Swim into a postcard White beaches, volcanoes and blue, blue lagoons aren’t the best thing about Vanuatu. It’s that you’ll have them to yourself
CLOSER than Fiji, less cliched than Bali and oodles more exotic than the Gold Coast, Vanuatu is the quintessential beach holiday destination.
The Melanesian archipelago is one of our closest Pacific neighbours, yet only attracts a little over 100,000 visitors a year. For many travellers, that’s the appeal.
Those who make the journey are rewarded with 83 tropical islands with the kinds of beaches that sold out postcard stands back in the day.
But Vanuatu’s true beauty lies in its rawness — the magma-belching volcanoes, roaring waterfalls, eye-popping blue holes, tribal customs and cannibal past.
LAVA LIGHTS
The island of Tanna is one of the few places in the world where you can peer into the roiling belly of an active volcano and not be fried like a fritter. Mount Yasur has been erupting continuously for more than 250 years, wowing visitors with a thrilling nightly sky show.
Lava lusters can get perilously close to the crater rim without breaking a sweat. Want to up the adrenaline? You can ash-board down the slope of the volcano.
BLUE HOLES
If you’ve ever seen a picture of a swimming hole so blue it looks like a sapphire meteorite lodged in the Earth, chances are it was taken in Vanuatu. The Pacific nation is famous for its blue holes — limpid pools of impossibly blue limestone-filtered water enclosed by jungle.
The best blue holes are on the biggest island, Espiritu Santo. Paddle an outrigger canoe up the Riri River, take hold of the rope dangling from a giant banyan tree and plunge into the cool psychedelic waters of Matevulu Blue Hole. You may have the swimming spot all to yourself. Blue Lagoon on the main island of Efate is also a great spot to cool off.
CASCADES APLENTY
If the Garden of Eden had a waterfall, Rarru Cascades would be it. Here, a curtain of water pours over a rock shelf into a deep basin then meanders downstream through a series of terraces and foaming pools. Where the blue caves are set in iridescent blue, the filter here is emerald green – from the water to the surrounding forest.
The cascades are a short drive from Port Vila on Efate and sprawl over a large area, so you can find a shady patch to yourself. There’s enough variation in size and depth to accommodate competent swimmers and toddling anklebiters.
VINES NOT BUNGEES
If the thought of plunging headfirst off a 10-storey tower has you petrified, imagine it without a cord. That would be suicide, so on the remote island of Pentecost islanders use vines tied around their ankles. The land diving ritual, Nagol, is an annual spectacle held on Saturdays between April and June to celebrate the yam harvest.
See men and boys plunge up to 30m from a rudimentary tower made from wood as they assert their strength and fertility.
CANYON KINGDOM
For an all-day caving adventure with quadruple the fun, don’t miss Millennium Cave on Espiritu Santo. The expedition combines trekking, caving, canyoning and swimming and all proceeds go back into the Vunaspef community to help provide water security for the village and build schools. Bring your sense of adventure as you traverse bamboo bridges and ladders, scramble over boulders and wade through the cave by torchlight.
Lunch by the cave entrance awaits, then it’s a gentle float down the forestfringed Sarakata River.
BEACH BUBBLES
A beach that bubbles like champagne at low tide, is free of development and has one of the most beautiful tracts of pearly white sand you’re ever likely to see? Welcome to Champagne Beach.
This dazzling lagoon on the west coast of Espiritu Santo is hugged by a crescent of sand lined with palm trees and ticks every box on an Instagrammer’s list, #nofilter. But what sets Champagne Beach apart is the volcanic activity below the water that causes gases to escape and fizz, giving the beach its name.