Things to do in Vanuatu
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Flaming Bull Steakhouse
Among so many great places to eat, one expects to choose some fab French cuisine. But Flaming Bull's eye fillet on mash is impossible to beat. Add the big hug from the waiter and the outrageous atmosphere and you too will keep coming back. Vanuatu beef is good - organic from contented cows that graze around coconut plantations - but then the seafood is straight from the water to you, so the coconut-crumbed prawns are tempting. There's live music later, with local bands playing mellow love songs.
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L'Hippocampus the Sea Horse Ranch
L'Hippocampus the Sea Horse Ranch has fun trail rides and major adventures. Offers everything from bareback swimming treks to rainforest rides, gentle beach walks or sunset trails, on acres of forest and beach for you to explore. It's a 10-minute bus ride from town.
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Sacré Coeur Cathedral
Standing proud on the main street of the French Quarter is modernistic Roman Catholic Sacré Coeur Cathedral.
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Nambawan Market & Café
Wholesome snacks, wireless internet access, ice creams, fresh-squeezed juices and a large range of handicrafts.
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Yasur Volcano
This active volcano is one of the world's most accessible. In fact, 4WD vehicles can get to within 150m of the crater rim. Mt Yasur's ash-laden smoke has smothered the vegetation, reducing the landscape to an alien prehistoric desert, with the gaunt shapes of surviving pandanus palms adding to the surrealistic view.
The level of activity within Yasur fluctuates between dangerous and relatively calm, but when it's hot it's hot. Along the path to the crater rim, there are whiffs of sulphur and whooshing, roaring noises. Ahead is a silhouette of people on the rim, golden fireworks behind them. Then you're looking into a dark central crater where three vents take it in turns…
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Vila Market
Colourful and busy, Vila Market is open round-the-clock from early Monday through to noon on Saturday. Fruit and vegetables, flowers, firewood, jewellery, woodcarvings and souvenirs are in the care of ni-Van women wearing colourful Mother Hubbard dresses.
Prices are rock bottom: coconuts, pawpaws and huge grapefruit can start at around VT20; a generous slab of laplap is around VT150. Produce is seasonal - look for wild raspberries in September, mangoes in November and passionfruit from March to May. Benches at the back are for diners. The ladies cook interesting meals like herb-coated fish with rice, as you watch.
There's no bargaining. Prices are clearly marked and no…
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Coongoola Day Cruise
Coongoola Day Cruise takes you on Lady of the Sea, a 23m ketch built in Burmese Teak with Bermuda ketch rigging. The Lady was once the mother ship for the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. Two dives at Tranquillity Island, snorkel gear, a wander around the turtle sanctuary and beach barbecue are included.
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Club Hippique
Club Hippique offers rides through rainforest and coconut plantations above Emden Lagoon. Offers everything from bareback swimming treks to rainforest rides, gentle beach walks or sunset trails, on acres of forest and beach for you to explore. It's a 10-minute bus ride from town.
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Tilly's
Built around Chantilly's sunny foyer. Drink in superb bay views, or take your meal, maybe baked poulet on crispy potato roast with papaya and lime dressing, out onto the private jetty. There's also a great tapas menu.
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Anchor Inn
A great beer garden that buzzes, especially when international sports are on. Look out for meal specials, like queue-up barbecues. It's home to the Vanuatu Cruising Yacht Club, so you'll hear all the yachtie goss.
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La Pizzeria
This simple little place has great comfort food like the best osso buco or fish curry you've ever had. It's a popular spot with expats who chat away to you, and for pizza (eat-in or takeaway).
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Wild Pig Restaurant
The chef here is famous for his beef Wellington - quite the best you'll ever have. But then there's his lobster bisque and steamed fish in champagne. Yumm.
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Jill's Café
Try one of Jill's famous American-style breakfasts at a table out the back and watch the boats, because you may be here a while - service is slow.
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Porte du Ciel
A charming little Vietnamese Roman Catholic church, designed to be semicircular in cross section.
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Hebrida Market Place
An exciting spot, jam-packed with hand-painted clothes, woven bags and mats.
