All activities / Witness / Attend / Port Vila
Witness / Attend in Port Vila
The capital of Vanuatu, on the island of Efate, and the country's port, market and arrival point. A harbour town of seafront markets, a covered produce market and nakamal kava bars, it is the gateway to the outer islands and the base for reef snorkelling, Mele Cascades and the kastom villages of Efate such as Ekasup in the rainforest just outside town.
Why here
Ekasup Cultural Village is the closest place to Port Vila to step inside Vanuatu's kastom way of life. Set in the Erakor rainforest about ten minutes from town, it is a working traditional village where the chief and his guides meet you in fibre and leaf dress and walk you through daily Melanesian life: which forest plants are used as medicine, how mats and baskets are woven, how hunting traps and weapons are made, how food is grown and cooked in the ground, and how kava is prepared and shared. You taste local food and kava, watch string band music and custom dance, and hear the stories and beliefs that still shape island life. On Saturday nights the village lays on an island feast cooked in a stone oven. For a traveller arriving on Efate with limited time, it is the most direct window into the culture that the outer islands live in full, and it has twice been named Vanuatu's best tourist attraction.
Best months
Ekasup runs year round, with day tours Monday to Saturday at set morning and afternoon times and an island feast on Saturday evenings, so it fits around a short Port Vila stay rather than needing a fixed date. The setting is warm and humid rainforest close to the coast; the drier, cooler months of April to October are the most comfortable for travel. Tours are led in English by village guides and are suitable for all ages and fitness levels.
Getting there & around
Ekasup is about ten minutes by road from central Port Vila, in the Erakor rainforest, and is reached by taxi, hire car or a tour transfer from town or the cruise wharf. Day tours run at fixed times Monday to Saturday and the island feast is on Saturday evenings, so book a place through the village operator or your hotel a day ahead rather than turning up. No special gear is needed beyond light clothes, closed shoes and insect cover for the forest.
Skill levels: beginner
Schools & guides (1)
Nafonu Tatoka Tours
GuideNafonu Tatoka Tours runs Ekasup Cultural Village, a traditional Melanesian village in the Erakor rainforest ten minutes from Port Vila, where the chief and guides show visitors kastom daily life. Tours cover medicine plants, weaving, hunting traps and ground-oven cooking, with kava tasting, string band music and custom dance, plus a Saturday night island feast. Ekasup has twice been named Vanuatu's best tourist attraction, and the village runs the tours directly.