There are many restaurants in the main tourist areas. Seafood features strongly on hotel and restaurant menus in Port-Vila and the main towns. The numerous ethnic backgrounds of the inhabitants of Vanuatu are reflected in different styles of cooking. Chinese and French influences are the strongest. Food is generally excellent everywhere. French cheese, pâtés, bread, cognac and wine are available in Port-Vila’s two major shops. Local fruit is excellent.

National specialities:
• Lap Lap (grated yam, banana or manioc smothered in coconut cream and cooked in an earth oven).
• Coconut crab.

National drinks:
• Kava (a soporific drink made from the root of a plant related to the pepper tree. Vanuatu kava is the strongest in the world. It is non-alcoholic but is intoxicating.)

Tipping: Not expected or encouraged, as it goes against local tradition.

Port-Vila has several nightclubs with music and dancing. There is also a cinema. Evening cruises are organised with wine, snacks and island music. Traditional music and dancing take place at various island festivities to which visitors are welcome, and some hotels put on evening entertainment and dancing. Details are available from the Vanuatu National Tourism Office (see Contact Addresses).

Special purchases include grass skirts from Futuna and Tanna, baskets and mats from Futuna and Pentecost, carved forms and masks from Ambrym and Malekula, woodwork from Tongoa and Santo, and pig tusks and necklaces made of shells or colourful seeds from villages near Port-Vila. Duty-free shops sell a selection of luxury items.

Shopping hours: Mon-Fri 0700-2000. Shops open Saturday mornings. Chinese stores also open Sunday mornings from 0800 and in the evenings. Most shops close from 1130-1330 (except restaurants, banks, supermarkets and the post office). The market in the town centre is open every day (except Sunday) for flowers, fruit, vegetables and handicrafts.