How to travel to the Pacific islands

Remote and far away from everything, the islands in the Pacific Ocean are a real dream for most travellers. Untouched corners of the world, only shown in documentaries and some luxury honeymoon destination magazines, these islands have a lot to be discovered. Unknown by many, countries like Tuvalu, Kiribati or Nauru are small atolls in the Pacific, only visited by a handful of visitors per year and reached by just few planes a week. If you want to travel to the Pacific Islands without spending a fortune, a careful planning is the key!

My 5 week travel itinerary to the Pacific Islands

Papua New Guinea: I spent 2 weeks exploring the Sepik River, Madang and Goroka, before heading back to Port Moresby. The most untouched country I’ve visited, with tribes, gangs and some insane traditions. Internal flights are operated by Air Niugini and PNG Airlines.

Solomon Islands: I flew to Honiara from Port Moresby with Air Niugini and I spent 5 days around Guadalcanal. Cool vibe, safer than PNG, with some nice beaches and wrecks from World War 2. Very expensive though.

Nauru: The least visited country in the world, getting a Visa took me 2 months. I flew from Kiribati with Nauru Airlines and I spent 2 days exploring such a weird country. In the middle of nowhere, it has some of the best sunsets of the Pacific. Check out my trip to Nauru!

Marshall Islands: It wasn’t in the original plan, I added it later after I got a free roundtrip ticket from Nauru Airlines. My least favourite country in the South Pacific: very expensive, unfriendly locals and with a dengue fever outbreak going on.

Tuvalu: Back in Kiribati for a night and then off to Tuvalu with Air Kiribati. Insane flight, I got to sit in the cockpit with the pilots! Tuvalu only has 3 flights a week and the runway is used by locals as a meet up point, to play football and volleyball and to sleep at night under the stars.

Fiji: I flew to Suva from Tuvalu with Fiji Airways. 2 days there and then I took the local bus to Nadi where I stayed almost a week. Different vibe than the other countries, Fiji is developed and it has many tourist. I think its overrated though, and very expensive for a backpacker.

Then I flew to New Zealand where I did a road trip for a month, but that will be in another article!

Plan it yourself

Don’t go to any travel agency to plan your trip to the Pacific Islands. They’ll ask you exaggerate fees as not much information is available online and they can raise prices as they wish. The scarce information available is usually the same you and them can access. Plus travel agencies don’t usually focus on the least known countries but only on the most famous ones (Fiji and French Polynesia mostly), so they know almost nothing about the other countries. Do it yourself, you will find more reliable info and it’ll save you a ton!

Plan it in advance

There are only a few small planes a week flying to certain destinations, so you are quite limited. If your flight is full you need to wait some more days. In the South Pacific you can’t find any low cost carrier or last minute deal. Do your research and book a couple of months in advance!

Be prepared to last minute changes

It is the South Pacific and you need to be ready for unexpected changes to your plan. Flight carriers could be unreliable and change the schedule for no reasons, the weather could turn bad and flights might get cancelled, and planes might have some technical issues and are not allowed to take off. You’ll realise things might not go exactly how you planned. However, they could even turn to be better.

– My flight from the Solomon Islands to Nauru got cancelled just a week before by Nauru Airlines, and that would ruin my whole schedule. I had to book another flight with Solomon Airlines and I was pissed off, but Nauru Airlines refunded me with a roundtrip ticket (they just cancelled a one way ticket) to the Marshall Islands which I wasn’t supposed to visit on this trip! That’s great!

– Another flight with Nauru Airlines had an emergency landing just 5 minutes after take-off. We had to go back to Nauru and we were stranded there for an extra day as they needed to replace a broken piece, coming from Australia the next day. So they Airline paid the hotel for the night, free shuttle, lunch and dinner at Nauru’s best restaurants. I had an extra day to explore the country, for free!

When to travel to the Pacific Islands?

Keep in mind that there are 2 seasons when you travel to the Pacific Islands:

• The Wet season falls between November and April, when it’s humid and sticky. It is the season of tropical cyclones (hurricanes), which can be devastating and should never be taken lightly. Prices are cheaper (expect for Christmas and New Year) and it is easier to find accommodation.

