10 days in Vanuatu - Santo, Port Vila and Tanna

Hi all

We were in Vanuatu from 27th June to 7th July 2014. First five days were in Santo. Stayed at the Le Motel - Hibiscus Attraction Center. Highly recommend this accommodation. Clean (super clean), functional, off the main road and Marie was a complete delight. First day we hired mountain bikes and cycled to million dollar point then on to Ri Ri Bluehole (long bike ride - 20 km?). Ri Ri Bluehole was A-MA-ZING! Second day we taxi'd to Oyster Island for Sunday lunch BBQ, snorkled and kayaked to another Bluehole. Third day we did the Millennium Cave Tour. Completely recommend this tour. Well worth it. If you stay at the Hibiscus and have four or more in the tour you can do the cave tour for 6000 vatu. Last day we popped across on the free boat to Aore Is resort. Lux'd it up for half a day snorkling, swimming in the pool and eating 1000 vatu pizzas.

Port Vila we stayed at 'Room with a View' - nice view, great central balcony, kind of an olde worlde ex-pat charm - loved loved loved the breakfasts. If you're in the front room you might need ear-plugs as there is a bit of traffic noise and music from the nightclub at the bottom of the hill. Didn't do much in Port Villa. I got sick :-( Eventually made it to the 'The Cascades' - for me the waterfalls, they were overpriced. 2000 vatu person.

Tanna. Arranged transport via Mountain Breeze in advance. 22,000 vatu for the two of us (this included return airport transfers to the Mt Yasur, entrance fees and 'guide' to the volcano). In hindsight, you could do this for cheaper. I've already commented in another post that Mountain Breeze Bungalows are very very basic (better alternate accomodation would be found in the area). Mt Yasur is frickin' awesome. You don't need a guide necessarily. The upside of a guide is the drive up and the drive back. Otherwise you're walking to the top (45-50 mins one way - it's steep). Second day we walked to Resolution Bay - 1hr 30 min one way from Mt Yasur - highly recommend. Beautiful scenery, friendly locals. The beach at Resolution Bay is very cool.

And that's it :-) in sum. Vanuatu is expensive, beautiful, friendly plus it has a surprising adventure bent to it.

Michael,

Could you expand on "Tanna. Arranged transport via Mountain Breeze in advance. 22,000 vatu for the two of us (this included return airport transfers to the Mt Yasur, entrance fees and 'guide' to the volcano). In hindsight, you could do this for cheaper"

by doing this cheaper, do you mean not paying for a guide, or are there better ways to get there from the airport ?
I was considering trying the Lava View Bungalows which seem to be next door to, or very near Mountain Breeze.
Would you have been able to simply walk up to the crater by yourselves ?

Thanks for the report.

Hi Randyb2

We wanted everything booked in advance to ensure we were going to get to our accommodation; however, when we landed there were a few travellers on the plane that rocked up without making arrangements and haggled a price with some of the jeep drivers. Bit of a risk here 1) there's no gaurantee that there'll be a Jeep going to the other side of the island, 2) there's no gaurantee that there'll be room on a jeep? That said, I understand that one couple haggled 3000 Vatu for both of them going one way (as opposed to 10,000 return in the lonely planet guide book).

Definitely you can walk up to the rim of the volcano without a guide (you'll save yourself 3,500 vatu approx). There's only one way up (via the road). Once at the top, the viewing areas are marked out 'reasonably' well. With a 1hr walk up. I'd aim to head up two hours prior to sunset. Just to get yourself use to the impact of standing on the rim of a volcano during daylight. I wouldn't want to get here after dark - it's freaky enough as it is. That said, you'll want to stay after sunset as the volcanic gases glow red and the volcanic explosions are just amazing. Take a warm top/hoodie and water.

In terms of accommodation, I can't comment on Lava View Bungalows. Give Trip Advisor a look. I noticed after the fact, that a lot of people have made comment about different bungalows in the area :-)

have been looking into this a bit the last couple weeks as am visiting Vanuatu 2nd half August, and visiting Tanna...seems there are a bunch of bungalows near the volcano, including several with 'tree-top' bungalows...
Most list 2500vt per person for transfers (airport to bungalow) each way...BUT some then mention that is based on 2 or more...so for 1 person by themselves it's 5000 each way...some just mention 2500 per person each way...so double-check with the place you pick just how much the transfer will cost you.

All bungalows list 3350vt as the volcano entrance fee, then most list 500vt for a guide (they don;t mention vehicle cost, but assume that would be extra again...)...so yeah you can walk up it, and probably without a guide, but I doubt you could avoid the entrance fee...

The standard was (last November) 5,000 per person each way if you are the only tourist, otherwise
it should be 2,500 per person each way. If a truck is anyways going, a bunch of people get on the truck,
but they don't count in this regard.

100% happy with Lava Views Bungalows!