Do you want a vacation that is truly unique? Fancy somewhere with a beach and sailing opportunities, plus the cuisine and ambience of a metropolitan city. A perfect holiday that provides all of this is a trip to the French colony of New Caledonia, situated between Australia and Fiji.
As New Caledonia is located farther south than many of the other islands of the South Pacific, its climate benefits from southeast trade winds, plenty of sun, and balmy weather. If a sailing holiday is what you fancy, New Caledonia is based in a part of the Pacific that has the most remarkable coral lagoon in the world. Sailing charters are available and with the aid of the trade winds you can sail out of the capital city of Noumea along the coastline, past numerous small islands that dot the ocean around the New Caledonia. The island also has other outdoor activities such as scuba diving, snorkel diving, horseback riding, canoeing, and kayaking.
If you were hoping for a gourmet holiday, you can find everything you could want on New Caledonia. New Caledonia’s capital, Noumea, widely known as the Paris of the Pacific. Noumea boasts fine gourmet French food and wine along with the other benefits of a bustling cosmopolitan town. The restaurants here are some of the finest in the South Pacific. Claimed by France in 1853, New Caledonia has a well-defined French influence when it comes to food.
Noumea has over 100 restaurants, ranging from sidewalk cafes to elegant bistros. French cuisine is easy to come by, but other choices include Indonesian, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, and African food. Seafood is a specialty of the Island, including spiny lobster, prawns, crab, and mangrove oysters. One of New Caledonia’s national dishes is Bougna, which is fish or chicken, combined with sweet potatoes and bananas wrapped in banana leaves and then cooked covered in sand on hot stones. For the adventurous traveller on a gastronome holiday, you can try a dish popular with the locals, bat stew.
New Caledonia is the holiday destination you want to be: a sailing holiday, a gourmet holiday, or a time to just relax by the beach.
