Click HERE for a map of Hiva Oa

Hiva Oa is the 2nd largest island in the Marquesas Islands, and the largest in the southern group.  The island is known for is wild and rugged landscape, with high mountain ridges, deep green valleys, cascading waterfalls and lush tropical jungle.  The mountain ridges run all the way to the ocean and create fingers into the sea, with sheltered coves in between, with towering cliffs or small black sandy beaches into shallow water to explore.  Roaming the valleys and mountain forests are wild Marquesan horses, as they have been for hundreds of years.

Hiva Oa is a 3 hour flight from Tahiti, and as such, has not had the influx of modern visitors that some of the more popular society Islands have had over the last 150 years.  Their isolation has contributed to a unique and ancient dialect, and a traditional culture barely unchanged for more than a century.  The proud people of the Marquesas are happy to share their culture and their islands, and appreciate it when you respect them and their traditional customs.

The beautiful island was the last home of the famous French painter, Paul Gauguin, and he is buried in calvary Cemetery, overlooking the coastline and town of Atuona.