tonga for 1 week

Hi,

I am going to Tonga for 1 week soon on my own, and I sort of getting around to organise the trip (rather, finding out more information about tonga).

Just wondering - I will be arriving in Tonga - Nuku'alofa from Sydney at about 10.30pm on Thurs; and I am hoping to be able to find my way to Ha'apai the following day. Can I buy the air ticket out to Ha'apai at the airport when I arrived? Oh, and is the international and domestic airport located in the same site, or will there be travel between the two? Also thinking of spending the night at the airport when I arrived, instead of the trouble of finding my way in and out.

my plan is to go to Ha'apai (Ueleva) for 3-4 days, then back to Tongatapu for 3-4 days at the end of the stay, so I wont miss my plane back to Aus (which is crucial cos I cant miss work!).

I would doubt you can find anything at all at the airport at 10:30pm. You'll be lucky to find your luggage! The place is a mess. Maybe an exchange counter will be open, not much more. And I doubt if you'll be able to sleep at the airport, Im guessing airport security might ask you to leave, but it could be possible.

I'd stay at a basic place n town that night. You won't really know the exact time of the flight to Haapai until a few hours before it actually leaves, so it could be a while, even late afternoon even though they have it scheduled for the morning. Might as well head to town on arrival.

I don't remember any distance between the two, the domestic was, if I remember correctly, adjacent to the int'l, just a minute's walk. That was two yrs ago, and they are redoing the airport a bit, so maybe Amaile or a recent visitor can update you on this.

I'd also buy the ticket in advance, lots of flight get sold out.

Book your domestic flight through the following travel agent:

Rising Sun

Rising Sun can deliver your ticket to the airport or to your accommodation.

I think that the airport is only open for arrivals/departures, therefore, you cannot stay at the airport overnight.

I agree with Raro for finding a place to stay for the night, and head back to the domestic airport for the flight to Ha'apai.

<blockquote>Quote
<hr>The place is a mess<hr></blockquote>

The two worst airports I have been in the world:

1) Nuku'alofa, Tonga
2) Minot, North Dakota, USA

We're on that same flight! And stupidly booked flights with Peau Vavau and due to being busy for the last couple of months only just checked to see if the airline was up and running. (will be calling them to try and get our money back) So we are currently trying to get flights out the next day to either Haapai or Vavau - not fussy anymore!!

thanks! I am emailing Rising Sun now to enquire about the tickets.
http://www.sleepinginairports.net/asia/tonga.htm I am not fussed about sleeping at airports if it means also 'save some pennies to keep the pounds'. :) But I will look into the option of going downtown looking for a roof over my head for the night.

Airport security are nice people but quite strict I doubt they'll let you sleep there.

There is a guesthouse nearby run by wonderful reliable friendly helpful people they can pick you up/drop you off

Fua'amotu Transit Lounge
676-35138
676-17815
ftl@reservations.hotmail.com
ftl@kalianet.to

whats wrong with Fua'amotu airport? I went through it in about ten minutes flat. ;-)

harry mud...just wait until h. clinton gets in, then you'll really see "imperialism-socialism" at it's best!

"whats wrong with Fua'amotu airport? I went through it in about ten minutes flat. "

Harry does have a point, it's so tiny it's hard to imagine anything being lost for long.

OK so it's not terribly well run but neither is the whole country-Welcome To The Kingdom(!)

I would advise staying in town as the others have said. There's not much at the airport and I wouldn't want to stay there overnight. Just a word of advice about rising sun. We booked our tickets to ha'apai and vava'u through them too. They were very helpful with email before we left, and very friendly and helpful in the office when we picked the tickets up. They said that the flight was all confirmed and that tonga airlines could see their system too so knew we were booked onto the flight. We turned up at the airport for our flight to Ha'apai and were told that we were booked on a non existent flight, and that the Ha'apai flight had already left earlier that morning and they didn't know anything about us. Luckily it all worked out ok as the minister for tourism had a meeting in ha'apai so the Vava'u flight dropped us off with him! Rising sun were helpful otherwise, but you might want to triple check the flight is confirmed. I don't think this is an uncommon story in Tonga though.

Have a great time

It's more common than one would have wanted.

Hi ,

I think a good idea is to spend the nite @ the Fu'amotu lodge because it's affordable and it's about a ten min drive from the international airport.You can be transfered over by Teta Tours pick ups as they are always @ the airport.For the tickets if you haven't left because Teta Tours are the GSA and the Majority Shareholder of Airlines Tonga they will provide you with the most Accurate info - Rising Sun and PTM are only agents of Airlines Tonga they get all their ticket stock from Teta Tours Ltd.So when the going gets tough you can put your bet on Teta Tours - tetatour@kalianet.to . Also the distance between the International and Domestic is a 2min drive but if you want to walk it's a good 20 mins.