Samoa - Apia

Hi there

I just wanted to check if anyone could tell me whether it is enough to stay in Apia and do daytrips to sights on Upolu or is better to move around? Only have10 days so trying to decide whether to cram as much as possible in or just find a couple of nice beaches and stay there. I am a lazy beachbumn after all. Any ideas and suggestions are welcome!!!

Was thinking of staying at valentines in Apia, good or bad decision? :)

Cheers!!!

I would think 10 days is a long time to be in just Apia as a traveller. There really aren't any good beaches close to town at all. Although it is totally possible to do day trips, you may find this route tiring going from town to beach and back again everyday... For as small as these islands are, things just seem really far away from each other...
I think moving around would be good... If you're a beach bum, you will want to head to Lalomanu beach... Lots of accommodation there in rustic beach fales.There are also good beaches at Anganoa, Return to Paradise, and Matareva... Although accommodation there is primative.

You could also consider Monono island.

In 10 days, you could also consider going over to Savai'i island for a few days... Head to Manase beach or others.

I stayed at Valentine's Motel. It's quite basic with fans (although I think you can pay extra for their room with a/c), but very clean and the owner is very friendly. We arrived at 2am, due to a delayed flight, so our plans of finding accommodation when we arrived didn't work out too well - some tourist desk at the airport made some calls for us and Valentine's was full, so off we went to Tatiana's Motel (I think that was the name). It was terrible - filthy sheets, cockroaches, huge puddles of water all over the floor from a leaking roof, the worst hostel breakfast ever... So, we were very pleased to find Valentine's was just next door!

Definitely go across to Savai'i and stay in a fale for a few nights, and try and do a full island tour to visit the blow-holes and just admire the scenery. We stayed at a Regina's fales in Manase. Regina's seemed smaller and more intimate that other fales I saw, with a lovely lawn, but we weren't very impressed with the food - a lot of fried stuff which didn't taste nice, but I have no experience of the other fales, so not sure if they're better on the food front.

We didn't see much of Upolu, apart from Apia and the road between Apia and the airport / Savai'i ferry, although we did visit Robert Louis Stevenson's residence.

If you don't fancy the ferry across to Savai'i, I guess you should go to the SE of Upolu, as I've heard it's similar - but this isn't based on my own experiences.