Nauru is the world’s third smallest country. A single island, 21 kilometres around its perimeter, with a population of around 10,000 people and approximately zero tourist infrastructure. It is also one of the most unusual places I have ever been, and I have been to a lot of unusual places.
Most people who visit are country counters, doing the Pacific island hopper route and ticking off passport stamps in places a ‘normal’ traveller will never reach. I won’t pretend I wasn’t one of them. But I did spend a full day walking the entire island, and what I found was strange, a little bleak, occasionally funny, and genuinely unlike anywhere else.
Here’s everything you need to know before you go – which, to be clear, will not take long, because there is not a huge amount of it. But worth knowing none-the-less.
Getting to Nauru
Nauru is served by Nauru Airlines, which operates a Pacific island hopper route connecting Nauru to Tarawa (Kiribati) and Majuro (Marshall Islands), with onward connections to Brisbane and Nadi. This is not a flexible or frequent service. Flights run on a fixed schedule that makes the entire region feel like a logistical puzzle where several of the pieces are missing.
We flew in from Majuro via Tarawa – the full hopper experience – and left two days later back via Tarawa. Plan your itinerary around the hopper schedule rather than trying to make the hopper work around your itinerary. It will not cooperate.
Expect the unexpected on these routes. Delays, schedule changes, and the general Pacific attitude to timekeeping are part of the deal. Build buffer days where you can, especially if you have onward connections that matter.
Interested in more about the Nauru Airlines hopper, or Pacific flights in general? Check you my guide here →
Worth noting near the top – internet connectivity is limited here. eSIMs do not work (Airalo claims to have one, but it does not connect). There is nowhere in the airport to buy a SIM and nowhere obvious on the island. Some hotel have in, but it is limited, slow, and not reliable.
Getting around
The island loop is 21 kilometres. Most people walk it. This gives you the time to actually absorb what you’re seeing, though “absorb” is doing some heavy lifting there, given the limited amount there is to absorb. But there are signs. So many signs.
There is no public transport to speak of. Taxis exist but are informal. Most accommodation can help with arrangements if you need them.
Where to stay in Nauru
Options are limited – there are basically only two, and you won’t find them on booking websites.
The main place – and realistically the sensible choice – is the Menen Hotel, where we stayed. It’s a large, somewhat faded property with a pool, restaurant, and bar. For Nauru it is genuinely fine, and they do laundry – important if you’ve been pacific island hopping for a while. The hotel restaurant is where you will likely end up eating most of your meals, because the alternatives are sparse (more on that below). It’s also the kind of place where you will run into every other tourist on the island, because there are approximately six of you and you all flew in on the same flight.
Book in advance. There aren’t many rooms and the hopper schedule means everyone arrives at the same time. There is no website, only a facebook page.
Menen hotel does have wifi, but only in the lobby.
Where to eat
Honestly, there aren’t many places, and most of them are small places inside of houses, often serving Chinese food. We walked for seven-plus hours around the island and found almost nothing open along the coastal loop. There are convenience stores, but nothing resembling a café or restaurant on the route itself. We had to divert off course just to find somewhere for lunch, and dinner was back at the Menen hotel (restaurant here was decent but only served one or two dishes…).
The Bay Restaurant was recommended to us, and is apparently where many tourists and foreigners go.
Fortuna Cantonese Restaurant also came recommended.
One important note if you’re visiting on a Sunday: no alcohol is served anywhere on the island. We discovered this at the end of a 21km walk in the Pacific heat. There was no cold beer waiting. There was Coke. It was fine. It was not the same.
Everyone told us to try Coconut Fish, which sounds like it’s similar to Fiji’s Kokoda – a ceviche style dish made with coconut cream. We couldn’t find anywhere serving it during our trip. Perhaps I’ll have to go back…
Doing the island loop
This is the main event. The only event, really. Walking the 21km perimeter of Nauru takes most of a full day at a leisurely pace. Here is what you will find:
Signs. So many signs.
Nauru has an extraordinary number of large, colourful public health signs lining the roads. Anti-smoking, anti-vaping, anti-littering, cardiovascular health, diabetes awareness. Sometimes with poetry. They are hard to miss because they are everywhere, and they tell you something real about the challenges the island faces. Nauru has one of the highest obesity rates in the world, largely a consequence of the land becoming unfarmable after phosphate extraction stripped it bare, leaving the population dependent on imported processed food. The signs feel both earnest and slightly futile, and you will spend a lot of the walk reading them.
