---
title: "Micronesia travel guide: Chuuk Lagoon wrecks, Nan Madol and when to go | Wimup"
description: "The Federated States of Micronesia on Wimup: how Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosrae fit together, diving the Chuuk Lagoon wrecks, reaching Nan Madol, the flights and entry rules, the drier months, and the food worth ordering."
url: https://wimup.com/country/micronesia
type: Country guide
updated: 2026-10-05
publisher: Wimup (https://wimup.com)
---

# Micronesia, four island states from Yap to Kosrae

**Four island states** strung nearly 2,800 kilometres across the western Pacific, with 702 square kilometres of land between them. **Chuuk Lagoon** holds the Japanese ships sunk there in February 1944. **Pohnpei** holds Nan Madol, the basalt ruins of a ceremonial centre built on artificial islets off its coast. On **Yap**, stone money still changes hands, and on **Kosrae**, Sunday still belongs to the church.

## Quick answer

Pick the state by what you came for, because each one is its own flight. Divers go to **Chuuk**, based on **Weno**, where some of the 1944 wrecks sit within recreational depth. **Pohnpei** is the history: **Nan Madol** on the southeast coast and a rainforest interior among the wettest on earth. **Kosrae** is the quiet one, with the walls of **Lelu** and a strict Sunday. **Yap** has manta rays all year and stone money in use, on separate flights from Guam. A week covers one or two states. Book the dive days first.

## Quick facts

- **Best months:** Jan · Feb · Mar
- **Ideal length:** 10–14 days
- **Budget per day:** Set by flights and dive days
- **Language:** English, plus each state’s own language
- **Getting around:** Island Hopper flights between states, shared taxis on each island

- **99,603** People
- **4** States
- **607** Islands

The Federated States of Micronesia is four states strung across the western Pacific, about three quarters of the way from Hawaii to Indonesia: Yap in the west, then Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosrae. Together they hold 607 islands and only 702 square kilometres of land, and the two ends sit about 2,800 kilometres apart, on two clocks: UTC+10 in Yap and Chuuk, UTC+11 in Pohnpei and Kosrae. The CIA World Factbook estimates the population at 99,603 for 2024, most of it on the coasts of the high islands and less than a quarter of it in towns. Plan the trip state by state, because each one is a separate flight, a separate immigration desk and a separate culture. Chuuk is the most populous state and the poorest, and its lagoon carries the heaviest history. Japan took these islands from Germany in 1914, governed them under a League of Nations mandate from 1920 and made Chuuk the headquarters of its Pacific naval operations. US forces attacked the lagoon on 17 February 1944, and the ships and aircraft they sank are now wreck dives: some within recreational depth, the deepest for technical divers only, and all of them protected by law. Chuuk also has the highest crime rate of the four states, which the US, Australian and British governments all point out, so stay on public roads and limit travel after dark. Pohnpei holds the national capital, Palikir, about seven kilometres from Kolonia, the main town and the seat of most embassies. Off its southeast coast is Nan Madol, more than a hundred artificial islets of basalt and coral begun in the 800s, from which the Saudeleur dynasty united some 25,000 Pohnpeians. It became the country's only World Heritage Site in 2016 and went onto the List of World Heritage in Danger the same year, as silted channels let mangroves pull its walls apart. Pohnpei is also one of the wettest places on earth, with about 3,000 millimetres of rain a year near the airport and roughly 7,600 on Nanlaud, its 782-metre summit. Kosrae, the easternmost state, was a single kingdom centred on Leluh by 1250, and the basalt walls of its royal compounds still stand at Lelu, beside the state capital, Tofol. It keeps Sunday strictly: alcohol may not be sold or drunk that day, and swimming, diving and fishing are frowned on. Yap, in the west, built the strictest hierarchy of the four, with chiefs taking tribute from islands up to 1,100 kilometres away, and it still uses rai, limestone discs quarried on Palau that change owners in marriages and land deals without being moved. Manta rays live in its channels all year. Yap is not on the Island Hopper route that links the other three states; it is reached from Guam. The practical frame is shared. The currency is the US dollar, most hotels take cards and ATMs are scarce, so carry cash, including for the departure fee charged as you leave each island. English is official and widely used beside each state's own language. The UN trusteeship that followed the war ended on 3 November 1986, and the country is now a federal republic in free association with the United States, which is why Americans need no visa, while British, Irish, Canadian and Australian visitors get 30 days on arrival. Rain falls all year and heaviest in the east, and typhoons can arrive from June to December.

