2 week Tongan itinerary?

I have 13days in the Tongan Islands in May.
Any suggestions for which islands to visit/what to do/where to stay? (on a budget!)

Well, Tongatapu is pretty flat, not many good beaches. Haapai has good beaches, not much else. Vavau has hills, islets, but not good beaches on the main island.

Since you only have 13 days, you'd probably be flying to and from places, ferries are long and not comfortable. I'd split it three ways, but get back to TBU a couple of days early, as doemstic flight schedules can change at the last minute and you don;t want to miss your int'l flight.

On Vavau check out Adventure Backpackers and Portwine house.

if your idea of "budget" means hostel style accomodation, definatly stay at Tonis guest house when you arrive! he'll pick you up at the airport cheaply and he will drive you around where ever you want to go at very reasonable prices. Definatly take one of his tours on your first day there if you can to gain a great insite to Tonga. And the tours are a bargain. I highly reccomend Tonis, despite the out of town location, cause he'll drive you anywhere, anytime.

Tonga is a cheap place, but not " SE Asia Cheap". Its also very laid back and a lot of things only happen once a week. You will make better use of your time if you plan it a bit taking these things into account. And not much happens on sundays exept church.

If you want to go further than the main island, which you should in 13 days, you will proberbly need to fly. Booking flights in advance from a travel agent before you get there is the easiest way to go, but remember to confirm the flights the day before! There are ferries in Tonga but they are slow and infrequent. The ferry to 'Eua is OK. its a bit of an experience. my advice, leave your pack downstairs, waterproof everything you are carrying and go sit on the roof! 'Eua was very chilled out and villagey. i stayed at the hideaway. it was fine, but IMO the prices for lifts and bike hire were too expensive. Toni can organise with another place called Taynas or something like that. Other people i met stayed there and said it was good.

vava'u is a completely different place to tongatapu or 'eua. Its the "touristy" island. But thats not a bad thing really as tonga is generally so UNtouristy! We went out on a boat called Orion for a day exploring, which was really good. You won't be there in whale watching season so a day on Orion might be a great way to see the islands of vava'u...? i stayed in a fale at vava'u guesthouse which was great. It was about a 5-10 min walk to the middle of town.

i didn't go to ha'apai but i hear its beautiful and very relaxed and beachy.

If you plan it well (and can afford flights) you could make an itinerary something like this (it would vary depending on the time and day of the week you arrive) which would give you a great little glimps of Tonga.
Day 1 Tonis Tour
Day 2 ferry to 'Eua
Day 3 'Eua maybe ride a bike (if you can find one - don't even bother trying to ride a horse... their horses are not very co-operative!) or go for a walk in the national park.
Day 4 Ferry or fly back from 'Eua; explore nuku'alofa... check out the markets for bargain souveneer t-shirts and stuff, check your email at friends cafe, maybe do a dinner show (depending on the day of the week)
Day 5 fly to Ha'apai
Day 6 Ha'apai enjoy the lonely beaches
Day 7 Ha'apai
Day 8 Fly to Vava'u - when you get there go and see what nightly events are on at Tongan bobs (trivia, drag shows, $2 tacos... etc)
Day 9 vava'u Take a walk around town, explore... maybe see whats on at Tongan bobs... drag show?
day 10 vava'u Take a day trip on Orion
day 11 fly to nukualofa
day 12 pangumouto island day trip
day 13 leave

I'd try to factor in
1) be aware of where you will be on sundays and that it might limit what you can do. You should try to check out a church cerimony if you can. On the main island on sunday you can take Tonis tours or go to pangomouto. On 'Eua you can't do much but its nice to wander around the villages or ride a bike and hear the singing comming from all the churches. In Ha'apia i don't know, but i guess more churches or the beach, and Vava'u there is still quite a bit going on as its the "touristy" place. there are no ferries or flights on sundays except the pangamouto ferry.
2) you need to allow a couple of days before your flight home to be back in nuku'alofa just incase your domestic flight is canned or you are booted off... give you time to get back in time for your international flight.
3) you can go to dinner shows about 5 out of 7 nights of the week at various tongatapu locations. We went to the good samaritan one with Toni and a group of other guests, it was on a friday. Try and get to one.

