Bespoke Horizons
Vanuatu — the jungle interior and volcanic landscape of the South Pacific archipelago

Republic of Vanuatu, South Pacific · 80 Islands, 112 Languages

Vanuatu

The Mount Yasur crater rim above the lava chamber at dusk. The President Coolidge wreck at 40 metres after 80 years. The Nanda Blue Hole in the jungle. The Ratua Island villas. The most linguistically diverse country on earth, and the only Pacific republic that kept its kastom culture intact.

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The Case for Going

The world's most accessible active volcano, the most celebrated WWII wreck dive, the most linguistically diverse nation on earth, and an island culture that has maintained its pre-colonial traditions more completely than any other Pacific country.

Vanuatu (80 islands scattered across 1,300 kilometres of the southwest Pacific, independent from joint British and French colonial rule since 1980) is the Pacific island destination with the highest concentration of extraordinary experiences per square kilometre: the Mount Yasur volcano (accessible by 4WD drive from the Tanna airport to the crater rim, the lava chamber visible below the rim, the explosive eruptions occurring every 5–30 minutes in a Strombolian pattern that has been continuous for at least 800 years); the SS President Coolidge wreck (the largest and most comprehensively dived WWII ship wreck in the world, in 30–70 metres of crystal-clear Segond Channel water near Luganville); and the blue holes (the volcanic freshwater springs of Santo, producing pools of such saturated colour that first-time visitors assume the water has been dyed).

The 112 distinct indigenous languages spoken across Vanuatu's 80 islands (the most languages per capita in any country on earth, the result of the archipelago's extreme geographical isolation between islands, which allowed distinct linguistic communities to develop independently over 3,000 years of continuous habitation) and the kastom system (the living traditional governance and cultural practice that remains active in most rural communities) make Vanuatu the most culturally complex single destination in the Pacific — the society that most rewards extended engagement.

The infrastructure is basic and the journey is long. The experiences are extraordinary and available nowhere else on earth.

The Destination at a Glance

Three primary visitor zones: Efate Island (Port Vila, the capital), Espiritu Santo (the diving, the blue holes, the Ratua resort), and Tanna Island (Mount Yasur volcano).

Efate Island (the main island, home to Port Vila the capital and the international airport) is the gateway and the hub of the accommodation sector: the Havannah, the Iririki Island, the Mangoes Resort, and several other properties provide the most complete luxury circuit available in Vanuatu within a 30-minute drive of the international airport. Port Vila (a small, vibrant capital with the most cosmopolitan food scene in the Pacific outside Papeete and Auckland) provides the dining, cultural, and shopping context for the island-based luxury experience.

Espiritu Santo (accessible by 1-hour Air Vanuatu flight from Port Vila) is the largest island in Vanuatu and the location of the country's most distinctive attractions: the President Coolidge wreck, the blue holes, the Ratua and Bokissa private island resorts, and the Millennium Cave (a 3-kilometre underground river cave system in the Santo interior, the most physically demanding and most rewarding eco-adventure in Vanuatu, accessible only by a multi-hour jungle trek and river wading sequence). Tanna Island (accessible by 45-minute Air Vanuatu flight) is the volcano island: the Mount Yasur experience and the traditional Tanna village visits are the two primary reasons to come.

Best Time to Visit

When to go.

May – Oct

Dry Season

The most reliable weather: lower humidity, clearest diving visibility in the Segond Channel, and the best Mount Yasur access weather (clear nights, the lava glow visible at the crater rim against the dark sky). The wreck diving is at its most accessible.

Apr – Jun

Naghol Season

The Naghol (land-diving ceremony) on Pentecost Island takes place on Saturdays from mid-April through June — the most extraordinary traditional ceremony in the Pacific. Flights from Santo to Pentecost, combined with the Santo diving, make April–June the most experientially complete Vanuatu season.

Our Pick

August

The dry season's peak: Mount Yasur in clear conditions, the Segond Channel at maximum clarity for the President Coolidge dive, and the blue holes at their most vivid. Best weather for the Ratua Island's outdoor deck evenings.

Where to Stay

Five worth knowing.