## Know before you go

- **Population:** 99,603
- **Area:** 702 km²
- **Density:** 141.9 / km²
- **Capital:** Palikir
- **Major cities:** Palikir, Kolonia, Weno, Colonia, Tofol
- **Currency:** US dollar Micronesia runs on the US dollar. Most hotels take cards, but ATMs are few and most airports have none. Carry cash for taxis, markets, landowners’ fees and the departure fee.
- **Language:** English, plus each state’s own English is official and links the states. Each also has its own: Chuukese, Pohnpeian, Kosraean and Yapese, with Ulithian, Woleaian, Nukuoro and Kapingamarangi on outer islands.
- **Calling code:** +691
- **Power:** 120V · Type A/B
- **Emergency:** 911 Each main island has a state hospital, and Pohnpei a private one too. Care is basic. Evacuation is by air only, slow to arrange and expensive, so carry insurance that covers it.
- **Visa:** None for US citizens, 30 days for many others US citizens need no visa under the Compact. British, Irish and Canadian visitors get 30 days visa-free, Australians a 30-day visa on arrival. Carry an onward ticket and six months on the passport.
- **Health:** Bottled water, insect repellent Tap water and ice are unsafe. Dengue and chikungunya circulate, with a CDC dengue alert for Yap State, so use repellent. Yellow fever proof is needed only from infected areas.
- **Getting there:** Via Guam or Honolulu Guam is the hub. United’s Island Hopper runs from Guam through Chuuk, Pohnpei and some days Kosrae to Honolulu. Yap has separate flights from Guam. Chuuk, Yap and Kosrae lack daily flights.
- **Getting around:** Shared taxis, flights between states No public transport beyond a limited bus on Yap. Taxis are shared, so agree the fare first or book through the hotel. Between states you fly, and clear immigration again at each stop.
- **Departure fee:** Cash, in US dollars A departure fee is charged each time you leave an island, payable in US dollar cash. Cards are not accepted for it and the airports have no ATMs.
- **Diving:** Chuuk permit, no reliable chamber Chuuk charges a lagoon dive permit, valid a year. Taking from a wreck is illegal and wartime ordnance remains. The chambers are generally not working, so dive conservatively and insure for evacuation.
- **Safety:** Normal precautions, extra care in Chuuk The US rates Micronesia Level 1, normal precautions. Crime is higher in Chuuk, where the State Department advises public roads and places and little travel at night.
- **Local laws:** Strict on alcohol and drugs Public drunkenness is a felony in Yap, and Kosrae bans selling or drinking alcohol on Sunday. Drug penalties are severe, and CBD products can lead to detention.
- **Driving:** On the right, 40 km/h Keep right, though many cars are right-hand-drive imports from Japan. The limit is 40 km/h, and roads outside the towns are unpaved and unlit, so avoid driving after dark.
- **Time zones:** UTC+10 Yap and Chuuk · UTC+11 Pohnpei and Kosrae
- **Phones:** Check roaming before you fly The UK’s travel advice warns that British mobiles do not work in Micronesia because there is no international roaming. Check with your own network before you rely on a phone.
- **Tipping:** Not expected Micronesia’s tourism board puts it plainly: visitors are guests, and tips are neither expected nor encouraged.
- **Tourism board:** Official site

## When to visit

- **Jan** (best): The drier months begin, and Yap’s mantas are in their mating season
- **Feb** (best): The driest month on Yap, Chuuk and Pohnpei alike
- **Mar** (best): Still dry. Yap Day on 1 March celebrates Yapese culture with traditional dance
- **Apr** (good): The last of the drier weeks in the west, and the end of the manta mating season
- **May** (good): Rain builds, and May is Pohnpei’s wettest month. Constitution Day falls on 10 May
- **Jun** (good): Typhoon season opens, though storms are less frequent before July
- **Jul**: Yap’s wettest month, and the main typhoon months begin
- **Aug**: Typhoon peak, and Chuuk’s wettest month
- **Sep**: Still the typhoon peak, with flights at risk of delay
- **Oct**: Storms remain likely and the rain holds
- **Nov**: The last of the main storm months. 3 November marks the end of the trusteeship in 1986
- **Dec** (good): Storms tail off, and Yap’s manta mating season begins

## Fun fact

Nan Madol stands on more than 100 artificial islets of basalt and coral off Pohnpei, begun in the 800s and raised around 1200 as the seat of the Saudeleur dynasty. UNESCO inscribed it in 2016 and put it on the In Danger list the same year, as mangroves grow through its walls.

