Illustration.
Hideaway Island Day Trip · 6 Hours · Entry Fees Included
Hideaway Island Vanuatu
Vila Hope Tours and Transfers' day from Port Vila: an hour at the Blue Lagoon, an hour and a half on Hideaway Island to snorkel, swim or sit on the beach by the underwater post office, and the turtles. Pickup, entry fees, snacks and lunch included.
Pick your island day
Which Hideaway Island Day Trip?
Hideaway Island, Vanuatu, is a small coral atoll in Mele Bay, a few minutes by boat from the beach at Mele and about 10 minutes by car from Port Vila. The day to book first is Vila Hope Tours and Transfers’ Hideaway Island Escape, Blue Lagoon and Turtle Experience on Viator: six hours from Port Vila with an hour at the Blue Lagoon, an hour and a half on Hideaway Island and an hour with the turtles, from US$118.03 per person (checked November 2026), with pickup, entry fees, snacks and lunch included. One adult can book it.
Hideaway Island Escape, Blue Lagoon and Turtle Experience
Vila Hope Tours and Transfers: 90 minutes on Hideaway Island to snorkel, swim or sit on the beach, plus the Blue Lagoon and the turtles. Entry fees, snacks and lunch in the price; one adult can book.
Check dates →Hideaway Island Combo Day Trip with Yumi Tours
Yumi Tours & Transfers Vanuatu: an hour snorkelling at Hideaway Island with a chance to post a card from the underwater post office, an hour each at the Blue Lagoon and Eden on the River, and lunch. Two adults or more.
See the combo →Snorkeling at Hideaway Island, Half Day
Yumi Tours & Transfers Vanuatu: the van from your hotel and island admission, then two hours to snorkel on your own. No snorkel gear, no lunch, no guide in the water. One adult can book.
See the half day →Prices, ratings and review counts from the listings (Viator checked November 2026, GetYourGuide checked November 2026). The price for your date and group shows before you pay, so treat these figures as a guide, not a quote. The Escape’s rating, 4.3 from 100 reviews, counts Viator and Tripadvisor reviews together.
Want a live calendar instead? Below the Escape’s booking box, Peter Ora’s Luxury Shore Tours & Transfers’ waterfalls, snorkel and post office tour shows its dates on GetYourGuide, and the table further down puts four Hideaway Island tours side by side.
- 4.3 / 5 100+ Reviews
- 6 hours Duration
- 90 minutes On Hideaway Island on Vila Hope Tours and Transfers' day: snorkel, swim or relax on the beach
- Entry fees included With pickup, snacks and lunch on Vila Hope Tours and Transfers' day (checked November 2026)
- Free Cancellation
The Experience
What the Hideaway Island Escape Includes
Three stops in six hours, with the bus, the entry fees, snacks and lunch in the price.
Highlights
- An hour at the Blue Lagoon: swim, relax or try the rope swing
- An hour and a half on Hideaway Island to snorkel, swim or relax on the beach, with the underwater post office
- An hour with the turtles in Port Vila
- Duty-free shopping to finish the day
What's Included
- Pickup included
- Air-conditioned bus
- Entry fees
- Snacks
- Lunch
The Hideaway Island Escape, Step by Step
From your Port Vila pickup to the Blue Lagoon, Hideaway Island and the turtles in six hours.
Pickup in Port Vila
The bus collects you from your hotel or resort. The day starts at 8:30 AM, every day of the week, and the operator confirms your pickup time. Cruise passengers walk 20 metres straight ahead from the wharf to a sign with their name on it.
The Blue Lagoon, 60 Minutes
Swim, relax or try the rope swing at the Blue Lagoon. Entry is included.
Hideaway Island, 90 Minutes
Snorkel, swim or relax on the beach, with coral, fish and the underwater post office. Island entry is included; the island's restaurant sells food and drinks.
The Turtles and Duty-Free
An hour with the turtles in Port Vila, then duty-free shopping before the drive back. Snacks and lunch are included in the day.
Photo Gallery
Hideaway Island and the Day Around It
The Blue Lagoon, the reef off Hideaway Island and Port Vila.
