Last Thursday, Adele (a friend from my university) arrived in Tahiti to also have an internship in Papeete. I went to visit her during my week end, and so I spent 24 hours in the city.
There is two different boats company to make this trip. One takes about 30 minutes, and the other one takes about an hour. This is really convenient, but you have to know the departure hours before going to the peer. Otherwise, sometimes you'll have to wait for two hours because there is no boat.
Then, when getting off the boat in Papeete, you have all the shops and restaurants no further than 5 minutes away by foot.
I was a bit disapointed, Papeete look like a busy city, with stressed people, heat and pollution. There is no beach, you'll have to get a car and make about 10km to find the closest one, with black sand. I really felt disconnected with this life, and didn't really enjoy my time there. I was hopping to have a good shopping session, but couldn't find something cheap or affordable. All the joy and kindness of Polynesian People I felt in Moorea, I really didn't feel it at all in Papeete.
This is clearly not the image we have from Tahiti, but Papeete is one of the biggest city in Polynesia, so we could understand this situation.
For people travelling to French Polynesia, I would recommand this city to only be a short stop (no more than 2 or 3 days) on arrival (to get a rest after the flight) or on departure (to buy souvenirs). The market and all the shops around are good and well furnished for shopping lovers.
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