## Stereotypes, sorted out

- **Myth:** Micronesia is a region, not a country. **Reality:** Both. The region takes in Palau, Guam, the Marshall Islands, Nauru and more. The country is the Federated States of Micronesia: four states in the Caroline Islands, with 607 islands between them. The name is a 19th-century coinage from the Greek for small islands.
- **Myth:** It is an American territory. **Reality:** Independent since 3 November 1986, when the US-run UN trusteeship ended, and a UN member in its own right. The Compact of Free Association blurs the line. The US handles defence, Micronesia receives US assistance, Americans can live and work there without a visa, and the currency is the dollar.
- **Myth:** Chuuk Lagoon is only for technical divers. **Reality:** Plenty of it is within recreational range. The Fujikawa Maru, Zero fighters still in its holds, has its main deck at about 18 metres. The San Francisco Maru, tanks on deck at around 62 metres, is a technical dive. Pick wrecks by your qualification. The chamber in Chuuk is generally not working.
- **Myth:** Stone money belongs in museums. **Reality:** On Yap it is still in use. Rai, limestone discs quarried on Palau some 450 kilometres away, change hands in marriages, land deals and compensation. The stone stays where it is and the new owner is declared in public. The largest, on Rumung, is 3.6 metres across.
- **Myth:** It is one island culture. **Reality:** Four states, four histories and four main languages (Chuukese, Pohnpeian, Kosraean and Yapese), plus the Polynesian languages of Nukuoro and Kapingamarangi. The rivalries are real. Chuuk, the most populous and poorest state, has pushed for secession. Each state runs its own immigration check.

- Kosrae keeps Sunday for church. Selling or drinking alcohol that day is against the law, and swimming, diving, fishing and work are strongly discouraged, so book dives for Monday to Saturday.
- In Yap, public drunkenness is a felony, not a fine. Drink at the hotel and leave it there.
- Dress conservatively away from the water. Australia’s travel advice tells women to cover their knees, and the swimsuit stays on the boat or the beach.
- Land is privately owned, ruins included. At Nan Madol the landowners and the paramount chief each collect a small cash fee on the way in, so carry small notes.
- The wrecks are protected. Taking anything from a sunken ship or aircraft is illegal, and unexploded wartime ordnance still turns up in Chuuk and Yap, so leave it alone and report it.
- Sakau follows rank. Of the four stones used to pound it at a ceremony, one is kept for the Nahnmwarki, the paramount chief, or his representative, and the first four cups have their own name, nohpwei. Follow your host’s lead on when to drink.
- Taxis are shared. Few drivers take a single fare and some overcharge visitors, so agree the price before you get in or book through the hotel.
- Every state is its own border. You clear immigration again on arrival in each one, even off a domestic flight, so keep the passport in your hand luggage.
- The urohs, the appliquéd and embroidered skirt Pohnpeian women wear, is the island’s signature dress, and it gives Emelihter Kihleng’s poetry collection its title.

## Names behind Micronesia

- **Tosiwo Nakayama**: The first president, 1979 to 1987, who saw the Compact of Free Association through.
- **Mau Piailug**: Satawal navigator who took Hōkūleʻa from Hawaii to Tahiti in 1976 without instruments.
- **Emelihter Kihleng**: Pohnpeian poet. My Urohs (2008) was the first English poetry book by a Micronesian.
- **John Haglelgam**: President from 1987 to 1991, then three decades teaching at the College of Micronesia.
- **David Panuelo**: President from 2019 to 2023, whose 2023 letter accused China of political warfare.
- **Wesley Simina**: President since May 2023, elected by Congress from its four at-large senators.
- **Kimiuo Aisek**: Watched the 1944 attack on the lagoon at 17, then opened Chuuk’s first dive shop in 1973.
- **Larry Raigetal**: Canoe carver and pwo navigator from Lamotrek, and a co-founder of Waa’gey.
- **Oliver Sacks**: Neurologist whose The Island of the Colorblind is set on Pingelap, an atoll of Pohnpei.
- **Kerson Hadley**: Swimmer who represented Micronesia at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and in London in 2012.
- **Debra Daniel**: Swimmer, and at 17 the youngest on Micronesia’s team at Beijing in 2008.

