The population of Erromango, once estimated at 10,000, is now around 1500. Some locals say the depopulation - caused by introduced disease and blackbirding - was in retribution for missionaries killed last century. The Martyrs' Church at Dillon's Bay has small tablets in memory of the preachers welcomed with open mouths by locals yet to kick their boutique meat habit. Sandalwood first brought Erromango to the attention of Europeans, and the forests on this mountainous island are still a fine reason to visit. Many people come to trek independently along myriad paths that cross the island, but you need to hire a guide for some of the more rugged walks. Huge kauri reserves, sheltered estuaries with white sandy beaches, caves full of bleached and mineralised skulls, and tropical rainforests with diverse flora are highlights. Erromango is just over 100km (60mi) south of Efate, and Vanair has return flights from Vila.

Luganville is a messy collection of corroded, corrugated iron WWII huts, ugly concrete slabs and rusting steel sea walls, with no decent beaches unless you like walking on coral the consistency of broken glass. Dining out is limited, although the market is reasonable for the budget-conscious. There's no night-life to speak of other than numerous nakamals (kava bars), and they'll become very attractive if you have to spend too much time here. Nevertheless Luganville is a good base for trips to the northern islands, such as Pentecost, Maewo and the Torres group.Down the road from town is Million Dollar Point, where the US military dumped tons of equipment - including canned food, bulldozers, trucks, jeeps and crates of Coca Cola - at the end of the war. Most of that is now encrusted by coral, making for great diving in the still, shallow water. More good diving is to be had 10km (6mi) across the Segond Channel from Luganville on Bokissa Island, which has a resort, restaurant, bar and swimming pool. Luganville is the capital of Espiritu Santo Island, 260km (160mi) north-west of Port Vila. There are daily flights from Vila to Pekoa Airport, 6km (3.7mi) outside Luganville.

There's little at Mele Bay above water level, so if you're not into diving keep on driving. Underwater, the attractions just keep on coming; coral heads, shipwrecks and an undulating topography to keep you on the edge of your flippers. More sites are being discovered all the time, but Black Sand Reef is one of the most popular sites around, replete with coral caves, tunnels and outcrops.Gotham City is an extravagantly colourful reef named for the large resident population of batfish. One of the best dives, with a spectacular array of tunnels and underwater holes, is at The Cathedral, and Tuki Tuki has excellent visibility and enormous chasms that divers can swim through. Semle Feders and MV Konanda are two accessible wrecks scuttled in 1985 and 1987, for the not-so-serious and the very-serious diver respectively. Mele Bay is 4km (2.5mi) north-west of Port Vila, and you can reach it on foot or by taxi.

Pentecost is home to the spectacularly frightening naghol, as land diving is known there, and under the maxim that you should fall before you can walk many boys are primed for land diving from an early age. Despite a flimsy overlay of Christianity many islanders live traditional lifestyles and adhere strictly to indigenous beliefs. If you aren't interested in watching the land dive you can do your own underwater diving at Laone or visit hot springs at Hotwata. Melsisi is a fine place to see kava and cocoa plantations, and from south-west Pentecost you get splendid views of Ambrym and its actively puffing volcanoes. Pentecost is 190km (118mi) due north of Vila, and there are return flights from both Vila and Luganville.

Efate is the island Cook called Sandwich, after Lord Sandwich, and is home to Port Vila and most of the tour operators. An ideal base to plan trips to the outer isles, Port Vila curves around Vila Bay and creeps up its steep hillsides. The central commercial district falls neatly into a small block - about 1km by 250m (0.5mi by 820ft) - bounded by the harbour on one side and steep hills on the other. Kumul Highway is the main drag and the best thoroughfare from which to explore town. It winds around the waterfront and leads you past major landmarks such as the Cultural Centre, the Constitution Building, the GPO, the fish market and the covered market.The French Quarter (Quartier Français) lies just to the north of central Vila and boasts a handful of colonial-style houses with French louvred windows. Rue Emile Mercet affords excellent views over the harbour. Chinatown is sometimes called Hongkong Street and lies mostly around rue Carnot in central Vila. Not far from the upmarket inner suburb of Nambatu are the waterfront markets, with the best prices in town for food, no haggling over prices and no hustling if you don't want to buy.The cemetery in Anabrou is worth a visit if you're interested in old bones and wildly decorated Chinese and Vietnamese tombstones. It also gives you an insight into the background of Vila's population. Independence Park, up the hill from the Post Office, is where the Condominium was proclaimed in 1906. It's also where petty British officials rubbernecked during Condominium rule to check that the Tricolor fluttering in the breeze at the former French Residency wasn't upstaging them by flying any higher than the Union Jack. While the French and Chinese quarters are in town, the area around the park is like a corner of a foreign field forever England, with a village green, quaint little houses and an English church. During the dry season you'll even hear the thwack of a cricket ball on drowsy Saturday afternoons.Vila is not the cheapest place to stay in Vanuatu, and while the best accommodation there rivals the best anywhere in the world, so do the prices. You can console yourself that Vila offers some of the best and most varied dining in the Pacific. Apart from a few hostels, backpackers' lodges and church-owned accommodation, most of the rooms are in the middle to top end of the price range and better suit business travellers and big dollar tourists than budget travellers. Although camping is not generally encouraged, you can pitch a tent in the grounds of the Vanuatu National Women's Council Guesthouse in Anabrou, which also offers rooms at a reasonable rate. There are several backpackers' lodges and cheaper guesthouses scattered within a short walk of the city centre.