American Samoa Travel Guide
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Samoa Islands
Pacific Travel Guides
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American Samoa
Travel Guide
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American Samoa travel has a reputation as being rather dull and overly Americanized - nothing could be further from the truth. True, there are few picturesque beaches lined with coconut trees and no up-market beach resorts. What it does have is stunning tropical mountains with wild and remote coastlines, protected National Parks and hiking trails and several impressive archaeological sites including star mounds and ancient stone quarries.
American Samoa lies about 100 km to the south east of Apia in Independent Samoa. There are six daily flights from Apia to Pago Pago Airport on Tutuila Island as well as direct international flights from Hawaii with connections to LA and other US cities.
Pristine Rain Forest
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Pago Pago Town
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Apart from the capital town of Pago Pago and the commercial area around the international airport, the island is underveloped with a scattering of small traditional villages along the coast. Pago Pago is a rather seedy town dominated by two large tuna canning factories. Pollution of the stunning harbour has recently been addressed and a conscious clear up campaign has helped its image. The town retains its clapboard buildings and red light district so romantically written about by Somerset Maughan in his book Rain. There are several hotels and inns in downtown Pago Pago, all relatively expensive compared to Western Samoa, the most upmarket being Sadi Thompson Inn, and the cheapest being the budget rooms at Motu O Fiafaga Hotel starting at US$50 per night. Slightly outside of town is the lovely Le Falepule bed and breakfast guest house in the hills. One of the icons of American Samoa is the Rainmaker Hotel, the shabbiest and shadiest hotels in the South Pacific.
To cope with the shortage of rooms, Quality Inn have built a 100+ room hotel aimed primarily at the business market near Pago Pago airport (about 20-minutes drive from downtown Pago) to help with the islands room shortage. Also near the airport and opposite the golf course is Taalolo Lodge affering bed and breakfast rooms with a swimming pool.
Wild South Coast
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Tranquil South Coast
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The main attraction of Tutuila is the scenic south coast road from Pago Pago to Cape Taputapu in the west and from Pago Pago to Cape Matatula in the east. Both are a good half day tour with magnificent mountains lining the coast and some secluded white sandy beaches (although under-currents make swimming dangerous). The tropical rainforest is just minutes walk from the highway and with a guide, you'll get to see some stunning waterfalls as well as some of the best tropical forests in the South Pacific with coastal, lowland and high forest environments. At present, here are no organised tours around Tutuila so you'll have to hire a car and ask around.
The north coat of Tutuila is mostly inaccessible. The only road into this area is through the huge National Park of American Samoa. Unfortunately most of the park is off limits and there is only one trail open to the public, a 3 mile trek through lowland forest to the summit of Mt. Alava (491 metres) for excellent views of the coast.
National Park
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Aunuu Island
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Aunu'u Island a mile or so off the south east coast offers the unusual Red Lake and quicksand in an extinct crater that makes for an interesting hike. The island has one sleepy village and can be visited on a day trip by local boat.
To see the finest beaches you will need to fly to the Manu'a Islands, 100 km to the east of Tutuila (return airfare about US$90). This collection of three islands has superb scenery, some of the finest white sandy beaches in the region and is the traditional birth place of Samoa with lots of interesting archaeological sites (most of which are un-excavated). The main island is Ta'u, 15 sq. miles in size half of which is administered by the National Park of Samoa. Ta'u has several sleepy villages, few cars and no tourist infrastructure. The Park offers dense rain forest, excellent bird life and incredible sea cliffs rising over 3000 feet from sea level. However, most travellers head to the much smaller islands of Ofu and Olosega which are connected by land bridge and slightly closer to Tutuila than Ta'u (daily flights from Pago Pago except Sunday). Ofu has a stunning white sandy beach, over 2 miles in length, with excellent snorkelling offshore and a handful of guest houses.
Flights, Ferries and Car Hire
American Samoa Accommodation
Tour Companies
Readers may also be interested in the following destinations:
Cook Islands Travel Guide
Fiji Travel Guide
Samoa Travel Guide
Tonga Travel Guide
Tahiti Travel Guide
Hawaii Travel Guide
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