## Must-try Micronesian food

- **Kón**: Breadfruit boiled, then pounded hot on a wooden board until smooth. Chuuk’s staple.
- **Mwatun**: Kón made richer with coconut milk. Emesefich, also with coconut, is kept for chiefs.
- **Fafa**: Kosrae’s pounded giant swamp taro, worked by two people at one board.
- **Mwaa**: Breadfruit pounded, fermented and rinsed. The outer-island Yap staple, eaten on Ulithi.
- **Kehp**: Pohnpei’s prized yams. With pigs and sakau, the prestige gift at a feast.
- **Karat banana**: Pohnpei’s beta-carotene banana. Gone from markets by 1998, State Banana by 2005.
- **Uht kekihn**: Pohnpeian banana balls: banana peeled, grated, boiled, rolled and cooked in coconut milk.
- **Kosrae tangerines**: Seedless, sweet and green when ripe, because the heat never turns them orange.
- **Mangrove crab**: Kosrae’s favourite catch, sweet-fleshed, pulled from the mangroves around the island.
- **Sakau**: Pohnpei’s kava, pounded with stones, squeezed through hibiscus bark, drunk at ceremonies.

## FAQs

### How do you get to Micronesia?

Through Guam, or from Honolulu. United’s Island Hopper links the states: it runs from Guam through Chuuk and Pohnpei, with some flights also stopping in Kosrae, and continues through Kwajalein and Majuro in the Marshall Islands to Honolulu. Yap is not on that line. United reaches it from Guam on separate overnight flights, so a trip that pairs Yap with the eastern states routes back through Guam. Chuuk, Yap and Kosrae have no daily flight and seats sell out, so book early and confirm schedules with the airline. Keep your passport handy, because every state clears immigration again, even on a domestic leg.

### Do you need a visa for Micronesia?

Not if you are American: under the Compact of Free Association, US citizens can enter, live and work without a visa, with no limit on the length of stay. British, Irish and Canadian visitors need no visa for up to 30 days, and Australians receive a 30-day visitor visa on arrival. Everyone should carry an onward or return ticket, and a stay beyond 30 days needs an entry permit from the Division of Immigration in Palikir. Advisories quote passport validity from 120 days to six months, so travel on a passport with six months left, and keep US dollar cash for the departure fee charged on leaving each island.

### Can you dive Chuuk Lagoon without technical training?

Yes, on a good share of the wrecks. The ships and aircraft sunk when US forces attacked the lagoon in February 1944 lie at a range of depths. The Fujikawa Maru, with Zero fighters still in its holds, has its main deck at about 18 metres and rests on the bottom at 34; the San Francisco Maru, with tanks on its deck, sits around 62 metres down and is a technical dive. Blue Lagoon Dive Shop on Weno, the first in Chuuk, runs day boats, and liveaboards such as the Truk Odyssey work the lagoon for a week at a time. Chuuk State charges a dive permit, valid for a year, on top of the dives. Two rules matter: taking anything from a wreck is illegal, and the US State Department says the decompression chambers in Chuuk, Yap and Pohnpei are generally not working, so dive conservatively and buy insurance that covers chamber treatment and evacuation.

### How do you visit Nan Madol?

Nan Madol lies off Temwen Island on Pohnpei’s southeast coast, in Madolenihmw. At low tide you walk in along a trail that crosses private land, paying small cash fees to the landowners and to the paramount chief on the way. At high tide the channels between the islets can be explored by boat or kayak, which reaches further into the site. Bring small notes, because the fees change. UNESCO inscribed Nan Madol in 2016 and placed it on the List of World Heritage in Danger the same year: silted channels are letting mangroves and trees grow through the basalt walls, so treat the structures with care.

### When is the best time to visit Micronesia?

January to March. These are the drier months across the country, and February is the driest on Yap, Chuuk and Pohnpei. Rain falls all year and heaviest in the east: Pohnpei’s interior is one of the wettest places on earth, and May is the island’s wettest month. Typhoons can arrive from June to December, mostly from July to November and most often in August and September. Yap’s manta rays live in its channels all year and gather to mate from December to April, and Yap Day on 1 March is the state’s main cultural festival.

## Related countries

- [Australia](https://wimup.com/country/australia.md)
- [New Zealand](https://wimup.com/country/new-zealand.md)
- [All of Oceania](https://wimup.com/oceania)

Part of [Oceania](https://wimup.com/oceania.md)

## Sources

- [Emergency](https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/FederatedStatesOfMicronesia.html?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Visa](https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/federated-states-of-micronesia/entry-requirements?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Departure fee](https://visit-micronesia.fm/regulations/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Tourism board](https://visit-micronesia.fm/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- Rankings are Wimup editorial picks. Prices, durations and budgets are editorial estimates, not live quotes; check the official site before you go.