Things to do in Espiritu Santo
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Espiritu Santo
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Dry season, best diving visibility, calmest seas and most passable tracks, with peak prices late June to August.
Shoulder months, drier or drying weather with thinner crowds, but river and weather checks still needed.
Wet and cyclone season from November to April, with December to March the core for rain and disruption.
What's on
- Independence Day 30 July
National celebration with string bands, custom dance and community events in Luganville in dry season.
- Children's Day 24 July
Part of independence week in Luganville, when rooms and domestic flights fill early.
Best things to do in Espiritu Santo
Matevulu Blue Hole
Santo's largest blue hole, a sapphire spring fed pool ringed by banyans with a rope swing and cool clear water.
Riri Blue Hole
A jungle blue hole best reached by dugout canoe up the still green Riri River, with a rope swing at the pool.
Nanda Blue Hole
The most developed blue hole, with a boardwalk, bar and waterslide that make it the easiest family swim.
Million Dollar Point
A shoreline and reef of dumped US wartime trucks and machinery, now a coral covered artificial reef to snorkel.
Luganville Market
The town's produce market for island vegetables, fruit, fish and cooked plates, busiest Friday and Saturday mornings.
South Pacific WWII Museum
A small volunteer run museum in Unity Park that explains Santo's huge Allied base and the Coolidge story.
Leweton Cultural Village
A Banks Islands community presenting kastom dance, kava and the women's water music found nowhere else.
Freshwater Plantation
A working coconut and cacao plantation on Aore with tours and a garden restaurant across the channel from town.
Where to stay in Espiritu Santo
Luganville town
divers and short tour heavy stays
Dive shops, market, cafes and tour pickups on foot, with no swimming beach of its own.
East Coast Road and Turtle Bay
best overall base for most visitors
Real beaches and house snorkelling, blue holes nearby and Champagne Beach under an hour away.
Aore Island and offshore islands
island stays and honeymoons
Resorts across the channel or on private islands, beautiful and self contained with boat timetables attached.
Port Olry and Lonnoc
one or two slow nights
Simple beach bungalows on Port Olry bay for seafood, kayaking and doing nothing at expedition pace.
Think twice about
- Luganville industrial waterfront and wharf edge
Dusty truck served port strip with no beach and no evening life. Stay in the centre or on the channel shore instead.
- Isolated east coast properties without a restaurant or transfer
Every meal and swim becomes a negotiated taxi on rough roads, and Sunday services are scarce.
Best restaurants in Espiritu Santo
The Tu Restaurant & Bar
Luganville's best table at The Espiritu, serving Santo beef, seasonal lobster and game fish with daily specials.
Natangora Cafe
Santo's oldest cafe since 1990, for breakfast, burgers and daily Japanese bento boxes at weekday lunchtimes.
Market Meal Booths
Market stalls selling cooked rice plates, grilled fish and local dishes for a few hundred vatu at lunch.
Deco Stop Lodge Narcosis Bar & Restaurant
The divers deck restaurant over the pool toward Aore, the social sunset dinner of Luganville's dive scene.
Chez Louis
Port Olry's best known beach restaurant, for the day's grilled fish, lobster when available and Santo beef.
Port Olry Harbor Beach Restaurant
A smaller quieter beach restaurant on Port Olry bay, for a long seafood lunch with a swim either side.
Freshwater Plantation Restaurant
Plantation lunch on Aore serving what the estate grows, with coconut, cacao, garden produce and local fish.
Aore Island Resort Restaurant
The island resort splurge dinner in an open air waterfront pavilion, with local produce and sunset drinks.
Outdoor things to do in Espiritu Santo
SS President Coolidge
A 198 metre troopship shore dive from 20 to 70 metres, with cargo holds, liner fittings and The Lady relief.
Champagne Beach
A broad white sand bay where gas bubbles fizz in the shallows at low tide, village owned and often near empty.
Port Olry
A francophone fishing village on a quiet bay with offshore islets and beachfront seafood restaurants for lunch.
Millennium Cave
Vanuatu's largest cave on a hard full day trek, wading the cave river then floating and scrambling down a gorge.
Mount Hope Waterfall
A gentle river float in a lifejacket through a limestone gorge to a waterfall, suitable for most ages.
Loru Conservation Area
Remnant lowland rainforest protected by its clan custodians, with coconut crabs, endemic birds and a bat cave.
Riri River
Kayaking and canoe paddling up Santo's blue hole rivers and the calm Segond Channel at paddle pace.
Santo Horse Adventures
Small group trail rides through plantation and along beaches, tailored to beginners and experienced riders alike.
Best hotels in Espiritu Santo
Ratua Private Island Resort
Santo's private island splurge, with clear water, thriving coral and food guests rate as five star.
Aore Island Resort
Waterfront bungalows in gardens on Aore, with its own ferry so town and Santo tours stay reachable.
Bokissa Private Island Resort
A single resort private island with beachfront fares and a house reef, for a stay that is the trip itself.
Barrier Beach Resort
Santo's best reviewed mainland resort on a peaceful bay, close to blue holes and a hire car touring base.
Turtle Bay Lodge
A small personal beachfront lodge near Nanda Blue Hole, praised for managers who look after guests well.
The Espiritu
Luganville's best full service town hotel, with a pool and The Tu Restaurant making a week in town workable.
Deco Stop Lodge
The divers lodge above the channel, with a pool, a view and a bar restaurant at the heart of the dive scene.
Village de Santo Resort
A larger garden resort in town with spacious rooms, a sensible fallback when first choices fill in peak season.
Is Espiritu Santo expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | VUV 11,000 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | VUV 25,000 a person |
| Splurge | VUV 55,000 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- SS President Coolidge: weeks ahead
- Millennium Cave: a few days ahead
- Santo Horse Adventures: a few days ahead
- Ratua Private Island Resort: weeks ahead
- Aore Island Resort: weeks ahead
- Bokissa Private Island Resort: weeks ahead
- Barrier Beach Resort: weeks ahead
- Book domestic flights first in dry season, then Barrier Beach, Aore and Ratua class rooms.
- Book Coolidge diving early and state certification, logged dives and deepest recent dive honestly.
- Book Millennium Cave and a recommended private east coast driver a day or two ahead through your lodge.
- Check the cruise schedule and do beaches and blue holes on non cruise days.
Is Espiritu Santo safe?
- Malaria is present on Santo, so get prophylaxis advice, use repellent and cover up at dusk.
- Insurance must cover medical evacuation and diving to your planned depth, including decompression if applicable.
- Wear reef shoes at Million Dollar Point and on limestone and coral entries, and touch no wreck artefacts.
- Take a taxi at night instead of walking unlit channel roads, and respect customary land and village dress codes.
Espiritu Santo travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Doing one shallow Coolidge dive as a tick box instead of committing days or skipping to the east coast.
- Rushing four blue holes in one circuit instead of two with an hour each.
- Spending a Santo stay in Luganville town without east coast, interior or underwater days.
- Paying for plantation drive pasts sold as heritage tours without food, a guide and a swim.
Getting around Espiritu Santo: public transport and more
- Fly Port Vila to Santo Pekoa in about an hour and never connect a domestic flight to a same day international departure.
- Use taxis for short town hops and agree the price before moving.
- Hire a car or book a private driver for the east coast road to Port Olry, as public transport does not reliably reach it.
- Plan Aore and island stays around boat and ferry sailings confirmed the day before.
Who Espiritu Santo suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Espiritu Santo your trip
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