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Ha’apai

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Fifty-one islands in the middle of Tonga, seventeen of them lived on, where Cook was so well received that he called the whole kingdom the Friendly Islands.

Fly to Ha’apai All of Tonga
Arrival
Salote Pilolevu, Lifuka · HPA
To Pangai
Airport 3 km north of the village
Private jets
Clear customs and refuel at Tongatapu (TBU)
Best time
June to July

The city

The Friendly Islands.

Ha’apai is the central group of the kingdom, home to about 5,400 people in 2021, and Pangai on Lifuka is its administrative centre. Captain Cook landed on Lifuka in 1777 and was given such a welcome that he named Tonga the Friendly Islands. Twelve years later, on 28 April 1789, Fletcher Christian took the Bounty from William Bligh in these waters, between Lifuka and the volcano of Tofua.

Most visitors come for the beaches, soft white sand with hardly anyone on it, and for the water. Steady winds over the reefs make for good kitesurfing at every level, and humpback whales are here from July to October. Tonga’s meteorological service counts Ha’apai as a relatively dry corner of the country.

  • Kao A dormant volcano and, at 1,046 metres, the highest point in Tonga.
  • Tofua The active volcano in the far west of the group, where Bligh came ashore soon after the mutineers set him adrift.
  • Velata Mound Fortress A fortified mound of the fifteenth century, one of several old sites along with the ancient burial grounds on ’Uiha.

Arriving

By way of Tongatapu.

Salote Pilolevu airport is three kilometres north of Pangai. Its bitumen runway is about 1,200 metres long, and it has neither fuel nor customs.

Business & First Class Scheduled flights Lulutai Airlines flies to Ha’apai from Fua’amotu on Tongatapu, where Air New Zealand arrives from Auckland, Fiji Airways from Nadi and Qantas from Sydney. Business & First fares Private Jet Private aircraft A jet from abroad lands first at Fua’amotu, 183 kilometres to the south, to clear into Tonga and take on fuel. The last leg is by Lulutai or a smaller aircraft suited to the short runway, which works Monday to Saturday. Charter a jet
Approximate flying time by midsize jet
  • Nadi 1 h 30
  • Auckland 3 h 10
  • Papeete 3 h 45
  • Brisbane 4 h 45
  • Singapore 12 h 10 long-range jet

When to go

June to July.

These are long-term figures for Vava’u, the nearest group with published averages. Highs stay between 26 and 30 °C all year and the sea between 25 and 28 °C. June and July are the only months under 100 mm of rain; the wet season, which is also the cyclone season, runs from November to April.

  1. 29° J 220 28°
  2. 30° F 217 28°
  3. 29° M 288 28°
  4. 28° A 204 28°
  5. 27° M 121 27°
  6. 27° J 84 26°
  7. 26° J 90 25°
  8. 26° A 108 25°
  9. 27° S 138 25°
  10. 27° O 130 26°
  11. 28° N 153 26°
  12. 28° D 155 27°
Best months weather2travel.com, long-term averages for Vava’u

Where to stay

On the beach at Foa.

Shown for information. We have no arrangement with any of these hotels.

Elsewhere in Tonga

More reasons to come.

All of Tonga

Flying to Ha’apai?

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