Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020

What should I be budgeting?

Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea / New Caledonia

My family are considering a holiday to New Caledonia mid-year and after doing a bit of reading I am starting to get a little worried about costs.
I am not so worried about flights and accom as we can have that all sorted before we leave, but what should I be looking at paying for food and things like diving or snorkling trips?
I have read some posts that say that prices are in line with Australia, but others seem to indicate that isn't quite true...

What would be looking at paying for:
- a sandwich/ baguette from a local take away
- dinner out for 2 at a decent restaurant
- groceries - say some cheese, bread and drinks from a supermarket??

Any info would be most appreciated!

What would be looking at paying for: If in Noumea

a sandwich/ baguette from a local take away - about $5 AUD
dinner out for 2 at a decent restaurant - 2 courses about $60 for 2 people
groceries - say some cheese, bread and drinks from a supermarket?? - all 3 a about same as Safeway except that the stuff will be French (a bouns , I think).

1

I meant Safeway_ the Australian supermarket . TT put in the strange link.

2

I see you're from Australia, so you won't be as impressed with the prices as someone living in the Netherlands (me, for example).
To eat slightly cheaper, go to Carrefour in Noumea, or the small Chinese shops in town.
Mandja's post is quite accurate.
What I could also suggest is: be prepared to rent a car (if you're going with your family, even better). Public transport is RIDICULOUS and unless you rent a car, you'll be stuck in Noumea as it happened to me. Also the airport is very far from town (40km or so) and I would suggest you arrange with the car rental company to pick up/drop off (or both) the car at/from the terminal.
Expect less English being spoken than in France.

3