Book Your Experience
Check Dates for the Hideaway Island Escape
Vila Hope Tours and Transfers' day with hotel pickup: the Blue Lagoon, 90 minutes on Hideaway Island and the turtles, with entry fees, snacks and lunch. One adult can book; free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
Vila Hope Tours and Transfers
Hideaway Island Escape, Blue Lagoon and Turtle Experience
- 4.3/5 from 100 reviews on Viator and Tripadvisor
- 6 hours
- From US$118.03 per person (checked November 2026)
- Free cancellation up to 24 hours before
- Pickup at Port Vila hotels and resorts; cruise passengers are met 20 metres ahead at the wharf with a name sign
On GetYourGuide
Cascades, Hideaway Island and the Post Office, with a Live Calendar
Peter Ora's Luxury Shore Tours & Transfers' 5-hour tour from 9:00 AM: the Cascade Waterfalls, coffee and chocolate factories, a short ferry ride to Hideaway Island to snorkel and visit the underwater post office, and Mele Village. Pickup at the cruise ship terminal or your hotel. At least two people book together; snorkel gear is not included.
Peter Ora's Luxury Shore Tours & Transfers · Port Vila: Waterfalls, Snorkel & Underwater Post Office Tour · 14 reviews · From US$116 per person (at least two people book together: US$231.48 for two, US$115.74 each; one person alone cannot book; snorkel gear not included)
Before You Go
Hideaway Island, One Question per Page
The day pass, the underwater post office, getting there from Port Vila, the snorkelling, the day trips and where to stay.
Prices are each page's featured tour: Viator checked November 2026; GetYourGuide checked November 2026. GetYourGuide and Viator prices are per person in US dollars (US$); fees paid on the island are in vatu.
Four Hideaway Island Tours from Port Vila on One Table
Two full days on Viator, the waterfalls and post office tour and a snorkel-only half day on GetYourGuide: who can book, how long you get on the island, whether island entry, snorkel gear and lunch are in the price, and the other stops. Prices with the month they were checked.
| Feature | THIS PAGE Hideaway Island Escape, Vila Hope Tours and Transfers (Viator) | Hideaway Island Combo, Yumi Tours & Transfers Vanuatu (Viator) | Waterfalls, Snorkel & Underwater Post Office, Peter Ora's Luxury Shore Tours & Transfers | Snorkeling at Hideaway Island, Yumi Tours & Transfers Vanuatu |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What You Pay | From US$118.03 per person (checked November 2026) (one adult can book) | From US$92 per person (checked November 2026), at least two adults per booking | From US$116 per person (checked November 2026) (at least two people book together: US$231.48 for two, US$115.74 each; one person alone cannot book; snorkel gear not included) | From US$65 per person (checked November 2026) (one adult can book; island admission included, snorkel gear and lunch not) |
| Who Can Book | One adult or more | At least two adults | At least two people | One adult or more |
| Start and Length | 8:30 AM start, 6 hours | 9:00 AM start, 6 hours | 9:00 AM start, 5 hours | 8:30 AM or 12:00 PM, 4 hours |
| Time on Hideaway Island | 90 minutes | 60 minutes | Not stated | 2 hours of snorkelling |
| Island Entry | Included (entry fees) | Included at the island stop | Entry fees to the included attractions are in the price | Included |
| Snorkel Gear | Not stated | Not stated | Not included | Not included: hire at the island's gift shop |
| Lunch | Lunch and snacks included | Lunch included | Light lunch (sandwich and a water bottle) | Not included: the island's restaurant |
| Other Stops | The Blue Lagoon, the turtles, duty-free shopping | The Blue Lagoon, Eden on the River; duty-free for cruise passengers | Cascade Waterfalls, coffee and chocolate factories, Mele Village | None |
| Pickup | Port Vila hotels; cruise passengers met at the wharf | Hotel lobby; cruise passengers at the port | Cruise ship terminal or hotel | Hotel pickup |
| Check dates on Viator | See the combo | See its calendar | See the half day |
More Ways to the Island
Other Tours That Stop at Hideaway Island
A snorkel-only half day, the post office with a Mele lunch, a Friday fire-show day and longer days with the Blue Lagoon, on GetYourGuide and Viator.
