Efate in Vanuatu: Port Vila, the Sealed Ring Road and Getting Around

Where most arrivals begin

Efate holds Port Vila, the capital, the international airport and the large majority of the country's accommodation and services. It is the easiest island in Vanuatu to move around: a sealed ring road runs the whole way round, and the circuit can be driven in a few hours.

Port Vila

The town sits on a sheltered bay on the south-west coast, built around a harbour with Iririki Island in the middle of it. The market is the practical centre of the place and runs through the week. What there is to do in and around the town is set out in things to do in Port Vila.

Around the ring road

Mele Cascades sit a short drive north of town — a series of terraced pools with a waterfall at the top. Further round, the north and east coasts carry reef-fringed bays, blue holes and villages where the pace drops sharply from the capital.

Roi Mata

Efate's north-west corner and the islands off it hold Chief Roi Mata's Domain, the country's first UNESCO World Heritage site. It covers the chief's residence, the place of his death on Lelepa and his burial site on Artok.

The ring road

Efate is circled by a sealed road of about 130 kilometres, completed in its current form in 2010 and the single thing that most changes what a visitor can do here. The circuit takes three to four hours of driving without stops and a full day with them. It is also the course of the Round Island Relay.

The capital in context

The capital holds roughly 50,000 people, the international airport, the parliament and most of the country’s hotels. It sits on a deep natural harbour with Iririki island in the middle. Everything a visitor is likely to want in town is set out in things to do in Port Vila.

Around the island

Mele Cascades, fifteen minutes north of town, is a terraced waterfall with pools that can be climbed to the main fall. The east coast carries blue holes — smaller than Santo’s but easier to reach — and Eton Beach. The north has Havannah Harbour, used as an American anchorage during the war and now the quiet end of the island.

The Roi Mata sites

The north-west corner and the islands off it hold Chief Roi Mata’s Domain, inscribed by UNESCO in 2008 as Vanuatu’s first World Heritage site. Visits are arranged through the communities of Mangaliliu and Lelepa, who hold the site.

Getting around

Minibuses go where the passengers aboard are going and are flagged down; agree the fare first. Car hire is straightforward and is what makes the ring road worth having. Driving is on the right.

The rest of Shefa

Efate is the largest island in Shefa province, but the province also covers the Shepherd Islands to the north — Emae, Tongoa, Tongariki and the rest — and Nguna and Pele close offshore. Nguna and Pele are reached by boat in under an hour from the north coast and have village-run bungalows and marine conservation areas.

What 2015 did

Cyclone Pam crossed Efate in March 2015 as a category five system and damaged or destroyed a large proportion of the housing and infrastructure on the island. Recovery shaped a great deal of what a visitor now sees, including building standards and the position of the seafront market. It is also the reference point locals use when discussing the cyclone season.

Nguna, Pele and the north

Off the north coast, Nguna and Pele are reached by boat in well under an hour and carry village-run bungalows, walking to a volcanic summit on Nguna and marine protected areas that have been running long enough to show results. They are the easiest way to see village Vanuatu without a domestic flight.

Where people actually live

Around three-quarters of Efate’s population is in and around Port Vila, and the villages around the ring road are small. The distinction matters for a visitor: outside the capital the island is rural, shops are few, and fuel stations are spaced further apart than the distances suggest.