Trip report: Samoa
Date of visit: January 2020
Samoa was my favorite of the four island nations I visited on my South Pacific trip in January 2020 (the other three were Fiji, Tonga and Tuvalu). Maybe that has something to do with the fact that we spent most of our time in Samoa. Or maybe because Samoa is a good compromise between these four countries.
The country is not as “commercialized” as Fiji, but still has a tourist infrastructure that is much better than that of Tonga (and Tuvalu anyway). Furthermore, travel in Samoa is concentrated on two main islands and not on a few dozen. This makes traveling efficient and you can see and experience several things a day without having to use a plane or a boat.
In total we spent one week in Samoa. During this week we saw most of the main island Upolu and the southern part of Savai’i, the larger of the two islands. We did not visit the other 18 islands (besides Upolu and Savai’i, four more are inhabited). However, you can find most of the sights on Upolu and Savai’i anyway, so you can neglect the smaller islands without feeling guilty.
What to expect from Samoa
First of all, I have to say that Samoa is stunning. It is an incredibly beautiful country whose beaches are surrounded by lush-green hills. The highest point of the country is even above 1,800 meters. Therefore, Samoa is not a pure “beach country” but offers hiking possibilities as well.
This landscape also brings one or the other advantage. In 2009, a tsunami hit Samoa and devastated several villages on the southern coast. Nowadays you can still see part of the destruction. But even more often you can see signs for the evacuation route, which shows people the fastest way up the hills.
The infrastructure is generally not so bad. The roads could be better, but all in all they are quite okay. Nevertheless, in Samoa you can’t get from one place to another too fast, because the maximum speed of the country is 56 km/h. Lonely Planet even mentions the slowest highway in the world when writing about the road from the airport on the west coast to Apia, the capital of Samoa.
However, this fits in with life in Samoa. As everywhere in Polynesia, the clock here ticks slower than anywhere else in the world. As a traveler, you quickly get used to it. Nothing is hectic here, everything is relaxed and people are happy with it. In general, I have found the Samoans to be very friendly people, proud of their culture and welcoming guests with open arms.
So it’s not surprising that Samoa is quite safe (unlike Fiji, where you shouldn’t walk after sunset in both Nadi and Suva). The only “danger” are stray dogs, which make some parts of Apia unsafe. Fortunately, they are not a problem in the center of the city.
Speaking of Apia, the capital is the only urban place in Samoa, if you can call it that. Although Apia is more of a larger village than a city, it is the only place in the country with a more or less decent selection of restaurants, cafes and shops. It even has a McDonald’s.
Apia might not be the reason for many to visit Samoa, but it’s still a decent place to spend one or two nights. If you are not into beaches and resorts, you can even use Apia as your base and explore the island of Upolu by rental car or with a tour guide.
Things to do in Samoa
Which brings us to our next point. What does Samoa have to offer? Quite a lot.
In Upolu the attractions are spread all over the island. The attractions are waterfalls, natural pools, forests, hills and beaches. You can see four or five highlights in a single day. If you have a second day, it is even better.
Surprisingly, I did not find the beaches in Samoa as outstanding as I had expected. Although they were quite nice, I didn’t see a beach in Upolu or Savai’i that completely blew me away. As I already wrote in the Fiji report, I found the beaches in the South Pacific okay, but not on the same level as in the Caribbean or the Indian Ocean.
What I absolutely have to recommend is the Le Mafa Pass, which is located in the east of the country. This pass is one of the most beautiful roads I have seen in all of Oceania. If you drive along this road, you will have several possibilities to stop and take beautiful pictures of the island. An absolute must if you are in Samoa.
There are also some interesting things to do on Savai’i. Ferries run between the two big islands from Monday to Saturday. The trip takes about one hour and the tickets are cheap.
You can see the highlights of Savai’i in one day, whereas we spent all our time on the south coast. Savai’i is again a different world than Upolu. The island is much more untouched and also wilder than the main island with its reasonably good infrastructure. On Savai’i there is only one main road that goes once around the island.
While Upolu is definitely the more touristy island, I would still recommend a trip to Savai’i to all Samoa travelers who visit the country for more than two days. The two islands are quite different, which makes Savai’i an interesting place if you have seen enough of Upolu.
There are two ways to explore Upolu and Savai’i. You either rent a car or book a tour. In Upolu we have booked a full day tour with Sunseekers Samoa. The price was 320 Tala for two people, which is about 60 USD per person (including lunch) and therefore quite reasonable. Ioelu, who runs the company, is a fantastic tour guide, who also knows a lot about Samoan history.
In Savai’i we rented a car that cost about 100 dollars for one day. Self-driving is pretty easy in Samoa, as there is little traffic and you can’t drive faster than 56 km/h anyway. At least officially not. Our car rental company said that we should drive slowly inside the village but it wouldn’t matter once we were outside.
How I will remember my country no. 99
Samoa was a special country to me because since I entered the country on January 6, 2020, there are more countries in the world I have visited than those I have not been to. But that is not the reason why I will remember Samoa positively. I found the country beautiful and enjoyed the numerous sights as well as the nice people. Compared to Fiji and Tonga, Samoa was even a perfect country. It does not attract as many tourists as Fiji, but it is not as “off the beaten track” as Tonga.
In the end, one week in Samoa was still too long. For Upolu you need one or two days to see the most interesting things. For Savai’i another day. Our plan was then to interrupt the travel for a few days and take a “holiday”. Because we didn’t have that anywhere else on this whole five-week trip, as we usually only spent 1-2 nights at one place before we continued.
Consequently, we spent the last four days in two different resorts. However, the resorts in Samoa are mostly quite isolated, so it can get boring very quickly. As there are no restaurants nearby, the only option guests have is the resort restaurant. Sunbathing and swimming was unfortunately also not the best activity. In one resort there were no parasols, which made sunbathing with 32°C pretty unpleasant. And the sea was too rough in the other resort.
Originally, a side trip to American Samoa was planned as well, but this did not happen. As always, if you want to enter US territory, there are some obstacles to overcome. In the case of American Samoa it was, wait for it, a measles vaccination. Due to a measles epidemic in Tonga and Samoa, the authorities of American Samoa have tightened their entry requirements. However, there have been contradictory reports on the internet about all the documents it requires.
The authorities of American Samoa were unfortunately not very helpful and left several mails of mine unanswered, only to finally answer me in a way that left even more questions open than before. Because of that we decided not to take any risks by spending 320 dollars on the flights, just to be sent back at the end.
As a result, Samoa remained a country that was very cool in the beginning, but unfortunately in the last few days it became a bit boring. But don’t get me wrong, it’s still an amazing country that I can recommend to every traveler.
