Reef-safe sunscreen only, and let us provide it so the coral is spared.
- Keep one afternoon entirely free for the lagoon to surprise you rather than perform to plan.
What only your advisor can open
The difference between a good trip and an unrepeatable one is access — and access is a relationship, not a booking. Every guide, room and moment is chosen and sequenced for you.
Who it's for
Travelers who value privacy, time and doing it once — beautifully — and who would rather have one trusted advisor orchestrate every detail than assemble it themselves.
Estimated investment
From US$17,500 per traveler, based on double occupancy — scaled to your dates, party size and level of privacy. A starting point, not a final quote; confirmed once your advisor tailors the itinerary.
Designed entirely around you
Nothing here is a package. A Forest Travel advisor shapes the whole journey and stays one message away before and throughout your trip.
Your Virtuoso privileges
As a Virtuoso member, Forest Travel includes benefits reserved for Virtuoso guests at the finest luxury hotels, at no added cost: a room upgrade on arrival when available, daily breakfast for two, a property credit toward dining or spa, and early check-in with late check-out when the hotel allows.
Continue exploring Bora Bora
Part of our Bora Bora travel guide. Related private journeys:
Begin the conversation
Tell a Forest Travel advisor how you like to travel and they will design The Lagoon, Privately around you — privately, every Virtuoso privilege included. Request your private consultation →
Questions, answered.
The group excursions cover the same coral gardens and motus, but on someone else's schedule and among a crowd at each stop. A private boat lets you linger where the snorkeling is finest, move on when it thins, and reach the quiet corners the fleets skip. On a lagoon this photographed, that solitude is the true luxury.
Go out early. In the first hours after dawn the lagoon is at its glassiest and the light at its clearest, and a quiet snorkel at first light means being in the water before any other craft has left the shore. Through the rest of the day, the rhythm follows the water: you go out when the light is best and come in when the wind picks up.
Yes. This journey includes a guided drift over the ray and reef-shark grounds, in water so clear the bottom seems close enough to touch. It is arranged privately, so your skipper reads the lagoon for you. For the finest coral, ask your skipper for the gardens on the outer reef, well beyond the usual anchorages, where the reef fish gather in their thousands.
Reef-safe sunscreen only. Our advisors counsel every traveler on this journey to use it so the coral is spared, and Forest Travel will provide it for you. It matters on a lagoon whose coral gardens, motus and outer reef are the very reason you come, from the full day by private boat to the quiet snorkel at first light.
We suggest 5-7 days. Those days follow the water rather than the clock: you go out when the light is best, come in when the wind picks up, and let your skipper read the lagoon for you. They can hold a full day by private boat through the coral gardens, a guided drift over the ray and reef-shark grounds, a castaway lunch on an uninhabited motu and a quiet snorkel at first light. Keep one afternoon entirely free, and leave time between outings to do nothing at all.
As a private, tailored journey it starts from roughly US$17,500 per traveler (double occupancy) and scales with your dates, party and level of privacy — a starting point, never a fixed package price. Your advisor confirms the figure once the itinerary is tailored.
May through October, the dry, cooler season. This is when the lagoon turns its clearest turquoise and skies stay reliably open, ideal for a full day tracing the coral gardens by private boat, a guided drift in water so clear the bottom seems close enough to touch, and a quiet snorkel at first light. Your advisor times it to the light, the crowds and your own calendar.
On Bora Bora, the castaway lunch is laid out on an uninhabited motu, one of the coral islets ringing the lagoon, and prepared while you swim. Like every experience on this journey, it is arranged privately and shaped to you, so it can follow a morning on the water by private boat, tracing the coral gardens where the reef fish gather in their thousands.
Bora Bora pairs a caldera peak, a ring of coral motus and a lagoon of rare luminosity. Few places on earth bring these together, and here they are arranged for private, unhurried days by boat: coral gardens on the outer reef, ray and reef-shark grounds in water so clear the bottom seems close enough to touch, and quiet motus for a castaway lunch.
On the Bora Bora lagoon, your skipper reads the water for you. The days follow the lagoon rather than the clock: you go out when the light is best and come in when the wind picks up. Our advisors suggest asking your skipper for the coral gardens on the outer reef, well beyond the usual anchorages, and keeping one afternoon free for the lagoon to surprise you.
Bora Bora & French Polynesia
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