Attractions & Natural Wonders · Vanuatu
Vanuatu: Five Attractions and Natural Wonders
An accessible active volcano that lets visitors peer directly into its glowing crater, and a centuries-old ritual of diving from towering wooden platforms with only vines to break the fall — often cited as an inspiration for modern bungee jumping
By Worldlore Editorial · 30 September 2026
An archipelago of active volcanoes and living tradition
Vanuatu, an archipelago of about 83 islands in the South Pacific, holds one of the most accessible active volcanoes on earth alongside an extraordinary diversity of Indigenous ni-Vanuatu languages and traditions — the highest density of languages per capita of any country in the world. Its custom (kastom) practices, including a centuries-old ritual often cited as an inspiration for modern bungee jumping, remain living traditions rather than museum pieces.
The five below run from the volcanic island of Tanna to Pentecost Island and the capital, Efate. The drier season (roughly May to October) is generally the most comfortable time to visit.
1. Mount Yasur
Mount Yasur, on Tanna Island, is one of the most easily accessible active volcanoes in the world and has been erupting almost continuously for several hundred years. Its eruptions often come several times an hour, and visitors can usually watch the glowing lava from the crater rim at remarkably close range, subject to the volcano alert levels set by the Vanuatu government.
2. Pentecost Island land diving
Pentecost Island's land-diving ritual (Naghol), performed each year between April and June and linked to the yam harvest, sees men dive headfirst from wooden towers around 20 to 30 metres tall with only vines tied to their ankles to arrest the fall — a practice claimed as an inspiration by the bungee pioneer A. J. Hackett, and one still performed as custom, though it has also become a tourist attraction.
3. Champagne Beach, Espiritu Santo
Champagne Beach, near the village of Hog Harbour on the north-east coast of Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu's largest island, is said to take its name from the shape of its coastline, which resembles a champagne flute. A wide curve of white sand meeting clear turquoise water beneath forested headlands, it is one of the best-known beaches in the country.
Espiritu Santo is also the base for wreck-diving the SS President Coolidge, a former ocean liner serving as a troopship when mines sank it off Espiritu Santo in 1942, and one of the largest shipwrecks in the world accessible to recreational divers.
4. Port Vila
Port Vila, Vanuatu's capital on the island of Efate, serves as the country's main gateway and commercial hub, its lively produce market reflecting the strong agricultural traditions that remain central to ni-Vanuatu daily life alongside tourism. The city was badly hit by the magnitude 7.3 earthquake of 17 December 2024, and the old market building was wrecked and later demolished.
5. The Blue Lagoon
The Blue Lagoon, a drive from Port Vila on Efate, offers a vividly coloured swimming spot with calm, clear water — one of the easiest and most popular day-trip destinations for visitors based in the capital, and a gentler contrast to the volcanic drama found further afield on Tanna.
Vanuatu suits a trip combining Port Vila and Efate's easy day trips with a few days on Tanna for Mount Yasur, and, for those visiting in the right season, an excursion to Pentecost Island to witness the land-diving ceremony.