Vanuatu Vacation

Vanuatu is at its glorious best in the dry season from May to October. Expect clear, warm days with an average temperature of 23°C (73°F). For walking or trekking, narrow it down to the cold season, June to August, when water temperatures drop to 21°C and the air is cooler – not the best time to visit if you’re hoping to laze around on a beach. Summer is the wet season and brings warmer weather but it can be unpleasantly steamy, with the heaviest rains in January.

From April to June the islanders on Pentecost practise Naghol (land diving) to guarantee their yam harvest and from August to November the spectacular clan alliance dance, or Toka , is held on Tanna (check with the tourist office for the current dates). School holiday periods are busy, so flights, especially to Vanuatu’s outer islands, need to be booked as far in advance as possible.

Port Vila is the capital city of Vanuatu. It is also Vanuatu’s largest city. Situated on the south coast of the island of Efate, in Shefa Province, the city population at last census (1999) was 29,356,^[1] an increase of 55% on the previous census result (1989). This suggests a 2007 population of about 40,000 or around 65% of the province’s population. Port Vila is the economic and commercial centre of Vanuatu.

Vanuatu (IPA: /ˌvɑːnuːˈɑːtuː/), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (French: République de Vanuatu), is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago is some 1,750 km (1,090 mi) east of northern Australia, 500 km (310 mi) north-east of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and south of the Solomon Islands.

Vanuatu was first inhabited by Melanesian people. Europeans began to settle in the area in the late 18th century. In the 1880s France and the United Kingdom claimed parts of the country and in 1906 they agreed a framework for jointly managing the archipelago through a British-French Condominium as the New Hebrides. An independence movement was established in the 1970s, and the Republic of Vanuatu was created in 1980.