One of the best time to visit most of the Pacific island countries is August when there is less rain and fewer storms, and this is the time we chose to visit this amazing region.

With a lot of planning and knowledge, island hopping across all 11 independent island countries is possible. And depending on your itinerary, you might visit a few overseas territories as well. And every island offers much more than just a beach!

Not a lot of tour companies, including cruise ships, venture in to the well-known “most difficult region to travel.” And most of these countries rank high in the ‘countries with least tourists’ list because of the very few and most-often delayed flight connections between the countries. Independent and budget travelers are rare and mostly avoid this region because traveling here doesn’t come cheap!

Countries in the Pacific Oceania

There are 11 sovereign island countries in the Pacific Oceania (besides the other 3 countries – Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea) and it is possible to visit them all in just one trip.

1. Federated States of Micronesia
2. Fiji
3. Kiribati
4. Marshall Islands
5. Nauru
6. Palau
7. Samoa
8. Solomon Islands
9. Tonga
10. Tuvalu
11. Vanuatu

And these are the overseas territories in the Pacific Islands:

• New Zealand territories: Cook Islands, Niue
• France overseas territories: New Caledonia, French Polynesia
• U.S.A. overseas territories: Guam, American Samoa, Northern Marinara Islands

Planning

Flights

With a few direct flights from Europe and North America, and in between the island nations, it is quite difficult to get to the Pacific islands. Even with flights via Fiji, which is the main hub for flights across the Pacific Islands, there are no guarantees that flights will operate as they’re scheduled. Traveling on a budget across this region is not really an option! From flights to hotels, and restaurants to transport options, everything is expensive.

Keep in mind that flights from/to these countries are not necessarily daily flights, which means if any flight is cancelled or delayed then the chances of missing the connection, or the next one is likely. It is highly recommended to keep buffer days or time in flight connections, and always be prepared with a plan B.

Fiji Airways has the best schedules to Kiribati, Tuvalu, Tonga, Samoa, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands – with all the flights connecting via Nadi Airport (NAN).

Nauru Airlines have expanded their network with new routes to Fiji, Kiribati, Palau and Marshall Islands, including connections to Brisbane, Australia.

Smaller airlines like Air Kiribati, Air Vanuatu fly less frequent routes between very few nations, while focusing on their domestic networks.

United Airlines operates the ‘United Island Hopper‘ between Hawaii (USA), Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Guam (USA).

All in all, schedules are the key to your successful Pacific Island nations trip.

Hotels

Not many hotels are available in each country and they’re not easily available to book on major online hotel-booking platforms. While most can be booked online, others may need to be contacted on their phone or email, and with low internet availability do not expect a quick response from the hotels.

Visa

Remember that although you may not need a visa to the independent Pacific Island nations, you might need visas to territories. Make sure to check visa requirements before traveling.

Citizens of EU, UK, US and Canada may not require visa to most of the countries, but getting a visa to Nauru is quite a process and highly recommended to apply well in advance.

Itinerary and Route

These are the islands we visited in this trip (in order of visit):

1. Fiji
2. Kiribati
3. Tuvalu
4. Samoa (and American Samoa)
5. Tonga
6. Vanuatu
7. Solomon Islands
8. Nauru
9. Palau
10. Federated States of Micronesia
11. Marshall Islands

Here is the itinerary:

• Day 1
  Honolulu, USA -> Nadi, Fiji
  Flying from Honolulu to Nadi, Fiji on Fiji airways. 
• Days 2 – 6
  Fiji
  Visit Nadi, Suva, Sigatoka, Lautoka, Levuka.
• Days 7 – 10
  Kiribati
  Visit Tarawa island of Kiribati.
• Days 11 – 14
  Tuvalu
  Visit Fongafale atoll of Tuvalu.
• Days 15 – 19
  Samoa and American Samoa
  Visit Upolu island of Samoa, and American Samoa.
• Days 20 – 23
  Tonga
  Visit Tongatapu island of Tonga.
• Days 24 – 27
  Vanuatu
  Visit Efate and Tanna islands.
• Days 28 – 31
  Solomon Islands
  Visit Guadalcanal island of Solomons.
• Days 32 – 34
  Nauru
  Visit single-island nation of Nauru.
• Days 35 – 38
  Palau
  Visit different islands of Palau.
• Days 39 – 42
  Micronesia (FSM)
  Visit Pohnpei island of Federated States of Micronesia (FSM).
• Days 43 – 46
  Marshall Islands
  Visit Majuro atoll of Marshall Islands.
• Day 47
  Marshall Islands -> Honolulu, USA
  Fly from Majuro to Honolulu.

