New Caledonia Vacations and Vanuatu VacationsVanuatu and New Caledonia are worlds apart, culturally, but these two island destinations are close neighbours in the Southwest Pacific Ocean. New Caledonia is French speaking but the population is a mix of people - Melaneasian, Polynesian, French, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Chinese, and blends of all of these. Vanuatu, on the other hand is almost entirely Melanesian people living in rural villages with a small number of Europeans and Asians living in Port Vila and Santo. Visitors travelling to the South Pacific from further away than Australia or New Zealand (both of which are "right next door" to New Caledonia and Vanuatu) might wish to combine a Vanuatu Vacation with a New Caledonia Vacation. Tellus Consultants, specialists in both satellite imagery and tourism photography, have put together a wealth of high quality information on New Caledonia and tourism in vanuatu to help promote travel to these south Pacific destinations. This information was originally compiled for tourism professionals - travel agents, travel writers, and educators in tourism throughout the world. The Tellus Consultants researchers and photographers realized that the most user friendly and fastest way to present the information was in a geographically based information system - like google earth - so a busy travel agent could find exactly the information they needed about any tourism feature in Vanuatu or New Caledonia in just two clicks of a mouse. A Tourism guide to Vanuatu and a travel guide for New CaledoniaThe tourism information is presented in "Rocket Guides" - highly interactive CD-ROM based Vanuatu Travel Guide and New caledonia tourism guide The guides present an interative virtual tour of Vanuatu and New Caledonia, from space to ground level and even down underwater. There are thousands of Vanuatu Photos and New Caledonia Photos on the guides. These include photos of Vanuatu hotels and resorts, photos of Vanuatu activities, like diving and tours, New Caledonia hotel and resort photos and photos of New Caledonia tours and activities. The Vanuatu holiday information is only in English, but there is a French version of the New Caledonia travel guide - Annuaire de Tourisme Nouvelle Caledonie. Flights to Vanuatu and Flights to New CaledoniaBoth guides have sections on international travel with international flights to vanuatu and flights to new caledonia including transfers and routes. Both guides also have details on Domestic flights in Vanuatu and domestic flights in New Caledonia. Both New Caledonia and Vanuatu airlines offer special fares when combining international and domestic flights. The countries share a desire to have visitors extend their visit beyond the primary capital town. Air Vanuatu and Aircalin fly between Port Vila and Noumea. The flight is only about one hour each way. Both airlines require the New Caledonia/Vanuatu leg to be round-trip (Port Vila/Noumea/Port Vila or Noumea/Port Vila Noumea). In other words, you can't fly to New Caledonia, then on to Vanuatu and back to your country of origin. Air Vanuatu flies this trip once a week while Aircalin flies twice a week. Effectively, this means that a visit to both countries that started with a flight to Vanuatu would require at least two weeks - one week in Vanuatu and one week in New Caledonia. However a trip that began with a flight to New Caledonia could be done in less time as Aircalin flies twice a week to Vanuatu. Vanuatu hotels and New Caledonia hotelsThere are five "large" Port Vila Vanuatu hotels - Le Lagon Resort, Iririki Island Resort, Le MERIDIEN, The Melanesian Hotel and The Sebel Port Vila. But these represent only about half of the total room capacity of Vanuatu - the other half being small resorts and hotels in and around Port Vila with a few additional accommodations on the islands of Espiritu Santo and Tanna - both about a one hour flight from the main island of Efate. Accommodation in the out islands ranges from the ultra-luxury private island resort of Bokissa near Santo, to small village bugalows that are generally only for the adventure traveller. Some, like Friendly Bungalows in Tanna, offer the comforts of proper beds and ensuite bathrooms but retain the exotic local flavor of the outislands of Vanuatu. You can see exactly where each Vanuatu hotel and resort is located on the Rocket Guide to Vanuatu. The satellite image tourism maps are also available on www.vanuatu-vacations.com along with information on how to book directly with each accommodation. The primary International Noumea hotels are located along la Promenade in Anse Vata, Noumea. For information about Noumea accommodation in French see Noumea Hotels Nouvelle Caledonie and if you would like to see a summary of Noumea hotels and resorts in Chinese, Japanese or Korean click: The major New Caledonia Hotels include la Promenade Best Western Premier Hotel Noumea located in the middle of La Promenade and fronted by gardens and the Anse Vata Beach. In French the hotel is called Best Western la Promeande Hotel Nouvellle Caledonie and the Asian names for la Promenade are 라 프롬나드 베스트 웨스턴 뉴칼레도니아 호텔 , 凯城最佳西方新喀里多尼亚酒店 , and ラ プロムナード ベスト ウエスタン ニューカレドニア ホテル the Nouvata Park Hotel complex, which is three hotels in one :
