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

Information from the Foreign Office about your trip to Samoa:
https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/de/samoasicherheit/213758

Samoa is an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean with around 200,000 inhabitants. The Polynesian territory borders American Samoa to the east, and Fiji and French Polynesia are slightly further away.

The Samoa archipelago includes the islands of Savai'i, Upolu, Apolima, Manono and seven other uninhabited islands or coral reefs. The two official languages of Samoa are English and Samoan, the local currency is the Samoan Tala, where 1 euro corresponds to around 3 WST.

The largest cities in Samoa include Apia, Vaitele, Faleasiu, Malie, Faleula, Leauvaa, Siusega and Valusu.

All of Samoa's islands are of volcanic origin and therefore predominantly mountainous. The highest point in the national territory is the 1,858 meter high Silisili volcano, which has long been extinct.

About 70% of the mostly Christian working population are employed in agriculture. Coconut palms, cocoa, coffee, bananas, yams and taro are grown on a fifth of the country's area. The country's other export products include fishing products, beer from local breweries and car parts.

The national sport of Samoa is rugby, where the Samoan team regularly competes in the World Championships.

The capital and largest city of the island state is Apia with around 45,000 inhabitants. Apia is the country's political and economic center and is located on the northern coast of Upolu Island. Apia has an international airport and the only major port in Samoa.

The city of Apia is also the central point of international tourism. Samoa's attractions include the Apia Clock Tower, Mulivai Cathedral, To Sua Ocean Trench geological formation, Afu Aau Waterfall, Local History Museum, Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, Apia Cultural Village, the Sopoaga Waterfalls, Giant Clams Nature Reserve, Lefaga Beach, Apia Street Market, Art Museum, Art Gallery, Tafa Tafa Beach, Bahai Temple, Palolo Marine Reserve Snorkeling Paradise, Piula Cave, the coastal panorama of the Alofaaga Blowholes, Lalomanu Beach as well as other waterfalls and scenic hiking trails.

On February 3rd, 2019 I landed in Samoa during my big Pacific tour. With this I completed Samoa, my 193rd and last recognized UN state in the world. As the 196th person (according to the Nomadmania world rankings) to ever travel to all UN countries, I was now part of the history books and immensely proud of it.

However, after that everything didn't go as planned and I quickly didn't feel like celebrating anymore. My ferry to Tokelau, which was scheduled to leave two days later, actually left the evening before I arrived. Due to some goods that were urgently needed there in Tokelau, the departure date was changed without further ado, unfortunately to my detriment. After this little moment of shock, I immediately registered for the next ferry on February 12th.

Suddenly and unexpectedly, I now had a lot of time for the country of Samoa and had to think about my further planning. The first thing I did was organize a flight to neighboring American Samoa at the Samoa Airways office. My planned five-day stay there ended up only being three. Completely inflated hotel prices and an impending tsunami warning forced me to take this step.

After my return to Apia, I looked for comfortable and inexpensive accommodation with an older lady. Because I was the only guest there at the time, I was treated very courteously, almost like a member of the family.

In the meantime, I took a ferry trip to the neighboring, larger island of Savai'i and a tour of the island with a taxi driver who was now familiar to me. The island of Savai'i is almost more scenic than the main island of Upolu. However, it was also a bit boring there and without any major highlights.

During my big island tour, I visited the most important churches, waterfalls, caves and all other so-called attractions. Compared to other even smaller neighboring countries, there are not many attractions to visit in Samoa. The only noticeable thing was that there seemed to be a large church every 100 meters. Nowhere in the world have I seen nearly as many churches as in Samoa. However, I found this multitude to be very exaggerated in some cases, but as a non-believer I probably lack the understanding. This country certainly leads the world statistics with the number of churches per capita.

Somehow I had imagined the world-famous Samoa completely differently, as a summery South Seas paradise with endless white sandy beaches. But I was far from it, I certainly didn't see any beautiful beaches there. Otherwise it was almost exclusively raining in Samoa, there were a lot of mosquitoes and the sun was barely visible. In addition, most of the hotels are very outdated and completely overpriced and the roads in the country are in a catastrophic condition. The internet is also much more expensive than on the neighboring islands and collecting money from the ATM costs horrendous fees with a maximum amount of only around 80 euros. Actually, almost everything in Samoa is done to take money out of tourists' pockets for relatively little in return. A paradise in the South Seas is something different for me, but at least not Samoa. I would definitely not recommend this country with the wonderful-sounding name as a holiday destination.

Because there were no other alternatives due to the predominantly bad weather, I spent my waiting time reading and writing. As a positive side effect, all reports for my website were up to date.