Trip Report: Palau
Visited in May 2023
Wow Palau
Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, about a three-hour flight east of the Philippines, lies a tiny country called Palau. The country has only 18,000 inhabitants, which makes it the fourth smallest country in the world in terms of population. At the same time, it is a paradise of a kind I have rarely seen before. That means a lot because, after all, Palau was my 151st country I visited.
Most people have probably never heard of Palau. When I talked to others in the Philippines about where I was going next, most of them thought it was another island in the Philippines. Even the locals thought so. Most likely they had Palaui Island, which has almost the same name, in mind. This is an island in the north of the Philippines.
The most beautiful passport stamp
It was already in the middle of the night when my United flight 192 from Manila landed in Palau. This is one of only four routes connecting Palau with the rest of the world. Unfortunately, at $500 for a one-way ticket, mine also seems to be the most expensive of them. This price also immediately indicated to me that this country is not going to be a cheap one.
When I came through immigration, I got, besides the usual questions from bad-tempered officials, the most beautiful passport stamp ever. A kind of oath or promise, which I had to sign in order to enter the country.
Interestingly, there were no cabs waiting for arriving guests at the airport. Instead, you have to organize the airport transfer yourself. Fortunately, I already knew this when I arrived in Palau, which is why I asked my hotel to pick me up. My hotel was the Palau Hotel, a three-star hotel that cost me about 120 USD per night, which is still one of the cheaper accommodations in the country.
The hotel offered me a transfer for 30 USD. Not exactly cheap for a 15-minute cab ride. And what annoyed me even more was when I found out that three more hotel guests were going to be picked up. Of course, this did not mean that the price decreased from 30 to 7.50 USD. Instead, the hotel collected 30 USD from each guest and was going to earn 120 USD with that short ride. Felt like a massive rip off.
What also bothered me was that I am one of the first outside the airport (since I am only traveling with carry-on luggage). However, I still had to wait for the other guests who were waiting for their checked baggage. If I already pay for an airport transfer, then I would also like to get to the hotel as soon as possible. Thank God the driver noticed my impatience after about 20 minutes and sent me off with another driver. Thus, in the end, I actually paid only 30 USD for a private transfer, which is better for my inner peace than paying $30 for a shared 15-minute ride with at least three other people.
Scenic flight over Palau
I had four full days in Palau, which I found a bit much at the beginning. If there were more flights to Palau, I would have booked no more than two days based on the activities that you can do in the country. But due to my arrival on a Friday, the next flight was not until Tuesday late evening. Unless I wanted to fly to Taiwan.
Since I arrived in the middle of the night, I practically overslept the whole Saturday morning. But this meant that I didn’t have to think long about the program for the first afternoon. One of the main tourist attractions in Palau are scenic flights. There are two companies that offer such flights. One of them is PMA/Palau Aviation, which offers the 40-minute flight for $180 per person. However, it needs at least three participants for the flight. The other company is Smile Air, which offers the flight for $209 per pax if there are two participants. The good thing is that Smile Air also offers the flight if you’re alone for $300.
Since communicating with Palau Aviation was a bit difficult, I ended up going with Smile Air. Not only because of that but because Smile Air told me that they found someone who also wanted to fly. This brings me to another point I want to mention up front here: Palau can be quite tricky for a solo traveler. Many tourist activities only operate with a certain number of participants. Since Palau does not receive tons of tourists, it can be challenging to find tours if you don’t have at least someone else with you.
I was going to share my scenic flight with a young tourist from Hong Kong. The pick up and drop off from the hotel was included in the price and there was a short briefing at the airport before we were allowed on the tarmac. There are three routes in total and the most common is the 40-minute B-course, where you can see practically the whole country from above.
The plane is a small propeller plane that flies with open doors. Before we took off, we snapped a few photos in front of the plane and then the drama began…
I was promised by e-mail before the flight that I could sit in the front. Not that I would have asked for it, but since I had this assurance, I also wanted to make use of it. Especially, when I saw the plane and noticed that the back seat does not look very fun. However, the guy from Hong Kong said that the got the same promise on the phone. This led to the general manager having to come onto the tarmac and tell the Hong Kong guy that had to sit in the back.
Because of this, the guy didn’t want to fly with me anymore but alone. And you know what? He made the right decision. In this plane there is only one good seat and that is the one next to the pilot and the open door. It’s much more worth to pay the $300 and fly alone instead of sitting in the back for $209. Even though it was annoying that I now had to pay $300 instead of $209, I can absolutely understand the guy.
I don’t want to say much about the flight itself and let the following video speak for itself:
I don’t think I’ve ever taken so many photos and videos during 40 minutes. Probably I used dozens of gigabytes of my memory for that. However, what I saw from up there was just too incredible not to take pictures of.
So, here is a best of Palau from above:
Or do you prefer this one?
Or that one?
