Trip Planning
The TakeYourBackpack guidebooks are your all-in-one travel companion, featuring the best cities, national parks, hikes, beaches, and unique sites, along with essential tips on when to go, how to get around, exchanging money, and even local phrases to get you started — everything you need for a smooth, unforgettable backpacking adventure.
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Planning a backpacking route through Palau can be tricky — you need to balance must-see places, travel times, budget, and how long to stay in each destination. Our free personalized Palau itinerary planner creates a route based on your travel style, trip duration, and interests, so you can spend less time researching and more time exploring.
Personal tip: I normally search on good rating for atmosphere (for meeting people) and location (for easy exploring). Cleanliness as a bonus.
Travel Essentials
No vaccinations are required to enter Palau for most travelers, but you should be up to date on routine shots (MMR, tetanus-diphtheria, polio, influenza and COVID-19). Hepatitis A and typhoid are recommended because of food and water exposure, and hepatitis B is advised for longer stays. Dengue occurs in Palau and there is no widely available vaccine for travelers, so use mosquito repellent day and night.
vaccination requirementsWhen I first started traveling, I often spent part of my first day in a new country hunting for a local SIM card. While this can still be slightly cheaper, it also takes time and planning.
These days, it's much simpler to install an eSIM before leaving home. Once you arrive in Palau, you can activate it immediately and have mobile data from the moment you land — which is especially useful for ordering transport or navigating away from busy airports.
There are many providers nowadays, and price differences are usually small. I personally go with
Holafly, as it offers excellent network coverage throughout the country and strong global coverage, so you can manage multiple countries from a single app.
HolaFly eSimCulture & Customs
Palauan society is built on clans, matrilineal land rights and respect for elders, so ask permission before entering village land, photographing people or stepping inside a traditional bai (meeting house), and always offer to pay any village or state entry fee. Do dress modestly away from the beach, covering shoulders and thighs in villages and churches, and do remove your shoes when entering homes. Don’t touch, stand on or take coral, shells or sea life, since environmental rules are strict and you sign the Palau Pledge stamped in your passport on arrival. Don’t pick fruit or coconuts from trees, because every tree belongs to someone. Betel nut chewing is common and accepted, so don’t react with disgust. Women should know that some bai traditionally had restricted access, so follow your guide’s lead, and LGBTQ+ travelers will find people polite but should keep affection low-key in this conservative Christian country.
Trying traditional food is always a great way to experience the culture. Here are some must-try dishes for Palau.
- Fruit bat soup A whole fruit bat simmered in coconut milk with ginger and onions. It’s the dish visitors dare each other to try, and it remains a traditional delicacy served on special occasions and at a few Koror restaurants.
- Kukau (taro) Taro grown in wetland patches tended by women, boiled or cooked in coconut milk. It’s the staple starch at every family meal and carries deep cultural weight, since taro patches are tied to clan land and women’s status.
- Chemang (mangrove crab) Big, sweet crabs pulled from the mangroves and steamed or cooked in coconut milk. They’re a feast food and a favorite at family gatherings.
- Diokang (tapioca) Cassava boiled, grated or baked with coconut, often wrapped in leaves. It’s cheap, filling and a staple beside fish at local meals.
- Sashimi and grilled reef fish Fresh tuna sashimi with soy and wasabi shows decades of Japanese influence, while whole grilled reef fish is everyday island cooking. Both are the best-value way to eat fresh seafood in the country.
Tap water in Palau is treated in Koror but supply and quality can be inconsistent, so it is not recommended for travelers to drink straight from the tap. Many locals drink bottled, filtered or collected rainwater rather than tap water. Stick to bottled or filtered water, and use the refill dispensers many guesthouses and dive shops provide to cut down on plastic.
The main language in Palau is
Palauan. Backpacking is way more rewarding if you know a bit of the local language, so I'd suggest brushing up on the basics just in case your Palauan skills have become a bit rusty.
Want to understand locals better?The complete Travel Guide for Palau includes 52 essential words and phrases — greetings, thank-yous, ordering food, transport, numbers, and common local expressions you'll actually hear.
Get your local basic phrases 👉
Get the Travel Guide - is an official language of Palau alongside Palauan, and you can get by in English everywhere, from Koror’s hotels and dive shops to village stores on Babeldaob. Younger Palauans speak it fluently since it’s used in schools, and guesthouse staff handle bookings, directions and dive briefings in it without trouble. Out in rural hamlets and on Peleliu, older people may switch to Palauan or even Japanese among themselves, but almost everyone can manage English with you. Learn “alii” (hello) and “sulang” (thank you), which locals appreciate.
Money & Payments
The local currency of Palau is USD ($).
Palau uses the US dollar, so bringing US dollars in cash is by far the easiest option and euros are only exchangeable at banks in Koror at poor rates. ATMs are concentrated in Koror, run by banks such as Bank of Hawaii, Bank of Guam and BankPacific, plus a few at supermarkets and the airport, and they typically charge US$3 to 5 per withdrawal on top of your home bank’s fees. Outside Koror, on Babeldaob and Peleliu, ATMs are scarce or absent, so carry enough cash before heading out. Visa and Mastercard are accepted at hotels, dive shops, larger restaurants and supermarkets, sometimes with a 3 to 5% surcharge, while taxis, small shops, village fees and many guesthouses want cash. If you need to change other currencies, do it at a bank branch rather than with private individuals.
Tipping in Palau is not a traditional custom, but it has become expected in tourism, especially at restaurants and with dive and tour crews. Leave about 10 to 15% at sit-down restaurants unless a service charge is already on the bill, and tip dive guides and boat crews roughly US$10 to 20 per person per day if they took good care of you. Taxi drivers don’t expect a tip, though rounding up is appreciated.
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Over the years, I've learned the importance of packing minimally. It's so much easier to jump on the back of a truck or squeeze yourself into the last spot of a minibus without that supersized backpack. If you're headed to a warm destination, leave your winter jacket at home; for colder regions, opt for thin thermal underlayers. Instead of packing your entire wardrobe, bring just three sets of clothes, as laundry facilities are available everywhere.
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Hi, I’m Johan (Netherlands 🇳🇱), the creator of TakeYourBackpack. Over the past 3 decades, I’ve backpacked through 90+ countries across six continents, gaining extensive experience with independent travel, long-term trips, and overland routes.