Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 |

# Solitude in Samoa Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea / Samoa
edain 19:58 UTC 04 Oct 2011 | Hi, all! I'm seriously considering travelling to Upolu's south coast next February - seems like a perfect spot for a long and relaxed vacation. However, one quite important thing for me is to find some solitude - is it possible to find some calm spots where I'm on my own around most resorts/fales/hostels or is it a densely populated area where I'm stumbling across some homes every 10 m? Thanks in advance for any help! Best regards! |
wksamoa 20:13 UTC 05 Oct 2011 | Seeing the words 'solitude' and 'Samoa' together is quite a bit of an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms. Samoans usually do hardly wish to be alone, do not understand the concept of liking it. I remember that when I moved to Samoa from Europe almost 15 years ago, I sometimes had similar ideas. Went to a beach early morning then or so, just to have a chance to be by myself and relax. Even outside any populated area, like Matareva Beach, and with not a single tourist there, there always were some locals soon coming to help me poor lonely guy out of my misery by giving me company, inviting me to join them at their home, bringing me cacao or a coconut ... Of course you can go to any of those beaches and just walk away to the bush for a few minutes and you will be all by yourself. Especially on the South Coast of Upolu, many villages are not at the sea but somewhere on higher ground, with bush and plantations around. And you can always be all alone anywhere in the mountains. Having solitude in a resort, hotel or such is certainly not that easy, except when you just lock the door (if there is one). But I guess that all this refers to the whole South Pacific, not just Samoa. | 1
edain 20:45 UTC 12 Oct 2011 | Wow, that's a perfect answer, thanks! | 2
taranaki_chick 23:38 UTC 13 Oct 2011 | Ditto what wk says.! Us Europeans are funny people wanting to be alone! I suspect you might enjoy a few days over on Namua island staying at the fales there. | 3
watsoff 16:14 UTC 14 Oct 2011 | No. 1's answer is spot on, and certainly refers to the whole South Pacific, not just Samoa. | 4
silvanocat 03:56 UTC 16 Oct 2011 | I'm an introvert and do travel to the S.outh P.acific for solitude. Yeah S.amoa totally stressed me out. However, there is the most beautiful deserted beach in the P.acific on O.fu Island, A.merican S.amoa. I've heard that the locals think that the nearby bush is haunted. The C.ook Islanders are very friendly but don't crowd you. Unfortunately someone always would show up to a motu that I kayaked to to enjoy by myself on A.itutaki. T.ongans are reserved (though nice) and there are many lovely empty beaches. F.rench P.olynesia - they're not interested in you. I'm heading back there to an atoll with a small population where I hope to explore in solitary bliss and to the only pension on a motu with only two guestrooms (I'm hoping that I'll be the only guest). | 5
h2ooh 17:02 UTC 16 Oct 2011 | silvanocat is right about the Cook Islanders.... very friendly folks but sensitive to your privacy. With few exceptions they won't intrude on your space uninvited. In most cases once my wife and I made the first move and showed that we wanted to be friends the locals made us feel like one of the family. This is especially true for Mangaia, Mauke, Atiu, and Mitiaro. There we enjoyed total solitude on deserted beaches, caves, grottos, marae and jungles. We also were invited to intimate local events like birthday parties, hair-cutting ceremonies, headstone unveilings, parties, etc. | 6
chuckaboomboom 01:49 UTC 26 Oct 2011 | I highly recommend you stay at the Virgin Cove Resort. We stayed there for 3 weeks in a fale (hut made from coconut leaves) which was literally right on the beach and had the whole stretch of beach to ourselves. The staff were really friendly and the food was fantastic. We stayed on the island of Savaii for 1 week and some of the places there were hit and miss with the food. They even have a fia fia night where they do their traditional Samoan dances. | 7
5waldos 05:15 UTC 26 Oct 2011 | I laugh because when I took my son back to visit his home island of Palau, everybody, and I mean almost everybody, either knew me from my previous work there or was a close relative of his. At one point he asked me if there wasn't someplace we could go for a day or two to be alone and away from people who knew us- simply put- No. No place. Small islands are just like that. | 8
galenclaire 20:58 UTC 01 Feb 2012 | Check out Sina PJs beach fale is you want a basic fale place to stay without many (or any) people around. Still can walk the beach (20 or 30 minutes) to other resorts, but are basically secluded from all. Also local tour operators around for surf, snorkel or hiking if you feel like getting out and doing something (Manoa Tours). Pretty much the best go for any beach fale on Upolu. | 9