This Pohnpei Micronesia Travel Guide will take you on hikes to towering jungle waterfalls, mysterious ancient ruins, crystal-blue water snorkeling, and desert island fantasy beaches.
Where is Micronesia?
The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) is an isolated nation made up of 607 tiny islands spread out over 1,700 miles of Pacific ocean. It is VERY far away from everything; 3,000 miles southwest of Honolulu, 2,300 miles southeast of Tokyo, and 2,300 miles north of Australia. It is the 12th least visited country in the world, receiving only 35,000 visitors annually. In this Pohnpei Micronesia Travel Guide, you’ll see that their loss is your gain, as you will have the islands almost completely to yourself.
What is Pohnpei like?
Pohnpei island is green, lush, and the largest island in the FSM. At 129 square miles, it makes up half the land area of the entire nation. Arriving from the east, you will have landed on the pancake-flat tiny specks of Majuro and Kwajalein. The 2,566 foot Mount Nanlaud looms like a tropical Everest outside your plane window. You could spend a week on Pohnpei island and enjoy surfing, diving, beaches, hiking and sightseeing. Surfers come here for weeks in winter when the surf is up. But most visitors come for just 2-3 days as part of a longer island-hopping vacation that includes other Micronesian islands. Pohnpei’s small size is perfect for the short-term visitor. It’s not a speck of land that can be seen in a couple of hours, but it’s not exactly the Big Island of Hawaii either. This Pohnpei Micronesia travel guide will tell you how to pack in the maximum amount of fun into three days.
Things to Do in Pohnpei:
- Surfing consistently awesome barrels at P-Pass would be the number one reason people come to Pohnpei between October and April. There are no shore breaks you can paddle out to. NIHCO Surf is the most affordable boat operator. They provide accommodation, airport transfers, and daily boat trip(s) to surf breaks for $160 per person per day.
- Diving is popular in the months when the surf is not up (May to September). The diving possibilities are unlimited, and could match those of Palau if explored fully. The best dive shop is Laidenki Divers. They have two-tank dives starting at just $70.
- A desert island fantasy beach at And Atoll can be reached by a boat trip.
- A day tour to prehistoric fortress Nan Madol and nearby waterfalls is a must do. You can hire most any cab driver to take you around the island starting at $80.
- Deep-Sea Fishing is excellent. Get with Pohnpei Fishing Club for boats heading out.
- There are many jungle hikes you could tackle with a guide. Check out Pohnpei Eco-Adventure.
- Kayaking is possible in the lagoon.
- Snorkeling is not good around the island, but excellent at the outer atoll islets.
- There are lots of WWII era Japanese guns and bunkers and tunnels to explore.
Following is a three-day Pohnpei Micronesia travel guide to see all the best sights:
Day 1: Wander Kolonia town
You will likely be arriving on a United flight that lands between 1 and 2pm. If you are coming from Honolulu, you’ll have been travelling for ten hours and might be pretty tired. You’ll also be dealing with a slightly jet lagged body set on Hawaiian Standard Time, 2 hours forward. If coming from the Guam direction, or one of the nearby Micronesian/Marshallese islands, you’ll be feeling a lot fresher after less than four hours of travel.
The flight to Pohnpei island itself will be one of the most interesting parts of your journey. You will get to see tiny islands that few people ever visit. Coming from Honolulu, you see nothing but ocean and clouds for five hours, and then suddenly the little flat speck of brown that is Majuro appears out of the deep blue. You can get out of the plane at Majuro and walk around or get a soda at the one room “airport”. In even-smaller Kwajalein, you cannot get off as a transit passenger as it is a restricted-access US Army base. But in your next stop, Kosrae, you can get off and check out the green mountains that look very different from the Marshalls. Coming from the other side, you can deplane in Chuuk. From the right side of the plane you get a clear view of the WWII Japanese navy wrecks that dot Truk lagoon.
Use United MileagePlus Miles
Ideally, you managed to book your flight using United Mileage Plus Miles. While the cheapest round trip fare from Honolulu to Pohnpei is an eye watering $1500, you can book it for just 55,000 United miles, which have a calculated value of only $825. I booked a multi-city flight from Maui via Honolulu with three stops in Kwajalein, Pohnpei, and Palau and then back to Maui using just 67,500 United Mileage Plus miles. If you are booking an island hopping trip, you can choose to stop in any or all of the four Micronesian islands, the two Marshallese islands, and Guam and Palau. To learn the most efficient way to accumulate United Miles, please check out my page Nine Steps to Free Flights Worldwide.
