Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 |

# is there a cheap way from the uk to visit the pacific island Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea
magenta70 16:56 UTC 02 Jun 2007 | im looking to go on holiday in september, but have no idea where i initaly was thinking of thailand or Goa but i think it is the rainy season so the pacific looked better. Only problem is cost of lack of flights from the Uk. Im not fussy about where i go i just want a reasonably priced relaxing 2 weeks in a beautiful location for me and my boyf. At most i think we could scape together a £1000 for flights and accomidation. Is there anywhere beautiful and not your avarage tourist spot anyone could reccomend?? i realy want to surprize him with somewhere amazing. thanks |
islandboi321 20:00 UTC 02 Jun 2007 | Here's the scoop: Anywhere that is "amazing, inexpensive and accessable" in the South Pacific is going to have been long discovered by thousands of other tourists. The combination of cheap, amazing and not too many tourists is a heady elixer that all travellers to this region seem to be constantly pursuing... It just ain't gonna happen. Unless you have lots of dough you are pretty well going to be limited to the "amazing" places that are less expensive and easier to get to. If you find a cheap(ish) flight from the UK to, let's say NZ, you could do a stopover on a few various islands. Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, The Cook Islands or French Polynesia come to mind. Keep in mind Tahiti (French Polynesia is VERY expensive considering what you're budgeting). Fiji, Samoa and Tonga are the LEAST expensive (keeping in mind that the Pacific islands are still much more expensive than Thailand or Goa). The Cook islands are highly recommended. If you need information on any of these island countries, go to the beginning of this branch and look under the FAQs.... Lots and lots of info and links. I think you will find a good range of cheaper backpacker places in Fiji and the Cooks... And they are still amazing places even with all the visitors. Good luck | 1
Laszlo 23:47 UTC 02 Jun 2007 | As islandboi has said. The cheapest you could do would probably be getting an Air NZ flight starting at £747 per person. So there goes 75% of your budget, even if you get the cheapest flight. The remaining amount would hardly be enough to spend two weeks even in the cheapest backpacker digs in Fiji or Samoa. So unless you either happen upon a cheap package deal (not exactly many of those from the EU to the Pacific) or can save up more, I think you should reconsider your plans and fly to somewhere in Asia, which is both cheaper to fly to and to live in. September may be the rainy season in Thailand or India, but it is the drier time in much of Malaysia and Indonesia, both of which offer lots of islands suiting your budget to choose from. And out of Indonesia's 14-17 thousand islands (depending on how you count them), maybe 99% are definitely "not your avarage tourist spot" - in fact would have no tourist facilities. | 2
magenta70 03:14 UTC 03 Jun 2007 | Thanks i realy apreciate your advice and will as you say, save my ass off and look at somewhere like malasia, hopeful when im a bit more afluent ill visit the pacific. | 3