Samoa vs. Tonga?

Am about to book our round-the-world-trip any day. Do not know if to stop in Samoa or Tonga for five weeks. Reading LP:s book does not give me information enough.

Can you help in answering if Tonga or Samoa is the "best"? The mot important aspects are:
-cheap, we want cheap(est) accomodation and cheap(est) food
-beaches (closeness, beautiful etc.)
-genuine ... as unwesternised as possible is always the best

Also - do you know of the place to stay in one (or two) of these islands? Cheap, nice, B&B:ish and close to the beach ...

Am travelling with girlfriend and 8-month old baby ...

you can do both in 5 weeks.

Five weeks... I would also suggest to do Samoa and Tonga (if it can be done with your flights)! I would split it evenly (50/50)!

I can recommend these places,
In Samoa (Upolu) the Virgin Cove Resort and the Princess Tui Inn
On Tonga (Tongatapu) Ha'atafu Beach Resort and Heilala Holiday Lodge
On Tonga (Eua) Hideaway Resort
On Tonga (Ha'apai) Matafonua Resort or Fifita's Guest House

There are probably more places recommendable on all those islands, but this is where we stayed!

Hope this helps!

If you only want to visit one, Tonga must be the much better option as it has many more islands than Samoa and they are more varied, too.
Both are probably the cheapest and most traditional countries in Polynesia, but don't expect topless girls in grass-skirts! ;-)

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<hr>but don't expect topless girls in grass-skirts! ;-) <hr></blockquote>
or small one's for that matter.

Be prepared to spend a lot more than you imagine-it can be very expensive here.

Food for the most part is gross shite-some decent fruit and sometimes fish if you can prepare it yoursewlf you'll have some decent meals.

Vava'u is the best part of Tonga but not for the impecunious.

Bring your own snorkel gear.

The pacific Islands are not a cheap destination to travel too. For us, every trip worked out more expensive than initially planned, but it was absolutely worth it every time !

As for the best Island to go to (Tongatapu, Ha'apai, Vava'u or Eua) this is absolutely a matter of taste. We truly enjoyed all the islands equally (they are all very different), but we had also met travellers during our visits who preferred Ha'apai (i.e. cheaper than Vava'u and probably Tonga's finest beaches)!

Hi, I've only been to Tonga - so can't compare with Samoa. But do agree that it's not really cheap - definitely cheaper than the cost of living in your home country but nothing like SEA. Have to disagree with you #5 re the food - we had some great meals in Tonga esp on Tongatapu but also Vava'u - we enjoyed some wonderful local feasts plus there were some surprisingly nice places to eat out at too. If you stay somewhere where you can self cater it is very cheap to buy and prepare some fresh food. We spent 6 weeks on Tongatapu and 10 days in Vava'u with our 3 children. The Tongans will love your baby. Our little 16mth old boy was regularly whisked away at dinner by the staff to walk him around and play with him. We really enjoyed our time there.

Here is a great website tonga holiday which should give you a good idea of accommodation choice and costs.

Lots of luck

Hi There,

I've been to Tonga and Samoa last August/September. Unfortunately "only" for 2 1/2 weeks (from Los Angles), couldn't get more time off. But my RTW-Trip is already beeing planned.

I took lots of picutres and GPS-Recordings on Tonga (Tongatapu & Vava'u) and on Samoa (American Samoa, Ofu & Independend Samoa), so you might wanna checkt it out to see what you'd like most:

My Tonga & Samoa Pictures

You can travel within Tonga or Samoa easy by boat (ferrys, carriers, ....), if you have time. We had no time, so we spend quite a lot money on flights.

Konstantin

#8 - I see you were camping in Ofu. (Great photos, Pago Pago looks georgous!) Am I correct in assuming that you did not camp elsewhere? (I confess, only looked at American Samoa.) Did you bring your own tent, was there a considerable cost savings to camping there as opposed to staying at the Lodge or did you just camp for the experience? Were you able to then purchase meals at the Lodge while staying in a tent?

Hello Silvanocat,

we were camping on Ofu and on Vava'u (when we were cruising around with the little boat). On Tongatapu we found a very cheap and also very nice Hostel (Toni's Guesthouse, check my "Itinerary", there you find all the links). Toni's Guesthouse was about like 10 Dollars / Night for a double, that's pretty okay I guess. If you're camping you usually don't get in touch with other travellers or backpackers, that that was something we liked (even if everybody told us that he was on a trip for 6, 9 or 12 months and we were the only ones with lousy 20 days...). So we were choosing more Hostels, this one on Vava'u was not too cheap. On Independed Samoa we enjoyed those Beach Fales, they're great, but not the cheapest way to spend a night also. But if you travel there you have to sleep in one at least one time. And check out the caves (you saw the picutres?). The guy was really nice, I sent him some of the picutres by regular mail, he wanted to have some but of course, he had no e-mail. Hope he got them).

All right, enjoy your trip!

Konstantin

Hi All

There are about 10 of us who are heading over to Tonga for a 10 days of sailing. Does anyone have any tips for provisioning. Any idea of what available in the supermarkets??? Cheers, Lana

Supermarkets carry a standard variety of dry and canned goods.

Local veggie markets have everything you need to provision the boat-depending on the season-sometimes you'll have tomatoes/carrots sometimes not.Vava'u Veggies/Fruits

Sometimes you'll pay more for imported New Zealand produce.

Alao because New Zealand is relatively close by means good Cheese and some Wine is also available-take your own corkscrew.

Tongan bread is so/so on Vava'u look for the Austrian Bakery

A few of these go a long way-they are fabulous!

If you're lucky you'll eat something like this

Thats really helpful - thank you!!! We arrive into Vavau on Friday afternoon 1st June. The Moorings provisioning guide says there are no markets on Saturday,but Lonely Planet says they open .We are trying to work out if we will have enough time to provision ourselves between Friday pm and Saturday morning from the markets.

Do you think it is a good idea to organise provisions through the Moorlings shopping list in advance, or go to the markets and shops ourselves between Friday pm and Saturday am??

What about provisioning on the Vavau Is group on the smaller islands like??? Is there much available?

Did you notice a difference in price between Moorings shop and the independent shops/markets? Iwould imagine there would be a huge difference!!!

If you have any contacts I can email - that would be great... Has anyone recently chartered in Vavau - any tips for good spots for surf, fishing, snorkelling, experiencing local culture etc???

Cheers, Lana