POSTCARD INCLUDEDVanuatu: Underwater Post, Mele Feast & Chocolate Factory
Paruki Transfer and Tour Adventures' 5-hour tour with starts every hour from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM: snorkelling at the Hideaway Island marine sanctuary with a postcard to mail from the underwater post office, a traditional lunch from the Mele community and a chocolate tasting. The vehicle, the ferry and the island fee are included. One adult can book.
FRIDAYS, WITH A FIRE SHOWPort Vila: Tanna Coffee, Hideaway Island & Fire Show Tour
pete's Tour & Transfer's Friday tour from 8:00 AM, 4.5 hours: the Tanna Coffee Factory, an afternoon on Hideaway Island to swim, snorkel and visit the underwater post office, and a Melanesian fire show. Return transfers from Port Vila hotels, the boat and the entry fees are included; snorkel equipment is available on the island. At least four people.
WATERFALLS AND A VILLAGEPort Vila: Cultural Village, Waterfalls & Snorkeling Tour
Sammy`s Port Vila Tours & Transfers' 5.5-hour tour from 8:00, 9:00 or 10:00 AM: a cultural village, Rarru Waterfalls and an hour and a half at Hideaway Island to snorkel and visit the underwater post office. Entry fees for all three are included; food, drinks and waterproof postcards are not. At least two people.
BLUE LAGOON AND A VILLAGEPort Vila: Blue Lagoon, Cultural Village & Hideaway Island
Lavanua Tours and Transfers' 6-hour day: a cultural village, the Blue Lagoon and Hideaway Island to snorkel and visit the underwater post office, with a BBQ buffet lunch and a duty-free stop. Two adults pay US$258.72 together (US$129.36 each).
TWO HOURS ON THE ISLANDLagoon Bliss Cultural Village and Hideaway Snorkeling Escape
Lavanua Tours & Transfers Vanuatu's 6-hour day: a cultural village, two hours at the Blue Lagoon and two hours snorkelling at Hideaway Island, where you can send a postcard from the underwater post office, with lunch and entry fees. Snorkel equipment is not included. At least two adults per booking.
SNORKEL GEAR INCLUDEDRaru Cascade, Lunch at Blue Lagoon and Hideaway Island Escape
Nonda Extreme Tour's 7-hour day: an hour at Rarru Cascades, lunch at the Blue Lagoon and three hours on Hideaway Island to snorkel and reach the underwater post office. Entrance fees, lunch, water and snorkel equipment included.
Hideaway Island, Vanuatu
Where It Is, Who Runs It, What You Pay
The island in Mele Bay, the day pass in the Tourism Office's two versions, the Escape stop by stop, the GetYourGuide tour, the other ways over and the season.
Where Hideaway Island is
Hideaway Island sits in Mele Bay, just off Efate’s coastline, “only 100 metres offshore from the mainland” in the Vanuatu Tourism Office’s words, about 10 minutes by car from Port Vila (13 November 2026). Searches for Mele Island, Vanuatu lead to the same place. The island is a marine sanctuary: there is no fishing, and the Tourism Office says you can snorkel right off the beach in front of the restaurant.
Who runs the island, and where the day pass is paid
The island and the resort are one: the Vanuatu Tourism Office lists Hideaway Island Resort and Marine Sanctuary as a small coral atoll resort, “the custodian of one of Vanuatu’s only marine sanctuaries”, with what it calls the only underwater post office in the world (13 November 2026). The day pass is paid on arrival at the island. This website is a travel guide: it is not the resort and does not sell the day pass, rooms or postcards. The resort’s own website could not be opened on 13 November 2026, so the lines below quote the Tourism Office.
The day pass: two Tourism Office lines
The Vanuatu Tourism Office gives the day pass two ways, on two pages, both on 13 November 2026:
- Its Efate guide: a shuttle boat “regularly travels between Mele beach and the island”, and “once you arrive on the island, you will need to pay a 2,000 vatu day pass per person to spend the day there”.