During the 40-minute flight, you basically fly over the entire country. And as I sat up there looking down, I wondered if I’d ever seen a more beautiful country…
But the best part came near the end, when my pilot asked me if I wanted to steer the plane. Of course I wanted to. So I grabbed the stick and navigated the plane through the air for about a minute or two. An incredible feeling and probably one of my three most awesome travel experiences ever.
By the way, afterwards I learned that it depends on the pilot if he lets you fly or not. Mine was called Hiro, so you better ask for him. 😉
About two hours after I was picked up I returned to my hotel. What an epic day. In fact, I’ve probably never received as many reactions on Instagram as I did after this flight. Dozens of people asked me, among other things, how to get to this country, what the prices are like, and so on. Never before has a country attracted so much attention through my stories.
Exploring Palau by car
As I wrote before, Palau is an expensive country to travel alone. Not only expensive, in the worst case you may not be able to do the activities you want because there are too few tourists for the tours.
For me it was already clear before arrival that I wanted to do the scenic flight and the Rock Islands tour by boat. Since a tour operator had written to me that the Rock Islands boat tour would take place on my third day, I wanted to explore the island by car on the second day.
There are some land tours in Palau. Problem was that there were too few people who wanted to do this tour. For me alone such a trip would have cost around $200. So I played with the idea to rent a car. Since I could have dropped it off at the airport, the fourth and last day would have been ideal for this, because in this case I would have rented a car for about $60, but would have saved the $30 for the airport transfer.
As luck would have it, however, I was contacted the night before by a young man on Instagram. His name was Navankur, a fellow traveler from India who was in Palau with his friend Paramvir. Both of them, just like me, have the goal of visiting every country in the world. For Navankur, Palau was country number 97 and for Paramvir, country number 59. On top of that, both are among India’s most famous travel vloggers with about a million followers. Coincidentally, one of these followers also follows me and sent Navankur my profile when he saw that we were both in Palau at the same time.
The two Indians have rented a car for their entire stay (I would not recommend), so we agreed that I join and contribute to the daily car rental in return. So instead of a private tour for $200 and renting a car alone for $60, I paid another $20 and something for gas. Good deal, I would say.
The even better deal, of course, was to spend a day in company. The Indians turned out to be nice and fun fellows. Together we checked out a few things on the island, namely the Japan-Palau Friendship Bridge, Airai Bai, the capital Ngerulmud with the Palau National Capital, the Baderulchau Stone Monoliths and probably the biggest attraction on the island, the Ngardmau Waterfalls.
The circumnavigation of the island, if I remember correctly, took about five to six hours. Pure driving time it was probably about two hours. So this is easy doable as a half day program. The waterfalls take the most time, because you walk about 30 to 45 minutes there and back. The waterfall was also not so easy to find, because the direct route on Google Maps over the north coast of the island does not lead you there. You can get to the waterfall via the western side of the island.
The land in Palau is interestingly in the same ownership as in other countries in the Pacific, for example Vanuatu or Samoa. Namely, the land is owned by families and if there is an attraction on it, such as the Ngardmau Waterfalls or the Baderulchau Stone Monoliths, the owners charge an entrance fee. For the stone monoliths it was 5 dollars, for the waterfall 10 dollars.
Two things I noticed during this day: First, the main island of Babeldaob is pretty. It is a bright green island full of trees and plants. In addition, you can see the turquoise blue sea every now and then. Second, the roads were in very good condition. Definitely the best roads I have seen so far in the Pacific countries.
On the other hand, none of the sights on this land tour really blew me away. But it was still a cool day and since you have three to four days in the country anyway due to the rare flight connections, I would recommend such a self-drive tour.
Exploring Palau by boat
After exploring Palau from the air on the first day and by car on the second, a boat was the mode of transportation on my third day. It was time for the Rock Islands tour, which was operated by Impac Tour, a Japanese tour operator in Palau. Already my pilot on the scenic flight was Japanese, one of several hundred among the total 18’000 inhabitants of Palau.
The price of the tour was $148.50 plus an additional $50 for the Rock Island permit. If I had wanted to go to jellyfish lake, it would have cost another $100 on top. The jellyfish lake was until recently one of Palau’s biggest tourist attractions. A lake with millions of yellow non-poisonous jellyfish. Non-poisonous because the jellyfish have no enemies here, so evolution has caused the animals to lose their venom
In the past, you could snorkel or dive amidst the jellyfish. However, the water temperature has risen so much in recent years that practically all jellyfish have left the lake and moved elsewhere. That is why today you can see jellyfish only sporadically. In contrast to the spectacle that the jellyfish lake offered recently (google it!!), it was not worth $100 to me these days.
The tour is called Rock Islands tour, but you visit several places like Long Beach, Milky Way, German Channel plus some snorkeling spots. Anyway, all these places are equally jaw-dropping as the view from the scenic flight I had two days before. Funnily enough, El Nido in Philippines, where I spent a few nights before and which should also be labeled as world-class, seemed downright boring in comparison to Palau.
