As a small and developing island, you can easily spend a week in Samoa and experience nearly everything it has to offer.
Keep in mind, the speed limit on the island is 50km/hr (and 40km/hr in villages, of which there are many). This means you’ll only practically be able to make 2-3 stops on a day trip. After all, you’re there to unwind, so you’ll need some time to relax on the sandy beaches.
1. Vavau Beach
Located just past the Tu Sua Ocean Trench, Vavau Beach is like something straight out of Disney adventure film. The beaches waves are almost non-existent due to a small island that divides the incoming tides. The water is crystal clear, and you can wade around the shoreline to discover another tiny beach. Vavau Beach has a series of wooden fales over looking the water, which are large enough for a big family (just watch out for nails).
An entrance fee is required to enter Vavau Beach. When we arrived, the person who approached our car didn’t mention a price until we asked, and we were informed $40WST for a car ($22 AUD), although we suspect this was a special tourist rate. We were also conveniently told ‘no change’, meaning for us, it was $50WST, or turn back.
2. Samoan Coastal Walk
Easily, one of the most impressive things we did in Samoa was the O Le Pupu-Pue Coastal Walk. This coastal walk is free, and located approximately about a 45-minute drive from Return to Paradise or Saletoga Sands resort.
While the path isn’t marked, it is pretty straightforward and easy to follow. We recommend wearing long pants and closed-toe shoes to protect against rogue pandanus cuts. Apart from one lookout point, there are no barriers separating you from the cliffs, so exercise caution.
From the carpark, the entire walk took us about 1 hour, with plenty of stops for photos and sightseeing. Each break in the path offered stunning views of the coastline, with ocean surges crashing into the cliffs and shaping interesting sea arches and rock formations over thousands of years.
At the end of the walk, you can explore the flat volcanic cliff tops but beware of unexpected blowholes as you approach the edge – they seem to pop up out of nowhere! When we first arrived to the carpark, a guide informed us that the steel post at the end of the walk was one of the filming sites for Survivor.
3. Samoan Cultural Experience
Located just behind the Apia information centre, you can join one of the cultural shows to learn more about Samoa culture. Here they show you the traditional cooking, tattooing, carving and ceremonial duties.
Note: The Cultural Experience only operates Tuesdays to Fridays starting at 10.30am. The cost is great value, at $20WST ($11.42 AUD) per adult, and $5WST ($2.85 AUD) for children aged 6-12years. Children under 5 years are free. Bookings are not necessary, you can just show up.
The experience is advertised as 2 hours (10.30am to 12.30pm), however many Google reviews noted that it often runs longer and we experienced this as well. To allow enough time to see the entire show, we recommend you allow three hours.
If you’re on a strict time schedule, we did see people who arrived well after the show started and left before the show ended. Depending on what you want to see, the order of events were weaving, singing, kava ceremony, traditional cooking demonstration, carving, tattooing, eating and traditional dancing.
As a tourist, if you have any questions about Samoan culture, this is likely to be the only place you will get this information. The Samoan museum is not the place to do this, and was probably the most disappointing museum we’ve ever been to, consisting of just two rooms with minimal information or artefacts.
Are the Samoan waterfalls worth visiting?
Everything is worth a visit if you have the time! Living in Australia, we acknowledge how incredibly lucky we are to have an abundance of free, accessible waterfalls that you can hike to, and sometimes even swim in the pools. In Samoa, the waterfall viewing points are on the sides of the roads, or you pay to access someone’s property to view them. We visited Papapapaitai Falls and Sopo’aga Falls. While they were both beautiful, they were also so far away that it was hard to appreciate their magnificence. We wouldn’t recommend going too far out of your way to see them – you might be disappointed.
