Looking for a holiday destination that is truly unique? Fancy someplace with a beach and sailing opportunities, plus the cuisine and ambience of a metropolitan city. A perfect holiday that provides all of this is a trip to the French settlement of New Caledonia, situated about halfway between Fiji and Australia.
As New Caledonia is situated further south than many of the other islands of the South Pacific, its climate benefits from southeast trade winds, plenty of sun, and warm weather. If a sailing holiday is what you are thinking to have, New Caledonia is based in a part of the Pacific that has the greatest coral lagoon in the world. Sailing charters are easy to find and with the help of the trade winds you can sail out of the capital city of Noumea along the coastal line, past the many small islands that dot the ocean around the New Caledonia. Other outdoor activities on the Island are scuba diving, snorkeling, horseback riding, canoeing, and kayaking.
If you were thinking of a gourmet holiday, New Caledonia has heaps to offer. New Caledonia’s capital city, Noumea, also known as the Paris of the Pacific. Noumea boasts fine gourmet French food and wine along with the other benefits of a bustling cosmo town. You can find some of the South Pacific’s nicest restaurants here. Claimed by the French in 1853, New Caledonia has a distinct French influence when it comes to food.
There are great deal of restaurants, ranging from sidewalk cafes to elegant bistros. French cuisine is easy to come by, but other options include Indonesian, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, and African food. Seafood is a specialty of the Island, including spiny lobster, prawns, crab, and mangrove oysters. One of Noumea’s national dishes is Bougna, which is fish or chicken, combined with sweet potatoes and bananas wrapped in banana leaves and then cooked covered in sand on hot stones. For the adventurous traveller on a epicurean vacation, you can try out a dish common with the locals, bat stew.
New Caledonia is the vacation destination you want to be: a sailing holiday, a gourmet holiday, or a time to just relax on the beaches.
