Nuku Hiva

The Marquesas are unlike the rest of French Polynesia: no encircling reef, no turquoise lagoon, just volcanic islands dropping straight into deep ocean with surf against black cliffs and valleys cut so steeply that villages sit isolated from one another. Nuku Hiva is the largest, with the administrative centre at Taiohae on a horseshoe bay. In the valleys are me'ae, sacred stone platforms with tiki figures carved in red tuff, some of the largest in Polynesia, at Hikokua and Kamuihei among others. Hakaui valley holds Vaipo, one of the highest waterfalls in the world, reached by boat and then a wade up the riverbed. Horses run half-wild across the high plateau.

What you actually see

• Hikokua and Kamuihei - sacred stone platforms with tiki and banyan trees.
• Vaipo waterfall - a very high fall in Hakaui valley, reached by boat and river walk.
• Taiohae bay - the horseshoe harbour and the cathedral with Marquesan carving.
• The Toovii plateau - high grassland and pine with half-wild horses.

When to go

April to October is drier. The Marquesan arts festival, held every few years and rotating between islands, is the cultural event worth planning a trip around. Flights are limited and expensive.

Honest expectations

This is expensive and slow to reach, and the islands are for hiking, archaeology and landscape rather than beaches; anyone expecting Bora Bora will be baffled. Roads are steep four-wheel-drive tracks and most visitors hire a driver. Nono flies, biting sandflies, are a genuine problem on some beaches. Accommodation is a handful of pensions and one small hotel.

Nearby

Hiva Oa, where Gauguin is buried, is a short flight south; Tahiti is the hub.