Assessment: The Brando (French Polynesia)

Wednesday newsletters all the time characteristic a resort or flight assessment.

I just lately loved an unbelievable vacation in French Polynesia (Tahiti, Moorea, and Bora Bora). Learn my journey stories right here:

Immediately: Assessment of The Brando Resort (French Polynesia)

The Brando is the final word luxurious resort in French Polynesia and probably the most unique resorts on the earth. The ultra-polished property is situated within the magnificent atoll of Tetiaroa, which is comprised of a dozen idyllic islands surrounding a spectacular lagoon. With entry supplied by non-public airplane, the resort gives carefree luxurious within the midst of pristine nature and is a particular place of uncommon biodiversity and a pure sanctuary for birds and marine life. The all-inclusive resort options 35 deluxe villas every with its personal non-public seaside space and plunge pool, eating places showcasing Polynesian and French delicacies, an opulent Polynesian spa, a seaside bar & pool, natural backyard, library, boutique, water sports activities, and an environmental analysis station with visitor applications.

The Brando options in my high 10 record of the world’s most unique non-public island resorts.

Have you ever ever stayed at The Brando? In that case, what was your expertise? Depart a remark.

On this assessment (extra data and photographs beneath my YouTube video):

PROS & THINGS I LIKE

The Brando is situated within the insanely lovely non-public atoll of Tetiaroa. Positioned about 50 km (30 mi) north of Tahiti, Tetiaroa is over 4 km (2.5 mi) huge and comprised of twelve motus (coral islands or islets), certainly one of them – known as Motu Onetahi – being residence to The Brando. With its white sand seashores, swaying coconut palms, colourful birds, and glowing lagoon, Tetiaroa is a dream paradise. Past its breathtaking magnificence, Tetiaroa’s motus are a research in uncommon biodiversity and a pure sanctuary for birds and marine life. Motu Honuea boasts excellent white sand seashores; Tiaraunu, the biggest motu, wears a dense mantle of coconut bushes. A nursery of lemon sharks makes its residence within the very north, the place the three motus Tauini, Tauroa and Hiraanae are separated solely by small hoa, or channels. On Oroatera you can find paradisiacal seashores and a pure watering place within the form of a seahorse. The birds come to nest on Tahuna Iti and Tahuna Rahi, true sanctuaries. Aie is the smallest motu and Reiono is the one islet that has preserved its main forest. Lastly, it’s on Rimatu’u that the primary Europeans settled, establishing a coconut plantation, a village and a touchdown stage.

Tetiaroa has all the time been a spot of gorgeous magnificence, tranquility and rejuvenation — first for Tahitian royalty, who selected this island above all others for his or her summer time retreat, and later for Hollywood actor Marlon Brando who fell in love with it in the course of the filming of “Mutiny on the Bounty”. Enthralled by the Polynesian lifestyle – and the main woman Tarita, the love of his life – Marlon Brando purchased this piece of paradise in 1967 and made it his private residence. Brando was obsessed with preserving Tetiaroa’s pure magnificence, biodiversity and cultural richness and was decided to discover a means through which it may very well be a middle for analysis and training, and a mannequin of sustainability. In 1999 he requested Richard Bailey, a long-time resident of Tahiti who shared Brando’s ardour for the setting and who had created a few of the area’s most interesting resorts, to assist him conceive a plan that might assist Brando obtain his dream. Collectively, Brando and Bailey pursued a imaginative and prescient of making the world’s at first post-carbon resort—an island the place modern new applied sciences would allow a self-sustaining luxurious setting for resort friends, residents and scientific analysis. The Brando – opened in 2014 – is the legacy of that shared imaginative and prescient.