• The Dry season from May through to October brings milder temperatures and clearer skies. Flight and hotel prices are higher due to the larger request from tourists, and many hotels could be fully booked.

I suggest you the best period is in-between the 2 seasons, when you can get good prices without being too annoyed by the weather. I personally went in October-November and it was hot, sunny and humid, with just a few to no tourists around.

Do I need a Visa?

Only Nauru needs a Visa while all the other countries are Visa free for at least 30 days (it applies to European, North American and Australian citizens).

Getting a Visa for Nauru is very hard and you should allocate at least 2 months for the process. I shared the contact of the immigration officer responsible for Visa applications in the article about Nauru.

How to book the flights?

For this time only I need to say: do not use Skyscanner or any other flight comparator website. You are going to some of the most remote regions of the planet and some local flight carriers don’t always update the schedule on the comparator websites. Sometimes they do, but if they change something they don’t put it there, so it is not reliable. In addition, certain flights cannot be booked online but you need to email the company and make a bank transfer (sounds crazy right ?).

So here is what you need to do:

Check what are the carriers that fly to and from the countries you want to visit. The ones I used are: Nauru Airlines, PNG Airlines, Air Niugini, Solomon Airlines, Air Kiribati, Fiji Airways. Search and book the flights directly on the company website, especially because if they change or cancel your flight you can deal directly with them and not with an external reseller. Trust me, so many flights get cancelled there that you don’t want the hassle of dealing with another provider.

As of November 2019, there is a flight per week from Kiribati to Tuvalu, super helpful for your schedule. However it is not available on Skyskanner and you need to contact Air Kiribati to have the schedule and to book the flight.

They will send you their bank coordinates and you can make a bank transfer. Also, if you want to do some island hopping, Kiribati has some cheap internal flights but the schedule always changes and is not shown on their website. You need to get them to email that to you. I suggest you to get a prepaid account on Skype for international calls and reach them by phone. You speed up the procedure and ask questions directly as it can get a bit confusing to understand their schedule and changes.

Where to sleep?

Finding accommodation could be a pain in the ass in certain countries. Booking.com is the most reliable source of information but in places like Kiribati, Tuvalu or Nauru, you might not find anything available. Search on Airbnb (that’s how I found the only place available in Nauru) and go to the official tourism website for each of these countries (for example www.timelesstuvalu.com for Tuvalu) where you can find a list of available accommodation.

Some might be outdated, not operating or booked out. You need to send them an email, or more than one as you don’t always get an answer, asking for prices and accommodation. You aren’t usually required to pay in advance, so just go there once you land and pay on the spot. Ask if they offer free pick up from the airport as in some countries there are no taxis (such as in Nauru) and could be super hard to reach your accommodation.

What to pack to travel to the Pacific Islands?

In addition to what you already have in your backpack, you need to consider the issue of mosquitos. Malaria is high in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, and Dengue is everywhere, with peaks in certain periods of the year.

– Bring a lot of mosquito repellent, with high deet (50% or more)

– You can get a sun cream with mosquito repellent inside and that would help you a lot during the day.

– Bring a long sleeves shirt, very light that you can use to sleep.

– Take long pants, always very light.

– Long light socks that you can use in the evening and to sleep.

– A mosquito net would be great (I didn’t have one myself and got plenty of bites).

– Anti-malaria pills. I used Malarone, and it worked fine. You should take it if you visit Papua New Guinea or the Solomon Islands.

– Malaria and Dengue tests and Malaria medicines. If you travel to the small countries after Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, you can’t go to a proper hospital in case you got malaria. They don’t have medicines and doctors to cure the disease and the next flight to leave the country might be in a few days. My suggestion is to buy a couple of portable tests and the Malaria medicines, that could literally save your life. I bought everything in the Solomon Islands for just 15 $ and took it with me to the smaller countries. Luckily I didn’t need it but you never know!

Tips

– Most of these countries are cash only and ATM’s have high fees and don’t always work, so it’s better if you bring some cash with you.

– Tuvalu doesn’t have any ATM in the entire country so you must go with cash. Australian Dollar is the currency and you should remember to withdraw enough in Kiribati (that has AUD as well) before heading to Tuvalu.

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