01

Ratua Private Island

Aore Island, Espiritu Santo

Eleven villas on Ratua Private Island, a 105-acre island in the Segond Channel adjacent to the larger Aore Island near Luganville in Espiritu Santo — the most extraordinary private island resort in Vanuatu, developed by a Swiss family who planted 12,000 trees on a formerly cleared coconut plantation and built the villas from traditional ni-Vanuatu materials and salvaged antique Indonesian timber. The Ratua's eleven villas (each named for a different Pacific culture, furnished with antique Indonesian, Pacific, and colonial-era objects assembled by the Swiss owners over 20 years of collecting) and the private island setting (accessible only by the resort's boat, the channel between Ratua and the Aore mainland providing excellent snorkelling from the island's dock) make it the most distinctive luxury property in Vanuatu. The proximity to the SS President Coolidge wreck dive (the most celebrated WWII dive in the Pacific, sunk in 1942 in the Segond Channel 10 minutes from the resort) is the most significant adventure tourism asset of any Vanuatu resort.

Best for

Couples who want the most distinctive and most historically layered private island experience in Vanuatu — the Ratua's antique furniture collection, the reforestation programme, and the proximity to the President Coolidge WWII wreck dive make it the most character-rich resort in the Pacific.

02

Bokissa Eco Island Resort

Bokissa Island, Espiritu Santo

Ten bungalows on a 15-acre private island in the Segond Channel — a smaller and more conservation-focused alternative to the Ratua, a reef research station that has been certified as a marine sanctuary around its 4-kilometre reef perimeter. The Bokissa's marine programme (turtle monitoring, coral health surveys, and guest participation in the reef research programme coordinated with the Vanuatu government) and the island's sea turtle nesting beaches (hawksbill and green turtles nesting November–January, the monitoring programme available to guests) make it the most ecologically engaged property in Vanuatu. The house reef (accessible from the beach, one of the healthiest fringing reefs in the Segond Channel, the dive site immediately adjacent to the resort used by the marine biology team for baseline survey work) and the proximity to the President Coolidge provide the same dive access as the Ratua.

Best for

Couples who want the most conservation-focused and most marine-research-engaged private island in Vanuatu — the Bokissa's reef sanctuary status, the turtle monitoring programme, and the marine biology guest participation make it the most ecologically meaningful private island in the Pacific.

03

The Havannah, Vanuatu

Havannah Harbour, Efate Island

24 villas on the Havannah Harbour headland on Efate Island — the most architecturally refined and most spa-focused luxury property in Vanuatu, positioned on the island's northwestern coast above the most sheltered and most historically significant harbour in the country (the Americans established the primary WWII Pacific supply base at Havannah Harbour, and the wreck of the SS President Coolidge in the adjacent channel is accessible from the Havannah by a 20-minute boat transfer). The Havannah's infinity pool (the most dramatically positioned resort pool in Vanuatu, extending over the harbour below the villa terrace), the Havannah Spa (the finest spa programme in Vanuatu, with the kastom plant medicine treatments — using the traditional ni-Vanuatu medicinal plant preparations of the Efate Island healers — as the most culturally distinctive treatment on the menu), and the harbour sailing programme (the resort's own yacht available for day sails through the Efate Island lagoon's secluded anchorages) make it the most complete luxury property on the main island.

Best for

Couples who want the most architecturally refined and most spa-focused luxury resort in Vanuatu — the Havannah's harbour headland position, the kastom plant medicine spa treatments, and the yacht sailing programme make it the most complete luxury experience on Efate Island.

04

Iririki Island Resort & Spa

Iririki Island, Port Vila Harbour

70 bungalows and villas on a 14-acre private island in Port Vila Harbour — accessible from Port Vila's waterfront by the resort's 90-second ferry service, the most conveniently positioned luxury island resort in the South Pacific. The Iririki is unique: a private island resort that is 90 seconds from the capital's restaurants, shops, and cultural attractions, providing the private island atmosphere (no public access, beach access, snorkelling from the island's fringing reef) with immediate access to Port Vila's considerable culinary and cultural life. The island's position in the harbour (the WWII anchorage of the US Pacific command, the harbour floor still contains the scattered artefacts of the supply ships that serviced the Guadalcanal campaign) and the view of the volcano smoke rising from the hills behind Port Vila provide the most cinematically dramatic hotel view available in Vanuatu.

Best for

Couples who want the most convenient private island experience in Vanuatu with the best access to Port Vila's restaurant and cultural scene — the Iririki's 90-second harbour ferry, the island isolation, and the Port Vila dining access make it the best urban-island combination in the South Pacific.

