Shopping in French Polynesia is a delightful and rewarding experience, as there is variety, beauty and choice to suit all budgets. The local handicrafts there are good souvenirs to take back home and include woven baskets, tapa cloth, pareus (hand-painted wraps worn as skirts) and wood carvings. You should be careful about the authenticity of what you buy, as there are fakes and items of dubious quality.

Haggling at the Capital City

You’ll find something that catches your eye wherever you go. Papeete, the capital of Tahiti, has several shops and it is a good idea to browse around and compare prices before you actually buy. French Polynesia can be expensive and shopkeepers and traders expect you to haggle, so just do it! You’ll enjoy bargaining for deals on perfumed soaps, body oil, woven baskets and the ubiquitous pareo, which is a type of sarong that can be tied into a halter dress or skirt, and then unwrapped and used as a towel or sheet as needed. They are made from different kinds of natural and synthetic fabrics, and sport many beautiful designs. The prices obviously also differ according to the pareo. And of course, Tahiti is renowned the world over for its vanilla, and you can buy the beans from any grocery shop.

Everybody that visits these islands wants to take home a tiki, and this is by far the most common and popular souvenir item. The tiki, an ancient god of fertility or protection, is depicted in stone, wood or other material by Polynesian artisans. Earlier, Tiki was sculpted in green stone and kept on display in sacred sites of worship or burial grounds. The miniature tikis sold as souvenirs are made in stone, wood, coral and even in gold and silver to be used as jewelry. There are fake ones, but these are rarely as intricate or beautifully carved as the Polynesian ones, so you can spot them easily.

Tapa—the Art of Beating Bark

Tapa artworks can be found in various sizes and shapes, from an intricate square 3 inches x 3 inches to an elaborate six foot by eight foot display, plus a few rectangular and round ones.

Although the technique of beating bark to make a vegetal fabric has been prevalent in many parts of the world, the French Polynesian tapa is of the best quality. Making tapa is a long and difficult process that begins with breadfruit and mulberry tree planting. To find good tapa cloth, you need to get off the tourist track and go to small villages and ask the locals. The price of tapa varies greatly with the size and intricacy of the work, starting from under $50 and go up to hundreds of dollars.

Pearls

Every fashion-conscious woman needs to have a good set of pearls, and there is nowhere better in the world to buy them than in Tahiti. Tahitian pearls are superb in terms of appearance and quality, with prices ranging upwards of a thousand dollars for a single black pearl. Buy them from a reputable jeweler, and get a good idea of what you’re looking for before you buy. Tahitian black pearls are not really pure black, but actually have a tinge of pink, blue and gold hues that gives it a magnificent lustrous effect. The black pearls with a peacock green hue is the most desirable and the most costly.