Visa and entry requirements Tuvalu:
Passport required
No visa is required

Information from the Foreign Office about your trip to Tuvalu:
https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/de/tuvalusicherheit/220666

Tuvalu is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean with around 13,000 inhabitants. The archipelago consists of the atolls Funafuti, Nui, Nanumea, Nukulaelae, Nukufetau, Vaitupu and three smaller islands. Tuvalu is the fourth smallest country in the world in terms of area, whose territory is located north of New Zealand and east of Papua New Guinea.

The two official languages of Tuvalu are English and Tuvaluan, and the Tuvaluan dollar and the Australian dollar are accepted as payment methods.

The island group, which is a maximum of five meters high, has a tropical climate with consistently hot temperatures.

Tuvalu has the smallest economy in the world and is based on services, agriculture with the export of coconuts and copra, fishing and little tourism. With around 2,000 tourists annually, the island state of Tuvalu is one of the least traveled countries in the world.

The capital of Tuvalu is the entire Funafuti Atoll with about 7,000 inhabitants. This municipality, an amalgamation of all the villages of the atoll, has Valaku, the seat of government of the state of Tuvalu, in the town of Valaku. The island state's only international airport is also located on the Funafuti Atoll.

The few sights in Tuvalu include the government palace, the post office, the hospital, the country's only bank, the national library, the marine nature reserve and the arts and crafts center with its souvenir shop.

In February 2019 I traveled to Tuvalu for three days, coming from the Fiji Islands. In retrospect, it was an exciting journey into a completely different world. Tuvalu is the only country I know or have experienced without a single ATM. So I had to make sure beforehand that I had enough cash available during my stay.

Although the majority of Tuvalu's residents are relatively poor, they lead happy and carefree lives. In a world where the Internet and many material things play a relatively minor role, various ball games or other communal activities are still carried out with great joy in our free time. The runway of Funafuti International Airport, which alone occupies almost half of the island's total area, serves as the daily meeting point for islanders in the evening hours to practice rugby, football, volleyball, basketball, tennis or other sports. There was a volleyball field in the evening where I had to walk from the plane to passport control after landing.

On the first day it rained so heavily for several hours that huge puddles or even small lakes appeared all over the island. My first tour to the end of the atoll, with my rented moped, was significantly affected by the onset of rain and I even canceled it later.

However, the next day was full of sunshine again and the experiences were hard to beat. With my moped, rented for 10 Australian dollars per day, I drove comfortably through the entire Funafuti Atoll, stopping several times for some exciting situations.

The first thing I ended up doing, quite unexpectedly, was the house of the Prime Minister of Tuvalu. Actually, I just wanted to take a photo of a beautiful building, but it turned out to be the conference pavilion where the head of state receives his international guests. The very nice wife of the Prime Minister, of course, noticed me and so it turned into a very pleasant conversation, with further successful photos. Being in the house of a head of state has never happened to me before in all my travels. There was nothing cordoned off or signposted there, so I simply crashed onto the property with my moped without knowing.

On my further leisurely drive through the small atoll, I stopped, among other things, at a family who were cutting up a tuna about 1.20 meters long, witnessed a bloody dog fight with several dogs involved and stopped at a group of men who were just eating Four pigs were prepared for slaughter on the seashore. It was very interesting to watch how they then completely dismantled the four animals within around two hours using their simple and conventional means.

Where else, if not in this small country at the end of the world, did I meet two other world travelers. On the one hand, Robert Warren, who has been traveling the world for 36 years, was sitting next to me on the outward flight and I met David Abell on both flights. Both were also about to travel to the last countries and there was a lot to talk about.

Somehow my time on Tuvalu was always exciting and never boring, even though I was in the same places several times due to the island's small size. Tuvalu is one of the few countries in the world where the world still seems to be in order or where time has sometimes stood still.

After this great experience and a fantastic stay, I went back to Fiji and then to my last UN state, Samoa.