๐ Quick Facts About Papua New Guinea ๐ต๐ฌ
Papua New Guinea occupies the eastern half of the island of New Guinea, just north of Australia. The capital city is Port Moresby, located on the southern coast.
"PNG" is famous for its extraordinary cultural and linguistic diversity (an estimated 1000 different people groups, 800+ languages), dramatic terrain, tribal traditions, and challenging travel conditions.
- ๐๏ธ CapitalPort Moresby
- ๐ต CurrencyPapua New Guinean kina (PGK)
- ๐ฃ๏ธ LanguagesEnglish, Tok Pisin, Hiri Motu, and 800+ local languages
- ๐ก๏ธ ClimateTropical, humid, with highland and coastal variation
- ๐ Plug typeType I ยท *Anker Universal Travel Adapter
- ๐ RegionMelanesia, Oceania
โ ๏ธ Is Papua New Guinea Easy to Visit?
Before I even tell my story, there is one thing that needs to be said: Papua New Guinea is not an easy country to visit.
While many nationalities can obtain visas relatively easily, the challenge is not paperwork. The challenge is logistics, planning, and safety.
This is not the type of destination where I would recommend simply arriving with no plan and figuring things out as you go. I have traveled to every country in the world, and Papua New Guinea is one of the few places where I feared for my life because of dangerous travel situations.
At the same time, it is also one of the most fascinating countries I have ever visited.
๐ฃ๏ธ Why Papua New Guinea Is So Culturally Unique
What makes Papua New Guinea truly unique is its extraordinary diversity. The country is home to more than 800 living languages, roughly ten percent of all languages spoken on Earth.
No other country comes close. For thousands of years, communities developed in isolation from one another, separated by mountains, jungles, rivers, and difficult terrain.
As a result, entirely different languages and cultures emerged across relatively short distances. For somebody interested in linguistics like me, Papua New Guinea is basically paradise.
๐ถ Arriving in Port Moresby and Walking From the Airport
I arrived from the Solomon Islands and, after a few days in Papua New Guinea, would continue back to Brisbane in Australia before exploring more of the Pacific.
After landing in Port Moresby, I immediately made my first questionable decision. My hotel was only around forty minutes away on foot, so instead of taking a taxi, I started walking.
Looking back, this was probably not my smartest travel decision. Surprisingly, though, it actually went relatively well. The walk felt a little sketchy at times, but nowhere near as bad as many people had warned me.
Eventually, a local family stopped their car and offered me a ride for the final stretch. They seemed genuine, so I accepted, and a few minutes later they dropped me directly at my accommodation.
๐จ Where to stay in Port Moresby: Hideaway Hotel
For my stay, I chose the Hideaway Hotel. Accommodation in Papua New Guinea is expensive compared to many nearby countries, partly because security is a major factor.
Many hotels have guarded entrances, fences, private security, and sometimes even armed guards. The Hideaway Hotel was on the more affordable side by Papua New Guinean standards.
I paid around โฌ75 per night, and while the internet was not amazing, it was good enough. Most importantly, I felt safe there.
๐ Ela Beach: The Modern Side of Port Moresby
One of the first places I visited was Ela Beach. Ela Beach is probably the nicest and most developed part of Port Moresby.
The waterfront is beautiful, there are walking paths, modern hotels, restaurants, and a large โAmazing Port Moresbyโ sign where visitors often take photos.
Compared to much of the rest of the city, Ela Beach feels surprisingly modern. Several of Port Moresby's higher-end hotels are located nearby, including properties like the Hilton Port Moresby and The Stanley Hotel & Suites.
๐ Koki Fish Market and Koki Main Market
After Ela Beach, I decided to explore a very different side of the city. I visited the Koki Fish Market, one of Port Moresby's best-known local markets.
As a vegan, the fish itself was not particularly interesting to me, but it was fascinating to see daily life there. People were welcoming and curious, and many seemed surprised that a foreign tourist had decided to spend time there.
Around the same area, I noticed stilt houses built directly over the water, creating entire neighborhoods standing above the sea. Seeing them immediately reminded me of Brunei.
Then came the place everybody told me not to visit: Koki Main Market. Even my taxi driver tried talking me out of it. Eventually, he agreed to take me, but only on the condition that he would stay with me.
As soon as I entered, I understood why. Within minutes, a crowd of around twenty people had formed around me.
The atmosphere felt intense. Not necessarily hostile. Just intense. Still, I was glad I went, because markets like that provide a glimpse into daily life that you simply do not get from hotels or tourist attractions.
๐๏ธ Papua New Guinea National Museum and Parliament House
One place I can wholeheartedly recommend is the Papua New Guinea National Museum and Art Gallery. For me, it was probably the highlight of Port Moresby.
The museum does an excellent job explaining the country's incredible tribal and linguistic diversity. You learn about traditional cultures, masks and ceremonial objects, tribal history, early settlements, and the extraordinary variety of peoples living across the country.
Outside the museum are also several historical displays related to World War II, including military equipment and artifacts from the Pacific campaign.
Nearby, you can also visit the National Parliament House, one of the most recognizable buildings in the country. The architecture turns traditional Papua New Guinean design into a modern government building.
๐ The Police Ride to the Airport
On my final day, after visiting the museum and Parliament House, I looked at my map and thought: why not walk to the airport again?
It had worked when I arrived. So surely it would work again. Right? Wrong. Very wrong.
I had only been walking for around twenty minutes when a police jeep suddenly stopped next to me. The officers asked where I was going, and when I told them I was walking to the airport, they immediately told me the area ahead was extremely dangerous.
They offered to drive me to the airport. That decision probably saved me from one of the biggest mistakes of my entire life.
Only a few minutes later, while driving through the area I had been about to walk through with my backpack, camera equipment, MacBook, and everything else I owned, we witnessed a robbery happening right in front of us. There were car robbers trying to rob a car not far from us. My guy being a police officer, he could not just drive by. He had to stop and intervene.
He opened the door, grabbed his shotgun, got out, and fired warning shots into the air. Meanwhile, I was sitting in the back of the jeep wondering what exactly I had gotten myself into. I was scared for my life.
What if there are robbers in the bush across? What if they start shooting at us now? I track my biomarkers with *WHOOP (get a month free with my referral link) and it was the highest heart rate I had all week. Oh, and I filmed it all. Don't believe me? Check out my Instagram story highlights.
When we finally arrived at the airport, I tried thanking the officer and even offered him money for helping me. He refused completely. He simply told me that he wanted to make sure I got there safely.
๐ญ Final Thoughts on Visiting Papua New Guinea
When my plane finally took off toward Brisbane, I do not think I had ever been happier to be sitting on an aircraft.
Looking back, Papua New Guinea is one of the most complicated countries I have ever visited. It is fascinating, diverse, and culturally extraordinary. But it also requires preparation, caution, and common sense. I definitely lacked the latter.
Would I go back? Probably one day. Because beyond the challenges, Papua New Guinea remains one of the most unique places on Earth. And for somebody interested in languages, cultures, and human diversity, there are very few countries that can compare.