Samoa Cultural Village — Attraction in Upolu

This is a must see attraction if you are interested in seeing the historical Samoan way of life.

The centre is located in central Apia across the street from the beautiful church and behind the welcome centre. Established about 5 years ago the grounds are still being developed as they suffered some storm damage. Although open all day the two hour guided tour and performances are only given on alternate days and when cruise ships are visiting. Arrive by 10 am for the performance that begins at 10:30. Although advertised as free after seeing the show you will feel compelled to leave a significant donation.

When you arrive you will be welcomed by lovely ladies and invited to sit down and enjoy some music. You will then be shown how to weave some leaves to make a simple bowl which you will use later to enjoy some local food.

The show is hosted by a tribal chief. He will take you to several stations where he will describe local traditions and you will witness how traditional life is lived. The first station you visit is the cooking shelter where you see the men preparing the dishes. You see various foods prepared including taro, breadfruit and fish and how they are cooked over heated rocks covered with leaves. Next you visit the carving shelter to see craftsmen making all the items needed for daily living. Next comes the tattooing station where we learn the ritual of full body tattooing for men and lower body tattooing for women and the significance of these tattoos. You then return to the main reception are to learn how they make traditional wraps and prints out of finely prepared leaves. By now the meal is cooked and you will sample the traditional foods in the little bowls you had the opportunity to make. Finally there was a full 30 minutes of Samoan dancing.

This was a cultural experience we will...

Interesting two hour (or a bit more depending on the pace) showcase of some cultural aspects of Samoa: at the main fale there was overall intro, several song performances with guitar, ava ceremony, and teaching us how to weave plates out of coconut leaves. Then a tour and of various fales that featured tattoo, cooking, wood, carving, and art prints. In the end, we came back to the main fale to eat the food was saw prepared earlier, and watch a live dance performance.

Personally I found the entire program a bit lengthy and slow paced (or as my partner more positively stated, island time pace). It took a while to figure out what was going on (where do you pay? When does it start for real? What is going to happen and when?) and honestly I didnt find the tour guide introductions to be as informative as I had expected for a program by the cultural village. But everyone was very friendly, and you get a bit of food that you see cooked in the fale so that is quite nice, especially for just 20 Tala for the whole thing! Also for thise with kids -- this is probably more for adults and teenagers. We came with our younger child and they were quite bored except for when there was dancing in the end and food haha.

If you have time, would suggest doing the whole experience tour, but otherwise I suggest just checking out the fales yourself and ask questions if you don't have a ton of time. Wish the tour had more condensed program, otherwise was an interesting late morning /...

On my first full day in Samoa (05 Jan) I came to the cultural village and tourist information centre at 10:30am to find everything closed. I walked around the back of the info centre to the cultural village where roughly 5 locals were sitting around, I asked one lady if there was a cultural show and she said she didn't know and to ask someone else. I then saw 3 other tourists and we were all standing around looking lost. I wanted to make this place my first point of call as it is highly recommended on the tourism website - "Fa’a Samoa has a strong focus on welcoming visitors making Samoans friendly and hospitable hosts." No one approached us or made us feel welcome so we all left. I saw another car of tourists pull up as I was leaving. Suddenly out of nowhere a guy approached trying to sell me a necklace, I explained that it was my first day in Samoa and I didn't want to buy anything yet but he was very persistent. I just started walking away and he swore at me. I went past this place again on the 6th and 7th but it wasn't open at all. Very disappointing. Thankfully the hosts who I stayed with were...