Few general questions on Samoa

Hello fellow travellers

My boyfriend and me will be heading to Samoa this August and I was wondering if anyone could help with my questions...

1) seen that we can't count on buses too much, we are keen on hiring a car, for 1 day on Savaii and 2 days in Upolu. Any recommendations?
2) How much would it cost to charter a taxi for the whole day instead?
3) we'll be staying at Joelan's in Lano.. Is that a village that has a car rental or would we have to rent it somewhere else?
4) is there any need to book the ferry in advance if we don't have a car?
5) How do people charge their stuff when sleeping in open fales? Do they leave them at reception?
6) we'll be landing on a Sunday at stupid o clock and departing back the next Saturday... I saw that some hotels offer the traditional Sunday lunch to their guests if staying there on Saturday night, but we obviously won't be able to so that. Does anyone know a place in Apia where we can have traditional Sunday lunch?

That's it I think :)
I tried to find an answer to all of these questions online but couldn't find anything!

Thank you
Elisa

Hi, Joelans is a great choice, easy to get to by bus, catch the Pua Pua bus from Salelologa when the ferry gets in, the Pua Pua bus runs quite often from early morning to mid afternoon mon-sat .The bus will take about 20 mins and cost about 2 or 3 tala.
There are 2 rental car places in Salelologa both on the main rd ,one on the left about half way down from the ferry to the lights, called Salafai car rental (not open sunday) and one on the right behind bluebird mall called Jetover (works out of jetover hotel) both about 120 tala a day for a small car.
There will be heaps of taxis at the wharf when the ferry gets in, take the phone number off some when you arrive and negotiate a price, it will depend on klms and time, normally about 250 tala plus for the whole island, whole day, maybe 150 half island , half day....negotiate before all rides and pay when finished...
You cant book the ferry without a car- 12 tala pp walk on
where are you staying first night at faleolo? Transit motel is the cheapest, 50 tala pp or so.
I have stayed at Lynn's getaway in Apia (near the hospital) and they do free breakfast and free sunday lunch- really good food and only about 60 or 80 a single room with a share kitchen and a pool to use- they also rent cars 100 tala to guests. check budgetaccommodationsamoa. website for better prices and info on travelling on the bus and some email addresses for most of the above info
Joelans you give them your stuff to charge, they are a family run place and i found stuff was pretty safe - some fales have a plug to charge stuff in your fale
hope you enjoy samoa, i will be going back in July/ aug again and definitely heading to Lano, its a nice beach and easy to get to and from the town of Salelologa- there is only a couple of stalls and one small shop in lano village plus the 2 fale places, not a real town...
happy travels

Thank you Budgetkiwi for yur very helpful and comprehensive response... And glad to hear that Joelan is a good choice!

Still one more question.., if we decide to rent a car in Savaii, will the rental company be able to issue a driving licence on the spot? Will this be valid across any other rental too?

Cheers
Elisa

hi, there is a govt agency( cant remember if its called land transport or what) in salelologa- down the street that leads off behind the salafai backpackers across from jetover. they should be able to issue a licence.
i have always got mine in Apia when I rented a car there, so i cant remember if the rental car places in Salelologa issue them
but normally they are available at the govt agencies ( vaitele near apia & the one in salelologa ) post offices and most rental car agencies.
they cost about 20 tala for the first month ( or 2) but can be had for longer for more money and any agency normally charges a small fee (about 5 tala.) you can then use the licence anywhere in Samoa for the length of time stated-
this is per person, so if you both want to drive it will be 2 x 20 tala or (or 25 through the post office or rental car office..) to save money you could choose one driver...
what date are you at joelans?- i think i'll be there about the 20th...

Thank you Budgetkiwi, very helpful!

We'll be there 10-13 of August... Do let us know if you are around in the same period, we owe you a beer ;)

Hope it all goes well, where else have you decided to stay? We are catching the morning ferry on the 12th and heading to vai moana for 4 days (where we hope to catch some fish..),then down to Lano 16 & 17th(staying at Lauiula this time) so we will just miss you- unless you do a trip around while we are at Vaimoana :)
The sunday lunch is basically an umu and many fales have one on other days along with a fia fia, I think Faofao on south coast of Upolu is on weds & sat night, if you check the websites of places you are staying you might find a fiafia night on a night you can be there.
Lupes at Maninoa near coconuts does a great sunday lunch for about 40 tala but that might be a bit difficult for you to get to on Sunday.
cheers Robyn

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