Nan Madol — Attraction in Madolenihmw

Nan Madol Ruins, Ponhpei, FSM A friend told us about this before we came to Ponhpei, and we did a little look around online finding VERY little about it. ON arrival, very little more was to be found beyond "we could take you by boat". Luckily a friend who had been in Ponhpei for 5 weeks had done the walk in and gave us the run down. Finding the place by yourself is a bit of an adventure LOL. We rented a car to drive aorund the island and vivist he ruins. The ruins are well worth the time to visit. They are amazing. Think Tikal, Copan Ruinas or Machu Pichu in the Americas, but on the ocean in Oceania. Truly amazing structure and construction for the age and the mystery surrounding them adds to the mystique. It is very obvous that UNESCO and Aid Organisations came in and did the 'Star Trek' "we'll huild you a visistor centre, and paths and 'imporove the site'. They came they huilt, they did the openning ceremony and took the photos, and left it in their wake. Obviously nothing has been done to the site or amentities since they walked away. You can see the run down toilets, the closed and decaying visirtor centre and log bridges that used to be between the islands. Some local tour guides are trying to keep the most imporant ones nailed together, but this site is disappearing again under the jungle. Recommend you plan to spend and hour or two wandering around is plenty of time for most people. We did the drive down from Kolonia in about an 1hr and 20mins down east coast, spent 2 hours, then drove back up the west coast in just over an hour. Couple of things: The site is no longer maintined by anyone, it is very obvious. Some of the bridges have been makeshift repaired, we reckon by tour guides who need to keep the way open for their business. Wear sturdy footwear. I only wore my wetsuit boots from diving thinking we'd be a lot more in the water. The paths are made of coral, and the soles weren't thick enough. Chacos or Tevas recommended. When making the crossing to the main island, a guide warned us to shuffle our feet especially at low tide as stingrays do come along the canals to feed. You want to be reasonably fit to do the walk in along the path that has not been well kept, and it's a bit of a hike in and out on a...

Classic screw the tourist experience. $25 entry, or "preservation fee", then another $1 to park a vehicle, then another $3 for the persons house you have to walk past. It soured the whole experience. After the first fee, I drove down the road and missed the side track to the ruins - on the way back I saw the broken sign on the ground. This side track is in very bad condition and my vehicle almost could not make it back up. I parked near the end & couldn't find the way to the ruins and there was no-one around to ask. I spent 10 minutes looking before someone appeared from the house to insist on me paying another $3, (and they didn't have any change). You have to walk past the green toilet block, under the awning and past the green house and then turn left to get to the path. The path is mostly loose, sharp and slippery rocks. There are some precarious small bridges and you also have to wade through channels at different points. It's up to mid-thigh deep at some points even around low tide. Plus some parts were like quicksand and you sink into the mud and sand. The ruins are just that - they are very ruined. All you see are paths and walls. If you've never seen a stone age site before, the walls are impressive. No doubt there were structures for different purposes but there is no signage or explanations. The $25 preservation fee is a joke, as nothing is being done. In fact the whole site is being reclaimed by the sea and with rising sea levels this will continue. I don't really think it's worthwhile driving 1 hour20 from Kolonia to visit this site, especially given the...

Definitely worth a visit if you’ve made it all the way to Pohnpei! Note that you will be charged thrice along the way: $1/person at the entrance where you park, $3/person when you start your trek in (its the family who owns the land Nan Madol sits on) and $5/person by the keeper of Nan Mahol when you reach the actual ruins (under the employ of the local chief). No actual booth to purchase tickets etc so good to get ready small bills so you can make the payments along the way.

Best to wear slippers as you need to wade across the moat to get to the actual ruins. Actual height of water would depend on the time of the day; we went at 11am and water was mid calf. Don’t recommend going barefooted as it can be slippery + alot of mangrove root growing around there and they are quite sharp.

Bring a little sling bag/back pack so you can tuck your phone + waterbottle into it as you make the crossing. The ruin is a sight to behold (as you marvel at how they could have engineered this a thousand years ago) but it is also quite overgrown with plants...