Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 |

# Travelling between Islands Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea
Makkyenzie 04:11 UTC 25 Feb 2017 | Hello, Can anyone offer advice? I have 3 weeks to explore the Pacific Islands, flying from New Zealand and flying on to Sydney. The islands I have narrowed down to really wanting to visit are Tonga for the whales, Samoa for the hikes and Rarotonga going to Aituaki for the temples and such. Is there a particular order or an easy way to get between them instead of flying back to Auckland every time? Any advice would be great. Thanks! |
travelthefire 23:52 UTC 25 Feb 2017 | I have been all over Samoa as well as Tonga and Fiji. Samoa is a great place but be ready to be off the grid in many ways. How long you planning to be there? You also might check out the National Park of American Samoa. | 1
Makkyenzie 22:05 UTC 27 Feb 2017 | Hoping for a week on each island so 3 weeks in total. | 2
newfie43 00:59 UTC 28 Feb 2017 | If you check out the websites for the international airports in these 3 countries you can find out which airlines fly in and out and where they go to and come from. That way you can get an idea of whether you can fly from one to the other. Unless things have changed, I am afraid you will find you have to return to a central hub - in this case Fiji for Tonga and Samoa. To get to The Cook Islands you will be very limited in your choices. As a side note, I have been to Aitutaki twice, but do not recall any temples there - just an amazing lagoon! Good luck with your plans. | 3
siblackburn 11:06 UTC 07 Mar 2017 | I've been doing research into this for a similar trip recently. The cheapest way by far that I've found is to use Auckland as a return base for each leg. On the upside, this will only add a few hours to your total travel time! | 4
travelthefire 06:40 UTC 08 Mar 2017 | Nadi is normally the best hub for the region. | 5
Thorn Tree 01:00 UTC 09 Mar 2018 | This topic has been automatically locked due to inactivity. Email community@lonelyplanet.com if you would like to add to this topic and we'll unlock it for you. | 6