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WWI memorial
Glorious views of the French Quarter.
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Café Deli
A spacious casual lunch venue with salads, sushi, baguettes, pies, and imported chocolates and cheeses. Watch out for the curry nights.
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Lysepsep Culture Park
Like the leprechauns in Ireland, the Lysepsep people were the first inhabitants of Santo. They live a reclusive life in banyans and caves. Most people have never seen them, but spend time in the central jungle and impenetrable mountains of Central Santo, and you may find them watching you. About a metre tall, they grow their hair very long and use it as a screen.
The Lysepsep Culture Park will show you many of their unusual customs. You can also see local food preparation, and special dances are performed throughout June and July. Book, or join, a group (six or more people) at least a day before, through your hotel.
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Edge Abseiling Adventure Tour
Let us take you over the edge, say the signs advertising Edge Abseiling Adventure Tour. So go, it's totally fantastic. Look at the views as you walk up - you won't be looking on the way down. Practise descending into a little secret pool, then it's 35m down the Mele-Maat cascades to the rock pools. And yes, you get wet. Age is no barrier and you get a photo for proof (around VT1000).
The Edge team also has a 55m abseil into a canyon with an exit through a tunnel, a Tyrolean Traverse on Ifira, and a kayak and abseil adventure at Siviri.
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National Museum of Vanuatu
The excellent National Museum of Vanuatu, in a glorious building, has a large and well-displayed selection of traditional artefacts such as tamtam (slit-gongs or slit-drums), a massive outrigger canoe, ceremonial headdresses and examples of Lapita and Wusi pottery. There are photographic displays and videos on traditional ceremonies and legends.
Temporary exhibitions have included the Silver Jubilee collection, and sculptures by Emmanuel Watt, the first local artist to have an international touring exhibition.
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Siri Falls
Gaua offers spectacular hikes, including a grand, difficult two-day test that visits the island's three major sights - pretty Lake Letas, one of the largest freshwater lakes in the Pacific; Mt Garet (797m), a semiactive volcano; and fabulous Siri Falls.
Climb up to the lake, where you canoe across to the volcano, a sulphurous mess that seeps orange into the lake. It's worth the effort, in an awesome way. Then it's a vicious trek down to the falls, 120m of roaring power pummelling down through the bush to the sea.
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Market Meal Booths
This is the life, a million miles from your reality. Sit at a bright little table beside the market, and a cheery face appears at the booth window to pass you your orange cordial - there'll be no red cordial nonsense here. Nothing starts a meal like the smile of a ni-Van, then a choice of five dishes. Steak's the best. Watch it being cooked on a gas burner in the little booth. A flick and twist, a spoon of this and that from sealed plastic containers, and the meal is delicious.
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Crusoe Fishing Adventures
Vanuatu's waters, state-of-the-art boats and tackle, and the choices of game, reef and remote-island fishing, half or full-day, and live-aboard means your time on the deep blue will be memorable. Warm currents attract marlin, sailfish, wahoo and dogtooth tuna; operators tag and release their catch, unless they give it to a village. The Horizon is a spacious Capricorn Classic 42ft cruiser, with the latest high-tech equipment, set up for all weather conditions.
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Wild Blue
Vanuatu's waters, state-of-the-art boats and tackle, and the choices of game, reef and remote-island fishing, half or full-day, and live-aboard means your time on the deep blue will be memorable. Warm currents attract marlin, sailfish, wahoo and dogtooth tuna; operators tag and release their catch, unless they give it to a village. Wild Blue has a 28ft Bertram and a 9m Reef Master which allow you to go serious, or to add some swimming and a beach barbecue.
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Ocean Blue
Vanuatu's waters, state-of-the-art boats and tackle, and the choices of game, reef and remote-island fishing, half or full-day, and live-aboard means your time on the deep blue will be memorable. Warm currents attract marlin, sailfish, wahoo and dogtooth tuna; operators tag and release their catch, unless they give it to a village. Ocean Blue has a fleet of fishing vessels that include its Black Watch 40s, with first-class seagoing capabilities.
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