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Tonga was my first time exploring the South Pacific and it did not disappoint! I thought tropical beach getaways were reserved for big milestone trips like honeymoons or retirement travel.
Turns out it’s more affordable than you think!
Tonga is comprised of over 170 islands and is just 290 square miles of land in total. Within the Kingdom you can treat yourself like royalty and stay at a resort, or go more budget-core and coast along at guest houses. I stayed at both budget accommodation and a resort to give you a good idea of what your Tonga budget 2025 could be!
For our 16 day trip we decided to spend part of our time on a more shoestring budget by staying at guesthouses and part of our time spending a bit more to be at a mid-tier priced resort.
We stayed 2 nights on the main island of Tongatapu, 8 nights on ‘Eua and 5 nights on ‘Foa in the Ha’apai chain.
I’ve broken the cost into the 4 major categories of transportation, accommodation, food and activities with an overall cost analysis at the end!
I’ve listed everything in USD and the Tongan Pa’anga (TOP). The resort we stayed at used New Zealand (NZD) prices as well as TOP so you will see that in the Ha’apai section. Also note this budget breakdown does not include any international flights as that will vary drastically based on where you fly from.
So…. how much can you expect to spend in the Kingdom of Tonga?
First of all let me just tell you, transportation is tough if you’re used to westernized timetables and booking services. Within the country there is currently only one domestic airline operator: Lulutai airlines (as I’m writing this in 2025).
They have been known to suddenly cancel flights, change the flight time or just outright get their maintenance license suspended by the government. They’re a fast way to get to the outer islands but a one way ticket will cost about $120 USD.
If you’re not too keen to spend over $200 USD round trip to get to one of the outer islands, you can opt to take the ferry. But be warned! There are no ferry schedules more than a week in advance, and even if there is a ferry scheduled they often get canceled.
The ferry all the way out to Vava’u is 24 hours! Surely an unforgettable 24 hours, but 24 none the less. We met someone who took the ferry from the Ha’apai island chain back to Tongatapu and he loved the 12hr ride. Not only did he see tons of whales, but he said it was fascinating to stop over at all the little inhabited islands and watch the locals trade goods and get supplies.
We found Tofa Ramsey Shipping to be the most responsive on facebook and we used their services to get over to ‘Eua. The ride to ‘Eua was a 3 hour ferry and just 30 TOP or $12 USD. Leaving ‘Eua we had to take a private water taxi which was a bit more costly than the ferry.
Here’s how my transportation costs broke down in TOP / USD:
Taxi from airport to town: $80 top / $33 usd
Ferry ticket to ‘Eua: $30 top / $12 usd
Return transfer from ‘Eua wharf to accommodation: free
Water taxi ‘Eua to Tongatapu: $90 top / $37 usd
Taxi split with fellow travellers to airport: $30 top / $12 usd
Round trip flights Tongatapu – Ha’apai: $580 top / $240 usd
Return airport transfers in Ha’apai: $24 usd
Walking/hitchhiking to international airport: free
My total cost of transportation within Tonga came to $834 TOP / $346 USD
This breaks down to $52 TOP / $22 USD per day!
The biggest travel expense within the country was the round trip flights to Ha’apai, I’m not sure what the exact price of a ferry ticket is (my guess is around $80TOP based on information online), but taking it to the outer island chains will surely save you a lot if you’re on a tighter budget.
Note that I gave the transportation prices for just one person, if you are traveling as a duo or group you can obviously split the taxi costs, but the flights and tickets are listed for one person.
Cost of Accommodation in Tonga
Our original travel plan in Tonga had us staying at 6 different accommodations, but Tonga will teach you to value your Plan B… and C and maybe even D.
Here’s where we stayed:
Tongatapu: Upon arriving in Tonga and learning there was no ferry on that fateful Wednesday (in 2025, Tofa Ramsey Shipping only does cargo on Wednesday) we decided to stay at a 3 star hotel near the wharf to catch our 5am ferry in Nuku’alofa.
