If you guessed Vanuatu, well done. If you didn’t, don’t feel bad. Champagne Beach on the island of Espiritu Santo is one of those places that doesn’t look real, and that’s exactly what made it the perfect quiz location.

What Is Champagne Beach?

Champagne Beach sits on the northeast coast of Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu’s largest island. It ranks among the most beautiful beaches in the South Pacific, and the photos don’t exaggerate. The sand is fine and white, the water runs from shallow turquoise to deep blue, and the whole stretch is backed by dense tropical vegetation. It’s the kind of beach that makes you stop and recalibrate your standards.

The name comes from the natural bubbles that rise through the sand from underwater volcanic activity in certain spots along the shoreline. Once you know that, it’s hard to look at the water the same way.

How Do You Get There?

Espiritu Santo is reached by flying into Santo-Pekoa International Airport, which has connections from Port Vila, Vanuatu’s capital. Port Vila is serviced by direct flights from Brisbane and Sydney, making it one of Australia’s more accessible Pacific island destinations. From the airport, Champagne Beach is roughly an hour’s drive north along unsealed road, so most visitors either hire a vehicle or join a day tour.

It’s not the easiest beach to reach, which is a large part of why it looks the way it does. When we visited we were one of only three groups there!

What Else Is Worth Knowing About Espiritu Santo?

Champagne Beach gets most of the attention but Espiritu Santo has enough to justify more than a single beach day. The Blue Holes, particularly Nanda and Matevulu, are freshwater swimming holes fed by underground springs with a colour that has to be seen to be believed. Million Dollar Point is a snorkelling and dive site where US military equipment was dumped into the ocean after World War II, now forming one of the more unusual artificial reefs in the Pacific.

The island has an off-the-beaten-track feel that’s increasingly rare in the Pacific, and it’s only a few hours from Australia’s east coast.

Did You Get It Right?

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