Aitutaki (Cook Islands): Although it is now one of the hottest destinations in the South Pacific, the little island of Aitutaki is still very much old Polynesia, with most of its residents still farming and fishing for a living. The crystal-clear lagoon is something to behold.
Levuka (Ovalau Island, Fiji): No other town has remained the same after a century as has Levuka, Fiji's first European-style town and its original colonial capital in the 1870s. The dramatic cliffs of Ovalau Island hemmed in the town and prevented growth, so the government moved to Suva in 1882. Levuka looks very much as it did then, with a row of clapboard general stores along picturesque Beach Street.
Large and abundant, Tahiti is the modern traveler's gateway to French Polynesia, just as it was for the late 18th-century discoverers who used it as a natural base to explore the South Pacific. In later years, the capital city, Papeete, became a major shipping crossroads. Located on Tahiti's northwest corner, the city curves around one of the region's busiest harbors.
