Do you want a holiday that is truly extraordinary? Fancy someplace with a beach and sailing opportunities, plus the cuisine and atmosphere of a metropolitan city. A perfect vacation that has all of this is a trip to the French settlement of New Caledonia, situated about halfway between Fiji and Australia.

This island is located farther south compared to other South Pacific islands, benefiting from southeast trade winds, plenty of sunlight and warm weather. If a sailing holiday is what you are seeking for, New Caledonia is situated in a part of the Pacific that has the largest coral lagoon in the globe. Sailing charters are available and with the assistance of the trade winds you can sail out of the capital city of Noumea along the coastline, past numerous small islands that dot the ocean around the New Caledonia. There are also heaps of other outdoor activites like scuba diving, snorkel diving, horseback riding, canoeing, and kayaking.

If you were hoping for a gourmet holiday, New Caledonia has almost everything you could want. New Caledonia’s capital city, Noumea, is often referred to as the Paris of the Pacific. Noumea offers delicate gourmet French food and wine along with the other benefits of a active cosmo town. You can find some of the South Pacific’s nicest restaurants here. Colonized by France in 1853, New Caledonia has a distinct French influence when it comes to food and wine.

There are lots of restaurants, ranging from sidewalk cafes to elegant bistros. French cuisine is easy to come by, but other alternatives include Indonesian, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, and African food. Seafood is a speciality of the Island, including spiny lobster, prawns, crab, and mangrove oysters. One of the national dishes is Bougna, which is fish or chicken, mixed with sweet potatoes and bananas wrapped in banana leaves and then grilled covered in sand on hot stones. For the adventurous traveler on a gourmet holiday, you can try a dish common with the locals, bat stew.

New Caledonia is the vacation destination you want to be: a sailing holiday, a gourmet holiday, or a time to just relax on the beaches.