South Pacific · 83 islands
Vanuatu Tourism and Travel Guide: Islands, Things to Do, When to Go
Vanuatu is a chain of some 83 islands running about 1,300 kilometres down the south-western Pacific, between the Solomon Islands and New Caledonia. Roughly 65 are inhabited. The country sits on an active subduction zone, which is why it has nine active volcanoes, frequent earthquakes and a coastline that is still being rearranged.
The islands, north to south
Distance matters here in a way it does not in most island countries. Moving between the islands of Vanuatu means flights, boats and weather, not a bridge. The chain below runs in geographic order, from the Torres group in the north to Aneityum in the south.
Things to do across Vanuatu
If you want the short version first, there are nine interesting facts about Vanuatu and six natural attractions worth the journey. The things to do in Vanuatu divide roughly into three. There is the volcanic landscape — Yasur on Tanna, the Marum and Benbow craters on Ambrym, the ash plains and hot springs that come with an active arc. There is the water: reef passages, blue holes on Espiritu Santo, and the wreck of the SS President Coolidge, a troopship that went down in 1942 and is now among the most reachable large wreck dives anywhere.
And there is kastom — the body of local rule, knowledge and ceremony that governs land, knowledge and participation island by island. It is not a performance laid on for visitors, and access is negotiated locally. The land-diving ceremony on Pentecost is the best known example outside the country.
Nearly all of it starts from the capital, and the market, the handicraft stalls and the day trips around the Efate ring road are set out in what there is to do in Port Vila.
When to go: seasons, cyclones and festivals
The dry season runs from about May to October and is the usual answer to when to go — lower humidity, steadier seas, better visibility underwater. The wet season, November to April, is also the cyclone season, and it carries a real risk of disruption.
Two fixed points are worth planning around. The land-diving season on Pentecost falls between April and June, tied to the yam harvest rather than the calendar. And Fest'Napuan, the country's main music festival, is held in Port Vila in October.
The detail sits in when to visit, and the entry requirements in visas and entry.
A travel guide built from the archipelago itself
Vanuatu tourism concentrates on a handful of things the archipelago does that nowhere else does — a drive-up active volcano, a wreck dive inside recreational limits, a land dive tied to the yam harvest — and this travel guide is organised the way the country is rather than the way a brochure is: by island, by the culture that holds it together, and by the history that produced a republic out of a joint Anglo-French administration in 1980. The practical pages carry what a visitor has to settle before arriving; the rest is reference.
The learning section is written for school use, at the level a geography or social-studies class works at. Read as a travel guide the site answers what there is to see and when to go; read as a reference it answers why any of it is there. The things to do are listed island by island.
The country in one paragraph
Vanuatu is a republic of about 320,000 people occupying a chain of some 83 islands in the south-western Pacific. It became independent in 1980 after 74 years of joint Anglo-French rule, it has no land border with anyone, and it carries more languages per head of population than any other country on earth. It is also, by most published rankings, the most disaster-exposed place in the world — a consequence of sitting on an active subduction zone in the cyclone belt.
What a trip here usually looks like
Almost everyone arrives at Port Vila on Efate, spends a night or two and then flies on. The two most common onward legs are Tanna for the volcano and Espiritu Santo for the wreck and the blue holes. A week covers Efate plus one of them; two weeks covers both without hurrying.
Going further — Malakula, Ambrym, the Banks group — means accepting that the domestic schedule is an intention, not a promise, and building slack into the plan accordingly.
Arrangements made with a community
Where something has to be arranged with the people who hold it — a kastom village, a land dive, a walk across someone’s land — the page says so, because in Vanuatu that is the actual answer and not a formality.
Common questions
Where is Vanuatu?
In the south-western Pacific, about 1,750 kilometres east of northern Australia and 500 north-east of New Caledonia. The chain runs roughly 1,300 kilometres north to south.
How many islands does Vanuatu have?
About 83, of which roughly 65 are inhabited, across six provinces. See the islands.
When is the best time to go?
May to October, the dry season. The wet season from November to April is also the cyclone season — see when to visit.
Do you need a visa for Vanuatu?
Most Western nationalities are admitted on arrival for a 30-day tourist stay. See visas and entry.
What language do they speak?
Bislama is the national language and is shared by everyone. English and French are also official, and around 113 indigenous languages are spoken — see Bislama.