Port Moresby Travel Forum

I'm off to Port Moresby , PNG for work in a few weeks time. I'll be there for 2 weeks. Where does one safely go at night to relax and meet locals or expats?

The last time I was there was in March 2004.
The best place (again, I was a single female traveler, so was a bit suspicious!!!) was Airways hotel. They have a night club, with a dance floor.
Many local women were, at that time, there, unfortunately not only for "free chating" (if you see what I mean), but not all of theme were f that kind ;!

I liked the place, safe, good taste, nice music, not too expensive.

There is an other great place to go, mostly expatriates, or "high society" is at the Royal yacht club, but you'll need someone from the club to invite you there.

One thing though: transportation. Airways is near the airport, so a bit far from the city center. The yacht club is "almost" between Airways and the city center; You'll need to take a cab, so make sure it is a "good cab", known by your hotel, and that eventually he can either wait for you, or pick you up at a certain time. When I was there, I was told that it COULD be dangerous to travel at night, to lock all the doors of the car... But I never had anytrouble during my month stay.

Enjoy, and if you are a diver, you MUST go out diving (the Dive Center has an excellent reputation, I went with them and was delighted!), there are some of the most amazing spots I have ever seen in PNG waters, very, very close from POM (especially Suzy's bummy, I still dream of it!)

Hi!

I and my husband stayed 1 night at Port Moresby in January 2004.
We would love to visit there again :-)

About night there, one of my friend stayed at a hotel in downtown.
He was told not to go out during the night time.
So he had to spend all his night time inside the hotel.

We stayed at Loloata Island.
It's a hilly small island , very near from the center.
(20 minutes by their car & 20 minutes by boat)
They have diving service,too.

If you have 2 free day, I recommend you to stay there!

On Friday night, they have local dance show.
Children from nearby village visit the island and show their traditional dance to the tourists. Lovely.

My Loloata Island photos
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/44935/1cdec9/

Have a great time in Papua New Guinea!
Ayurin, Osaka Japan

Loloata is a great diving resort.
The island is not very big, and you can have a walk around, which is enjoyable in daytime. It is the perfect, and safest, place in POM vicinity to spend a week-end, I totally agree. If you are not into diving, you still can go snorkelling, or get a book and relax.
Nice people run the place, and since it is geared towards tourists, the hole place is made quite confortable.
But to spend an evening, I wouldn't just go there and come back, too complicated (you must get organised with loloata island staff to pick you up, bring you by boat, and vice versa) and maybe a bit dull (usually divers are really tired from their day's dive and prefer to go to bed early to be ready for the next day if dives!). True, there will be tourists and exapts going on dives, but probably no locals...
On an otherhand, in town, there are two international hotels: the Holidy Inn and the Crown Plaza: two over safe place to have a drink in the evenings!

Thanks! That place sounds good. I keep hearing horror stories about crime in POM and I dread that I'd just sit inside the hotel room and get bored silly. As for daytime, what would be the ultimate Port Moresby experience?

Ramon

In the daytime, I used to go (with my driver, who would walk with me) to a great little market (not the Ela beach one, and other one, but it is well known)... forgot the name. Basically, they had all kinds of hand made stuff, and that's where I bought the traditional badgs, dress, and some shell necklace to bring back home.

If you do bring anything made of shell or natural fibres, buy a special spray, and bring the items together with a paper bag and the spray to POM's airport to the sanitary service, they will spray the item and deliver a certificate that you'll need if you go back to Australia. It doesn't cost much, and it is very quick, and you are sure you can take those items back to australia with no problem.

Also, have a look at my POM page: http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/7731c/1cdec9/

Good luck, and don't be too scared. As long as you are sensible, you don't display too much wealth on you, that you don't cary enormous sums of money or show that you have money,n it will be fine. I was a single traveler, stayed there a month, and still did many things. Never alone (most of the time with my driver, who was a taxi man recommended by the holiday inn hotel concierge). I had a lot of fun time there!