05

Mangoes Resort

Port Vila, Efate

Fourteen villas on the Erakor Lagoon in Port Vila — the most boutique and most locally authentic luxury resort on the main island, the choice for couples who want the Efate experience at a more intimate and more personally managed scale than the larger harbour properties. The Mangoes' Erakor Lagoon position (on the large enclosed tidal lagoon immediately south of Port Vila, the most protected water in the island, accessible by kayak and paddleboard from the resort beach) and the restaurant (the most consistently praised dining room in Port Vila, the French-Vanuatu kitchen using the island's market produce and the lagoon's daily catch) make it the most food-focused luxury property on Efate. The resort's proximity to the Erakor Island (a small island in the lagoon directly opposite the resort, accessible by kayak, with a snorkel reef on its northern shore) provides the most immediately accessible reef snorkelling from a Port Vila area luxury resort.

Best for

Couples who want the most food-focused and most locally embedded boutique resort experience in Port Vila — the Mangoes' restaurant, the Erakor Lagoon kayak access, and the 14-villa intimate scale make it the most culinarily rewarding luxury property on Efate Island.

Volcano, Wreck & Blue Hole

What to do.

Mount Yasur at dusk

The Mount Yasur visit at dusk (the 4WD drive from Tanna Airport to the base, departing at 16:00 for arrival at the crater rim at sunset, the lava chamber glowing increasingly visible as the light fails) is the most affecting version of the volcano experience — the Strombolian eruptions (every 5–30 minutes, the lava bombs launched from the vent and landing within the crater before solidifying) visible against the darkening sky with the lava colour intensifying as night falls. The crater rim walk (a 45-minute ascent from the vehicle drop-off, guided by local Iasur village guides who monitor the eruption pattern and position visitors for the best angle) deposits the group at the rim's edge with the crater directly below — 150–400 metres to the lava chamber, the explosive events audible and visible at close range. The eruption sound (a deep, rhythmic percussion that the Tanna community has lived alongside for millennia) and the smell of volcanic sulfur are the two sensory elements that photographs don't convey.

President Coolidge wreck dive

The President Coolidge (sunk October 1942, Segond Channel, 3 kilometres from Luganville) is dived from a purpose-built dive platform directly above the wreck, with the bow of the ship (the most photogenic and the most architecturally dramatic point of the vessel) visible at 33 metres on the clearest dive days. The standard programme (2 dives per day with the local diving operators — Voyager Vanuatu and Aquamarine are the most experienced — each covering a different section of the ship) provides access to the Lady (the porcelain First Class smoking room figurine at 37 metres, the most famous single artefact of any wreck dive in the Pacific), the Cargo Hold (military vehicles, ammunition boxes, and the most complete collection of WWII military equipment remaining on any wreck), and the ship's exterior (the coral-encrusted hull and the propeller, at the deepest accessible point at 47 metres for advanced divers). Advanced Open Water certification minimum; the deeper sections require Rescue Diver or equivalent.

Santo blue holes

The Nanda Blue Hole (10 kilometres from Luganville, accessible by a short walk through coconut plantation and secondary forest) is the most visited and the most photogenic of the Santo freshwater springs — a circular pool approximately 30 metres in diameter and 9 metres deep, the volcanic water entering from underground springs at the bottom and producing the vivid blue colour that gives the springs their name. The colour is most intense between 10:00 and 14:00 when the sun is directly overhead and the light penetrates the full depth of the pool; the temperature (cooler than the surrounding sea, the volcanic spring water emerging at approximately 23°C) and the clarity (zero turbidity, the bottom visible at full depth in normal conditions) make it the most refreshing mid-day swim available on Santo. The Matevulu Blue Hole (a larger and deeper version, further from Luganville, requiring a guide for navigation) is the more spectacular of the two for serious swimmers and snorkellers.

Naghol land diving

The Naghol (the Pentecost Island land-diving ceremony, performed on Saturdays from mid-April through June) is the most extraordinary traditional ceremony in the Pacific and the origin of the bungee jumping concept that the New Zealand AJ Hackett company commercialised after filming a BBC documentary on the ceremony in 1979. Young men of the Pentecost Island community dive head-first from a progressively taller series of platforms (the most experienced divers from a 30-metre tower) with lianas (jungle vines, individually cut to a length calculated to allow the diver's head to just touch the ground at the arc's lowest point) tied to their ankles — the earth-grazing contact supposedly ensuring the next year's yam harvest. The ceremony (accessible by domestic flight from Santo or Port Vila to Pentecost, then by truck to the dive platform, with cultural protocols for visitors strictly observed) is not a tourist attraction in the conventional sense but a living religious ceremony to which visitors are admitted as witnesses.