Get to your hotel
Arriving in the afternoon, with an early sunset around 6pm, you won’t have time to do too much the first day. You will likely get a pickup at the airport from your hotel for free or up to $10, and within 10 minutes arrive at check in. Unfortunately, lodging on the island is of mediocre quality and overpriced. Budget travel is difficult in Pohnpei because of lodging and activity prices. I stayed at the South Park Hotel. It’s a quiet spot with an excellent restaurant and a stunning view of the harbor and Sokeh’s Rock. Some other budget options are Cliff Rainbow Hotel starting at $50, Yvonnes Hotel starting at $65, and Seabreeze Hotel starting at $71. The highly rated Village Hotel has closed. The nicest place, and perhaps the only one meeting western standards, is the Mangrove Bay Hotel starting at $120.
Prepare for rain
Pohnpei island is one of the wettest places on Earth, with 300 inches of rain each year in the interior, and 188 inches in Kolonia town. The average high temperature changes only one degree all year round from 86 to 87. A t-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops are the correct attire, but bring a rain jacket or umbrella. You WILL get rained on. And with constant high humidity, get used to sweating all day. While most locals will take cover to wait out the brief rain showers, some will just keep on walking, enjoying the cool soaking.
No beaches
Your first thought on arrival is likely to be, “Get me to the beach!” Well…ah…there aren’t any. At least none that can be reached on foot or by car. Pohnpei island does not have a single beach. Just mangroves and rocks. But do not despair just yet. The outer atolls have beautiful beaches. It requires a short boat ride to access them. But you aren’t going to get around to that this afternoon.
Go for a walk or taxi ride in Kolonia Pohnpei
So, after your check-in, follow our Pohnpei Micronesia travel guide by walking into Kolonia town, the capitol of Pohnpei State (but not the entire FSM). It is a bland but manageable small town with all the necessities. Kaselehlie is the main street, and you will find everything you are looking for on this one street. You can walk the length of it, or if the heat and/or rain get to you, there are plentiful taxis which will take you anywhere in town for just one dollar. They are signified by a small sticker on the side, but will probably see you before you see them. These are shared taxis, so be prepared for there to be passengers already inside. If you really need a taxi, it is best to walk into any business and ask them to call one for you. They will be happy to call their favorite uncle to come get you.
Starting from the north end (airport side) of the main street, the first thing you might notice is a big baseball field, with an old brick wall serving as the outfield fence. This is known as the Spanish Wall, and is the remains of a fort built by the Spanish, who occupied what they called Ponape Island, in the Caroline islands from 1885 to 1899. Part of the fort and most of the town was destroyed by a typhoon in 1905. And the rest of the fort as well as much of the town, was destroyed by American aerial bombing of the Japanese military occupation in 1944.
Get a SIM card
Next you will see Wall Mart (no relation to the largest retail chain on Earth), and a very large brown building with a massive satellite dish in the back. This is the FSM TelCom headquarters. If you want to have mobile data access during your time in Micronesia, this is the only place to get it. You can purchase a SIM card here for $20. You cannot get a SIM anywhere else on Pohnpei. Then you can load data credit through pre-paid scratch-off TelCards which are available anywhere. The cards come in $5 chunks, and $5 does not get you much data. Forget trying to watch a video, and be prepared to blow through these cards quickly. Mobile data internet access is difficult on Pohnpei. The 3G network exists only in towns, and is slow. Thankfully, many restaurants and hotels offer free wi-fi.
Go Window shopping
Heading south on the main street, you will pass small stores which may or may not interest you. There is not too much to shop for, mostly just groceries and hardware. A few stores do carry local wood carvings and shell jewelry. The most common local handicraft you’ll see are the island’s traditional skirts which are black with bright horizontal lines of orange, red and green. Pohnpei pepper is renowned for being the world’s best pepper and you can find it for sale all over.
Kolonia is not a place set up for tourism, and you may see only one or two other foreigners walking around. Japanese are the most prevalent visitors. You will notice that many of the locals are short but wide. Micronesia is the 8th fattest country in the world. This is due to the adoption of an unhealthy western diet and lack of exercise under American rule post WWII. Fishing and vegetable farming have declined. Imports of soda and potato chips are on the rise.
One place worth stopping in, if you have an aching back from ten hours in a United Airlines economy torture chamber, is “JK Salon-Naya” across from the post office. A local lady there offers an excellent one hour massage for $30. If you need a haircut, they can probably do it a lot cheaper than in your hometown.
