Vanuatu 5 Day Itinerary
Vanuatu 5-Day Travel Itinerary
Day 1: Arrival and Port Vila
Most nationalities get 30 days visa-free on arrival at Bauerfield International Airport, so the only real paperwork concern is making sure your passport has enough validity left. A taxi into town runs about 1,400 vatu on the official set fare, though drivers further afield will quote 3,500 to 4,000 vatu to reach resorts around Mele Bay, agree the price before the drive starts since meters aren’t standard practice here.
Spend the afternoon at Mele Bay itself, Efate’s most popular stretch of sand, then wander the Port Vila Market for Ni-Vanuatu crafts. Skip the generic souvenir shops near the cruise ship pier if a ship happens to be in port that day, prices there spike noticeably. For dinner, Kai Vanua does some of the most genuinely local Ni-Vanuatu cooking in the city and it’s cheap, a rarity in a capital where a lot of restaurant food skews toward imported, Australian-influenced menus. If you want one polished sit-down meal during the trip, save it for Cafe Vila rather than a resort restaurant.
Vatu is the currency and English is common in town, though Bislama is what you’ll actually hear spoken between locals, a French and English derived creole that’s worth learning a handful of phrases from.
Day 2: Efate Island
Rent a car or arrange a driver for the day, Efate’s sites are spread out enough that walking between them isn’t realistic. The National Museum and Cultural Centre gives useful context on Ni-Vanuatu history before you go further afield, and Mele Cascades, a multi-tier waterfall a short drive from town, charges a modest entry fee, around 2,000 vatu for tourists, paid to the local landowning family who maintain the site.
Skip anything billed as “Hastings Field Music & Cultural Centre,” it doesn’t correspond to an actual venue on Efate and shows up as filler in a few generic itineraries online. Spend that time instead at one of Efate’s genuine blue holes, freshwater swimming spots with startlingly clear turquoise water, several sit within a short drive of Port Vila and are usually run by custom landowners who charge a small entry fee, cash only, so bring vatu in small notes.
Always ask before photographing people in villages you pass through, this is a firm cultural norm and not just polite suggestion.
Day 3: A Slower Day on Efate, Not a Trip to Maewo
A lot of itineraries for this trip try to squeeze in Maewo Island on day three, which does not work logistically. Maewo sits far north in Vanuatu’s archipelago, well beyond Efate, and reaching it requires its own domestic flight and onward boat, not a same-day excursion from Port Vila. If remote-island time genuinely appeals to you, that’s a trip to plan separately with several extra days built in, not a bolt-on to a five-day Efate and Tanna loop.
The better use of this day is exploring more of Efate itself at a slower pace: another blue hole, a village cultural visit, or simply time on a quieter beach away from the Mele Bay crowds. Bring reef shoes if you’re getting in the water anywhere with a coral or rocky bottom, and reapply sunscreen more often than feels necessary, the equatorial sun here is stronger than it looks under cloud cover.
Day 4: Tanna Island and Mount Yasur
Fly to Tanna from Port Vila, flights run daily but seats sell out during peak season so book ahead rather than assuming you can walk up. The main draw is Mount Yasur, one of the most consistently accessible active volcanoes on the planet, close enough to the crater rim to feel the ground shake and hear the vents roar. Entry runs close to 9,800 vatu and gets you to the rim itself, though access can be restricted on short notice if the volcanic alert level rises, so build in flexibility rather than a tight schedule around a single sunset visit. Evening tours are the classic choice, watching lava glow against the dark sky, but sunrise trips exist too if you’d rather beat both the heat and the crowds.
Bring a jacket. The rim sits at real elevation and gets surprisingly cold after dark, something first-time visitors consistently underestimate given how tropical the rest of the island feels.
Day 5: Return and Departure
Fly or boat back to Port Vila depending on your onward schedule and how much buffer you want before your international flight. Use whatever time is left for last-minute souvenir shopping or one more relaxed beach stretch rather than cramming in a new activity, Tanna’s volcano is a hard act to follow and trying to top it on a departure day usually just adds stress. Head to Bauerfield with real time to spare, domestic schedules here run looser than international ones and delays are common enough that a tight connection is a genuine risk.