- Its family itinerary: “A free ferry goes from the Beach Bar regularly, however there is a nominal visitation fee for daytrippers to Hideaway Island”, with no figure.
Confirm the price at the jetty on the day. On a tour, entry may already be paid: Vila Hope Tours and Transfers’ Escape includes entry fees, Yumi Tours & Transfers Vanuatu’s half day includes island admission, and Paruki Transfer and Tour Adventures’ post office tour includes the island fee. The Hideaway Island day pass sets the tours’ lines side by side.
The Hideaway Island Escape, stop by stop
The bus collects you from your Port Vila hotel or resort. The day starts at 8:30 AM, every day of the week, and the operator confirms your pickup time. Cruise passengers walk 20 metres straight ahead from the wharf to a sign with their name on it. Then the three stops:
- The Blue Lagoon, 60 minutes: swim, relax or try the rope swing.
- Hideaway Island, 90 minutes: snorkel, swim or relax on the beach, with coral, fish and the underwater post office; the island’s restaurant sells food and drinks.
- The turtles in Port Vila, 60 minutes, then duty-free shopping.
Entry fees, snacks and lunch are included, and so is the bus. Snorkel gear is not among its inclusions, so bring your own mask, as the Tourism Office suggests anyway, or plan to hire on the island. Its rating is 4.3 from 100 reviews on Viator and Tripadvisor together (checked November 2026).
Check dates for the Hideaway Island Escape
The tour with a GetYourGuide calendar
Peter Ora’s Luxury Shore Tours & Transfers’ Port Vila: Waterfalls, Snorkel & Underwater Post Office Tour is the tour under the booking box above. It runs 5 hours from 9:00 AM with pickup at the cruise ship terminal or your hotel: the Cascade Waterfalls, a coffee factory and the Gaston Chocolate Factory, a short ferry ride to Hideaway Island to snorkel and visit the underwater post office, and Mele Village. Two people pay US$231.48 together, US$115.74 each (checked November 2026); one adult alone cannot book.
Know what the price leaves out. Snorkel gear is not included, and neither is the fee for the waterfalls’ upper pools; lunch is a light one, a sandwich and a bottle of water. One reviewer on 30 October 2026 called the island “amazing and well worth it, but it was unescorted”, and another, on 22 October 2026, felt the price should have covered the top of the waterfall, a fuller lunch and the snorkel hire on the island. Its rating is 4.4 from 14 reviews on GetYourGuide.
The other ways over
The Hideaway Island day trips puts the tours that stop at the island in one price list, from a 4-hour snorkel half day to a Friday tour that ends at a fire show. If you go on your own, how to get to Hideaway Island from Port Vila covers the shuttle from Mele and the ferry from the Beach Bar, the underwater post office how the post box works, and Hideaway Island snorkelling the reef and the gear.
The season
The Vanuatu Meteorology and Geo-Hazards Department says the tropical cyclone season runs from November to April, with the greatest frequency in January and February (13 November 2026). No issuer names a best month for the island, and the Vanuatu Tourism Office says the water is warm year-round. Every tour on this site can be cancelled free up to 24 hours before.
Before you go
- Swimming. Peter Ora’s Luxury Shore Tours & Transfers’ waterfalls and post office tour and Yumi Tours & Transfers Vanuatu’s snorkel half day are not for non-swimmers.
- Gear. Most tours leave snorkel gear out; see Hideaway Island snorkelling.
- Money in vatu. For the day pass if you go on your own.
- A cruise day. Several tours here collect cruise passengers, but none is your cruise line’s own excursion; see the cruise question below.
- Where to sleep. Hideaway Island resort and where to stay weighs the island, the Mele side and Port Vila.
A Day with Hideaway Island in It
Vila Hope Tours and Transfers' Hideaway Island Escape: the Blue Lagoon, an hour and a half on Hideaway Island and the turtles in six hours, with hotel pickup, entry fees, snacks and lunch. One adult can book.
Check dates on ViatorHideaway Island: Questions
What the island is, who runs it, the day pass, getting there, the post office, snorkel gear, which tour, cruise days, staying the night and the season.