Sightseeing, dinner, “nightlife”
Continuing south on our travel guide, you may notice a Japanese WWII tank rusting away on your left. By now you might be getting hungry, and may be confused to find there are no restaurants in the main section of town. Just keep walking, the main street turns uphill and veers to the right, and after a few minutes there are a cluster of restaurants. My pick is Arnold’s. They open for dinner at 5pm, and make pretty good pizza, with a wide menu of other options.
After dinner at Arnold’s, it will be around sunset. You could head home now, or walk a little more to visit the only bar in Kolonia. Continue further on the main road, until you see a little harbor downhill on your right. Take the road downhill leading to The Mangrove Bay Bar. It’s a pretty place right on the water, it has food and drink at reasonable prices, ESPN on the TV, and you will run into most of the other tourists on the island, as it is located next to Pohnpei Surf Club. After drinks here, have the bar call a taxi for you, a $1 ride home will be infinitely better than a 20 minute walk uphill in the dark. Kolonia is a sleepy town with no nightlife, so you might as well get some rest for an early start tomorrow. The only exception would be if it is a Friday or Saturday night. On these nights Flamingo’s, the only nightclub in town, located just uphill from the Mangrove Bay Bar, opens up. Locals pour into this place until the wee hours of the morning.
Ultimate Pohnpei Micronesia Travel Guide – Day 2: Get In the Ocean
The most magical treasures Pohnpei has to offer lie under the ocean’s surface. Today you are going to get in a boat and find them!
After your breakfast, you’ll take a short walk or taxi down to the harbor. Your target destination is And Atoll, a small, flat, uninhabited coral outcrop that will fulfill your desert island dreams.
Snorkel with Manta Rays
The first stop on your ocean journey is Manta Road. This spot inside the lagoon has manta rays visiting a cleaning station in a 50 foot deep channel with a strong current. If any are spotted, you’ll be able to jump in and snorkel with these massive and harmless members of the shark family. They are shy, so don’t try to get too close. Keep still and let them come to you. You might also see eagle rays, eels, and reef sharks.
After searching for mantas, the boat will motor on through a pass to escape the protective lagoon of Pohnpei and out into the open ocean. After some time crashing through some bigger waves, you’ll reach the lovely sandy shores of And Atoll. Here you’ll drop in for your first dive/snorkel off the atoll. You can expect to see brightly colored corals and small fish, as well as larger life such as mantas, reef sharks, eagle rays, schooling fish, turtles and dolphins.
Desert island lunch
Once back aboard from your first of two dives/snorkels, you’ll set anchor for lunch on the atoll. You can laze on the warm sand under swaying coconut trees, or explore the island. You’ll see some of the largest colonies of black noddies, terns, boobies, and frigatebirds in the Pacific.
When your lunch is finished, the captain will take you to a second dive/snorkel location to view more vibrant colors on Ant Atolls healthy coral reef. You can expect to see orange sponges, barracuda, jacks, gray sharks, unicorn fish, trigger fish, wrasses, surgeons, grouper, butterfly fish, angelfish, moorish idols, giant clams, and Moray eels. And then finally, all aboard for the bumpy ride back to the harbor in Pohnpei.
How to plan the snorkel trip
There are a few ways to go about making this boat trip happen. I recommend working with Laidenki Divers. They have two-tank dives starting at just $70, and just $30 for snorkelers. You could arrange for a trip to And Atoll if you have enough in your party. They have years of experience on Pohnpei. Other options are Pirate Divers and Pohnpei Surf Club.
The last option, which is limited to snorkelers, will be much cheaper. And perhaps a bit sketchier. It is possible to find locals who will take you to And Atoll, in a smaller boat, with a much slower engine, and possibly lacking any safety gear like flotation vests, EPIRB, ship to shore radio, etc. A good place to look for local boat operators is at the Kolonia town “Ice Dock” behind the old public market complex. Ask around there, or you could ask your hotel for their recommendation.
Understand that any local you ask is going to be bound by family responsibilities to recommend their cousin, rather than the most qualified ship captain. Local sailors will have you buy the gasoline needed for the trip, plus a negotiable fee for their driving services. Tell them exactly what you expect to do – Manta Road, snorkel at And, lunch on And, more snorkeling, etc. Then get ready to play “let’s make a deal”. Shoot for buying gas plus $100 for the captain.