The phosphate mining scars
This is the most visually striking thing about Nauru, and not in a good way. Phosphate mining made Nauru briefly one of the wealthiest countries per capita on earth in the 1970s. It also hollowed out the interior of the island completely. The coastline is lined with jagged, unusable rocks where beaches should be. The interior looks like a moonscape. Heading up towards the highest point of the island, you’re picking your way through disused mining infrastructure. It’s genuinely sad to see.
The satellite dishes.
While looking for the WW2 prison, allegedy a landmark worth seeing but which nobody we asked could locate, including people who live there – we ended up climbing a hill and finding what appeared to be a cluster of satellite dishes in various states of use or disuse. The general atmosphere suggested we probably weren’t supposed to be there. We left fairly promptly.
The runway viewpoint
There is a spot where you’re supposed to be able to watch planes landing. We stood there for a while. No planes came, even though Flightradar told us one was due. This is Nauru. The Pacific does not rush.
Beaches, ish.
Some of them actually looked quite nice, but not really accessible. And lots of phosphate rocks. And you absolutely cannot go in the sea, there are severe rip currents and there’s a real danger of being carried away and thrown against jagged rocks.
Churches in unusual buildings
There are obviously churches that look like churches here. But then there are some inside of buildings made of corrugated iron. Unclear why. Nobody could tell us.
The German Honorary Consul’s house
A sign. A house. A reminder that diplomacy operates at all scales.
The Australian Embassy
Significantly less subtle than the German Honorary Consul’s house. Nauru has hosted Australian offshore immigration detention facilities since the early 2000s, and the Australian government presence on the island is conspicuous. It’s hard to visit without thinking about it.
Convenience stores
Everywhere. Every fifteen minutes, another one. And not just snacks – clothes, cushions, toys, household goods. These are, as far as we could tell, simply the shops. There are no other shops. They are also open on Sundays – unlike most of the rest of the Pacific. This was a bonus.
Also – the stores had… interesting names. Like BJ’s. Or Caca’s. I dont even want to know.
No capital city
Nauru is the only country in the world without a capital. There’s no centre, no main square, no hub. Just ‘regions’ of the island following one after another around the loop, each announced by a sign (obviously).
No wild dogs
This is apparently an improvement. Five years ago they were apparently a significant problem. Someone dealt with it. Progress.
Weird observations
This just needed its own section. In the few places that we did find selling food, spicy beef was the main thing to order. Sometimes the only thing to order. But nowhere in our entire island loop did we see any cows. Chickens – yes. And fish obviously you would expect given its an island. But beef? No idea.
Also – Nauru airport had a gift shop. Inside, alongside stickers and pens, you could buy Princess Diana memorial stamps. Don’t ask me why.
Is Nauru worth visiting?
That depends entirely on why you’re going.
If you’re visiting because you’re working through Oceania and want to see every country in the region, then yes – Nauru earns its place on the list. It is genuinely unlike anywhere else. The phosphate mining story is important and visible. The signs are memorable. Walking an entire country in a day is an experience you won’t have anywhere else.
If you’re going because you want beaches, restaurants, things to do, or any kind of tourist infrastructure – go somewhere else. There is almost none of that here.
Nauru is not a destination. It’s an experience, and a pretty specific one at that. Go in with calibrated expectations and you will find it interesting. Go in expecting a Pacific island holiday and you will be confused and disappointed.
FAQ
How do you get to Nauru? Via Nauru Airlines on the Pacific island hopper route. You can fly from Tarawa (Kiribati), Nadi (Fiji) or Brisbane (Australia) direct, or basically any other destination on the hopper route (schedule depending) as long as you don’t mind going up and down several times. Flights are infrequent and schedules are fixed – plan around them.
How long do you need in Nauru? One day is more than enough. The island loop takes most of one day. There is not much else.
Where should you stay in Nauru? The Menen Hotel is the main option and the sensible one. Book ahead.
Can you drink alcohol in Nauru? Not on Sundays. Everything else is open, but alcohol is not served anywhere on the island on Sundays. Plan accordingly.
Are things open on Sundays in Nauru? Yes. Convenience stores are open, as are restaurants. And of course hotels. There arent many other things on the island to be open.
What is Nauru known for? Phosphate mining, which made it briefly very wealthy and then devastated the landscape. Also Australian offshore immigration detention. Also being the world’s third smallest country and one of the least visited. And having no capital city. That’s quite a lot…
Also worth reading:
- Hot takes on visiting every country in the Pacific – the full overview
- Rating internet connectivity across all 14 Pacific countries – spoiler: Nauru is not great
- Is Tuvalu worth visiting? – another one of the Pacific’s least visited countries, and a very different experience
