Where to Stay in Nauru

Nauru gives you exactly four places to lay your head across its eight square kilometres. The Menen Hotel looms over the central plateau beside the phosphate cantilever, its 1960s concrete blocks painted sea-blue against coral dust. Budget travellers head for the OD-N-Aiwo Hotel beside the Topside track, where the rooms carry a faint diesel scent from the nearby power station. Down the ring road at Anibare Bay, Ewa Lodge faces a crescent of white sand and coconut palms that hiss in the trade winds. A private apartment above the Capelle & Partner supermarket completes the list, harbour views stretching to the phosphate ships at anchor offshore. Prices outrun most Pacific neighbours because every tin of milk arrives by cargo ship. A simple double with fan and shared bath runs roughly half what you would pay in Tarawa or Funafuti. The Menen and Ewa charge top dollar for air-conditioning, satellite TV, and the bragging rights of sleeping in one of the planet's smallest republics. Book early: the island holds fewer than 100 tourist beds in total.