2 weeks in June - PNG

Hello all! :-)

I'm looking at heading to PNG at the beginning of June for 2 weeks.

Because of the short trip I was thinking of only hitting up a couple of places. 1 week in the Highlands (hiking)and 1 week for beaches (diving).

Can anyone recommend a good itinerary please? I understand the need to fly but I am a solo backpacker so don't want to stay in resorts. Cheap, local accommodation is ideal and a couple of days diving is enough for me.

Cheers!
Hugh

i would say goroka and mount wilhelm for the first week

there are a number of good dive resorts but they are not cheap - tiwali, walindi lissenung etc. - they are remote
and dont really want or need extra day divers staying in cheaper accommodation plus you will have transport problems getting there each day

in rabaul there are dive operators offering diving daytrips and there is a lot to see in the area - WW2, volcano, villages, birds, small islands etc so that would be a good place to go but still be on a budget

there are good reports for both areas on the board here

note PNG is very expensive - even low budget travel is much more expansive than say indonesia or thailand

Thanks for the info.

Rabaul looks great! :-) I'm going to head there for sure.

Do you know if there are local guesthouses I can stay in on the island? I prefer to give my money to small local businesses and try to avoid paying commission to internet booking agents where possible.

Cheers,
Hugh

Hi,

For highlands, you can start in Mount Hagen and go down to Goroka and Asaro.
For diving, check the islands in front of Madang and the islands in front of Wewak (Yuo island is excellent).

I haven't finished the whole post of my trip to PNG, but you can see the map with the itenerary if it interests you:
https://landscape-routes.com/wild-green-papua-maps/

And further travel advice for how to get there:
https://landscape-routes.com/wild-green-papua-new-guinea/

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