Tips and Notes

• Flights – Most travelers use Fiji Airways schedule to navigate to Fiji, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Tonga, Samoa, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands.

  The local airline between Samoa and American Samoa is Talofa Airways.

  Flying from Nadi, Fiji to Nauru on Nauru Airlines; onwards to Palau via a very long and expensive Nauru Airlines flight!

  From Palau, United Airlines has a direct flight to Guam, from where United Airlines connects to Micronesia and Marshall Islands.

• Spent 2 to 6 days in each country – Countries like Kiribati, Micronesia and Marshall Islands have various atolls and islands that are hundreds of miles apart, whereas other like Palau and Tonga have smaller islands nearby from the main island and can be accessed by ferries.

  Ideally, two to five days are good for any traveler to spend in each country, although you can spend more if you plan to visit every island and every place. We visited some highlighted destinations and made the best off of the trip!

• Airbnb or hotels – Most countries do not have Airbnbs, but the options are definitely increasing. Hotels in Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, American Samoa, Palau, Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Vanuatu can be reserved online on major platforms like booking.com or Expedia.

  For Nauru, Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Tuvalu, not many are available to book on these platforms. Even if they are, travelers may not get a confirmed booking unless explicitly mentioned by the hotel (separate email). We reached out the best hotels in these countries well in advance to make reservations.

• Currency – Apart from the local currencies in some Pacific Island countries, Australian Dollar is the official currency used in some countries – Kiribati, Tuvalu, Nauru.

  Palau, Marshall Islands and Micronesia uses the U.S. Dollar as its official currency.

  Samoa, Vanuatu, Fiji, Solomon Islands and Tonga use their own currencies but U.S. and Australian Dollars are widely accepted as legal tender for all travel purposes.

  Cash is the king in these countries (Tuvalu just got its first ATM in April 2025) but some hotels and supermarkets may accept Visa or MasterCard credit cards. Make sure to carry enough cash to cover all the expenses considering these countries are expensive because almost everything is imported in the islands.

  Important: Visiting Tanna island in Vanuatu? There is one ATM on the island, and it doesn’t always work, so make sure to carry enough Vanuatu Vatus (VUV) with you before heading there.

• Sim Cards and Wifi – Cellphone networks in Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Samoa and Tonga work great! Whereas the speeds are extremely slow in Nauru, Tuvalu and Kiribati.

  Every country offers local sim cards and they are expensive – for example, a 2.6GB data sim card in Tuvalu costs AUD 20 ($12.80) for 7 days.

  Each country has either a single or two cellphone operators, which makes difficult to shop for and compare plans, making travelers buy the expensive sim cards.

  Wifi is available in all the hotels across all nations, but similar to the cellphone networks, the wifi networks are not reliably fast. Especially in Nauru, the wifi is almost not working!

Initial Costs

The below listed flights are in order of travel based on schedules of Fiji Airways, Nauru Airlines, Air Vanuatu and United Airlines.

We will update the cost of each leg of the flights soon.

Airline codes:

• Fiji Airways – FJ
• Nauru Airlines – ON
• United Airlines – UA
• Air Vanuatu – NF
• Solomon Airlines – IE
• Talofa Airways – TA

Note: All values in USD, unless otherwise mentioned, are approximate and based on the exchange rate at the time of publishing. Each cost is for one adult.
 

 
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