The hotel was absolutely perfect our entire stay. The second we arrived, the hotel gave us free welcome drinks (whatever we wanted). Our room was so pretty, and the hotel acknowledged our honeymoon by giving us a small bottle of Nicolas Feuillatte. The food is incredible- the chef is extremely talented and each course was just as beautiful as it was tasty. There aren't too many rooms at the resort, so it is very quiet and an amazing destination for a honeymoon. The motu is so gorgeous and fun to explore. Highly, highly recommended. If we get the chance to visit French Polynesia again, we would return to La Pirogue.

We stayed here for three nights and thoroughly enjoyed our time. The hotel is located on its own private island, and it was awesome to have the experience of really getting away from it all. The rooms are certainly "rustic", with simple furnishings, mosquito nets, and no AC, but this really adds to the experience. The bathrooms were quite nice, and the room was certainly clean.

The beach in front of the hotel is okay, the sea floor is littered with sea slugs(not dangerous, just a little disgusting to step on) which can be annoying when trying to wade out. The kayaking(free to rent) was fantastic though, and I definitely recommend getting out on the water to kayak by beautiful abandoned beaches.

The food was fantastic, especially considering how it was such a small hotel, virtually everything we had we thoroughly enjoyed.

My main pet peeve about the hotel is that they charge you for water. You can't drink the tap water, which forces you to buy bottle water, and charging $5 a bottle is a little much. Our family was forced to pay probably over a $100 for water, which is why I definitely would recommend purchasing water before heading out.

All in all, I would recommend this hotel to others, although for how simply the room was, it was incredibly expensive, similar in cost to the floating palaces we stayed on in Bora Bora.

I've been saving this review for last because I wanted to spend some time on it. It seems not many Americans go here and some of them have had different expectations. We went to Bora Bora and stayed in an overwater bungalow after staying here, and while the overwater bungalow was amazing and one of the main reasons for going to Tahiti, I would have to say it is a coin toss between which we liked more--Hotel La Pirogue or the overwater bungalow at the Intercontinental.

When we arrived Julian the owner greeted us with flower leis and a welcome drink of our choice. He explained everything about the hotel and showed us the activity book and showed us our bungalow. There was a complimentary half bottle of real champagne for our honeymoon on our front deck. He speaks good English, and we didn't speak any French. This wasn't a problem, but we did use our French/English dictionary quite a bit to decipher the menu, and the staff doesn't speak much English. They were all very polite and you can get by by learning a few key words and phrases and pointing to things. Everyone there at the hotel was French or Italian.

Our bungalow was adorable, and adorned with flowers everywhere. There was a fridge, hot water maker for tea or the complimentary nescafe packets, a TV (all French channels) and items for sale in the minibar. We brought our own snacks, wine, and booze with us so we were able to save money that way. We also had the half board plan (breakfast and dinner included) which I recommend. The breakfast is the same every day--ham and cheese slices, baguette slices, croissants, really good French butter, jams, fruit, cereal, and yogurt. Coffee, tea, or hot chocolate is offered. The dinners are three course gourmet meals cooked by Julian himself and are the best food we had during our entire stay. We stayed for four nights and enjoyed everything. You each get to pick an appetizer, entree, and dessert. We ended up sharing one dessert or skipping it because we were so full most times. Lunch is served a la carte, and we got a few lunches while we were there and the best deal is the casse croute sandwiches and fries. One sandwich and order of fries was more than enough for the both of us to share, and was about $12-$15. There were other more expensive things on the menu but the sandwich and fries were very good and if you are on a budget and like to eat lunch, I would recommend it. The crab sandwich is fake crab however, and was good but a bit disappointing considering all the crabs in the area. We didn't see much real crab while we were there, and I'm not sure why.

They have kayaks available for guest use for free, and I think they have snorkel gear too, but we brought our own. Beach towels are also complimentary. They have a bar that serves very nice looking cocktails, beers, and wine. We didn't order the cocktails because we brought our own and were on a budget, but they looked delicious. Cocktails were about $15-$20 each, beers were about $6 each. There was an extensive wine list.
There is also internet available. You pay a flat fee of $20 or so for your bungalow (not per person) and it is unlimted during your stay.

If I had one suggestion for improvement it would be DVD players in the bungalows. We brought a bunch of DVDs with us that we watched in Bora Bora, but it would have been cool to be able to watch them there too. It wasn't a big deal though. We brought books and relaxed most of the time. We kayaked a little bit, we wanted to explore some of the other motus but soon realized they were all private property. We did see a few sting rays though. The lagoon is beautiful. There isn't much snorkeling, however--not much coral. It isn't totally sandy though. We brought aqua sox which came in handy because there are some sharp pieces of coral and lots of sea cucumbers in the lagoon. The sea cucumbers don't hurt you or anything, they're just squishy and we felt bad stepping on them, not to mention it is a gross sensation. They look like big turds.