And Atoll is a UNESCO marine biosphere reserve, and permission is required from the Nanpei family for visits. You can contact William Hawley at +691.320.2011 to make arrangements. The Nanpei family charges a small fee per person for visiting the atoll. Your boat captain may be able to handle this communication for you.
Sip Sakau
Back on Pohnpei, you’ll grab dinner, and then you can opt for an interesting cultural experience. You could try some Sakau tonight. Sakau is a traditional Micronesian drink made from the pepper plant. The roots of the plant are pounded on a stone and mixed with water to form a muddy looking paste. The paste is then squeezed through a filter. The resulting greyish liquid is a mild narcotic, usually served in a coconut shell.
It tastes a bit like mud that has been filtered through used gym socks. Not great, but not awful. The outcome of drinking it is that your lips and tongue quickly go numb, and then gradually your body feels heavy and sleepy. Don’t be afraid to try it, it is a mild reaction and no harmful effects are possible. Sakau bars are tucked away around town. Just ask your hotel to direct you to the nearest one.
Ultimate Pohnpei Micronesia Travel Guide- Day 3: Island Road Trip
Today is the day on our Pohnpei Micronesia travel guide to explore the sights of Pohnpei island. Ask your hotel to set you up with a driver to take you on a full lap of the island. The cost should be in the $80 to $100 range. Cliff Rainbow Hotel will rent you a car and provide a driver for a total of $85. Start your day with a big breakfast at your hotel. Once you get outside Kolonia, restaurants are practically non-existent. There are plenty of stores to grab chips and a soda, but that’s about it. Try for an early start around 7am. The trip should take about five hours, and this will have you back in time to catch your flight out. All the drivers know the standard sights tourists like to see. If there is anything in particular you want to add, you’ll need to let your driver know so he can calculate the time involved getting there into his price.
Most of the cars on Pohnpei island are straight from Japan with steering wheels on the right, even though the roads are right side drive. Like most men in Pohnpei, your driver will chew betel nut, which results in losing some of your teeth, with brown remaining teeth with a blood-red grin. You’ll be heading clockwise into the jungle along relatively well paved roads, with the lagoon peeking in through the trees on your left. The road is full of potholes, kids walking to school, stray dogs that seem to have a death wish, chickens, and piglets. People move slowly here, and drive slowly. Hurrying is unheard of in the islands. Your taxi driver may be the exception. But no matter how much he wants to get around that slow-moving truck, he will not honk. Honking your horn at someone in impatience is a shocking offense!
Pohnpei Waterfalls
Your first stop is the Kepirohi Waterfall. You’ll pay the landowner $3 for entry, and walk a well-made path up to the big falls. You can jump in and swim for a bit. It’s a beautiful setting with warm water and one big palm tree swaying above you. A new footpath, and what looks to be a small cafe may be open by the time you arrive.
Ancient Fortress Nan Madol
Right down the street from the falls is the turnoff for the Nan Madol ruins. Here is where the adventure really starts. This is why you hired a driver instead of renting a car and doing it yourself. You’ll drive for a while through people’s driveways and backyards, stopping at each to pay them a dollar or two for the right-of-way. No signs direct this off-road travel. Then you make a ten minute slippery hike through thick forest, and even wading waist-high through a stagnant ocean channel, to arrive at the greatest ancient monument in all of the Pacific.
Nan Madol is a massive fortress-city built of huge basalt rocks weighing many tons. Construction was completed around 1180. Up to 1628, it was occupied as the political seat of the Saudeleur Dynasty, which united Pohnpei’s estimated 25,000 people. It covers 92 islets and over 150 acres. No other island in Polynesia, Melanesia, or Micronesia has left behind anything close to this in size and complexity. It is comparable in size and age to Machu Picchu. You can walk around and climb wherever you like. It would take an entire day to see all of it. There are high walls, stairs, tunnels, and roofed chambers. The rectangular stones are so massive, one wonders how they were moved here. This UNESCO World Heritage Site has no markers, no plaques explaining its significance, nothing. If it were in Hawaii, it would be the largest tourism draw of the islands and bring in five million visitors a year. Here in sleepy Micronesia, it lays neglected and gets a few hundred.
Eel feeding
Back in the car for a longer drive through tiny villages and past schools, your next stop is the eel stream. Here a dozen four-foot-long eels congregate in a stream by the roadside. You’ll pay two dollars to the local family living there, and then a boy will sprinkle a can of tuna-fish into the water. This brings the eels to the surface, and you can watch them eat. Don’t fall in!