Originally we planned on staying at the Village Backpackers (dorm beds $60 top, double room $140 top) and walk the 45 minutes to the ferry. Once we learned we had to be at the wharf at 5am we decided to spend the extra $60 top (split between the two of us, so $30 top extra each) and stay a 20 minute walk away at Villa Ishadora.
We booked the day of through facebook messenger (as far as I can tell that’s the only way to book online) and it cost $200 top / 83 USD for a private room with a disconnected bathroom.
Villa Ishadora is a 3 star hotel and was staffed with super friendly folks, they offered free kayaks for use and a continental breakfast. When you’re booking a lower budget accommodation in Tonga, be weary of negative reviews.
A lot of people write reviews chastising the local hotels without thinking of the resources available to make said hotels up to their “standards.” We found Villa Ishadora to be pleasant and clean although there was a loud party nearby that went until the wee hours of the morning.
On our last day in the country, we stayed one more night on Tongatapu as a “buffer” day in between our domestic and international flights. You absolutely should plan in at least 1 if not multiple buffer days!
Since we knew the taxi cost $70 top from the airport to Nuku’alofa, we decided to stay in an airbnb closer to the airport to save the $140 top round trip in taxis. We found an airbnb that was a 45 minute walk from the airport for just $71 usd!
This was our one last ultimate budget core move in Tonga: walking to and fro the airport from the nearby village. And here’s the thing… had we stayed at the village backpackers hostel in a private $140 top room, it would have cost another $140 top in taxis, totaling $280 top / $116 usd. I think we scored one point for budget brains here!
‘Eua: On ‘Eua we had the pleasure of staying at Kikos Guesthouse. We paid $100 top / $42 usd per night for a double bed, all showers and bathrooms are shared here. I believe their single beds are $80 top.
This was truly an amazing stay because it offered us a cultural look at Tonga. Kiko and his family were so kind and responsive via email even before we met them! Not only can you go on a whale swim with Kiko’s operation (they are the only Tongan whale swim operators in ‘Eua) but they offer a ton of other activities!
You can do a full or half day tour of the island, rent bikes, get dropped off somewhere to explore on your own, walk down to the beach to watch whales or if you’re there on Sunday you can go to church with the family.
There’s a resort on the island down by the water, but we were honestly so happy to be somewhere with a more authentic and local feel. I wouldn’t recommend anywhere else for your time on ‘Eua!
We originally booked 4 nights but due to ferry and flight cancelations, we ended up staying 8 nights. So yeah, you could say we got a really good feel for staying at Kikos! The family is so kind, Kiko made us lunch the 4 extra days we were “stuck” at no extra cost. Now that’s hospitality!
You can book with Kiko by sending them an email or filling out their contact form!
Ha’apai: Plan A had us leaving ‘Eua and spending a “layover” night on Tongatapu and then 3 nights at Evalonis Guesthouse, a budget accommodation in Pangai in Ha’apai. Due to the extra nights on ‘Eua, we arrived in Ha’apai the day of our booking at Matafonua Lodge. We did end up biking by Evalonis and it was a quaint spot tucked back on a side street, it costs $60 top / night for a dorm bed.
We spent 5 nights at Matafonua in a double fale for $220 NZD / $131 USD per night. This was our major splurge and you know what? It. Was. So. Worth. It.
My partner was ready to skip our flights and stay there forever. The staff was amazing, the food (which we paid for separately) was incredible and I could go on and on about the reef and snorkeling. Truly a top tier experience and probably one of the best places I’ve ever stayed, thanks to my favorite travel blogger Never Ending Footsteps for the recommendation!
The only downside? If this was the only place you stayed at in Tonga, I don’t think you’d really be getting a taste of “the real Tonga.” Yes the beach and reef is pristine and the coconut trees plentiful, but you could easily stay there and not see how the locals live at all. And news flash, it’s a LOT different from how you’ll be living at the resort. Just something to keep in mind if you choose to stay in this paradise!
Thanks to its growing popularity from rave travel reviews, Matafonua books out years in advance, we were able to get a spot that someone canceled at the last minute!
