It is not a plan for everyone, and that is worth saying early: if you are coming purely to dive, your place is in the water and this article is not for you. If what sits above it interests you, read on.
01 Almost everyone stays in the water
Palau has made conservation its entry policy. Since December 2017, every international visitor signs an environmental commitment on arrival that is stamped into their passport: it was the world's first immigration policy built around environmental responsibility.
In the same spirit, the country declared eighty per cent of its national waters a marine sanctuary, closed to fishing and extraction, and in 2020 it became the first to ban sunscreens containing reef-toxic compounds. This shows up in practice: there are environmental fees and permits to check before you get in the water.
All of that protects an extraordinary reef and explains why the tourism offer is so concentrated. What almost nobody tells you is that the land side of the country is practically empty of visitors.
02 The big island, in days of driving
Babeldaob covers 331 square kilometres and holds around six thousand people across ten states. The ring road, finished in 2007, circles it in 85 kilometres of asphalt on which you can drive a good while without meeting anyone.
That ring comfortably holds the capitol at Ngerulmud on its rise, the Ngardmau waterfall in the north-west, Lake Ngardok — the country's largest freshwater lake, with saltwater crocodiles on its shores — and the basalt monoliths of Badrulchau at the northern tip.
Add the bai at Airai, the oldest surviving traditional meeting house at around two hundred years old, and you have four days of driving without repeating yourself. The rain will take care of rearranging them.
03 Birds that exist in no other country
Babeldaob's forested central ridge, some 13,767 hectares known as Middle Ridge, is designated an important bird area because it concentrates almost all the country's endemic species.
The list includes the Palau fruit dove — the national bird — the Palau ground dove, the Micronesian megapode, the Palau owl, the Palau kingfisher, the Palau fantail and the Palau bush warbler, among others. None of them lives outside the archipelago.
You do not need to be an ornithologist for it to pay off: drive slowly, stop at the clearings along the road early in the day and bring binoculars. It is the best argument for an early start in a country where the afternoon usually brings showers.
04 The practical part
You fly into the international airport at Airai, at the southern end of Babeldaob, and from there a bridge leads to Koror, which holds practically all the country's accommodation and restaurants. On the big island there are a few small scattered options.
Hire a car from day one: without it, Babeldaob cannot be travelled. The currency is the US dollar, it is worth carrying cash for fees and small shops, and it pays to confirm in advance which permits each state charges.
On clothing and luggage, the same applies as to any trip here: everything gets wet, everything takes its time to dry and humidity does not drop below eighty per cent in any month. Dry bags for camera and passport, and spare clothes.
05 How to build four days
Day one: arrival, Koror and the Airai bai on the way, so you see the traditional architecture before the modern kind. Day two: up the east coast to Melekeok for the capitol at Ngerulmud, Lake Ngardok and the eastern beaches.
Day three: the whole north. The Badrulchau monoliths, the savanna hills — where the ancient earthworks are — and the run back down the west coast with a stop at the Ngardmau waterfall.
Day four: your choice. If the sea cooperates, give it to the southern lagoon and the islets; if not, drive again and look for birds first thing. With one more night, add a full day of diving: it would be absurd to come this far and never once look at the reef.
