Vanuatu Travel Basics: Money, Time, Power, Health and Getting Around

Money

The currency is the vatu (VUV). It carries no subdivision — there are no cents — so prices are quoted in whole numbers and look larger than they are. Cards are accepted in Port Vila and Luganville; outside those two towns, cash is the assumption.

Time and power

Vanuatu Time is UTC+11 with no daylight saving. Mains power is 220–240V at 50Hz with Australian-style flat three-pin sockets.

Getting online

Mobile coverage is good around the main towns and patchy elsewhere. Local SIMs are sold at the airport and in town. On the outer islands, assume that data is intermittent and that arrangements made by message may not arrive.

Health

Malaria is present, more so in the north than the south, and prophylaxis is a matter for a travel clinic before departure. Dengue occurs. Tap water is treated in Port Vila; elsewhere it depends on the supply.

Departure

International departure tax is included in ticket prices. Domestic flights have their own, smaller charge.

Cash in practice

ATMs exist in Port Vila and Luganville and nowhere else that can be relied on. Outer-island guesthouses, boat operators and village fees are cash transactions, and there is no way to draw money once you have left the two towns. The working assumption is to carry what the trip needs plus a margin, in small notes.

Australian dollars are accepted in some tourist-facing businesses in the capital at a rate that favours the business. Changing money at a bank or a bureau is better.

Getting around

In Port Vila, minibuses marked with a B run on demand: you flag one, say where you are going, and it takes a path that suits everyone aboard. Fares are fixed and low. Taxis are marked with a T and the fare is agreed before setting off.

Car hire is available on Efate and Santo. Driving is on the right, a legacy of the French half of the joint administration, and an international permit alongside a home licence is the usual requirement.

Safety

Vanuatu has low levels of violent crime by most measures. Opportunistic theft occurs in the towns. The genuine risks are environmental — sea conditions, unlit roads at night, and the cyclone season — not criminal.

Etiquette

Dress modestly away from resorts, particularly for women and particularly in villages. Ask before photographing people. Land is owned by someone everywhere in Vanuatu, including beaches and bush that look public, and walking across it is done by permission.

Phones and power

Two operators cover the country with reasonable urban coverage and patchy rural service. Prepaid SIMs are cheap and sold at the airport. Power is 220–240V with Australian-style plugs, and outer-island guesthouses often run generators for part of the evening only.

Health services

Vila Central Hospital and Northern Provincial Hospital in Luganville are the two referral hospitals. Outer islands have health centres and aid posts with limited supplies and no surgical capacity. Medical evacuation to Australia or New Zealand is the realistic response to anything serious, and insurance that covers it is not optional for a trip that leaves Efate.

Decompression

There is no recompression chamber in Vanuatu. A diving injury means evacuation, which is a further reason the operators on Santo run conservative profiles and staged progressions on the Coolidge.

Tipping and prices

Tipping is not customary and is in some contexts mildly awkward. Prices in tourist-facing businesses in Port Vila are high by regional standards, reflecting that almost everything is imported. Market food is cheap; anything in a box is not.

Sundays

Vanuatu is substantially Christian and Sunday is observed. Shops close, transport thins and villages expect quiet. Planning a Sunday around church, rest or a beach instead of around logistics avoids a frustrating day.