The one strategy to get to The Brando is by non-public flight – both from Tahiti or Bora Bora – which underscores the exclusivity of the vacation spot. Air Tetiaroa – the unique supplier of passenger service to the island – operates a fleet of two 6-passenger Britten-Norman aircrafts and two 14-seater Twin Otters. Constitution flights by way of Ecureuil bi-turbine helicopter are additionally out there. For friends departing from Bora Bora, the flight departs from Bora Bora’s small airport terminal. Vacationers departing from Tahiti have the benefit that they will make use of Air Tetiaroa’s non-public airport terminal, which contains a check-in desk, safety checkpoint and a properly embellished lounge completely out there to friends of The Brando. The Air Tetiaroa non-public lounge opens one hour earlier than departure, and supply complimentary WiFi, snacks and drinks. Flight time to The Brando is one hour from Bora Bora and 20 minutes from Tahiti. The touchdown is spectacular because the airplane flies over the gorgeous lagoon on its strategy to The Brando’s non-public airstrip. Upon arrival in Tetiaroa, friends are greeted on the runway by a Brando consultant, welcomed by a conventional Polynesian dance, and whisked off to their villa in comfy electrical carts.

The Brando gives 35 non-public villas, with one to 3 bedrooms, overlooking both Turtle Seaside (sundown aspect) or Mermaid Bay (dawn aspect), and the non-public residence Teremoana on Prince Sq.. Conceived by architect Pierre-Jean Picard in collaboration with designer Gilles Leborgne, all villas have in frequent the house and references to Polynesian traditions. The wood partitions and roofs coated with pandanus leaves are impressed by conventional methods and supplies. Giant bay home windows supply a divine view of the luxurious backyard planted with coconut palms and «miki miki», in addition to the non-public swimming swimming pools and the azure blue lagoon. Nature gently insinuates herself into the sober and serene interiors, whereas studied consolation and purity of line mirror the refinement of the property. Throughout my vacation, I stayed in a one bed room villa which comprised three rooms: a spacious bed room, a lounge, and a media room. The toilet was accessed by way of a dressing room and supplied an outside bathtub nestled within the coronary heart of a tropical backyard. The roomy wood terrace had lounge chairs, umbrellas and a freshwater bathe, a coated eating space and swimming pool, all main out onto the white sandy seaside.

The Brando itself sits on Motu Onetahi, a reasonably massive islet of 78-hectares or 193-acres. For ease of navigation, friends have bicycles to get across the resort, or may be pushed by a workforce member in electrical carts to discover the islet. The resort itself solely occupies the decrease half of the islet, whereas the airstrip and workers village is situated on the higher half. Your complete islet is surrounded by a magnificent white sand seaside, backdropped by lush tropical vegetation and overlooking the ridiculously clear lagoon. On the southern tip of the islet, the place the seaside is at its widest, are the resort’s communal amenities, all conveniently inbuilt one spot. Right here, on the entrance of the advanced, are two outlets: a Tahitian jewellery retailer (known as Hinerava) providing an unique jewellery line by the modern younger designer Kelly Bailey, and a resort boutique providing a collection of sunscreen, toiletries, magnificence merchandise, residence and trend equipment, swimwear, books, native crafts, music, souvenirs and postcards. From the outlets, a protracted wood walkway results in the concierge space, eating places & bars (extra on that beneath) and the infinity pool on the seaside. The latter is provided for leisure with deck chairs, tables and parasols (though most friends favor the chill out at their non-public plunge pool).