I’m not a big fan of snorkeling. For 10-15 minutes it’s okay, after that I start to get bored. Diving I do not do at all. However, Palau has the reputation of being one of the best countries in the world for scuba diving or snorkeling. After snorkeling for a total of about two hours that day, I totally understand why.
Palau offers a colorful underwater world with coral reefs and countless animals such as fish, turtles, sea cucumbers and many more. I even saw animals that I didn’t even know they existed. Namely giant clams, which can grow up to 200kg (and according to our boat driver taste very good as sashimi).
Also interesting is the Milky Way, where you can rub your body with mud from the bottom of the ocean. This natural mud bath, which smells of sulfur and fart, is said to have a therapeutic effect and slow down the aging process of the body.
By the way, we spent our lunch break at Carp Island Resort on one of the southernmost islands of Palau. The resort didn’t look like it had any guests. However, I actually thought about spending a night there before the trip. After visiting this place for about 90 minutes, I can confirm that this resort is beautiful and idyllic. I actually wouldn’t have minded spending a night there.
We returned to Koror at about 4pm. This tour was another highlight in Palau. Together with the scenic flights definitely the must do when in the country.
Koror
On my last day, I would have had the chance to do a kayak tour. However, in the end I didn’t feel like paying another $140 for another water activity. Therefore, I spent my last day in Koror and did one or two more things before going to the airport.
Together with Navankur I visited the Japanese Communications Center, today only a ruin, where various weapons like tanks are standing around. There is also a sign reminding you that you need a permit for this place. If you enter the area without a permit, you have to pay a $500 fine (and yes, that is USD, which is also the local currency in Palau). For this reason, we quickly took a few snaps, but then left after a few minutes.
Other than that, we drove to the southernmost tip of the island. So about there, where the boat for the Rock Islands tour started.
Earlier in the day, I tried to spot a cool souvenir. In Palau you can buy storyboards made by prisoners. Prices start at $100, but unfortunately the main store was closed. However, it was possible to see some of these storyboards in the supermarket across from the Palau Hotel.
What can I say about Koror in general? I found the unofficial capital of Palau actually quite pleasant. You have to imagine the city more as a long street, along which hotels, restaurants, stores and houses are lined up. There is not really much to do, but Koror seemed quite relaxed and the city does not have a problem with aggressive stray dogs like many other cities in Oceania.
Furthermore, I found that you could eat quite well in Koror. Particularly noteworthy is the Taj, an Indian restaurant, and The Canoe House, where you can find typical pub food. The two Indian boys were so enthusiastic about the Taj that they ate there every day. But I must admit that the food there was really excellent. Good food is not always a given in the Pacific countries. In several countries I ate at most average and in many cases bad.
It is not that you have to reserve extra time for Koror. As a base, however, the city is fine and you can find here also the cheap or mid-range accommodations. Outside of Koror there is one or the other luxury resort, but you can probably imagine what a night there costs…
Is Palau worth a trip?
Palau was my eighth country in Oceania on my third trip to this region. Of the small island countries in the Pacific, Palau was certainly the most developed. The infrastructure is absolutely terrific and also otherwise the country seems as if it and its inhabitants are doing well. Of all the countries in Oceania, Palau was probably also the most beautiful. Actually, not only of Oceania. Palau is certainly a candidate for the most beautiful country I’ve ever been to.
Culturally, Palau was perhaps the least interesting in Oceania. Somehow I did not feel any cultural vibe in the country, at least if you compare it to Polynesian countries such as Samoa or Tonga. This may also be due to the fact that I perceived the percentage of foreigners as very large, with most immigrants being from the Philippines. According to a quick Google search, Filipinos make up one-third of the population in Palau.
And while I am criticizing, I have to mention again that Palau is expensive. Especially if you travel as a solo traveler. Besides, getting there is time-consuming and also not cheap. But maybe that is exactly what makes Palau a special place. The country is a small paradise that is not overrun by tourists.
In fact, I saw very few tourists in Palau. Navankur and Paramvir of course, then a large group of Taiwanese, two Americans who were on my Rock Islands tour. But otherwise? Nada! Palau actually has quite a large tourism infrastructure (hotels, restaurants, there are even enough tour operators), but to make good use of this infrastructure, there would have to be significantly more tourists.
As a last point of criticism, I could say that you have seen most of Palau relatively quickly. So at least I felt it that way. I found four days just okay, one day less would not have been bad. One day for the Rock Islands tour, half a day for the scenic flights, so that you have done the two highlights. Plus optional the land tour. Thus, Palau is not necessarily a country where I would like to spend two weeks. Due to the size of the country, however, this is not surprising and not Palau’s fault.
Is Palau still worth a trip? Yes, 100%. The country is awesome. As I said before, Palau is a strong candidate for the most beautiful country in the world. I also found it to be the best of the Pacific countries so far. Absolute travel recommendation!
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thanks for this great report, it looks incredible! you totally inspire me! Thank you ☀️❤️