Experience the best of Tongatapu

Tongatapu is a flat coral island in the south of Tonga, a Pacific kingdom, with a large lagoon on its north side. Nuku'alofa, the capital, has a white wooden Royal Palace of the 1860s, royal tombs and a lively market with handicrafts and produce. Most Tongans live on this island, and church services are an important part of Sunday life.

In the north-east, the Ha'amonga 'a Maui, a trilithon of two upright coral stones capped with a third, dates from about the thirteenth century. At Mu'a, the old capital, grassy mounds are the tombs of ancient Tongan chiefs. On the south-west coast the Mapu'a 'a Vaea blowholes send jets of spray high into the air, and at Kolovai a colony of fruit bats hangs in the trees. Humpback whales calve in Tongan waters between July and October.

An umu, a feast baked in an underground oven, brings roast pig, taro, yams, fish and lu pulu, corned beef baked in taro leaves with coconut cream, and ota ika, raw fish in coconut milk, is a favourite. The climate is warm and humid, and the weather is driest in the middle of the year.