e In June/July 2026, I spent one week solo traveling in Palau. Palau is my first Micronesian and Pacific Island. Here’s what I’ve been up to in my first days in Koror, tips on getting a Palauan SIM card, and what Koror was like. Here’s day one.
Contents
Palau Preparation
In the week leading up to my trip to Palau, I had to run some errands to make this trip go smoothly. While in Hsinchu in Taiwan, this is what I did to prepare:
- Getting US Dollars at the Bank of Taiwan. I first had to get Taiwanese Dollars out of the ATM and then exchange it. The rate was very fair
- Buy reef-safe sunscreen. I got the small 100ml bottle to make sure I can also take it in my hand luggage. Finding this product took a while to research because if Palau’s strict ingredients policy
- Reserve a legitimate accommodation in Palau, such as the budget-friendly Belechl Ranch. This is also a requirement for entry
- Make sure I can prove my return/onward flight. Not only Palau back to Taiwan, but also my departure from Taiwan to Singapore
- Download an offline map of Palau (actually, all of Oceania) on my OsmAnd+ map and marked relevant addresses. I had backups of this on my Google Maps, along with my Palau POI map for Google Maps
- Made hitchhiking signs to get around the main connected islands zone (this wasn’t necessary in the end)
- Packed cheap Taiwanese snacks and easy food to cook, to save a bit of money by not depending on restaurant food
Day 1: Arrival from Taiwan
Flying from Taoyuan to Koror
After kissing the cats a temporary goodbye, I traveled from my catsit in Hsinchu to Taoyuan International Airport by public transit with the fancy High Speed Rail. It was only one stop.
At the airport, I still tried to get some more USD out of their ATM, but those only accept local Taiwanese cards. Through security and immigration, I had some time to kill at the airport. Once the gate A8 started filling up with fellow Palau travelers, I struck up a conversation with the Germans sitting next to me. Lianne und Bernd were going diving in Palau and Yap (Micronesia) for a couple of weeks. In German, I asked them if perhaps I could share a taxi with them into Koror. They said their resort (Cove Resort Palau) had arranged a shuttle for them, and that they’d check if I can ride with them.
I remembered I had a banana in my hand luggage and quickly scarfed it down before official boarding time started at 12:00 for this 12:30 flight. Biosecurity: managed.
The flight was delayed by about half an hour. Once on the plane, I was sitting quite far near the front of the plane and shared my row of three seats with only one aisle-seat passenger. The flight attendants confirmed I was the correct person sitting in my seat with the vegetarian meal order. Yep, that’s me.
I spent my flight watching the A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms on my flight screen. Swear words were bleeped and nudity/nastiness was blurred by the China Airlines overlords. My food arrived the minute we were at cruising altitude and was a delicious VLML sambal-braised vegetables with turmeric coconut rice. I saw Taiwan’s Pengjia islets and Japan’s Miyakojima island from my window. I had two cups of wine and napped while flying over the empty Philippine Sea.
Once on approach to Palau, I kept peering out my window, looking for Babeldaob. Eventually, the reef came into view, followed by the landmass. We turned and flew from west to east over all of Babeldaob, being able to see even Ngarchelong in the far north. Palau’s biggest island is full of dense forests and hills and rivers leading to the sea. And then we flew at low altitude past the capital city Ngerulmud, with a wonderful view of the Washington D.C.-inspired architecture. Another turn and we were on approach for landing, passing a blue hole in the reef that looked ominously deep and more kayakable rivers, with the calm waters reflecting the clouds above.
Palauan immigration + Biosecurity: the Palau Pledge
After landing, I was quickly off the plane and through immigration. They wanted to know my return flight and my address in Palau, after which I received my Palauan entry stamp; a yet unsigned Palau Pledge, which takes up a whole-ass passport page. Is the Palauan expression of small (island) country syndrome, as I’d experienced in Mauritius? I waited for my luggage to arrive and asked the biosecurity people where I should show my Palau Travel Form QR code. It was at their place, but I first needed all my luggage. While I waited, I changed the time on my watch and phone to Palauan time (UTC+09:00).
I asked them when I should sign the Palau pledge; some forums said there’s a special ceremony where you listen to the pledge read aloud, followed by someone looking over your shoulder as you sign it. “You can sign it now, if you want”, they said. So I did. It never came up again.
