Pacific Ocean Country/Territory Visit Difficulty, Easiest to Hardest (from San Francisco)

[deirdre]

Note: difficulty is partly ranked by which can easily be reached via Star Alliance carriers vs. not as I’m a Star Alliance flyer and this is a list for my own purposes. Country & Territory list is taken from here.

Easy (non-stops)

• Hawaiians Islands (nonstop from SFO) (been)
• New Zealand (AKL nonstop from SFO) (been)
• Australia (SYD nonstop from SFO) (been)

Next easiest (1-stops)

• French Polynesia (Tahiti,Tuamotu, Austral, Gambier) (nonstop from LAX or Honolulu) (been)
• Fiji Islands (1-stop from Hawaii, LAX) (planned for 2016)
• Guam (nonstop from Hawaii, Tokyo, or via the Air Mike island hopper) (been)
• Samoa, American (Pago Pago) (Hawaiian is the only US Carrier that flies in, connect in Honolulu)
• Line/Phoenix Islands (Palmyra, Fanning, Christmas, Canton, Enderbury, Howland) (non-stops from Honolulu and Fiji) (planned for 2016)
• Kiribati (Gilberts,Tarawa, Ocean Island) (non-stops from Honolulu and Fiji)
• Marshall Islands, Republic of (Majuro, Kwajalein, Eniwetok) (nonstop from Hawaii to Majuro) (been)
• Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa) (flight from Tokyo) http://wikitravel.org/en/Okinawa
• Cook Islands (Rarotonga, Aitutaki, Penrhyn) (connection on NZ)
• Norfolk Island (connection on NZ)
• New Caledonia & Deps. (Noumea, Loyalty Islands) (connection on NZ) (planned for 2016)
• Niue (connection on NZ, but one flight per week)
• Samoa (Apia) (connection on NZ or flights from American Samoa, among others) (planned for 2016)
• Tonga (Nukualofa) (connect in NZ)
• Vanuatu (New Hebrides Islands) (connect in NZ, among others) (planned for 2016)
• Chatham Islands (connection on NZ on Air Chathams)
• Tasmania (connect through Australian mainland)
• Solomon Islands (Guadalcanal, New Georgia,Tulagi) (connect through Australia or Fiji, among others)
• Lord Howe Island (flights from Australia, but tourism is capacity controlled to 400 at any time)
• Papua New Guinea (connect through Sydney)

A Simple Matter of Flights (2+ stops)

• Micronesia, Fed.States of (Pohnpei, Kosrae, Chuuk,Yap,Caroline Islands) (Island hopper from either Honolulu or Guam) (been)
• Northern Marianas (Saipan, Tinian) (United flies from Guam)
• Palau, Republic of (nonstop from Guam)
• Marquesas Islands (Air Tahiti flight from Papeete)
• Galapagos Islands (flights from Ecuador)
• Easter Island (flights from Lima, Papeete, and Santiago) (been)
• Bismark Archipelago (New Ireland, New Britain, Bougainville, Admiralty Islands) (from Papua, New Guinea)
• Nauru (national carrier from Brisbane Australia, visa required)
• Wallis & Futuna Islands (fly from Nouméa)
• Juan Fernandez Islands (Robinson Crusoe Island) (small planes from Santiago)
• Tuvalu (Ellice Island, Funafuti, Vaitapu) (Air Pacific from Fiji, but see important note about reliability)

Other Logistics Entirely

• Ogasawara (Bonin, Volcano Island, Iwo Jima) (25+ hour ferry from Tokyo, but runs every 3 days and fares start around $400 each way; alternatively, military history tour operator) Sometimes called the “Galapagos of the Orient.”
• Pitcairn Island (long ferry from Mangareva in French Polynesia or cruise ship. Note: ship must be < 450 pax to be able to actually set foot on Pitcairn) (been)
• Midway Island (private charters or specially-cleaned ships)
• Tokelau Islands (Fakaofu, Atafu, Union) (no airports or harbors, but there are scheduled expeditions.)
• Wake Island (generally not available to anyone who doesn’t have official US Gov’t business there except for occasional military history tours)

Originally published at deirdre.net. You can comment here or there.