Top Espiritu Santo Tours: Sightseeing & Cruises Review

Planning a trip to Vanuatu’s biggest island and trying to figure out the absolute must-do stuff there, huh? Well, you’ve landed in just the right spot! Espiritu Santo, often fondly referred to as Santo by locals, is this place bursting with insane natural charm and experiences, so you can easily find your best Vanuatu tour options . We’re going to have a look at the top tours, sightseeing spots, and cruise adventures available in Santo, promising something that’s more than just your standard tourist experience.

1. Champagne Beach Getaway

Champagne Beach has this reputation for a good reason: its sands feel insanely soft and powder-like beneath your toes, plus the water is that classic turquoise you see in all the postcards; it’s basically picture-perfect. You know, its name actually comes from the way the water sometimes fizzes a bit at low tide – supposedly, it kinda tickles your skin! I guess what people find when they’re thinking about it is beach tours in Vanuatu, and it can be pretty hard to beat. Many tours offer a full day here with swimming, sunbathing, snorkeling and, yeah, even some local grub thrown in; a bunch are these barbecue-style lunches, cooked right there on the beach. So you can bet that they tend to be pretty popular.

Getting out there can be surprisingly part of the enjoyment too, very, very, especially if you’re going for one of those 4WD adventures which weave along some jungle paths, often, just so you can get there. Plus you will get some really neat perspectives on the local life as you zoom past teeny villages, seeing the real Santo.

2. Million Dollar Point Snorkeling and Diving

Have you ever gone somewhere super interesting like this, a total hidden treasure spot that mixes history with aquatic fun? That’s Million Dollar Point! Here is the deal: at the end of World War II, the American military decided it was a bit, honestly, cheaper to just dump a whole load of equipment – bulldozers, trucks, you name it – into the ocean instead of shipping them back home. So all of that just creates what has to be a really unusual artificial reef which divers and snorkelers love.

Imagine this, that there is swimming around jeeps covered in coral and exploring the nooks and crannies of old transport vehicles! What is great is that these trips usually cater to any level of diver. It doesn’t matter if you’re super experienced, or you’ve hardly dived; there is almost always a local diving center that sorts you out, giving a safety run-through before helping you get acquainted with this totally quirky underwater site. I guess what you will get is a real insight into something more than simply your stock standard tourist jaunt; rather, it gives you a feel for a significant chunk of wartime history from the island.

3. SS President Coolidge Dive Tour

So then, talking about underwater stuff, this SS President Coolidge is next-level – it’s up there with one of the biggest and more accessible shipwreck dives on the planet! During World War II, this old luxury liner got repurposed as a troop carrier, and then sadly, it struck a mine just off the coast. Good thing is, because it is so close to shore, it remains amazingly preserved, plus, too it’s filled with artifacts, all kinds, very, very interesting things.

This particular wreck offers plenty, for instance different depths, and, you see, different sections to investigate, suiting a variety of diving qualifications and that experience, I should mention. Is that you’ll locate guides ready to assist; rather, there is assistance getting close enough so you can properly see all that history underwater. From personal items, like toiletries, through to the still-standing dining rooms with chandeliers hanging down and military gear lying around, very, it really lets you sense what that ship would have been like back in the day. One consideration would be that some dives are a little more specialized and you are potentially gonna want certain certifications or experience, very; therefore, look into this prior. Is that that is usually, honestly, not too difficult at all with many tour firms having options.

4. Blue Holes Exploration

Have you come across them previously, like those totally stunning, turquoise-colored freshwater springs sprinkled all over Espiritu Santo’s rainforest? These lagoons offer some really lovely, very refreshing swimming openings! Matevulu and Nanda are these holes, yet there are more besides those, where you could visit; it does depend slightly on what you can organize trip-wise and so on.

What do you often do? Get your rental car out, or use one of these tours which usually take you via a winding way through some totally luscious jungle! Usually you are gonna swing on one of these Tarzan ropes or jumping off from these overhanging platforms if you’re just very, very, much of the courageous kind; alternatively, you can just enjoy this easy swim in seriously clear, extremely inviting waters. You’ll most likely realize that some locations have entry fees directly used to uphold these lovely little destinations, so be primed; in a way, it may take up just some additional small amount. So really get this fantastic and revitalizing slice from the best kind of Vanuatu experiences and it can totally cap your excursion to that island!

5. Santo Cultural and Village Tour

Okay then, if you might be this kind who appreciates immersing, actually, into, well, exactly how people exist there, after that maybe a visit across certain cultural villages close to Espiritu Santo could be up your alley. Arguably this is, literally, about connecting directly through the natives from Santo and their old old culture, I believe! Such excursions might range; that, clearly, is due to the village itself, that is a thing that determines what you see.

Is that there are people presenting regional customs, very, local artisans with their beautiful arts and crafts and additionally just typical islander existence like cooking customs. Keep that, in certain circumstances, you are gonna get traditional dancing ceremonies that might give, actually, this extremely insightful appearance at certain unique social views in Vanuatu and Santo especially. When visiting places similar to this do simply remember about exhibiting all that admiration with the customs and habits in play!