Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 |

# Stoephi calling Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea / Wallis and Futuna Islands
venezio 14:08 UTC 20 Mar 2008 | Stoephi, in mid March you posted some questions concerning Wallis et Futuna on this branch (without success, unfortunately). I'll be there in May and it's so hard to get first-hand information about these islands. Please, be so kind and give us a trip report (how to get around, where to stay - I decided for Hotel Lomipeau - in particular). |
tools4fools 22:43 UTC 15 Jun 2008 | To late for being of any help for you by now, but maybe for people who want to go there in the future: transportation: no public transport on the island (there is a school bus that's all...) but the people on the island have a pretty good standard of living, a lot of new cars there; being friendly folks hitchhiking is no problem, never waited any longer than 15 minutes to go toward a place we wanted to visit. People often did detours to drop us closer to the spot we wanted to visit (crater lakes, even drove us all the way sometimes as this friendly lady did when we visited the ruins of the ancient Tonga fortress. Can't say anything about accommodation as we slept on my friends sail boat. There's little gems on the atoll around the main island of Wallis. Nukufotu is a bird island just across from Nukuloa which has white sand beaches perfect for swimming. Here is a cluster of day huts with thached roof and fire places so I guess it is a popular spot for a weekend BBQ for families. Ask around if someone goes over on a weekend, if not hire a boat and go over, absolutely worth it. Possible to climb up bird island as well, stunning view from the top. Money could be chaged at the bank, Euro cash no problem, howeve they had a silly rule that US$ cash could only be changed up to 50 or 100$ if one doesn't have a bank account. However there were lot of people in the bank and they all have an account, so simply asked someone and they changed it for us... Spend less time on Futuna, anchorage wasn't good there and had strong winds. Steep mountains there right out of the sea, looked intriguing for some serious hiking. See images at: http://www.tools4fools.info/Pacific/Galleries/Wallis.html | 1
venezio 06:05 UTC 16 Jun 2008 | Thank you for the advices, tools4fools (funny name, by the way), but it's really too late for me, since I'm back from the Pacific since ten days. Nevertheless it might be useful for future travellers. May I add some more informations: There's an ATM (no queuing) at the Fenuarama shopping centre outside Mata-Utu, left hand in direction inner island; it works with credit cards only (Visa and Mastercard), but not with bank cards (this seems to be a particularity of all French territories in the Pacific). English is an exotic language, but if you don't speak French - no problem: try it with Wallisian. The best and most detailed map is a Google Earth screenshot. I couldn't find a good map of the islands, neither in Wallis et Futuna itself, nor in a specialised bookshop in Paris. The best restaurant I found was at Gahi Bay in the South East, with excellent food and a nice setting at the bay. Don't know the name any more, but there's only one. Chez Patricia, recommended by LP as well as David Stanley, was a disappointment. Only a fraction of the meals listed on the was really available. The signpost to the Talietumu ruins you can only read when approaching from the East, since on its back there is nothing written and therefore it can't be identified as a signposts easily. I was completely desperate, since I came from the West, did not see the signpost, but was aware to be very close already. Nevertheless, a friendly local had mercy with me and showed me the way. | 2