The Brando serves a few of the greatest meals of any resort on the earth. There are three eating places and two bars:
- Les Mutinés, the gastronomic restaurant open just for dinner, hosts a most of 20 friends in a chic venue whose form evokes the impression of an inverted canoe. Chef Pierre Lecorne and Pastry Chef Anthony Lestriez supply refined dishes and desserts with wonderful flavors. The restaurant additionally features a world-class wine cellar in a rigorously climate-controlled glass enclosure.
- The Beachcomber Café is The Brando’s all day eating restaurant, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner in a relaxed seaside environment and with a beautiful view on the lagoon. The menu is impressed by Polynesian, French and worldwide delicacies.
- Nami teppanyaki, headed by Chef Kaito Nakamura, gives a culinary voyage by means of the refined and refined flavors of Japan. Two menus, in addition to a collection of sake, can be found to take pleasure in an actual Japanese expertise. Dishes are ready in entrance of the friends on a conventional teppanyaki cooking desk.
- The Brando additionally gives an modern and complex vegan menu, incorporating recent greens handpicked from the resort’s personal natural backyard. The vegan menu is obtainable at Les Mutinés tremendous eating restaurant, the Beachcomber Café, and for in-room eating.
- Bob’s Bar, whose identify makes tribute to Marlon Brando’s longtime pal, is a funky-chic seaside bar on the white sand seaside subsequent to the primary swimming pool. It serves gentle fare and drinks in the course of the day.
- Te Manu Bar, and its small lounges suspended above the seaside, supply a wide ranging view of the lagoon and the starry sky. Company are seduced by its lounge environment, cozy and comfy, with sofas and intimate areas, some actually within the treetops. It’s the good place to absorb the sundown or take pleasure in a sport of billiards.

The Brando options probably the most lovely and serene wellness facilities I’ve ever seen. Known as The Varua Te Ora Polynesian Spa, the advanced is a vacation spot in its personal proper the place magnificence and well-being, deeply rooted in Polynesian tradition, are the important thing phrases. The therapy rooms are situated on an island surrounded by a freshwater lake that’s coated with lotus flowers. In the midst of this sanctuary of century-old pandanus can be the Fare Manu (chook’s nest) therapy cabin; perched within the bushes 6 m (20 ft) above the bottom, this cabin gives a fantastic view and ensures unforgettable recollections. {Couples} can come right here to find the artwork of the normal therapeutic massage, «Taurumi». Therapeutic and religious, it maintains and restores inside concord and balances relationships with others. Different spa amenities embody areas for leisure, vitality (Fare Mana), a hammam, a recent water cascade and an natural tea room on the water’s edge.

The Brando gives a huge number of actions to make every keep a succession of surprising moments which can stay engraved within the recollections. A concierge service, situated on the entrance of the resort, organizes customized itineraries for every journey get together and informs them in regards to the actions of the atoll:
- With naturalist-guided boat excursions and excursions, friends can uncover the totally different motus and observe the fauna and flora that inhabit the first forest and the lagoon.
- Numerous sports activities gear can be found. The lagoon may be explored by conventional outrigger canoe, kayak, paddleboard, or just with a masks and snorkel. Scuba diving outdoors the reef is an alternative choice the resort gives. On land, every visitor can jog within the lush vegetation or keep a exercise routine within the health room. It’s open 24/7 and gives a large alternative of exercise gear. A tennis courtroom and all the required gear can be found to friends, who can even request a companion.
- The Lagoon Faculty gives younger friends from 6 to 12 years previous a spot to satisfy and chill out. Kids can take part in instructional actions on Polynesian life and extra by means of workshops, treasure hunts and mini-conferences ready by Tetiaroa Society. Youthful will guests have enjoyable whereas studying about our environmental efforts and the biodiversity of Tetiaroa.
- The Explorer Middle is each a spot for dialogue with the cultural exercise leaders and naturalist guides and a library that gives books on Polynesian tradition. Conferences are repeatedly organized right here.

The Brando gives two kinds of room charges: the mattress & breakfast charge (which incorporates an American breakfast) and the all-inclusive charge. Though extraordinarily costly, I extremely advocate the latter because it consists of a formidable vary of facilities & perks:
- All meals within the eating places and in-room eating
- A big selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, with out amount restriction (e.g. beers, wines, spirits, Champagnes)
- A minibar replenished as soon as a day
- One tour or exercise per particular person per day of your alternative from the record supplied by the concierge in shared excursions
- Remedies at Varua Te Ora Polynesian Spa: a spa therapy (50 min) for 1 particular person per day per one-bedroom villa; a spa therapy (50 min) for two folks per day per two-bedroom villa; and a spa therapy (50 min) for 3 folks per day for the three-bedroom villa or the residence Teremoana.
- Everlasting entry to the health room and the tennis courtroom.
- Seaside gear: stand-up paddle, kayak, outrigger canoe, snorkeling gear.
- One bicycle per particular person within the villa or the residence (kids’s bikes can be found).
- Limitless entry to a collection of newspapers and worldwide magazines on the in-room pill.