A small coral atoll just off Efate's coastline in Mele Bay, near Port Vila, with a marine sanctuary and an underwater post office. The Vanuatu Tourism Office places it about 10 minutes by car from Port Vila and only 100 metres offshore from the mainland (13 November 2026). Many travellers also search for it as Mele Island, Vanuatu.
The island is the resort: Hideaway Island Resort and Marine Sanctuary. The Vanuatu Tourism Office lists it under that name as a small coral atoll resort, the custodian of one of Vanuatu's only marine sanctuaries, with the underwater post office (13 November 2026). The day pass is paid on arrival at the island. This website is a travel guide, not the resort: it does not sell the day pass, rooms or postcards.
The Vanuatu Tourism Office's Efate guide says 2,000 vatu per person, paid on arrival at the island (13 November 2026). Another of its pages calls it a nominal visitation fee for day-trippers and gives no figure. The resort's own website could not be opened on 13 November 2026, so confirm the price at the jetty. Several tours include island entry in their price; see the Hideaway Island day pass.
By road to Mele, then a boat for the last stretch, or on a tour that does both. The Vanuatu Tourism Office's Efate guide says a shuttle boat travels regularly between Mele beach and the island; its family itinerary says a free ferry goes from the Beach Bar regularly (both 13 November 2026). Vila Hope Tours and Transfers' Hideaway Island Escape collects you from Port Vila hotels and includes entry. See how to get to Hideaway Island from Port Vila.
You snorkel out to a post box under the water and post a waterproof postcard. The Vanuatu Tourism Office says a special flag is raised on a float above the site when there are postal workers in the water (13 November 2026). It publishes no hours, depth or postcard price. Paruki Transfer and Tour Adventures' post office and Mele lunch tour includes a postcard; see the underwater post office.
For a full day that one person can book, Vila Hope Tours and Transfers' Hideaway Island Escape on Viator: from US$118.03 per person (checked November 2026), 90 minutes on the island with the Blue Lagoon and the turtles, entry fees, snacks and lunch included. For a live calendar on GetYourGuide, Peter Ora's Luxury Shore Tours & Transfers' waterfalls, snorkel and post office tour is US$231.48 for two (US$115.74 each, checked November 2026); snorkel gear is not included. For the island alone, Yumi Tours & Transfers Vanuatu's snorkel half day is US$65 for one adult.
On most tours, yes, or you hire it on the island. Peter Ora's Luxury Shore Tours & Transfers, Yumi Tours & Transfers Vanuatu's half day and Lavanua Tours & Transfers Vanuatu's Viator day leave snorkel gear out of the price. On Yumi Tours & Transfers Vanuatu's half day you hire it from the island's gift shop. Nonda Extreme Tour's Viator day includes snorkel equipment. The Vanuatu Tourism Office suggests bringing your own mask if you have one (13 November 2026).
Several tours here speak to cruise passengers, but a tour you book yourself does not carry your cruise line's promise to get you back to the ship. On Vila Hope Tours and Transfers' Hideaway Island Escape, cruise passengers walk 20 metres straight ahead from the wharf to a sign with their name; Peter Ora's Luxury Shore Tours & Transfers picks up at the cruise ship terminal; Yumi Tours & Transfers Vanuatu's Viator combo meets cruise passengers at the port under its orange flag. Check your ship's hours against the tour's length before you book.
The Vanuatu Tourism Office lists Hideaway Island Resort and Marine Sanctuary among its resorts (13 November 2026); its own website could not be opened that day, so check that rooms are on sale. Mele beach and Mele Bay are on the mainland opposite. See Hideaway Island resort and where to stay.
No issuer names a best month; the season to plan around is the cyclone season. The Vanuatu Meteorology and Geo-Hazards Department says the tropical cyclone season runs from November to April, with the greatest frequency in January and February (13 November 2026). The Vanuatu Tourism Office says the water is warm year-round. Every tour here can be cancelled free up to 24 hours before.
Still have questions? Email us at info@hideawayislandvanuatu.com