Nuku Hiva

Nuku Hiva is the largest island of the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia, featuring steep interior ridges, deep bays and high coastal cliffs. The island’s main settlement is Taiohae on a sheltered bay, which functions as the administrative and transport centre.

Visitors are drawn to the dramatic coastline, archaeological tiki and marae sites, hiking routes into forested interior valleys and the viewpoints above Taiohae Bay. The island’s terrain includes peaks rising over 1,200 m and deep river-cut valleys that descend to the sea.

Nuku Hiva was settled by Polynesian peoples centuries before European contact and later became noted in 18th- and 19th-century European navigation accounts. Traditional culture and archaeological sites remain important features of the island’s identity.

Geographically the island sits in the northern Marquesas group in the eastern Pacific Ocean; its main harbour at Taiohae provides the usual point of arrival by sea or the island’s small airport.

• Access point: Taiohae is the principal village and harbour, with regular inter-island boat and limited air connections to other parts of French Polynesia.
• Geography and heritage: The island is the largest of the Marquesas group, with deep bays, high sea cliffs and numerous archaeological sites from pre-European Polynesian settlement.

What to See #

• Taiohae: Taiohae Bay and village - the main settlement and harbour on the island, serving as the administrative and transport hub.
• Mount Tekao: Mount Tekao - the island's highest point rising over 1,200 m and visible from most parts of the island.