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Managaha

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Forty hectares in Saipan’s lagoon, twenty minutes by boat from the Lower Base, with a white beach, a chief’s grave and two Japanese cannons.

Fly to Managaha All of Northern Mariana Islands
Arrival
Saipan International · SPN
To the island
About 20 minutes by ferry from the Lower Base
Private jets
SPN, customs arranged ahead out of hours
Best time
January to May

The city

A day island in the lagoon.

By one estimate from the late 2010s, seven in ten visitors to Saipan made the crossing to Managaha. They come for the beach, wide and white, and for snorkelling, parasailing and jet skis over the lagoon. Wedge-tailed shearwaters dig their nesting burrows on the east side.

Chief Aghurubw is buried here. In 1815 he brought his people from Satawal after a typhoon and founded the first Carolinian settlement on Saipan; a statue marks him. Japanese defences from the Second World War remain too, and since 1984 the whole islet has been on the US National Register of Historic Places. Since 2023 it has been leased to a new concessionaire, Mariana Global.

  • The beach A wide white beach, and the lagoon in front of it for snorkelling.
  • Statue of Chief Aghurubw The Carolinian leader who settled Saipan in 1815, buried on the island.
  • The Japanese guns Two large cannons left from the island’s wartime fortifications.

Arriving

Into Saipan, out by boat.

Every arrival is through Saipan International, about 14 km from the islet as the crow flies. Ferries leave from the Lower Base for the twenty-minute crossing.

Business & First Class Scheduled flights United connects Saipan with Guam and Tokyo Narita, and Jeju Air with Seoul. Business & First fares Private Jet Private aircraft The main runway at SPN is 2,651 metres long and Jet A-1 is sold. US Customs and Border Protection staff the airport while scheduled flights operate; a private jet landing at other hours arranges clearance beforehand with the Port Director, and the Commonwealth Ports Authority gives landing permission. Charter a jet
Approximate flying time by midsize jet
  • Tokyo 3 h 20
  • Manila 3 h 45
  • Taipei 3 h 55
  • Hong Kong 4 h 45
  • Abu Dhabi 12 h 25 long-range jet

When to go

January to May.

These are Saipan’s figures, a few kilometres across the water. Daytime temperatures barely move, 29 to 31 °C, and the lagoon stays at 27 °C or above. From January to May rain is moderate, around 75 to 110 mm a month; it climbs past 300 mm in September.

  1. 29° J 108 27°
  2. 29° F 74 27°
  3. 29° M 82 27°
  4. 30° A 102 28°
  5. 30° M 95 28°
  6. 31° J 127 29°
  7. 31° J 229 29°
  8. 31° A 283 29°
  9. 31° S 325 29°
  10. 31° O 285 29°
  11. 30° N 181 29°
  12. 30° D 121 28°
Best months weather2travel.com, long-term averages for Saipan; season from the Guam Visitors Bureau for the Marianas

Where to dine

Back on Saipan for dinner.

No MICHELIN Guide or other recognised guide covers the Northern Mariana Islands. The one table at the top of the island’s prices is the signature teppanyaki room of the Crowne Plaza in Garapan, open in 2026.

  • Mai Teppanyaki Signature restaurant, Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan Japanese teppanyaki $$$$ Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan, Garapan, across the lagoon on Saipan

Elsewhere in Northern Mariana Islands

More reasons to come.

All of Northern Mariana Islands

Flying to Managaha?

Choose how you arrive.

A Business or First Class seat on a scheduled airline, or an aircraft of your own. Tell us the date and how many are travelling, and we reply with one final price, our margin included.

Business & First Private Jet