InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa

Set on Motu Piti Aau, a coral islet across the lagoon from Bora Bora's main island, the InterContinental Thalasso arranges its overwater villas so that Mount Otemanu—the basalt tooth at the island's heart—fills the view from bed, bathtub and deck. Since opening in 2006 it has been one of the lagoon's definitive addresses, and its glass-floored, solar-conscious villas remain among French Polynesia's most polished.

The resort's engineering is quietly famous: a pioneering system draws cold water from the deep ocean to air-condition the property, and the same source feeds the Deep Ocean Spa, where thalassotherapy treatments and glass-floored treatment rooms turn the lagoon itself into part of the therapy. It was among the first spas of its kind in the South Pacific and is still the flagship wellness experience on the island.

Days revolve around the lagoon: snorkelling straight off the villa deck, dives and ray-and-shark excursions, paddleboarding the turquoise shallows. Dinner moves between a sand-floored grill and a refined lagoon-view restaurant, with Polynesian dance nights marking the week. Honeymooners dominate, and rightly so—the Otemanu sunset from a villa deck here is the image most people carry of Bora Bora before they ever arrive.