Vanuatu surprise for my girlfriend

Recently my GF lamented that she hasn't traveled much, and wished she could visit somewhere like Fiji or Vanuatu (we live in Brisbane, Australia). So I'd like to surprise her with a trip to Vanuatu. A rich man I'm not, so, as is often the case, I'd like to give her as rich an experience as possible on a fairly tight budget. I can't go too 'rustic' though, she is tolerant but also apprecitates her luxuries. Low-key is fine, but not loooow-key.

We are both SCUBA divers, and a spot with great on-site snorkelling and diving is high on the list of priorities.

I was just Googling around and Trip Advisor reviews highly recommend a few Port Vila resorts, but I'm wary of resorts at capital cities - the resorts may be top notch, but the surrounding environment and culture is often polluted. I may be wrong in this case, Vila may be an exception?

One final Q: if I book a place on another island, say, Santo, how easy and cheap is it to get around and explore that, or other islands (and get to the island in the first place) . That's possibly one thing Efate has going for it - more area to explore than some other islands and better transport options?

Hope I didn't overload with the questions. If anyone knows of any places/accommodation that fits the bill I'd greatly appreaciate any input or suggestions.

Thanks.

Fly direct from Brisbane to Santo. Santo has some of the best dives in the world and dive schools that will rent you gear. As for accommodation guides why not start with Lonely Planet. Tripadvisor is useless in the Pacific.

http://hotels.lonelyplanet.com/hotel/?SearchDetails=K!10000!1.6.15.2.3.4.5.8.9.10.11.12.13.14!-1!376!!!-1!-1!-1!-1!13..!!!57.59.27.4.52!!&PreviousSearchId=-1&RegionId=936

Look up the Air Vanuatu website for details of flights from Santo to lots of places. Think about renting a car and driving up the coast to one of the Northern towns like Port Olry. Good reef diving there.

I would also recommend Santo over Port Vila. There are one or two direct flights to Santo from Brisbane each week.

I was in Santo in June and a number of divers had commented on how cheap the diving was compared to other places they'd been to. I'm told that the diving is close to shore so there is no need for expensive transport to get you to the sites. In some cases you just walk in to the water and you are at world class dive spots, like the President Coolidge.

I would recommend the following trip, which is similar to our trip earlier this year:

2 nights at Deco Stop in Luganville, buy some snacks in town for the rest of your stay, orientate yourselves, dive the President Coolidge, then catch a public transport bus to Lonnoc beach bungalows. You'll save about $100 by catching public transport compared to an organised transfer. Catch the bus to Lonnoc from Unity Shell. You'll have to ask around to find out what time the bus leaves (it doesn't operate on a Sunday).

2 or 3 nights - Lonnoc Beach bungalows, cheap accommodation and very basic, the view makes up for it. Walk to Champagne Beach, check out the local blue hole. Ask to go on the snorkelling tour to the bombie - the owner will paddle you there in a dug-out canoe.

2 or 3 nights - Oyster Island, lovely overwater bungalows, there are a couple of small plane wrecks in the water to explore

2 or 3 nights - Bokissa Island resort, some love it - some hate it. We loved it. Great snorkelling over plate corals just 20 metres from your bungalow. Booking accommodation here through a travel agent or on the net is very expensive. We used the phone at Oyster Island to call Bokissa on the same morning we hoped to go there and managed to negotiate a substantially cheaper rate and transfers. If Bokissa doesn't work out, then try Aore.

Hope that gives you some ideas.

P.S. For the two of us we spent $4000 including flights, all tours and accommodation (10 nights). Every meal was at a restaurant.

id def recomend Fiji with the package deals they have on offer. you can fly from Brisb to nadi, stay at one of the 5 star hotels on nearby Port Denaru and back for the week for about $800 per head. ask a travel agent for current deals. perfect, mind you I do prefer the islands but these are def more rustic.

Yehyeh, that sounds like a great plan. We have only 6 nights on Santo, so the intended itinerary was 2 nights at Deco Lodge, 2 nights at Lonnoc Beach Bungalows and 2 nights at Oyster Island. However, Deco Lodge and Lonnoc are booked out across our travel dates (I have booked Oyster Island for the latter 2 nights though). Can you or anyone else suggest any good alternative accommodation that might adequately substitute for Deco Lodge and Lonnoc? I was thinking, as you suggested, to base in Luganville for the first two nights - maybe hire a car and drive to Lonnoc/Champagne beach for the day. Any other good Luganville resorts/hotels? Another possibility: stay 3 nights in Luganville (hire car for 2 days and explore/dive Santo) and 3 nights at Oyster Island. Or perhaps 2 nights at Luganville, 2 nights Bokissa/Aore and the final 2 at Oyster? Suggestions?

Thanks all for the current and any future replies.

Luganville isn't the nicest place, so you don't want to spend too much time there apart from for the activities that go from there - primarily diving the Pres Coolidge.

With 6 days I would go for 1 night in Luganville, 3 nights at either Oyster or Bokissa/Aore and 2 nights at the other. Oyster is about half way to Lonnoc/Champagne so you're better off doing a day trip there from Oyster. We only spent 2 nights at Oyster, but I could have stayed a week. I'm sure your GF will love it!