Shopping in Tahiti

Pape'ete is the place to shop for everything from the hippest Tahitian shirt to souvenirs such as pareos, Marquesan carved bowls, ukuleles, baskets, woven hats, tikis, and monoi oil, which are all available in the public market. There are plenty of boutiques along Boulevard Pomare and in Centre Vaima and Fare Tony, and dozens of pearl shops, which seem to never close. Galleries have exquisite wooden items and paintings. There is little outside the capital, save for a few stores in local shopping malls and the museum gift shops on the west coast.