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If there is a downside to Palau, it is just trying to find the place.
Never heard of Palau? Don’t worry — not a lot of other people have either. At least, not in our neck of the woods. Talk to an Australian or Chinese and they’ll know right away where this spangle of islands is; Palau is one of their great getaways.
Here is the geography: Crammed into a corner of the western Pacific, the Philippines (to the west) and Indonesia (to the south) are next-door neighbors. And if you have ever cracked a travel magazine or thumbed through a destinations calendar, there is good chance you have come across a Palau pic: The country is most famed for the Rock Islands, a photogenic speckle of islets set in azure water wherein one lagoon is filled with little yellow jellyfish (stingless). It is a favorite snorkeling site, and its unearthly rep is more than a little well earned.
But being one of the more remote nations of the planet, getting there usually means a lot of other airports: Tokyo, Taipei, or Seoul (for Americans, Delta and United are the websites to hit). Also, this is not like going to Tokyo, Taipei or Seoul, as flights are only on certain days of the week. Your eventual destination is the city of Koror, the main city. This being Palau, “main” should not inspire images of “big;” Palau is not the place for you if urban sprawl is your thing.
So aside from the Rock Islands, and to miss them is to miss the point of Palau entirely, what you have is one of the most untouched environments on Earth. The water is BLUE, the rain forests are GREEN, the sands are WHITE. Things were certainly very busy around World War II, when the region saw more hot lead fly than the shootout at the OK Corral (and the war wrecks now resting on the sea floor are another plus for all you scuba fanatics), but today, Palau is has an uncanny knack for never being in the news. No drama here. Even better, the country is in “free association” with the United States, which is a fancy way of saying they speak English and use the greenback as currency.
Interestingly, although we are talking about the South Pacific, we are not talking about Polynesia. This neck of the woods is Micronesia, with different languages, customs, and racial stock than more press-grabbing islands further east like Tahiti or Hawai’i.
And let’s face it—Tahiti and Hawai’i are “done.” No offense. For more information, go to visit-palau.com.
Be sure to contact Steele Luxury Travel for all of your travel planning to Palau and beyond. https://steeletravel.com