Lianne and Bernd showed up and got their luggage. We chatted a bit before going through biosecurity together. I showed my ramen collection and that everything is vegetarian. They cared more about not bringing in a buttload of cigarettes. Nobody checked my reef-safe sunscreen or inquired about it.
Once through, there were many closed Palauan SIM card shops and people approaching me in the arrivals hall for a taxi or a pre-arranged ride to my diving resort, but I just followed my German friends outside and asked the shuttle driver if I can join them. He agreed. We drove off and the driver gave a quick history of Palau, starting with the Spanish colonials, followed by the Germans, Japanese, Americans, and finally, Palauan independence. He also asked them about going on the diving boat scheduled for the next day, but Lianne and Bernd had just been on a 30-hour journey from Marburg and pulled on the brakes regarding immediate diving. Morgen Ruhetag, I said. They agreed.
Across the Japan-Palau Friendship Bridge, the sun was setting on the lagoon north of us. This confused me. But after some thinking, it is roundabout still the longest day in the northern hemisphere, the Tropic of Cancer goes through Taiwan, I’ve traveled mostly south. So yes, the sun traveling a northern path on the way to the west makes some sense.
The roadside looked pretty tidy. No trash, neatly-cut grass, planted flowers in some areas. Every now and then, there’d be overgrown and abandoned cars breaking that carefully-crafted image. I bet it’s difficult to repair cars and economically inefficient to ship them off the islands.
At the gas station where my destination is 1.1 kilometers down a neighborhood, I asked to stop the car. I was ready to walk the final 1.1 kilometers to my hotel. But the driver said “No, I’ll drop you off where you need to be.” I told him my hotel name, for which he promptly corrected the pronunciation.
So my German travel buddies saw a little more of residential Palau than they signed up for. But they were fine with it. I shared my WhatsApp contact info with them in case they wanted to hang out during our overlapping week. They never reached out.
Belechl Ranch Studio Rental
I waved goodbye to my drivers and felt very grateful for the ride. We’d passed many dogs on the street to my area and the light was quickly fading. Also here at my two-storey hotel, there were some dogs around. Luckily, they were chill.
I saw a lady in the shop below the hotel. Judging by the shoes by the door, this is a no-shoe zone, so I took them off and walked in. A very friendly lady welcomed me in. She knew who I was from my reservation. I received room five, for two nights. I could pay now in cash or by card if I wrote down the details; they also run a gas station elsewhere where it’s possible to pay by card. While a little odd, I was fine with that method to save some of my precious dollars.
The woman’s name is Nimpa and we had a good chat while she signed me in. She asked me how to pronounce my last name with its odd spelling. I said it’s difficult, then said it. Then I asked how to pronounce the name of this hotel, Belechl. Touché, Palauan is also not straight-forward. This place is pronounced ‘Belé’aHl’. I don’t know if that makes sense to you, but the CH is silent.
After getting a tour of the room and the kitchenette, I bought some bottled water and beer from the convenience store. I asked Nimpa if they sell Red Rooster beers from the Palau Brewing Company. She repeated “Red Rooster?” and I nodded. She said no, they don’t sell it (yet), but shfound it funny that I knew about Palau’s national beer.
I wasn’t hungry yet after my in-flight meal many hours ago. I sat downstairs at the table and watched the locals walk by and young people having relationship troubles. Having doused myself in mosquito spray, I expected the worst. But I wasn’t swarmed.
I still met the main owner named Reagan. His WhatsApp phone number is plastered all over the place. I had asked Nimpa about going to Peleliu and that I’d had trouble finding accommodation. Reagan mentioned the US military being there and occupying all the rooms. They offered to help me, but also told me to post in a Palau market place Facebook group. I did that in the evening. I hoped to find a CouchSurfing host or something cheap. At this point, I was happy paying less than US$100 per night to go to Peleliu. This has to happen.
Then I returned to my small-but-functional room, cooked up some vegetarian bak kut teh ramen, took a hot shower, and promptly fell asleep. I set an alarm for around sunrise at 5:45; I intend to visit the morning market tomorrow and get a Palauan SIM card ASAP.
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