We did one excursion through the hotel--they have several, you can just book when you get there and they add the cost to your room tab that you pay when you check out. We did the half day tour to a vanilla plantation and a pearl farm, and snorkeling. It was the best tour of our honeymoon. The lady who ran the organic vanilla plantation was awesome. You can tell she runs the show in her family. We really enjoyed her tour and bought a few of her vanilla products. The pearl farm was short and sweet, but very interesting. The snorkeling in the coral gardin was great, although it was a bit shallow and we ended up getting stuck between the coral a few times trying to navigate our way out. My husband was paranoid about the sea urchins sticking out from under rocks--apparently they have a painful sting. We didn't get stung though, it was fine. Our guide was great. He told us a bit about local life.

Overall, I would 100% recommend this place to anyone looking for a relaxed rural getaway in a lovely private island location. If you are a resort type of person that wants to find the United States in Tahiti and have everything cater to your culture, then skip it. Bring snacks, booze, lots of sunscreen, reef shoes, a few good books, a French/English phrase book, and a camera and enjoy. Thank you to Julian and his lovely wife for a fantastic stay.

Stayed here in July. Since there arent very many english comments I decided to post mine. We arrived in the big island of Tahiti at 5am. We had to wait around until noon to catch our flight to Tahaa. Most shops dont open until around 9am in Tahiti. There is absolutely nothing to do at the airport. If you know in advance that you are going to be stuck at the airport for a couple of hours it is best to bring snacks to eat as we did because the food around the place isnt great. If the bank isnt open to exchange your money there is a machine that will exchange your money. It's an ATM that pretty much takes all currencies and exchanges them to tahitian currency. It's pretty cool.
Moving on....Tahaa does not have an airport so you have to fly into Raiatea which is about a 40 minute flight. You then take a boat from there straight to the hotel. The boat ride should be arranged in advance with sabrina so that they are waiting for you at the airport. The boat ride is about 40 minutes mostly because its not a big boat.
As you arrive at the hotel the owner Sabrina is waiting to welcome you. She serves you a drink and while you relax at the bar she explains the information to you. Walks you to your room.
About the hotel....There are nine rooms total. A few garden rooms and a few ocean front rooms. We were room #1 which is the very first room you see on the right as you step onto the dock. The dining area is set with 9 tables. The blue pacific ocean is on the back side of the island. You hear it but cant see it unless you walk over to it. It's kind of strange to hear the pounding waves from one side of the island and the mellow waves from in front of the room.
About the rooms....Our room was very clean. They leave a broom in the room in case you want to brush the sand out. It's hard not to track sand into the room. The bed was very comfortable. There is a net around the bed to keep insects out while you sleep. We tucked in the net all around the bed to make sure no mosquitos got in. The hot water was good and the water pressure good. There were ants all over the bathroom sink. However, we had taken insect repellent and sprayed all around. We threw away all the flowers which I think attracts them as well. After spraying we hardly saw any ants for the remainder of our trip. My husband got bit by mosquitos. They love his sweet blood. I would say I got bit once or twice at the most. I also wore long pants to bed. I think even though you have the net they will still find you especially those tiny ones you dont see.
One day we did take the kayak out to explore around. That was fun. Kayaking isnt easy but the waves arent pounding in that area so it's much easier than you could imagine. On another day we rented a dune buggy and drove all around the big Tahaa island. There isnt much going on in Tahaa but it was something to do. We had a picnic at one of the many picnic benches that you see as you drive around. There are a few little markets around the island so you can buy water and other stuff. You also have a choice of doing all day excursions, or renting jet skis. We also did a small tour of the vanilla plantation. It isnt big so it's about a 1/2 hour tour. We bought some vanilla beans and honey. I dont think the vanilla beans are legal to cross in the US but everybody on the island will assure you that it's okay so that you buy from them.
The weather was pleasant when we were there. It did rain a few times but the showers are very quick. The showers roll through and last about 10-20 minutes and it would clear up right away.
The food at the one and only restaurant is very good especially in the evening when the chef is there. The morning breakfast consists of breads, cheese, ham, cereal, fruit and fruit drinks. Lunch has a full menu and is served from 11-2pm. Dinner is a full menu and is served from 7-9pm. There is a bar there so you can order drinks if you'd like.
Overall our trip was very pleasant and I would recommend this place to anyone. My husband and I arent ones to lay around for too long so we got antsy. By the third night we were more than ready to leave. From here we were on our way to Bora Bora. We had to go back by boat to the airport and take a short flight to Bora Bora.