What to Eat and Drink

The Port Vila food scene, the laplap baked in banana leaves, and the most potent kava in the South Pacific.

Port Vila's restaurant scene is the most cosmopolitan in the Pacific outside of Papeete and Auckland: the French colonial legacy (the New Hebrides Condominium administered French and English populations simultaneously for 74 years, and the French restaurant tradition remains strong) combines with the Pacific island produce (the Santo beef cattle, the freshwater prawns from the Santo rivers, the spiny lobster from the Efate reef) to produce a cooking culture of genuine sophistication. L'Houstalet (the most consistently celebrated restaurant in Port Vila, a French kitchen with Pacific ingredients, on the harbour waterfront) and Nambawan Café (the best informal dining in the capital, the weekly menu changing with what arrived on the supply boat) constitute the essential Port Vila dining circuit.

Laplap (the Vanuatu national dish — taro or yam paste mixed with coconut cream, wrapped in banana leaves with fish or chicken, and baked in the oven — the most directly rooted in the pre-colonial kitchen of any Pacific island nation's national dish) and the nakamal kava (the most physiologically active kava in the Pacific, the Vanuatu root prepared fresh with cold water and consumed in the nakamal in total silence after sunset — the custom that most vividly distinguishes Vanuatu's kava from Fiji's social kava ceremony) are the two food and drink experiences that most completely define Vanuatu's cultural identity.

The Bespoke Horizons View

The Pacific's most concentrated collection of extraordinary experiences, in the archipelago that kept more of its pre-colonial culture intact than any other Pacific nation.

Vanuatu is the Pacific destination that most rewards the traveller who comes for the experiences rather than for the accommodation. The Ratua Island is charming and distinctive; the Havannah is refined and well-equipped. Neither of them is the reason to visit Vanuatu. The reason is the Mount Yasur crater rim at night, the President Coolidge at 40 metres, the Nanda Blue Hole's impossible colour, and the Naghol ceremony on Pentecost.

Our recommendation: three nights at the Havannah or Mangoes Resort on Efate (Port Vila's culinary circuit, the harbour context), one night on Tanna (the Tanna Island Eco Village or the Stanley Hotel, neither luxury but adequate for the Mount Yasur visit), and four nights in Santo (the Ratua Island or the Bokissa, the President Coolidge dives, the blue holes). Ten nights total.

The lava chamber below the crater rim at 21:00. The eruption. The sound before the light. Mount Yasur has been doing this for 800 years and doesn't know you're watching. That's exactly right.

Essential Information

The practical detail.

Currency
Vanuatu Vatu (VUV); USD and AUD accepted at most resorts and tourist businesses
Language
Bislama (the Vanuatu pidgin, the lingua franca), French, and English (all three official); 112 indigenous languages — more distinct languages per capita than any other country on earth
Flights from UK
Bauerfield International Airport (VLI), Port Vila, from London via Brisbane (Qantas/Air Vanuatu, 24 hours) or via Sydney (Virgin Australia/Air Vanuatu); domestic flights to Santo (SON) by Air Vanuatu from Port Vila (1 hour)
Time zone
GMT +11 (VUT; Vanuatu does not observe daylight saving)
Visa
No visa required for UK citizens for stays up to 30 days; extendable on application
The culture
Vanuatu's 80 islands are home to 110 indigenous groups speaking 112 distinct languages — the most linguistically diverse country in the world per capita. The kastom (custom) cultural system remains active throughout the islands, with traditional village governance, rank-ceremony systems, and healing practices in ongoing use. Vanuatu has been in political existence only since 1980 (independence from joint British and French colonial rule — the 'New Hebrides' Condominium — was the last of the Pacific decolonisations).
WWII heritage
Vanuatu (then the New Hebrides) was the primary US Pacific staging base for the Guadalcanal campaign in 1942–43. The SS President Coolidge (sunk October 1942 after striking its own harbour mines, 146 metres long, lying in 30–80 metres of water in the Segond Channel near Luganville) is the world's most accessible large WWII dive wreck.
Budget range
Ratua Private Island from £450 per villa per night; The Havannah from £350; Iririki Island from £250; Mangoes Resort from £200

Frequently Asked

Questions, considered.

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