Vanuatu is an archipelago of 80 islands scattered across the southwest Pacific between Fiji and Australia — a nation of active volcanoes, extraordinary marine biodiversity, ancient Melanesian kastom culture and the kind of tropical island scenery that film location scouts search the world for. It is genuinely remote, genuinely wild in places, and genuinely unlike anywhere else.
Mount Yasur on Tanna Island is one of the world's most accessible active volcanoes and one of its most spectacular. The track from the car park to the rim takes 15 minutes on foot. At the crater edge, the ground shakes rhythmically, red-orange lava spatters hundreds of metres into the air from the caldera below, and the noise is a physical pressure rather than just a sound. At night, the glow from within the crater turns the ash cloud above a deep crimson that is visible from the ocean. Villagers on Tanna have lived alongside Yasur for centuries, and many consider it a living being, a god or an ancestor. The kastom (traditional custom) culture on Tanna is strong, and the John Frum cargo cult — a Melanesian religious movement that emerged in the 1930s in response to contact with the outside world — holds ceremonies around Yasur on Fridays.
The SS President Coolidge wreck dive in Espiritu Santo is consistently rated one of the world's top ten wreck dives. The luxury ocean liner turned troop transport sank in 1942 after hitting two mines, now lying in 21 to 70 metres of water off Luganville with its superstructure, swimming pool, staircases, guns and the famous ceramic tile panel known as "The Lady" all accessible to divers. Over 150 artillery vehicles and equipment are visible inside and around the wreck.
The Blue Holes of Espiritu Santo are freshwater springs that emerge through limestone into clear blue pools and river systems: Riri Blue Hole, Matevulu Blue Hole and the Nanda Blue Hole offer swimming in water of extraordinary transparency and colour. The nearby Champagne Beach is frequently listed among the Pacific's finest — white sand, clear warm water and a fringe of jungle with no resort infrastructure.
Vanuatu's cultural diversity is remarkable given its small population. Around 110 distinct languages are spoken across the islands (one of the world's highest language densities per capita). Kastom practices — ranging from the spectacular land-diving ceremony on Pentecost Island (the origin of bungee jumping, practised as a yam harvest ritual for centuries) to men's custom houses and graded ceremonial systems — vary dramatically from island to island. The Pentecost land divers jump from wooden towers as high as 30 metres with only vines tied to their ankles; a tradition that has existed for around 1,500 years.
Port Vila, the capital on Efate, has a pleasant waterfront with good restaurants, a lively market and the Vanuatu Cultural Centre, which documents the country's extraordinary cultural complexity. The islands near Vila — Pele, Nguna, Havannah Harbour — offer accessible snorkelling, kayaking and village stays.
Vanuatu's food leans on fresh seafood, coconut-based sauces, taro, yam, manioc and lap lap (a traditional dish of ground root vegetables baked in banana leaves with meat or fish). The coconut crab — a land crab that can weigh up to 4 kilograms and is hunted at night — is a local delicacy of remarkable flavour.
For divers, adventure travellers and those drawn to cultures that have maintained their identity through deliberate resistance to outside influence, Vanuatu is one of the Pacific's genuine treasures.
