In my opinion, the Island of Tahiti is not the place to stay for long - one quickly exhausts the possibilities after visiting the musée des Tahiti et ses isles and the Lagoonarium, and shopping downtown and dining at les roulottes - given Moorea is so close (30 minutes or so from Papeete to Vaiare via the fast Aremiti ferries.) (Hint: If visiting Moorea, you can arrange to hire a car with Europcar and pick it up on arriving at Vaiare. Plenty of places to stay, from the upscale newly-rebadged Hilton / ex-Sheraton to the excellent and smaller, homey Hotel Les Tipaniers at the northwest corner of Moorea.)

Nonetheless, if one must stay because one wants a day here or has inconvenient flight times, the Tahiti Country Club in Punaauia is close to the international airport at Faaa, has decent, clean accommodations and a lovely pool and snack bar, more reasonable prices than the resorts, and is nestled in the hill above the highway - it is quieter, airport close and cooler because... more