Visit the President
Next is the national capitol of Palikir, which is hardly even a town, but a group of nice new buildings built in 1989 with a 15 million dollar grant from the US. Here they manage all of the federal government of the Federated States of Micronesia. The FSM has only been a country since 1986. They were under US control from after WWII until then. You can walk right up to the presidents office. Why not go in and invite him to lunch?
The last stop is billed as “the beach” at Nett Point. It really is just a causeway into the lagoon, where one can swim. There are no beaches whatsoever on Pohnpei island proper. Just mangrove swamps, or rocky sharp coral. If you brought your snorkel mask, you can jump in and spend five minutes looking at sad tiny fish swimming among beer cans and plastic bottles. After yesterdays snorkeling, it isn’t really worth the bother.
Head home
Depending on the direction you are flying, your departure time will be between 145pm and 330pm. Your tour will have you back in town by noon, with plenty of time to shower and head to the airport. Remember to bring $20 cash with you, you have to pay a departure tax before going through passport control and security. I hope you enjoyed this Pohnpei Micronesia travel guide. On to the next island!
Pohnpei Micronesia Travel Guide – Know Before You Go:
Backpacker Daily Budget:
$100. Lodging is expensive for poor quality. Food and drinks are very reasonable if you “eat local”. The Gross Annual National Income per capita for Micronesia is $3,590, so it is a poor country, but the limited tourism infrastructure raises prices for anything you might need like hotels, tours, car rental, etc.
Cheap Beer index:
$3 for a bottle of Bud Lite or Steinlager. Micronesia has no national beer.
Pohnpei Micronesia Travel Guide – When to visit?
Anytime is a good time to visit Pohnpei island. The average high is 86 all year round, with a low varying from 70 to 75. It rains A LOT all year round. The only differences are in ocean currents, making winter good for surfing, and summer better for diving.
What languages are spoken in Pohnpei?
English is an official language, but used only in formal settings and with tourists. Otherwise an English pidgin or Pohnpeian is most common. Elderly people are fluent in Japanese.
Do you need a Micronesia Visa?
Visas are not required for nationals of USA, who can stay as long as they like. UK, AUS, and CAN can stay for up to 30 days. On departure, it takes less than ten minutes to clear ticketing, immigration, and security at the Pohnpei airport. You do have to pay a $20 departure fee, so save some cash.
Getting to Micronesia:
Pohnpei Flights: The most likely way to arrive in Pohnpei is a United Airlines Island Hopper Flight 154/155. Flight 154 departs from Honolulu, Hawaii – Majuro – Kwajalein- Kosrae – Pohnpei taking a total of ten hours. Or take the Hopper flight 155 and arrive from Guam – Chuuk – Pohnpei taking only 4 hours.
Some less common options:
- Air Nuigini now flies from Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea to Chuuk then onto Pohnpei.
- Nauru Airlines flies in every friday from Majuro, Marshall Islands.
- Asia Pacific Airlines flies in from Chuuk and Guam.
No cruise ships stop here, but cargo ship M/V Caroline Voyager serves the islands. If you have months to kill, it could be an option.
You can walk all over town. Pohnpei has taxis for $1 that will take you anywhere in town. You can ask any store or restaurant owner to call you one.
Car rental is available at reasonable prices.
Make friends with one of the “yachties” that moor their yachts in the lagoon. If you pitch in for some supplies and fuel, they might take you along.
Learn how to get to Pohnpei for free on my page: Nine Steps to Free Flights Worldwide.
Micronesian Currency and how to get it:
US Dollars are the official currency. ATM’s are available. Banks will not exchange foreign currency or travelers checks. For more info on your cash-versus-credit card options when travelling, check out my post on How to Access your Money in Foreign Countries.
Stay Connected:
Mobile data internet access is difficult on Pohnpei. The 3G network exists only in towns, and is slow. You must purchase a SIM card for $20 from the FSM TelCom headquarters, a massive brown building in the center of the main street. You cannot get a sim anywhere else. Then you can load data credit through pre-paid scratch-off TelCards which are available anywhere. The cards come in $5 chunks, and $5 does not get you much data. Forget trying to watch a video, and be prepared to blow through these cards quickly. Many restaurants and hotels offer free wi-fi. For more info on your telecom options, check out my post on How to Get Cheap Mobile Phone Service Worldwide.
Pohnpei Micronesia Travel Guide – Where to stay?
Pohnpei hotels have mostly frustrating and disappointing pricey options. There are no hostels. Here are the cheapest Pohnpei hotels:
- Cliff Rainbow Hotel has the cheapest comfortable single rooms at just $42 a night. I wish I had known about them before my trip! Their big deluxe rooms are $111. They have a popular restaurant on site, known for their pizza.