What was the total cost of accommodation in Tonga?
As a couple, we paid $2,743 top / $1,139 usd which breaks down to $71 usd per day for our 16 day trip.
Because we’re traveling as a couple and split the accommodations, our cost was $35 usd PER PERSON, per day.
If you’re traveling solo and $71 usd a night is a bit steep, you could skip the resort and go much more shoe string. I mentioned a few dorm bed prices above… if you were to stay at more budget friendly hostels and guesthouses in dorm beds, you can expect to average $34 usd / night during the high season (June – October)
Cost of Food in Tonga
Food is something you can try to skimp by or go all in on. We did a combination of both, grocery shopping and cooking when we could and eating at the resort restaurant when we had to.
If you go grocery shopping in Tonga, you must zoom out in your brain and remember where you are before you walk into the store…. You’re in the middle of the Pacific! Most locals grow their own food so grocery stores are just 3 isles of shipped in canned, processed and preserved foods. I’m not gonna lie, I found this very tough, but it’s all a matter of perspective.
I eat a plant based diet, so you can imagine how easy that was for me (not). But my partner Nate eats most anything, so he had a better food experience than me. Tongatapu and ‘Eua had a plethora of grocery stores all within walking distance of accommodation. At Kikos restaurant, meals ranged from $15-$25 top and were always huge portions. We mostly cooked for ourselves at Kikos and just had to pitch in $5 top for gas. Kikos was where we first had Ota’ika, the Tongan raw fish dish which was so good we had it a few more times throughout our stay!
On Ha’apai we were sequestered at the tip of the island at the resort, so the only option was dining at Matafanua… which did not disappoint! Especially after coming from feeding ourselves on ‘Eua we were so impressed by the quality and variety of meals. And BONUS, breakfast was included at the resort!
Before I reveal the daily cost of food I will just disclaim that this is an area where we really tried to save money.
For example on ‘Eua we had $1.20 TOP ramen almost every day for lunch and $1.40 TOP eggs for breakfast with a $0.50 TOP roll. When we stayed at Matafanua we biked 18 miles round trip into town to go to the grocery store, so that we could make our own lunches and skip spending the $30 top for the (delicious looking) resort meal. We also were at Matafanua during a complimentary “Tongan feast” night which made one night of dinner free.
Okay now that I’ve admitted that…
My total cost of food was $342 TOP / $142 USD or $9 USD per day.
Nate opted to buy a few more meals than I did at Kikos, so his average cost was a bit higher. Again I must repeat – I went super budget core!
Cost of Activities in Tonga
Here’s where the budget went out the window, but in the best way possible!
We went to Tonga during whale season to (hopefully) swim with whales – a dream of mine! We figured we may only be in Tonga once so we better swim with whales twice…
The price of whale swimming appears to have gone way, way up in the last few years. The price was $300 USD on ‘Eua and $184 USD on Ha’apai. What exactly does that get you? 5+ hours on a boat whale watching and potentially whale swimming. Trust me, when you get in the water with a whale you’ll immediately forget about the price.
We decided to swim twice to increase our odds of a good whale encounter and to double the magic! But why is swimming on ‘Eua double the cost? Originally I thought the $300 price was in NZD because Matafonua listed their price as $310 NZD. But I’m honestly not too chaffed up that our $300 usd went to Kiko because he is one of the only Tongan whale tour operators (even the King gives him kudos… he just gifted Kiko some land to expand his guesthouse!) and they’re one of the only operators to give you a partial refund if you don’t swim with whales.
I keep a very close watch on my spendings, so you can believe me when I say this was totally worth the cost!
Other than whale swimming there were land tours almost everywhere we went, which we opted out of but costs around $75 – $200 top depending on duration and splitting the cost with other travelers.
We focused mostly on free activities to offset the whale swim costs, such as walking to the beach to snorkel (one of my favorite activities) and going to church on Sunday (highly recommended). We really maxed out on the free snorkeling, sailing and biking at the resort.
