Best South Pacific Beaches: A Visitors Guide

Photo: The Yasawa Islands, Fiji, courtesy Islands

The best South Pacific Beaches: Our 8 top picks for beaches featuring powdery white sand, crystal clear turquoise water, with a scenic backdrop

The best South Pacific beaches are characterized by remote islands with soft white sandy beaches, crystal clear turquoise waters surrounded by coral reefs, warm bath tub temperature lagoons, and a scenic back drop of palm trees.

Because of the islands remoteness, most of these islands are more costly to get to and more expensive to stay at.

South Pacific beaches are more popular during June-August, though August is the Australian and New Zealand winter holiday season so the top resort destinations are apt to be crowded during August.

The Best South Pacific Beaches

Lalomanu Beach, Upolu, Samoa
Lolomanu Beach is located on the southeast of Upolu, against a backdrop of steep cliff mountains with soft, deep white very sands, and crystal clear turquoise water ringed by coral reefs. The beach area is pristine and relatively secluded and an ideal place for stay an open-air beach fale. .The island is volcanic with Mt. Fito at 1158m being the highest point. The coastline between Lalomanu and Saleapaga is one of the most beautiful Samoa with scenic views of the steep mountain ridges and of secluded pristine beaches.

Matira Beach, Bora Bora, French Polynesia
Matira Beach with fine white sand is set the middle of a lagoon, ringed by a coral reef, with crystal clear turquoise water that is bath tub warm and gentle. A great place for swimming and off shore snorkeling. It stretches from the Hotel Bora Bora, swinging around Matira Point and continuing 3 kms (2 miles) further to the Club Med.

Ofu Island , American Samoa
Reached by a 40 minute flight from Pago Pago on the south coast of one of the Manu'a Islands, Ofu Island is a part of the National Park of American Samoa. It's a beautifully landscaped beach with a 2.5 miles of pure white sand and coconut trees with a scenic volcano backdrop. Because locals believe it is haunted and avoid coming here, the beach and park is relatively secluded. It offers excellent snorkeling with over 300 species of fish and 150 types of coral.

One Foot Island, Aitutaki, Cook Islands
Aitutaki is made up of many unspoiled beaches, many with luxury resorts and private beaches. One Foot Island-- aka Tapuaeta -- is the best of the island beaches and can be reached by a 20 minute boat ride from the main island. The sand is pure white and talcum soft powdery, and borders a coral bottom channel that runs out to a sandbar known as Nude Island -- named for its lack of vegetation, not to the absence of clothes. The island is triangular-shaped with a crystal clear turquoise lagoon rimmed by small, secluded island-beaches with a scattering of palm trees. The surrounding coral reefs make it ideal for off shore snorkeling.

Rock Islands, Palau
The Rock Islands, the crown jewels of Micronesia, and the reason why most travelers come to Palau. They are a group of limestone rounded, jungle-topped islands that appear to float above the surface of the water. Many of them have secluded white soft, sand beach hideaways, ideal for a picnic or an overnight stay. Their foundations, eroded away by the flowing crystal clear turquoise waters are narrower than their tops setting off a scenic landscape of emerald-hued mushrooms rising from the turquoise waters. The water is bath tub warm year round with plentiful marine life. With four times the number of coral species in Palau than in the Caribbean, this is popular destination for divers and snorkelers who are come to experience a diverse technicolor paradise of majestic reefs, crystal caves, drop-offs, blue holes, and World War II wrecks. In addition to the soft, white-sand beaches that are ideal to relax on after a dive,many other islands have caves with dripping stalactites, rock arches, and underground channels.

Paradise Beach, Upolu, Samoa
Upolu is an Island in Samoa formed by a volcano with dense forests, a 1,158 meter mountain peak, cascading water falls, rivers, and the gorgeous Return to Paradise Beach. This beautiful soft, white sand beach with a backdrop of black rocks and coconut palms gets its name from Return to Paradise, the 1953 Gary Cooper movie filmed here.

Temae Plage Publique, Moorea, French Polynesia
This beautiful, un crowded, mile long powdery white sand beach is located on the northeastern coast of Moorea with a beautiful view across the lagoon to Tahiti. The water is crystal clear turquoise, bath tub warm year round. The protective coral reef makes it ideal for swimming, snorkeling, and kayaking.

The Yasawa Islands, Fiji
This group of islands located northwest Fiji is a chain of volcanic tropical islands famous for beautiful pristine, palm-fringed, fine white-sand beaches, and crystal clear turquoise lagoons. The Yasawa's are rich with mountain peaks and tropical foliage that serve as a gorgeous backdrop to the beaches and bath tub warm lagoons --- ideal for swimming, snorkeling and scuba diving.


Places To Stay

Taufua Beach Fales
Lalomanu Beach, Upolu, Samoa
This 8 unit (Samoan Fale) located on the beach offers very good value.

The St. Regis Bora Bora Resort
Motu Ome'e, Bora Bora, French Polynesia
This 91 unit resort is very appealing to upscale couples willing to pay extra for a top South Pacific resort experience.

Etu Moana
Cook Islands
This boutique hotel offers ten Polynesian style villas with thatched roofing. The Villas are situated on a beautiful white sandy beach with a scenic view of the turquoise lagoon from each Villa. The Villas are all self contained and have a kingsize bed, large covered verandas.

Navutu Stars Resort
Yasawa Islands, Fiji
This small nine unit beautiful beachfront resort offers quiet tranquility in a tropical paradise. The resort is well maintained with pleanty of water sport options.