If you are feeling brave (or just can't afford the flights) you should be able to fit in getting the weekly ferry from nukualofa to either vava'u or ha'apai in 13 days. Make sure you confirm this with the shipping company, but they leave on tuesday from nukualofa and cost T$75 pp one way (from memory) to vava'u on wednesday morn. it stops in ha'apai on the way (which costs less than T$75 to go to ha'apai) Then the boat turns around and comes back to Nukualofa thursday morning. There are actually 2 boats which go about the same time on the same day. The "pulupaki" is the "good" boat (faster and a bit more expensive) Catching these ferries is an experience to be remembered. You meet a lot of tongans on the ferry. Its a crappy boat but a good experience if you can handle roughing it a bit. This is the schedual for the OTHER boat http://olovaha.com/TimeTable.htm

have a look at our tongan photos if you like, including pics of the pulupaki, olovaha and 'eua ferries. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ben_tesh/sets/72157601946321553/

we ate out a lot in vava'u cause we spent a week there!
i reccomend the pizzas at cioa restraunt
the nachos at tongan bobs were good
crows nest cafe and bakery near the wharf was great too
there is a REALLY cheap chinese near the wharf which is a great bargain
The only place which i really didn't enjoy was the tropicana cafe which sounded good but the food was not good.

There is a chinese place the same in nuku'alofa... i can't frind the name... its on the road that goes along the waterfront.
Freinds cafe is the "western" restraunt.
If you want to try some local food get one of Toni's drivers to take you to his favorite curry stand (make sure you shout him a meal :)

On 'Eua we just ate at the hideaway, which was ok - tongan home cooking i guess, reasonable price for a hotel but not cheap (t$15-20 for dinner)

Pangamouto has a bistro type place. the food there was good and reasonable price- don't go for the lunch and boat deal, its more expensive than buying separatly for some reason..

I hope you have a great time in TOnga. I love it there! If you wanna post the day and time you arrive/leave and also what you think about ferrys vs flying i'd be happy to comment more.

On Tongatapu, the (budget) place to stay is Nerima Lodge.

First I need to say that I don't feel good about posting here since the downgrade of the Thorntree and their censorship of posts critical of it. (Many of my posts regarding the new TT have been "archived" while older posts not relating to the TT remain.)

What a great post tessha_m.

My recommendation would be Uoleva in the Ha'apai group. It was like my own private paradise island for 5 days. Beautiful, beautiful deserted beaches (poor snorkeling though). I stayed at Captain Cook's and boy can he cook. (The other place looks very run down.) Make a bonfire on the beach one night.

The tip of Foa island (in the Ha'apai) is stunning too. There is one mid-range resort there. If I had to do it again I would stay there a couple of nights. There is a deserted island across from it where you can kayak to.

thanks silvanocat!
When i was in Tonga i met too many people who came for 1 week or less with no plan and no money. (they were mainly international students from NZ looking for a cheap break). Tonga is just not the kind of place you show up and figure it out when you get there. If you try that method you'd mostly find that flights are full and the ferry doesn't run tomorrow and the dinner show was on last night etc. You can't really get out of nuku'alofa if you only have a week and no plan... ANd while its cheap compared to Australia or the UK or something its not rediculously cheap. And it really is the type of place where you get a lot more out of it if you are not a complete tight arse and spend a little while you are there and get out there and do stuff. LIke Tonis Tour - it was T$30pp for a whole day! For what you get when you compare to say Australian prices its a bargain. The dinner show was about T$25 i think, which is about $15au. You'd never get a dinner and show for that money in Australia! And whale swimming might be around T$200, but thats about $120au and they charge almost that much for a couple of hours whale watching in australia, but in Tonga you get a whole day and you get to get in the water and swim with them.