Wishing to protect the atoll in its unique state and eager to set an instance to the remainder of the world when it comes to luxurious, The Brando has taken a centered method to the whole lot of design, supplies and companies. The property has applied quite a few modern applications and use state-of-the-art applied sciences to attain its goals of carbon neutrality, whereas making certain optimum consolation. Listed here are some examples:
- The SWAC (Sea Water Air Conditioning) attracts deep sea water (930 m or 3,000 ft beneath sea stage) to chill the air and supply thermal consolation in all of the resort’s buildings. It ends in the discount of vitality consumption by virtually 90%.
- The Brando ensures reasoned use of its freshwater sources. Rainwater feeds swimming swimming pools and laundries ; desalinated sea water is used within the loos ; and an ingenious wastewater recycling system is used to irrigate gardens and the vegetable backyard. Together with its water conservation coverage, the resort has additionally applied a significant waste recycling and composting program.
- Photo voltaic vitality, produced by 4,000 photovoltaic panels situated alongside the island’s runway, covers 75% of the resort’s vitality wants. These panels show how productive an unused house may be. Photo voltaic water heaters, in the meantime, fulfill virtually all scorching water wants from the resort. Rechargable batteries of photo voltaic vitality are produced utilizing recyclable supplies and are capable of present 1000’s of full cost cycles.
- The resort has a vegetable backyard and a natural orchard, utilizing ancestral strategies to provide exceptionally high-quality vegetables and fruit regardless of a coral soil. Thus, the resort’s eating places supply an exquisite number of vegetables and fruit, all grown simply footsteps away: papayas, bananas, lemons, tomatoes, beans, edible flowers, lettuce, uru (breadfruit), vanilla, eggplant, zucchini, inexperienced onions, radish, and basil.
- The Brando proudly produces among the finest honeys from all over the world, created from coconut blossoms and different species endemic to the atoll. 70 beehives are unfold over three motus and produce 1,200 kilos (2,600 lbs.) of honey per yr on common. Tetiaroa honey is harvested repeatedly by the beekeeper and used to reinforce the resort’s cocktails, dishes and pastries.

Tetiaroa is fringed with coconut palms, paradisiacal seashores and islets with main forest. Populated by native species (eagle rays, parrot fish, lemon sharks, turtles and lots of others) and an distinctive coral reef, Tetiaroa is a pure paradise that’s sorted by the Tetiaroa Society, a non-profit affiliation devoted to the safety and conservation of the atoll, in addition to to the understanding and administration of marine ecosystems, is concerned in varied conservation and analysis applications:
- To make Marlon Brando’s dream of a working ocean laboratory come true, the resort hosts an ecostation devoted to analysis and managed by Tetiaroa Society. The ecostation, which may accommodate a dozen researchers from all over the world, consists of aquariums, bookstores and, above all, a laboratory the place scientists conduct analysis so as to shield and safeguard tropical atolls and their wildlife.
- Carried out in collaboration with the affiliation Te Mana o te Moana, the Tetiaroa Society screens and protects inexperienced sea turtles, who come to nest on Motu Onetahi. Throughout the egg-laying season, the friends can get up within the wee hours of the morning (if they want) to observe nesting exercise.
- Performed with specialists in invasive species from all over the world, the Tetiaroa Society has succeeded in eradicating rats from the atoll to guard endemic species.
- An modern challenge carried out with the Louis Mallardé Institute of Tahiti, which consists in releasing sterilized males on the atoll, has succeeded in controlling the mosquito inhabitants on the island.

