Yes, Samoa is one of the easiest South Pacific countries to backpack on your own: English is widely spoken, each main island has a single ring road, and beach fales take walk-ins outside peak holidays.
A beach fale on
Lalomanu or
Manase costs about WST 80 to 150 (US$30 to 55) per person including breakfast and dinner, which keeps daily budgets predictable. Local buses leave from the market terminal in
Apia, and the ferry to
Savai’i takes 1 to 1.5 hours. Plan around Sundays, when shops close and buses barely run, and respect the evening prayer curfew (sa) in villages, usually around 6 to 7 pm.
Five to seven days lets you see both main islands of Samoa properly; three days is the realistic minimum if you want to touch Savai’i at all.
With two days, stay on
Upolu: Apia, the
To Sua Ocean Trench and a night on
Lalomanu Beach. Five days allows two nights on the southeast coast and two on
Savai’i, with the ferry crossing (1 to 1.5 hours plus a 45 to 60 minute drive from Apia to Mulifanua wharf) as its own travel day. A week or more opens up slower stays on Manono, the Savai’i west coast and lazy reef days. Remember that Sunday is effectively a rest day nationwide.
Yes on Upolu, less so on Savai’i: Samoa’s buses cover most of Upolu cheaply, but on Savai’i you’ll lean on taxis or a hire car to see more than one sight a day.
Upolu buses cost roughly WST 1 to 10 (under US$4), and Apia to
Lalomanu takes about 2 to 2.5 hours. They run loosely to schedule, thin out by mid-afternoon and mostly stop on Sundays. The ferry from
Mulifanua to
Salelologa needs no car. On
Savai’i, buses leave Salelologa a few times a day, so many travelers rent a car for WST 150 to 200 (US$55 to 75) per day, which requires a temporary Samoan license arranged through the rental company.
The essential stops in Samoa are the
To Sua Ocean Trench,
Lalomanu Beach and the
Robert Louis Stevenson Museum on Upolu, plus at least a night or two on
Savai’i.
To Sua sits about 1.5 hours from Apia and costs around WST 20 (US$7) to enter; Lalomanu is 30 minutes further east. The Stevenson house is 15 minutes uphill from
Apia, with a 30 to 45 minute climb to his tomb. On Savai’i, the
Taga Blowholes, the
Afu Aau Waterfall Hike and a fale stay at
Manase Beach make the ferry crossing worthwhile. Most village-run sites charge WST 5 to 20.
If time is short in Samoa, skip the Museum of Samoa, Lake Lanoto’o and the far western tip of Savai’i, and spend those hours on the south coast of Upolu instead.
The
Museum of Samoa in Apia is small and fine for a rainy hour but easy to miss.
Lake Lanoto’o National Park needs a rough access road and a muddy forest walk of 1 to 2 hours each way, so it eats a full morning.
Falealupo Rainforest Reserve is 2 hours’ drive from Salelologa. With only two or three days, you can also leave out the
Mulinu’u Peninsula and save Savai’i for a longer trip.
Yes, our itinerary-planner does exactly that. Set your trip length in days, give your interests and travel style, optionally give start- and end location and/or some mandatory stops you would like to include and the itinerary planner creates your personalized routes for Samoa in seconds. Try it out!
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