Best Western le Paris Hotel Noumea is located in the central business district of Noumea and is perfect for business travellers or people who are intending to make further travel arrangements in Noumea (like going to Vanuatu) as the hotel is right next to the various airlines and travel agencies. The French name for the le Paris is Best Western le Paris Hotel Nouvelle Caledonie The primary, 4 star luxury New Caledonia resort is Escapade Island Resort Noumea (the new name for the Coral Palms Island Resort) in French the resort is called l'Escapade ilot Maitre Coral Palms Resort Nouvelle Caledonie and in Chinese it is 逍遥游岛度假酒店（珊瑚棕榈度假酒店） The Japanese name for the resort is エスカパード アイランド リゾート and in Korean it is 에스카파트 아일랜드 리조트 (코랄팜 리조트). The resort is located on a small island 25 minutes from Noumea. The whole area is a marine reserve and the New Caledonia coral reefs and fish population delight the visitors. There are a host of smaller hotels and resorts scattered throughout Grande Terre, Isle of Pines, Lifou, Mare, and Ouvea.
Car Rental in New CaledoniaAn excellent option for an adventure holiday is to do a fly/drive in New Caledonia. New Caledonia car rentals are very reasonable in cost and the roads are excellent everywhere in New Caledonia. You can pick up a car at the airport and drive around Grande terre in 4 to 5 days camping or staying in small "gites" or quality resorts along the way - and return to the airport to fly to Vanuatu. Car rental in Vanuatu is generally done for looking around town or perhaps staying at a resort out of the central business district - but a "fly/drive" holiday is not really an option in Vanuatu because Efate, the main island is so small and the roads are really terrible. There are few rental cars available in the outer islands of Vanuatu. The Vanuatu wedding, New Caledonia Honeymoon tripVanuatu weddings are legal in most countries (eg. France, Australia, New Zealand). As long as the couple contacts the wedding coordinator at least two weeks before coming to Vanuatu there are absolutely no legal problems or red tape. Plus, Vanuatu weddings are really a lot of fun. You can be married at almost any of the resorts in Vanuatu - even in Tanna on top of the Yasur Volcano, or in Santo on a small private island resort. From Vanuatu you can fly to New Caledonia for an elegant French Honeymoon. While it is possible to have a wedding ceremony in New Caledonia, the wedding is not officially legal l if the couple has not resided in New Caledonia for 6 months prior to the wedding. Adventures in New Caledonia and VanuatuBoth destinations have active diving centres but the marine habitat is vastly different in New Caledonia and Vanuatu. New Caledonia has the world's largest lagoon and the second longest barrier reef in the world. There are 10 New Caledonia diving centers allowing divers to dive a great range of habitats. There are two main Vanuatu diving centers, with four dive operators in Efate/Port Vila and four dive operators in Santo. Yacht charter in New CaledoniaOne exciting way to explore both Vanuatu and New Caledonia is to charter a yacht in New Caledonia - either bare boat or skippered - and sail through the loyalty islands to Tanna, and then to Port Vila and back to Noumea in New Caledonia. The entire sail can be done with no more than an overnight passage on any one leg. If you wish to charter a yacht in New Caledonia and cruise to Vanuatu (or if you are planning a visit aboard a private yacht) you will absolutely have to get copies of the two nautical cruising guides the Cruising Guide to Vanuatu and the Cruising guide to New Caledonia. These guides are quite different from the tourism "rocket guides" in that they have nautical information required to cruise vanuatu or cruise new caledonia . Specifically they contain a guide to the anchorages of vanuatu and new caledonia anchorages, nautical charts of vanuatu and nautical maps and sailing information for New Caledonia. The guides have information on vanuatu marinas and new caledonia marinas, marine weather for vanuatu and marine weather and tides for New Caledonia. The Cruising guide to New Caledonia is also in French - Guide Nautique Nouvelle Caledonie For the very best in webhosting - check out
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