Vanuatu Times Explainers
Read Vanuatu Times for thoughtful Vanuatu news, island culture, travel, climate, history, language, kava, and Pacific community stories.
Island tags come from each article’s title and summary.
15°21′S 166°53′E
17°41′S 168°23′E
83 islands · 6 provinces
Getting there, staying safe, money and weather
TravelSanto
Santo is Vanuatu's biggest island and its best base for wreck diving, blue holes and white-sand beaches. Here is what to do, how long to stay, how to get there and what the October 2026 quakes mean for your trip.
8 min read
TravelEfate · Port Vila
Port Vila is rated level 1 (normal precautions) by Australia, New Zealand and the US. Here is what is actually risky: night-time theft, dengue, limited medical care and quakes like the 24 October tsunami scare, plus what to do about each.
9 min read
Travel
Vanuatu runs on the vatu, a currency with no cents. Here is what VT1,000 is worth in your money, where to get cash, when cards carry a surcharge, what the bus costs and why you don't need to tip.
7 min read
Kastom, language, art, music and history
Culture
Kastom — the Bislama word for custom — isn't just tradition for show. It shapes land rights, marriage, conflict resolution, and daily life across Vanuatu's 80-plus islands.
7 min read
History
Vanuatu's independence story is unusual even by Pacific standards — it involved two colonial powers, a coconut rebellion, and a French-backed separatist movement all at once.
6 min read
Language
With 138 languages across 80 islands, Vanuatu needed a common tongue. Bislama — born from the Pacific labor trade — became that tongue, and then became something more.
5 min read
Government, citizenship, women, health and schools
Citizenship
A Vanuatu passport opens 92 destinations without an advance visa, but not Europe, the UK, Australia or the US. Here is where it works in October 2026, why the EU and UK added visas, and how to check before you book.
8 min read
Geopolitics
As great powers compete for influence across the Pacific, small island nations like Vanuatu and Solomon Islands are making strategic choices with consequences larger than their size suggests.
6 min read
Society
Vanuatu has one of the world's worst records for women's political representation. But a growing movement of ni-Vanuatu women is changing that from the inside, slowly and persistently.
6 min read
Copra, farming, climate and cyclone recovery
Environment
For Vanuatu and neighboring Pacific nations, climate change isn't a future problem. Rising seas, intensifying cyclones, and saltwater intrusion into freshwater supplies are happening right now.
6 min read
Disaster & RecoverySanto
Cyclone Harold struck Vanuatu with Category 5-strength winds on April 6, 2020, while borders were closed for COVID-19. What happened on Espiritu Santo, how recovery worked, and what it means for visitors.
6 min read
Economy
Tourism was Vanuatu's biggest industry before COVID shut borders for two years. The reopening brought choices: chase volume or build something more sustainable and community-centered.
5 min read