Vila's Real Job: Gateway to Multi-Day Trips
Port Vila itself has nothing that takes more than a day: no packaged multi-day circuit starts and ends within Efate. What the city does have is Bauerfield International Airport, the only realistic jumping-off point for Vanuatu’s genuinely multi-day outer-island trips, so this page is honestly a guide to what leaves from here rather than what happens here.
Tanna Island: volcano and tribal stay (2 to 3 days)
The most bookable multi-day option is a flight south to Tanna to spend a night or two near Mount Yasur, watching the volcano’s Strombolian eruptions after dark from closer than almost any other active volcano on earth allows, with time built in for a visit to a traditional custom village such as Yakel. A 1-night stay with volcano tour and transfers is bookable on GetYourGuide , which is the clearest packaged version of this trip currently listed rather than something assembled from separate day tours.
Espiritu Santo: diving and blue holes (3 to 4 days)
North of Efate, Espiritu Santo holds what Port Vila does not: the SS President Coolidge wreck dive and the sapphire waters of Matevulu Blue Hole. The Vanuatu Tourism Office publishes its own 4-day Espiritu Santo diving itinerary , a genuinely useful planning reference, and individual dive days like the SS President Coolidge and Million Dollar Point dive on GetYourGuide can be booked separately once you’re on the ground in Luganville rather than as one prepackaged multi-day product.
Ambrym: the honest gap
A third circuit, a 3 to 4 day trek across Ambrym’s twin active calderas of Mount Benbow and Mount Marum, is real terrain and a real trip, but there is no bookable multi-day package for it on GetYourGuide or Viator at the time of writing. This one genuinely needs a specialist volcano trekking operator or a village-arranged guide booked directly on Ambrym, not a platform search; do not expect to find a polished product page for it, and treat any claim otherwise with suspicion.
The flight problem you need to plan around
Air Vanuatu entered liquidation in May 2024, and while limited domestic services resumed later that year, the network remains reduced compared to before. Bel Airways currently operates scheduled commercial flights to Santo, Tanna, and Tongoa, alongside Air Vanuatu’s own partially restored domestic routes. The Tourism Office’s airline updates page is the most current source on who is actually flying which route, and it is worth checking directly before locking in non-refundable multi-day accommodation, since the schedule has changed more than once since 2024.
Verdict and before you go
Tanna is the more reliably bookable multi-day trip right now; Santo rewards more independent planning around a dive-focused stay; Ambrym is real but not a packaged product, so go in expecting to arrange logistics on the ground. Pack more cash than you think you need, since none of these islands run on card payments the way Port Vila’s resorts do, and build a buffer day into any return flight given the domestic network’s current state. For the day-trip version of some of this same ground without an overnight, see the day trips guide .