Santo

I am traveling to Vanuatu over Dec / Jan for a month with my husband and 2 kids and we wish to get a "true" island experience. We're going to Tanna for about 10 days and were thinking of Santo and some other islands accessible from there (within a short boat ride).

Has anyone been to Aore Resort or Lonnoc Beach Bungalows? If so, what did you think and how much time can you spend there exploring. Any other suggestions - don't mind basic accommodation as long as it suits a family of 4, but prefer something with water views within easy access of places to explore.

Been to Lonnoc - it's great.
Use search to find other posts about it here.
If there are several of you, you could easily spend up to a week there.
The beach is stunning, and they offer several excursions with their friendly guide Alick.

Lonnoc was definitely wonderful. They offer several low-key activities for reasonable prices (mostly 500 Vatu). When I was there Alick took me spearfishing. Do keep in mind that Lonnoc is a pretty isolated place...if your kids get easily bored I might recommend bringing some books or something.

I didn't stay at Aore but I heard it was amazing. Apparently some of the best snorkelling in all of Santo is there. I was told to be careful though...there is a deadly poisonous species of cone shell that lives there. Easy enough to avoid though...just don't touch it.

I spent a couple nights at the Beachfront Resort. It was.....alright. Nothing really negative to say about it but nothing really stood out about it either.

Have you looked at Bokissa Eco-resort?

I loved Lonnoc too, but I agree with #2 - there might not be much there to keep your kids entertained. We also visited Aore - but just for the day. There was alot more exploring to be done around this area - bat caves, kayaks, you can take bikes out. If you can I would aim to do both, depending on the age of your kids (i.e., older kids would probably enjoy Aore, but Lonnoc is so lovely!).

Thanks for that information. The kids are 5 & 8 so unfortunately can't go to Bokissa (hear that is really lovely).

We're thinking of going to Aore first for 4 or 5 days then to Lonnoc for about the same. Our kids are pretty good at entertaining themselves and "roughing it". As long as there's a beach they're happy for days!

Does anyone know if you can rent a car on Santo, and is it worthwhile?

<blockquote>Quote
<hr>As long as there's a beach they're happy for days!<hr></blockquote>It's not just "a beach", they've got TWO of the very finest beaches I've seen in the entire South Pacific!

Thanks Laszlo

That is quite a claim!! I'm really looking forward to it. Did you find it hard getting around? Is there any car hire that you know of on Santo?

Cheers :)

I never hire cars anywhere, and from what I saw on Santo, it seemed more common to hire a car with a driver for day-trips out of Lugainville.
Actually as Santo hasn't got hell of a lot of roads to drive on anyway (though by Vanuatu standards still a LOT), they are mostly not signposted and in poor quality, this may make some sense.

Keeping the above in mind, I didn't find it particularly hard to get around, though public transport there may be a lot more basic than what you might expect.

Three of the 9 beach pics in my profile are from Santo - with a 4h one from Vila.

I found a 4WD hire number on a Vanuatu site, but with what you're saying might be easier to use the island transport to get around.

Other than Lonnoc Beach, does anyone know of any other great destinations we should try to get to on Santo?

Prefer not to sit on a beach with a ship full of tourists if we can help it. :)

Chances are you'll have Lonnoc and Champagne beach to yourselves (or nearly so).

You might check with a tourist board to see when the cruise ship docks.

When I was there I had Lonnoc entirely to myself. Champagne beach had a few day tourists but they left at around 2pm.

I LOVED the Millenium Cave tour...it was simply breathtaking, but it does require some basic conditioning. There are some steep ascents and slippery rocks. It might be a bit tough for a 5 year old.

The Matevulu blue hole was pretty good...you can take an outrigger canoe up a stream to see it. Definitely bring snorkelling gear if you go.

Luganville itself had very little to offer in my opinion, but the Million Dollar Point snorkelling site is pretty close by

I love the sound of Millenium Cave, but I agree from what I've heard it's a bit tough for the kids.

They are used to doing some tough bushwalks, but this could be a bit much for our youngest.

Is it best to take our own snorkelling gear to Vanuatu or is it readily available at most accommodation places?

Where are the bat caves? Are these on Aore or Santo?

Take your own masks and snorkells.

Lonnoc Beach is a beautiful place to stay and they have some pretty large beach huts-i was in a group of seven and we all stayed in the same hut. you will probably have it to yourself, same with champagne beach. its fairly easy to arrange a driver in Luganville to get you to and from Lonnoc.
i spent a day at Aore, just snorkling and using the pool really. it seemed like a nice place to spend a few days and it was a little more upmarket than the Lonnac beach bungalows which will be good for a few days. the snorkling there was very good so it would be well worth taking some snorkling gear.
as for other things to do, matavulu blue hole is stunning and there are some shallow bits for your kids to swim in. its easy to arrange a driver to take you out for the day. hope you have a good trip.

If you check out other queries regarding ChampangeBeach the general consensus is "don't go". The in-fighting between the grumpy old guy and the young chief is just too acrimonious. The beach next door is just as pretty and has good facilities.
Regarding car hire, Santo 4wheel drive on the main street is where you hire a vehicle from. Joyce is the womans name (ex-pat English). Just make sure she doesn't hire the vehicle out to someone else...and if she does just sit outside the office until she fixes the problem. Also the garages will hire cars out; and the guys waiting at the airport are always willing to do a deal as a driver/guide, and cheap too. My kids aged 7, 8 and 11 all loved Santo and the beaches, food, snorkelling, hiking.... To them it was just one huge adventure and the ni vanuatu liked them too. We took our own gear for snorkelling.