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New Caledonia Travel Gallery

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New Caledonia Travel Guide

New Caledonia lies in the south west pacific midway between Australia and Fiji. New Caledonia is a French territory, with almost a third of the population being expatriate French. The Kanaks are the indigenous Melanesian inhabitants and live mostly in communal style villages along the east coast of Grand Terre (the main island) and in the three Loyalty islands.

Noumea
Noumea, the capital of New Caledonia, is also the hub of the country's tourism. Located on a peninsula along the south east side of Grand Terre backed by high mountains, and 50-minutes by road from the International airport of Tontouta, Noumea is a cosmopolitan Mediterranean influenced city with around 100,000 inhabitants.

Downtown Noumea offers an excellent assortment of cafes, restaurants, bars and nightclubs but only a couple of accomodations mostly aimed at business travellers. Other attractions of the city include its museum, the cathedral and Port Moselle Marina where day trips to the offshore islands and game fishing charters are based.

Noumea is one of the few South Pacific capitals to have a sandy beachfront and the adjacent beach suburbs of Citron Bay and Anse Vata is home to the majority of the countries large hotels. Several beautiful uninhabited coral islands lie in the bay off Noumea and make excellent day trips for snorkelling, lounging on the sand, swimming in the lagoon as well as kite surfing. One of the islands has an upmarket resort.


Grand Terre
Grand Terre is a vast island bu Pacific standards, measuring over 500-km in length - it takes over 5 hours to reach the northern point of the island from Noumea. The island is charachterised by high mountains, dry and barren on the west coast with large expanses of cattle farms and lush and tropical along the east coast where the majority of the tribal villages are located. The inland region of Serramea a couple of hours north of Noumea is a popular retreat for eco tourism and adventure. Grand Terre has only a few decent beaches, mostly hidden down dirt tracks along the west coast and in the north of the island, and only a handful of accommodation. Hienghene is the islands most scenic coast with high mountains, a beautiful coastal road and several small beach resorts.


Isle of Pines
The Isle of Pines is the most popular romantic beach holiday destination in New Caledonia with a handful of boutique resorts and local guesthouses for budget travellers. the island has a distinct laid back holiday atmosphere, excellent sightseeing both on land and around the lagoon, and is easily accessible from Noumea with four daily flights (20-minutes) and a daily fast catamaran (2-hours).

The Isle of Pines has two main beach destinations - the stunning twin bays of Kuto and Kanumea in the south, and Ora Bay in the east. Ora Bay is home to The natural Swimming Pool, an area of outstanding natural beauty with stunning coastal walks, beaches and a naturally protected lagoon with excelelnt snorkelling.


Loyalty Islands
The Loyalty Islands (three large islands and two smaller ones) lie off the east coast of Grand Terre roughly 45-minutes flight from Noumea (a weekly passenger ferry also visits the islands). The islands are low lying uplifted limestone with rocky coastlines punctuated by stunning white sandy beaches facing unbelivably turquiose lagoons. Lifou is the main island with a handful of guesthouses and small resorts, whilst Ouvea and Mare have just one small resort and guesthouse each. The Loyalty Islands is a good place to absorb the laid back traditional lifestyle of the people and staying in locally owned tribal hut accommodation.

Mare Island is the most authentic in New Caledonia with virtually no tourism and makes a great place to explore the local culture. The people are well off by South Pacific standards with paved roads, modern houses, electricty, running water, garbage collection, well equipped schools and modern hospitals. never-the-less, culture remains in tact and many people choose to live in traditional thatch houses.

Ouvea is an elongated 35-km long eroded coral atoll listed by UNESCO as World Heritage Site with breathtaking stretches of white sand beaches and a huge lagoon frinded by tiny uninhabited islets. The island is Polynesian in culture (as opposed to the Melanesians of the other islands) and was made famous is a Japanese book titled :The island Closest to Heaven" - the majority of guests staying at tue islands only hotel are Japanese tourists chasing the same dream.


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New Caledonia Travel Guide