- A quiet spot with a stunning view of the harbor and Sokeh’s Rock, and a good restaurant, is the South Park Hotel. It has god-awful filthy rooms with no A/C for $40 a night, and clean basic air-con rooms with sea view for $100.
- Yvonnes Hotel is right in town and has rooms with balconies starting at $89.
- The highly rated Village Hotel has closed.
- The nicest place, and perhaps the only one meeting western standards, is the Mangrove Bay Hotel starting at $120.
Where to eat in Pohnpei:
- Joy Hotel for Japanese food
- Nett Ramen Cafe for Japanese
- Arnold’s has really good pizza, that I discovered my last night in town.
Pohnpei Micronesia Travel Guide – Nightlife:
Is pretty quiet. Almost completely dead actually. The only bar open daily on Pohnpei is the Mangrove Bay Bar, which is very quiet. The famous Rusty Anchor and The Tatooed Irishman have both closed. On weekends, Flamingo’s nightclub opens, which draws a big local crowd into the wee hours. Both are close to each other, just south of the center of town, easily walkable.
Get a guidebook on Micronesia:
There is only one guidebook that is even remotely up to date on Pohnpei: Micronesia and Palau (Other Places Travel Guide)
What to Pack:
Pohnpei is a conservative island, wearing bikinis and no-shirt into stores and around town is a big no-no. You can wear your swimsuit when you are out at deserted beaches on the atolls. You should bring light material and light-colored clothing to stay cool. Sandals are acceptable and standard footwear. Men wear shorts, t-shirts, and flip-flops. Women dress a bit less revealing, covering shoulders and knees.
The basics are available on Pohnpei, but not at Amazon or Walmart prices. You are far better off bringing with you quality gear at USA prices. You also don’t want to be spending your limited vacation time searching for the right stuff. Here is what I use, and recommend you bring:
Snorkel, Mask and Fins – The Cressi Palau Short Fins provide a mask with a great fit for all faces, durable quality, and great fins that aren’t so long you fall on your face trying to exit the water. The best snorkeling package value. You’ll need this to see all the fishies.
Travel Towel – The PackTowl Personal Microfiber towel is the best travel towel there is. It’s comfortable, quick-drying, lightweight, and packs down to the size of a paperback book. Comes in four sizes and eleven colors. I have the largest size “Beach” at 36 x 59 inches in Blueberry. Get this towel, and avoid having to buy a crappy convenience store towel for $29.95 that you’ll never use again.
Reef Safe Sunscreen – Effective January 1, 2021 the State of Hawaii has banned all non reef-safe sunscreens from sale in the islands. Why not get ahead of the curve, and bring this excellent sunscreen with you wherever you go? Thinksport SPF 50 rubs in easily and feels good on your skin. And you’re saving our coral reefs.
Sunhat – It’s pretty sunny when the rain breaks, and you might want a decent hat to go with that reef-safe sunscreen. These Hemlock Hat Company wide brimmed straw hats are what all the cool kids are wearing at the beach these days. I have the “Bandit” color.
While these items are of particular importance to make the most of your visit, it would be worth checking out my Ultimate Travel Packing List that covers everything you might need for your trip.
Is Pohnpei safe?
Very safe. There are lots of stray dogs, but they seemed to be all bark and no bite. People are reserved but friendly. You should not drink the water. There are lots of houseflies, but few mosquitos and no malaria. There are no known tropical diseases, so special immunizations are not needed. It is possible you will find a small lizard called a gecko in your room. Don’t panic, he won’t bother you, and will eat any bugs in your room. He is on your side. Let him be.
Final Thoughts on Pohnpei Tourism:
Pohnpei tourism has tremendous potential that just needs development. Numerous places would make great camping, but there are no campgrounds on Pohnpei island. Mountain biking around the island would be a blast, but there is no shop renting out bikes. There are many hiking opportunities, but not a single hiking guide with a website to book from. There are a couple dozen beautiful sandy islets along the outer reef, but no clear way to get to them for a tourist. Pohnpei island has many rock-climbing opportunities, but no store to rent gear, or guides to belay. As a short-term visitor, it’s frustrating to see all these possibilities for Pohnpei tourism, but have no way to take advantage of the beauty of this island. It is for now, a do-it-yourself kind of place. For an independent traveller, who like to get away from the crowd, Micronesia travel could be paradise.
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