Experience the best of Nouméa

Nouméa stands on a peninsula at the south-west end of Grande Terre and was founded in 1854 as Port-de-France. It mixes French habits with Melanesian and Polynesian communities. The Place des Cocotiers, a leafy central square, has a bandstand and shady trees, and Saint-Joseph Cathedral looks down from a hill. The Marché du Port, near the harbour, sells fish, fruit and flowers.

The Tjibaou Cultural Centre, a cluster of curved wooden shells designed by Renzo Piano, celebrates Kanak culture, and the Aquarium des Lagons shows living corals and fish of the lagoon. Anse Vata and Baie des Citrons are the city beaches, with cafés along the shore. Boats go to Duck Island for snorkelling and to Amédée Island, where a tall iron lighthouse built in France stands among white sand.

French bread, cheese and pastries sit beside prawns, venison and bougna, the Kanak feast cooked in banana leaves. The trade winds keep the air comfortable, the dry, cooler season falls in the southern winter, and the hot, wet months from December to March can bring cyclones.