Pension Ariitere

The pool sits shallow, just over a metre deep, ringed by a garden thick with flowers. Pension Ariitere is a small guesthouse on Huahine, in French Polynesia's Leeward Islands, set back from the road so that the loudest sound most afternoons is the water itself. It holds three bungalows and two rooms, each with a private bathroom; the bungalows add a kitchenette and a terrace. Fare, the island's main village, lies 500 metres off, a walk of about ten minutes past the harbour and its shops. The white sand beach is closer still, roughly 200 metres away as the crow flies. You can reach it on foot in five minutes, kayaks included with the stay. Children have learned to swim here in the shallow end while parents watch from the garden chairs. Huahine itself splits into two islands joined by a bridge, Nui to the north and Iti to the south, both reachable by rental car for day trips to marae sites, a pearl farm and a vanilla plantation inland. Breakfast is not included. It is a plain, compact base, built for travellers who want the beach and the town close and the rest of the island within an easy drive.