Funafuti
Tuvalu · 2 m
Description
Funafuti is the capital of Tuvalu and effectively the whole of its tourism, since the country receives fewer visitors in a year than a mid sized hotel elsewhere handles in a week. Life runs along Fongafale, a strip of land so narrow that the lagoon and the ocean are both visible from the middle of it, and the airport runway doubles every evening as the island’s park, football pitch and meeting place. The lagoon itself is enormous and mostly empty, with the Funafuti Conservation Area protecting six uninhabited islets on its western rim. Sea level rise is not an abstraction here and locals will talk about it.
Length of stay
Recommended length of stay: 2 to 4 days (optimal 3 days)
Travel season
Best time to visit: June – September
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
Highlights
- Evening life on the airport runway (daily)
- Funafuti Conservation Area(Day trip)
- Funafala Islet(Day trip)
- Te Namo lagoon snorkelling
- David’s Drill coral borehole
- Fetu Ao Lima Church
- Tuvalu Women’s Handicraft Centre
- Second World War bunkers & aircraft wrecks
- Tepuka Islet(Day trip)
- Vaiaku Falekaupule meeting house
- Fongafale ocean side & the borrow pits
- Tuvalu Philatelic Bureau
- Frigatebird and noddy roosts on the western motu(Day trip)
Getting there
- Airports:
- FUN
- Seaport:
- Reachable by ship or ferry