"Do It Cheap in Ne ..." a New Caledonia Travel Page by naturalmystic82

Noumea and New Caledonia are renowned for being expensive, but fear not! it can be done cheaply

accommodation - the cheapest accommodation in noumea is at the backpackers or Auberge de Jeunesse - the backpackers is cool
because it has a good view over the city and a very communal atmosphere, and the cheapest hotel in noumea. the cons are it is still a bit expensive - about 25 AUD and it is up a bit of a hill - not so fun if you can afford to get drunk - there is no shuttle but, no bother, because it is very close to the centre of town. Other alternatives to the auberge are either camping - but for this you will need to travel a bit away from the city - or motels though even the cheapest motels are around 60 AUD.

their is quite a range for this in Noumea, But i will detail it on the cheapest level. To start off with, if you are changing money in Noumea
the american express office, off place de cocotiers is good with low commission, to eat and drink. - Noumea has all Kinds of very good food try the Bougna if you can - it is a traditional kanaki (natives of melanesia) style of cooking and involves cooking meat (either fish or chicken but sometimes fruitbat) with local vegetables like taro and sweet potato in an underground oven and covered with hot rocks - really good. NC also has very good seafood and french style foods, but if you wanna do it very cheap their is a good supermarket at the foot of the stairs to the backpackers which sells beer for 1 AUD a can (its about 7-8 AUD a glass in any bar or pub) and cheap noodles, this combined with a very good boulangerie or bakery just further down the road means you can live on a very cheap (though meatless!) budget actually the bread is very good everywhere, and usually quite cheap - any kind of meat is expensive. Lonely Planet reccomends the main marche or market at the docks for cheap food, but i found it not really the best. Nightlife - actually the nightlife is often best at the backpackers, but their are some very expensive night clubs - one at cocotiers and a few at anse vata - the main tourist area. but also in my experience the place for the best cheap resteraunts, and some good pubs - their is a big pub at cocotiers but it really is very expensive. also in noumea if you stay for a while their are a number of kava bars, kava is pretty famous all over the pacific as a natural depressant, with some interesting varied effects. the kava bars in noumea are a little hard to find, but very highly recommended. better to go with a local if you are lucky.

Go to the loyalty islands -these can be reached by an inter island ferry called the Betico - all of these are scenically much more beautiful than Noumea, with unbelievable beaches, good diving and surfing and can be cheaper in a way than, Noumea or Le Grande Terre