CONS & THINGS TO KNOW

The Brando’s non-public islet is surrounded by a pristine white sand seaside, however there are a variety of seashells on the seaside and the standard of the seaside is determined by the situation. Probably the most lovely seaside is the one on the dawn aspect of the island. Known as Mermaid Bay, it options softer sand, seems out of over the ridiculously blue lagoon, and the waters are shallow (good for wading & swimming). Nonetheless, it may be extraordinarily windy right here in the course of the drier and cooler winter months (June to September). For sundown views, nice snorkeling and fewer wind, Turtle Seaside on the island’s different aspect is greatest, although it options extra rocky coral and wading sneakers are really useful. No matter these minor variations, The Brando is gorgeous and breathtaking in both location, and the island is just not that large, so you’ll be able to simply stroll from Mermaid Bay to Turlte Seaside or vice versa.

While The Brando has performed a superb job at eradicating mosquitos from the island, bear in mind that there could be some flies round, which tend to hover across the dishes throughout breakfast and lunch (the flies miraculously disappear after sundown). I hope that The Brando may discover a strategy to management these flies within the close to future since they are often fairly annoying.

Touring to The Brando generally is a lengthy journey relying on the place you might be coming from. And there’s just one service – Air Tetiaroa – that flies into and out of the Tetiaroa Atoll, both from Bora Bora (as soon as every week; a one hour flight) or Tahiti (two occasions a day; a 20 min flight). The flight schedule of Air Tetiaria (throughout day gentle hours solely) is just not all the time in tune with the arrival and departures occasions of worldwide flights, so most stays at The Brando will contain a layover of some hours or a full day, both previous to or after your vacation. For a greater expertise throughout a layover in Tahiti, the resort gives a ‘Transit Bundle’ on the InterContinental Tahiti Resort (topic to availability) together with lodging & shared floor transfers between airport & resort.

MY VERDICT

Location: 10/10
Design: 9/10
Pool: 9/10
Rooms: 9/10
Meals: 9/10
Breakfast: 9/10
Spa: 10/10
Service: 9/10
Worth for cash: 9/10
General expertise: distinctive 9,2/10

TIPS FOR FUTURE GUESTS & SAVE MONEY

Get monetary savings: get complimentary VIP perks at The Brando when reserving by way of Virtuoso (e.g. improve, every day breakfast, early check-in, late check-out, and $100 Euro meals & beverage credit score).

Get monetary savings: learn right here my ideas for getting the very best deal at a luxurious resort like The Brando (and/or obtain many free perks).

Room tip: For sundown views and nice snorkeling, although with extra rocky corals, the villas on Turtle Seaside are the very best. In the event you favor a comfortable sandy seaside and calm shallow waters, the villas at Mermaid Bay are a lot better.

Learn my ideas for getting ready your journey in time.

BEST TIME TO VISIT

French Polynesia is greatest visited between June and September when the local weather is at its driest and the climate is balmy (however windy). Nevertheless, that is excessive season, so it will likely be busy and the resort charges are skyrocketing. The months on both aspect of this era (Could & October) are often called the shoulder season and supply comfy climate too, however with decrease costs and fewer wind. Though French Polynesia may be visited year-round, the months of November to April deliver extra humidity and cloudy days, with tropical showers passing at larger frequency than different occasions of the yr. Nevertheless, they’re typically interspersed with intervals of sunshine. It is a humid time of yr, although, which may be uncomfortable and I like to recommend selecting a resort with A/C if visiting throughout these months. The islands hardly ever undergo from tropical storms besides throughout years when El Niño impacts ocean currents.

HOW TO GET THERE

Airways from all over the world supply direct flights to Faa’a Worldwide Airport in Papeete, Tahiti. From Tahiti it’s a brief however spectacular 20 minute flight to Tetiaroa onboard Air Tetiaroa; the flight from Bora Bora takes one hour. The resort’s reservation brokers will prepare this portion of the journey with you.