Vanuatu

After a family wedding in Australia, Ellie (my sister) & I were trying to figure out where we should go to tack onto the trip since we already were so far from home (California). We looked up where in the South Pacific Sydney flies direct to and we discovered Vanuatu. Admittedly I don’t either of us had heard of it, but it’s always fun to go to very unknown, off the beaten path places. Also we love checking off new countries together!

PRO TIPS:

  • Google where it is on the globe!
  • Get some cash from an ATM at the airport or in town. Most places charge a fee for using a credit card so it’s best to have cash.
  • We got our visas on arrival.
  • Decide if you want to go to multiple islands or just the main one of Efate. We had hoped to visit Santo and/or Tanna (hence why we booked 10 days), but the internal airlines had imploded the year prior and their website didn’t allow for booking. As such we decided to just stay on the main island for some R&R. When we arrived we were told we could book flights right at the airport, but we didn’t know this ahead of time and were stressed about booking accommodation without knowing the reliability of the flights.
  • After the earthquake in Dec ’24, a lot of the downtown of the capital city of Port Villa was still closed off. Many of the buildings collapsed and will take months if not years to rebuild it. It didn’t really affect our stay in Vanuatu as we mostly spent our time at our hotels.
  • Before booking your stay, I would recommend poking around on Reddit for an up to date status of the island as things continue to be evolving and if we had understood all the dynamics, we likely would’ve booked a shorter stay.
  • If you aren’t going to multiple islands, I would say that 5-6 days is plenty for Efate. We didn’t find there to be too much to do so this would be sufficient time for relaxing as well as doing some snorkeling or visiting the Blue Lagoon.

ISLAND: EFATE

HOW LONG: 3 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

My sister, Ellie, & I split our time between two hotels. One was more budget friendly and one was our splurge.

Hotel #1 was Banana Bay Beach Club. This was our budget friendly option as it was a small hotel in a remote part of the island (only $65 per night). It was a trek to get out there and there wasn’t much to do outside of visiting the blue lagoon, but we didn’t mind. The hotel is built around this lovely private lagoon that acts as a swimming hole. We loved it! We basically spent all day going in and out of the ocean for dips to cool off. There was also a spot you could jump into the lagoon from above. There were very few other guests so it felt like we had the place to ourselves. The Aussie couple who run it were very quirky but also laid back. There is a small restaurant onsite where we ate each dinner as there are no other restaurants in the area. The room was nice, but basic. There was a mosquito net which helped with the bugs. No AC, but the fan worked decently well. We felt very safe and the staff were kind.

Hotel #2 was Mangoes Resort. This was our “splurge” at $150 per night. Our room had a private pool & full kitchen/living room. There was also a gym + 5 pools around the property, including a stunning infinity pool at the sister property next door, which you have access to. It was also closer to town & the airport.

WHERE TO EAT:

We actually made most of our meals for ourselves! Between oatmeal at the first hotel for breakfast & buying groceries for our meals at the second (yay for the kitchen in our unit) we only ate 2 meals outside of our hotels.

We had dinner at the Beach Bay before the famous Fire Show on Fridays. The pizza is fantastic!

Our last evening we walked to the Port Vila Burger and had a delicious burger.

Homemade pasta!
Port Villa Burger

WHAT TO DO:

We chose the workout, eat, read, swim, repeat vacation, but there are some things to do on the island.

The two activities we did:

  • Visit the beautiful blue lagoon. Pro tip: go to the second entrance as it’s cheaper & it was the best of the three options. Bring sunscreen, swimsuit, & water with you. There aren’t any food options so feel free to bring snacks with you. We stayed for 3 hours and since we went early, we had it to ourselves for about half of that.

  • See the Fire Show at Beach Bay on a Friday night. It’s a fantastic performance with fire, acrobatics, & music. The show is free but have your accommodation make you a reservation for a table for dinner beforehand. Bring cash for a tip for the performers!

We also had some fabulous $30 massages! We ended up getting them 3 days in a row haha.

Other options for what to do:

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

We liked Vanuatu but I wouldn’t say we fell in love with it if I am being honest. Unless you are someone living in Australia (where Vanuatu is a fairly easy holiday destination), I wouldn’t say you need to go out of your way to get here for a visit. You are better off heading to Indonesia, The Philippines, Fiji or French Polynesia. The infrastructure is sorely lacking & the interactions we had with the hotel staff were quite odd & sometimes difficult. Ellie & I always have a blast together so we still enjoyed our time here, but it had less to do with Vanuatu itself. I am very glad I came here with Ellie as this would not have been a fun place to be solo. We barely met anyone while here. It was a bit of a ghost town. I can confidently say (for many reasons) that I don’t think I’ll ever be back here in my lifetime.

BUDGET FOR 10 DAYS IN VANUATU:

Honestly I was expecting to spend more money here as it’s a tiny island that has to import most goods. I thought it would be closer to Fiji prices than Bali prices. All in all, it was fairly economical. Although it certainly helped that we didn’t do much while here. Reading your book & swimming is free!

  • Accommodation: $570 ($57 per night) – My half of the hotel rooms
  • Food: $108
  • Groceries: $37
  • Activities: $8
  • Local Transportation: $80
  • Miscellaneous: $174 (massages + postcards + gifts)

Total: $977 (Daily average: $97.7)

Transportation to next destination: $350 for roundtrip flights from Sydney, Australia

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