Here’s what I spent in activities during my 2+ weeks:
Whale swim ‘Eua: $300 usd
Bike rental ‘Eua: $50 top / $21 usd
Snorkeling ‘Eua: free
Walking to the Hafu pools on ‘Eua: free
Attending church: free
Aerial viewing from a very expensive airplane ride: free 😉
Whale swim Ha’apai: $310 nzd / $184 usd
Matafanua SUPS/kayaks/bikes/sailboat: free
Grand total for activities comes to $505 USD per person, or $31 usd a day.
Other Vitals
There are a few other vitals you’ll want to consider when traveling to Tonga. The most crucial? TRAVEL INSURANCE. I cannot stress this enough. Between potential stomach bugs, missed flights and lost items, you’ll want travel insurance. I use SafetyWing ($1.50 usd / day) mostly for the medical coverage. For flight cancelation, the basic plan only covers $100 usd worth of trip cancellation expenditures not including reimbursing the flight. For flight coverage I would 1000% recommend booking flexible fares.
Need convincing? While we were unable to leave ‘Eua one of the couple with us missed their international flight, didn’t have flexible fares and ended up spending $1050 nzd / $624 usd for 2 new tickets. Also while we were in the country the local airline was grounded for a week. Had that happened 10 days later than it did, we would have been stuck out on Ha’apai with the 12 hour ferry being our only hope to make international flights that we did not have flexible fares for. This is pretty typical Tongan travel, get the flexible fare.
Every single person we met on the first half of our trip had some sort of travel mishap within the country because of the infrastructure in place. When planning this trip and reading the reviews on the ferries and airlines I really had that “well I’m just a lucky person and that won’t happen to me” mindset. And then I spent 5 extra days on ‘Eua and had to move my domestic flight.
Now that I’m off my soap box, the other random travel expense to account for is getting a SIM card. We did this at the airport and it was just $8 top / $3 usd for 3 days of data, we used wifi the rest of the time. We have a $5 top / $2 usd gas donation to Kiko
I also paid a $25 top donation at Matafonua which goes towards maintaining their marine sanctuary status.
These miscellaneous expenditures came to $54 usd or $3.37 per day
Overall Cost of Traveling in Tonga
We spent 16 unforgettable days in Tonga, mostly snorkeling, walking around and of course the occasional whale swim! Here’s the budget breakdown for 1 person (I’ve included the things Nate and I would split as their total cost) in USD.
Transportation: $22 per day
Accommodation: $71 per day
Food: $9 per day
Activities: $31 per day
Miscellaneous: $3.37 per day
The average cost per day in Tonga came to $136 usd
Caveat, if you’re traveling as a duo, accommodation per person averages $35 for this itinerary and you can split taxi rides listed as well. Because of this I averaged $99 usd per day.
Final Thoughts: Tonga Budget 2025
Swimming with whales, reading on the beach, snorkeling every day and meeting so many amazing travelers and locals made this trip to Tonga so amazing! I can’t stop raving about my 2 weeks in Tonga, it should be on your bucket list! You can find South Pacific paradise without breaking the bank!
Bree is a travel writer who specializes in backpacking guides and ocean based travel. She has worked in marine based tourism in Alaska and in ocean outdoor education on Catalina Island. She is currently living with her partner in New Zealand where she is working and backpacking.
Ahoy! I’m Bree and I’ve started this blog to help you plan your next great outdoor adventure. With a background in marine science, I’ve got an aptitude for all things ocean, but you’ll find land based adventures here too! Everything you see here is based on my own travel experience and paid for myself. I hope you stick around!
I enjoy reading your sense of adventure. While diving in hawaii I was luckily enough to have a pair of spotted Eagle rays gracefully swim past me no more than 20’ away. I was amazed on how they effortlessly swam, and the speed at which they did go past me.
When living in Alaska seeing Humpback Whales and having them come up to the boat was always a thrill. But being in the water with them must have been a life changing experience.
Well done.
Thank you
Thank you for sharing!! It’s always amazing to be in the water with these animals!
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