Nouméa Things to Do

If the city beaches are not your thing, you can hire speedboats to fery you across to a number of nearby islets.
Ilot aux Canards, shown on this photo, is the closest one, right in front of Anse Vata.

Noumea's premier beach stretches in the south of the city, flanked by hotels, restaurants, souvenir shops and the like.
It is also the beach preferred by the younger, sportier crowd like surfers and topless sunbathers.

Near Port Moselle, this is the best place in Noumea to stock up on fresh bakery products, fruit, vegetables or fish.
There are also some handicraft stalls with better prices than the souvenir shops in the centre.
Be sure to come in the morning as it closes really early.

The residence of the French High Commissioner is a beautiful, colonial-style villa nearby, which is of course not open for the public.
You can still get a decent view of the exterior across the fence from the western side.

Perhaps the most prominent architectural landmark of Noumea, this impressive cathedral was built in 1888. It is well worth going inside to see the coloured windows - while the main entrance is often closed, you can usually get in through the side-entrance on the left.

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The "national" museum of New Caledonia is easily the best museum in the whole South Pacific. Its first floor houses a comprehensive array of traditional Kanak artefacts, complete with whole traditional houses and boats, while the second floor has good collections from the wider South Pacific region.

Not to be missed!

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This fine museum on the northern side of the square is devoted to the history of Noumea.
It is housed in a fine colonial building, and has varied and interesting exhibits ranging from the early life-style of the city dwellers to the varied cultural mix and even World War II!

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Fantastic day trip aboard the Mary D. All inclusive day - boat ride to lighthouse island, lunch (which was fantastic including wine), glass bottom boat tours, boat ride to the edge of the reef where you can snokel.... all for 12,000 CFP. This converted into $173 AUD.

Climbing the 247 steps up to the top of the light house is well worth it. For some reason the cost of climbing the lighthouse is an additional charge... albeit 150CFP. The view from atop of the light house is spectacular.

Check out the web site for the Mary D enterprises. They run the day trip. The company will collect you from your hotel and return you at the end of the day.

You can book you a place at their web site. I would recommend doing this in peak season.

Noumea is a garden town and has may green or paved areas with restaurants and childrens play areas. "Le Place Des Cocotiers" is a park in the centre of town that is divided into four main areas. "Place Feillet" has a rather nice music rotunda that was constructed in 1879 and "La Place Courbet" has a cylindrical fountain where all places around Noumea are measured from! Markets and events are held every Thursday at "La place De La Marne" but the centre piece of the park is "Le Square Orly" where a statue of Governor Orly looks over a swan filled lake and restaurant area.

In the heart of the city, around the beautiful Coconut Square, you will find the main shopping area. The entire area is full of souvenier shops where you can purchase all items from postcards, sarongs, t-shirts, shells and wood carvings. Anne and I felt that Noumea in general is very expensive however we did manage to find this sarong shop that had a number of sarongs for under AUS$10.