Do you want a holiday that is truly breathtaking? You might be considering of somewhere that offers beaches and sailing opportunities, plus the cuisine and ambience of a metropolitan city. A perfect holiday that provides all of this is a trip to the French settlement of New Caledonia, located between Australia and Fiji.

As New Caledonia is situated further south than many of the other islands of the South Pacific, its climate benefits from southeast trade winds, plenty of sun, and warm weather. If a sailing holiday is what you are seeking for, New Caledonia is located in a part of the Pacific that has the largest coral lagoon in the world. Sailing charters are easy to find and with the assistance of the trade winds you can sail out of the capital city of Noumea along the coastline, past the many small islands that dot the ocean around the New Caledonia. The island also offers other outdoor activities such as scuba diving, snorkel diving, horseback riding, canoeing, and kayaking.

If you were thinking of a gourmet holiday, New Caledonia has almost everything you could want. New Caledonia’s capital city, Noumea, also known as the Paris of the Pacific. Noumea features delicate gourmet French food and wine along with the other benefits of a active cosmopolitan town. You can find some of the South Pacific’s finest restaurants here. Colonised by the French in 1853, New Caledonia has a distinct French influence when it comes to food.

There are lots of eateries, ranging from sidewalk cafes to elegant bistros. French cuisine is easy to come by, but other choices 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 Noumea’s national dishes is Bougna, which is fish or chicken, combined with sweet potatoes and bananas wrapped in banana leaves and then baked covered in sand on hot stones. For the adventurous traveller on a gourmet vacation, you can try out a dish common with the locals, bat stew.

You can make a vacation to New Caledonia anything you want it to be: a sailing holiday, a gourmet holiday, or a time to just relax by the beach.