Port Moresby is the capital of Papua New Guinea, the most culturally diverse country on earth — a nation of 9 million people speaking 839 languages (12% of all languages on the planet) compressed into the eastern half of New Guinea island plus 600 offshore islands, with over 1,000 distinct ethnic groups and cultural traditions maintained largely in isolation from each other due to the extraordinarily rugged highland terrain (mountains reaching 4,509 m at Mount Wilhelm) and the country's extreme biodiversity (5-7% of all species on earth in 0.5% of land area, including 38 species of bird of paradise, the cassowary, tree kangaroos, and the world's largest butterfly, Queen Alexandra's Birdwing with a 25 cm wingspan). Port Moresby itself is a city of 400,000 on the southern coast of the island, built around a natural harbour — it was the primary Allied base in the Pacific War (1942-1945) and the target of a Japanese overland offensive via the Kokoda Track that, if successful, would have threatened Australia directly; the Kokoda Track campaign (July–November 1942) is as significant in Australian military history as Gallipoli. The city has a difficult reputation for crime (the UN Development Programme has ranked Port Moresby among the least liveable cities in the world) but also genuine cultural assets: the National Museum and Art Gallery (the finest collection of traditional Papua New Guinean art, masks, spirit boards and canoes anywhere), the Port Moresby Nature Park (the best collection of New Guinea fauna), the Hiri Moale Festival (the annual celebration of the traditional Hiri trade voyages of the Motu people) and proximity to Varirata National Park for bird of paradise watching. The country is most meaningfully accessed through cultural tourism organised through specialist operators who can facilitate village stays and tribal encounters in the Highlands.
The National Museum (established 1954) has the finest collection of traditional Melanesian material culture in the world — spirit boards (gope boards) of the Kerewa people, the elongated masks of the Sepik River cultures, outrigger war canoes, drums, feathered headdresses and the full range of body adornment traditions from 800+ cultures; the collection represents the most culturally diverse country on earth.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuidePort Moresby Nature Park has the most accessible collection of Papua New Guinea's unique wildlife — the tree kangaroo (a wallaby-like macropod that has re-evolved arboreal habits after millions of years of ground living), the cassowary (the second-heaviest bird on earth, a danger to humans with its dagger-like foot claw), the bird of paradise species, and the Queen Alexandra's Birdwing (the world's largest butterfly).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideEla Beach (the main city beach, safe in daytime with security presence) has the best view of Port Moresby Harbour; the PNG Parliament House (the Haus Tambaran — Tambaran is the Sepik River word for spirit) was designed by the Cecil Hogan architecture firm in 1984 in the form of a traditional spirit house from the Sepik River culture and is PNG's most architecturally distinctive building.
Traditional Papua New Guinean dinner — mumu (the earth oven method: taro, sweet potato, kaukau and pork or chicken wrapped in banana leaves and cooked in a pit of hot stones, the definitive Pacific preparation) and kokoda (the PNG ceviche: fresh sea fish marinated in citrus juice and mixed with coconut cream, onion, chilli and coriander — distinct from the Kokoda Track) at a Ela Beach restaurant.
Port Moresby's nightlife is concentrated in the major international hotels (Crowne Plaza, Lamana, Hilton Port Moresby) where security is managed; the hotel bars serve SP Lager (South Pacific Lager, the PNG national beer, brewed since 1952 and an institution in the country) and PNG Coffee (grown in the Highlands at altitude, one of the finest specialty coffees in the Pacific).
Varirata National Park (45 km from Port Moresby, 800-1000 m altitude) is the most accessible bird of paradise viewing location in PNG — the raggiana bird of paradise (the national symbol of PNG on the flag) performs its elaborate courtship display (the males hang from tree branches with their brilliant red-orange plumes fanning out, hooting and swinging) in the early morning; over 50 bird species in the park.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideOwers' Corner (the start/end of the Kokoda Track for Port Moresby approaches) has a war memorial and the view down the Goldie River Valley that Allied troops fought through in 1942 — the full Kokoda Track (96 km through the Owen Stanley Ranges) takes 8-10 days to complete; even visiting the trailhead and the memorial gives context to one of the most significant Pacific War campaigns.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuidePNG Highlands coffee (grown at 1400-2000 m in the Western, Eastern and Southern Highlands provinces) is among the finest specialty coffee in the world — the Sigri Estate Wahgi Valley coffee and the Arona Valley Peaberry are internationally awarded; Port Moresby hotels and the Spring Garden Road cafés serve freshly roasted Highlands coffee in a country that is one of the Pacific's major coffee exporters.
The Motu people of the Port Moresby area (the original inhabitants of the harbours) conducted the annual Hiri trading voyages — outrigger canoes sailing 200+ km west along the Gulf of Papua coast to trade with the Elema people; the Hiri Moale Festival (September) reenacts these voyages; cultural village visits to Hanuabada (the large Motu stilt village adjacent to the harbour) show the traditional way of life.
Bomana War Cemetery (23 km north of Port Moresby) is the largest Commonwealth war cemetery in the Pacific — 3,816 graves of Allied soldiers who died in the New Guinea Campaign (1942-1945) including the battles along the Kokoda Track, the defence of Port Moresby and the subsequent campaign that drove the Japanese from New Guinea; beautifully maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Port Moresby craft market (Vision City Mall and the Gordons Market) has the full range of PNG traditional crafts — bilum bags (the string net bags woven by Highlands women in traditional patterns, used for everything from carrying infants to marketing, the definitive PNG craft object), Sepik River spirit boards, Highland warrior axe-heads and the carved wooden masks of the Baining people.
The National Botanical Gardens (Hohola district) have the best collection of New Guinea tropical plants in Port Moresby — the orchid house (New Guinea has the highest orchid diversity in the world: 2,800 species), the heliconia garden, the bamboo forest and the extensive collection of PNG food crops including taro, yam, sago palm and Highlands sweet potato.
Final meal at a Port Moresby international hotel restaurant — kokoda fish salad, mumu-cooked kaukau sweet potato, fried sago (the staple starch of the coastal lowlands, processed from sago palm pith), Papua New Guinean Highlands arabica coffee; South Pacific Lager (SP) cold from the brewery to wash it down, and a final look at the Coral Sea from the Ela Beach waterfront.