Madang

Madang is often called the prettiest town in Papua New Guinea, a peninsula of casuarina-shaded streets and waterways between a harbour full of small islands and the mountains of the Finisterre Range inland. Flying foxes hang in the trees over the town centre by the thousand. The harbour holds wrecks of Japanese aircraft and ships in shallow clear water, and the reefs offshore are among the most accessible in the country. Madang is also the coastal end of the road to the Highlands and a base for Sepik trips. The town is small enough to walk and the water is never far.