Inter Island Travel thru Fr. Polynesia, Cook, Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia

Hello Travellers,

for next year I am planning on a world trip with my wife. From Los Angeles we would like to head down into the South Pacific and jump thru some of those beautiful islands. I heared that it would be easy to travel between the islands, unfortunately I could not find any flights. There are only connections to USA or NZ but not inbetween the islands. Star Alliance offers "Circle Pacific Tickets", but also there are no connections available.

How is it possible to travel between French Polynesa (Pape'ete; PPT), Cook Islands (Rarotonga; RAR), Fiji (Nadi; NAN), Vanuatu (Port Vila; VLI) and New Caledonia (Noumea; NOU)? From Los Angeles to French Polynesia is not a big deal I guess, also from Noumea to somewhere in Australia should be easy.

Could you recommend any Air-Passes (in addition to a Around-The-World-Ticket) to cover those Islands or is it better to book the flights one at a time? Are there maybe interesting alternatives for flying like boats, ....? We.plan on staying about 3 weeks on each mentioned island, so the South Pacific part should cover something like 3 months in total.

Thank you very much for help,

Konstantin

French Polynesa (Pape'ete; PPT) - Air Tahiti (not Air Tahiti Nui) or Air Rarotonga - Cook Islands (Rarotonga; RAR) - only possible via New Zealand - Fiji (Nadi; NAN) - Air Vanuatu or Air Pacific - Vanuatu (Port Vila; VLI) - Air Vanuatu or Aircalin - New Caledonia (Noumea; NOU)

South Pacfic Airlines - check out all routings with the individual airlines. Note that while he shows a flight between the Cooks and Fiji on the ANZ airpass page it no longer operates.

I've never heard of anyone using an intercountry airpass for the South Pacific region. Island hopping as you imagine between countries is becoming more and more difficult as routes are eliminated. Consider Air New Zealand on your RTW. From LA you can stop in Samoa (and then fly or take the boat to American Samoa as a side trip), you can then fly on to Tonga before reaching Auckland.

Get David Stanley's Moon South Pacific handbook from the library to help you plan. It's a few years old but the best resource for the region.

P.S. I'm from the U.S. like you so it would be traveler with one L.

Hi Silvanocat,

thanks for your help. The Idea of Tonga and Samoa is not too bad but we've already been there on a Trip vom California (where we live) in 2006, so we would like to see other islands besides Tonga and Samoa on our big trip. Thanks for the link

I guess we will skip either Cook Islands or Tahiti and take a flight via Auckland to Fiji. Let's see, the South Pacific will be only a part of our big trip (18 months total), so there's a lot to be organized.

Take care,
Konstantin

I would like to suggest you check out www.airtimetable.com - this site has all kinds of information to help with planning your trip. If you click on 'airline route maps' you will be able to see where all the different airlines in an area go. You can also check out the airports and see what airlines fly into an airport you are planning for your list. There is a mileage calculator if you are thinking of using one of the RTW passes with mileage limits. Another site I find great is www.airtreks.com - this is a San Francisco based travel company that deals only in RTW, RTP and other multi-stop trips. You can input the route you are interested in in their trip planner section and get a rough estimate of the cost. You can redo your route until you get what is best for you. We used their services on a recent multi-stop trip through Asia and were very pleased. You don't have to book with them to use the trip planner. You might like to look at a route from LA - Papetee - Auckland - Nadi -Port Vila - Noumea - Sydney. Air Vanuatu flies between Nadi - Port Villa - Noumea (sometimes a code share) and you can fly Noumea to Sydney with Air Calin. We did this route in 2006 except we were able to go Papetee - Rarotonga - Nadi without having to go to Auckland. If you want the Cooks you can also play with that in your routing. Hope this helps. Good luck with your planning and have a great trip. I'd love to hear how you make out.

its worth spending a bit of time in nz- theres a lot to see! a lot of fiji can be done in a week (assuming u focus on nadi and suva), maybe more if ur planning on going to the outer islands (eg. the yasawas or mamanucas)

I disagree with bula_niki. You need much more than a week in Fiji to explore or get to know the country (unless you only want to rest on a beach). Nadi and Suva are not Fiji, nor will you find the "real" Fji in the Yasawas and the Mamanucas. 3 weeks are actually a good time frame to travel a bit around in Fiji and gives you opportunities to travel to more distant (and authentic) parts.

Air Pacific www.airpacific.com is covering some of the destinations you choose, so does Air New Zealand www.airnewzealand.com, or try http://www.roundtheworldflights.com/

I was assuming that they would be focussing on the typical touristy beach stuff, which is why I said a week would be sufficient. If they are planning on going trekking or staying in the villages then they will need more time.
I love the Yasawas, and so do most people I know (both tourists and Fijians) and its worth spending some time on the mainland- Suva and Nadi are the largest cities/towns so it makes sense to go there- unless they're into really small towns with no a lot going on. Levuka is also worth a visit if you can squeeze it in, as is Savusavu (although thats becoming more commercialised as is a lot of Fiji now)
Exactly where would you suggest is the 'real' Fiji?

"Exactly where would you suggest is the 'real' Fiji?"
You gave yourself the answer: The parts of Fiji, which are not so commercialised, for example the Islands in the Lomaiviti Group - Levuka and surroundings are wonderful, and represent for me the still genuine experience of the country with its history, culture and tradition.
So are parts of Taveuni and parts of Vanua Levu (and I agree, Savu-Savu town is not the place any longer). If you mean "nightclubs" for not a lot going on, that might be true, and if you only want to be at a beach and have a coctail, okay you can go anywhere.

You can go from LAX to the Cooks, then on to NZ, from there up to Fiji, then over to Vanuatu/Solomons/NC etc.

Air NZ is a good one to use, with its partners.

Also check out Air Solomon - http://www.flysolomons.com/internationalroutemap.htm

Hello Guys,

thank you so much for your information and help. I saved all the links, that helps a lot for organizing everything.

We will try to fly LAX - Cook Islands - Auckland within the StarAlliance RoundTheWorld Ticket, on an extended Stopover in Auckland we fly to Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Australia and back to Auckland on any Circle-Pacific like ticket (any recommmendations?), followed by 6 weeks in New Zealand. Finally back onto the StarAlliance RoundTheWorld Ticket further towards Bangkok.

Air NZ flies to Nadi, Air Vanuatu all the way to Australia, back to NZ should not be a problem. Which would be the best Airpass (Circle-Ticket) to cover the route from AKL to Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Sydney (or Brisbane) and back to Auckland?

The basic planning is almost done, from Germany via Los Angeles to Cook Islands, New Zealand and South Pacific as I wrote above, Bangkok, 2 Months in Thailand and around, on the surface to Hongkong and Shanghai (another month), 3 months Indonesia. Tibet and Nepal one months each and 2 months in India. Looks like a plan (and hopefully my boss does not read that :-))).

Take care,
Konstantin