Faa’a International Airport

We just got back from a wonderful trip to French Polynesia and got to spend some time in Faa’a International Airport (French Polynesia’s only international airport) on our departure. This airport was a mixed bag of pros and cons, but overall, we were pleasantly surprised by a few things and felt it warranted writing a review, especially if you’re visiting with young children! We didn’t have our two toddlers with us on this trip, but we’re always keeping an eye out for features that would make traveling somewhere easier with a family and wanted to share our findings with you in case you have a layover in Faa’a with kiddos or need to be there for a decent length of time before a flight.

Food

Access to food is always an important consideration when traveling with small kids and we’re happy to report you can buy snacks at some of the gift shops and a decent cafe with things like baked goods and sandwiches. We were also able to get coffee there for ourselves and you could get juice for kids. There is also a bar in the outdoor patio area that had snacks and fresh fruit for purchase on the counter. We did note that there were quite a few more food options landside after clearing security (including a McDonalds) so if you are spending time in Faa’a with your kiddos before a flight instead of a layover, you might want to bring some food with you through security.

*The cafe where we got some coffee and croissants. There were plenty of things our toddlers would have eaten too.*

*The bar where you could also grab some snacks for your kiddos if needed*

Bathrooms

There were two large bathrooms on the first floor that had baby changing tables, showers, and a blow dryer in the women’s bathroom! The shower was very basic, but if you had your own towel and soap or just needed to rinse a kiddo off after a poo explosion it would do the trick. I didn’t turn on the water to see if it gets hot, but nice to know it’s a potential option. A second set of bathrooms are located on the second floor by the children’s play area. We didn’t go into them but the signage seemed to indicate access to a family bathroom.

*The baby changing table in the women’s bathroom*

Shopping

I counted three gift shops that had a variety of goods but nothing really specific for children. That said, there were plenty of things young children would like to play with as non-toy “toys” are often their favorite thing anyways. If you wanted to do a little shopping there were plenty of Tahitian souvenirs with everything from their famous pearls to local carvings and paintings as well as some of your standard duty free items. The shops weren’t large but the variety was adequate.

*The largest of the duty free gift shops*

*A sample of the Tahitian pearl jewelry on offer*

Lounge Access

The Air Tahiti Nui Lounge is the only lounge in Faa’a International Airport. It can be accessed by business class passengers of Air Tahiti or business class from other other airlines, or for a fee (6000 XPF or approximately $57USD at the time of writing this) for economy class passengers on Air Tahiti. Priority Pass members are no longer allowed, so we weren’t able to visit since we didn’t meet any of the criteria. Regardless, I don’t think we would want to pay $57 to access this small lounge with a 2.6 star review on Google even if we had flown Air Tahiti! You can read a full review of the lounge here though with lots of pictures if you’re interesting in buying a pass or qualify for entry.

*No access to the Air Tahiti Nui Lounge for us but I don’t think we missed too much*

Work Space

If you need to get some work done, we were pleasantly surprised to find a workspace area upstairs that included desks with outlets and USB ports. Downstairs was busy, but we were literally the only people upstairs so it would have been a nice quiet place to work. If you have young children in tow, the brilliant thing about this workspace is that it’s right next to the children’s play area, so you can work on your own things if you want while still keeping an eye on them. They can’t leave the play area without walking right passed the workspace so it’s easy to keep tabs. The downside is if you don’t have children with you and there are kids playing, you might find it too noisy to work. That said, airports are usually inherently noisy places and nothing some good headphones can’t fix.

*The workspace with desks and outlets if you need to get some work done while still keeping tabs on your kids in the play area*

*The outlets also had USB chargers. They were a bit grimy but seemed to work.*

Children’s Play Area

Last but not least, the children’s play area! We were pleasantly surprised to see “Kids Area” on a sign and headed upstairs to check it out, which is how we also found the lounge and workspace. The play area is just past the workspace as described above, and right next to a bathroom, which was a good design choice as anyone who is potty training knows! The play area itself was pretty spacious and even though it didn’t have a ton of stuff, our 2-year-old and 4-year-old would have loved playing with everything that was there. It was very geared towards toddlers with large foam blocks of different shapes for building, balancing, and climbing, a small slide, and a wall mounted busy board. The coolest thing though was a kid friendly climbing wall with pads that would be fun for older kids too! This play area would probably hold children’s attention the best if you added a few of your own toys. For example, our son would have loved driving his Matchbox cars around in it.

*The play area in Faa’a International Airport is enclosed on three sides making it easier to keep track of your kids*

*Our littles would have loved playing with these blocks and the slide*

*The cool climbing wall! What a great idea for burning off pre-flight energy!*

Pros & Cons

Pros

Bathrooms with changing tables and showers
Family bathroom upstairs
Cafe airside with decent options for food and beverages where you order from the counter so don’t have to worry about sitting down and ordering food if you have restless kiddos in tow
Workspace with desks, outlets, and USB ports
Children’s play area geared towards toddlers, but also has a super cool climbing wall that older children would enjoy as well!

Cons

No air conditioning making it fairly warm and humid in the airport
Limited food options airside - just the single cafe, a bar, and a few snacks at one of the gift shops
Single small terminal so not much to explore if you have a really long layover
Only one lounge with poor reviews and pretty limited access

Final Thoughts

We thought Faa’a International Airport had some great family friendly features, despite being a small airport, that would make having a layover there with kids (or a long wait before a flight) quite tolerable. The children’s play area was an especially great feature and we thought it was actually a better play area than what we’ve seen in some large airports. It is, however, a really small airport and lacks air conditioning, which are probably the two biggest cons if you’re stuck there on a long layover. Final verdict though is that we wouldn’t be worried about having a layover there with our two toddlers!

Have you visited Faa’a International Airport with kids? We and our readers would love to hear about your experience, especially if you visited the Air Tahiti Nui Lounge as that’s something we weren’t able to do. Leave us a comment!

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