Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020

Tailored trip in a 3 o4 4 countries

Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea

Hello again!
We plan to travel to West/South Pacific in sep/oct. Only one month.

Our idea is to visit 3 or 4 of this countries.
Solomon, Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu and New Caledonia

Which would you discard?
And how many days in each country and places to visit?

Thanks in advance!!!

PD: I travelled to Tonga (Nukualofa, Haapai and Vavau) manys years ago.

I'd skip Samoa as I found it the least likeable and least interesting country in the region by far, though logistically, the Solomons might make more sense to skip.
How long to spend in each depends entirely on you. Many people merely want to tick off countries by spending only a few days in each. I spent several weeks in all those and could easily spend longer. If you only have a month, you will have about a week per country which is not much. You can probably only visit one or two islands in each. Note that in Fiji and NC the main islands you arrive on already have lots of attractions, but in Vanuatu and the Solomons less so. There you should visit one of the outer islands, too.

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Although Solomon Islands is my absolute favourite place in the world, with Vanuatu and Fiji running close seconds, I agree with Laszlo that Solomons, at least, might not fit in your schedule, and these days it is quite expensive to get to any of the islands in Solomons. Honiara, the capital on Guadalcanal, has little to offer tourists.

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With only a month, think about limiting yourself to only 3 countries looking at maybe 10 days in each. Check out Air Vanuatu - with them you can fly Fiji to Vanuatu to New Caledonia and back to Fiji. All these places have several options for travel to other islands within each country.

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Thanks... @watsoff @newfie43 and @Laszlo for your quick response and I'm sorry to be late (work... work... work...)

So, I think the most reasonable thing is to limit the trip to one country ... or two.

Between Fiji and Vanuatu, I've decided ti discard VN. It's a good idea?
I also discard NC.

So ... it's possible to combine Solomons and Fiji? 20 and 10 days respectively? 15 and 15? Is Solomons worth enough to spend one month?

What do you think?

Thanks in advance

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I personally prefer both Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the Solomons, but it is certainly possible to spend a month in the latter. Or even in Fiji.

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Yes, I believe you can do both countries in a month, as there are more flights to Solomons now, from Fiji, than there used to be. But, as Laszlo says, Vanuatu might be a better choice (and it's also closer to Fiji). Solomons has great diving, though, if you're into diving. Not sure how easy it is to get to New Caledonia from Fiji, but Laszlo will know.

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Aircalin flew me from Fiji to NC directly, and I suppose they still serve that route.
But OP has already chosen the Solomons, so it is time to discuss that country.
Though so far the only Q he has asked about it is whether a month there is not too long.

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