The perfect Christmas Island itinerary

Christmas Island is famed for its rugged landscapes and nature-based spectacles. Here’s how to make the most of your holiday with our essential list of things to do.

Although Christmas Island is best known for its annual crab migration, there is a lot more to surprise and delight. From its dense untamed jungle and deep, cerulean waters filled with wildlife, to its beautiful wild beaches, and cliffs that resemble incredible architectural feats, a week-long stay here is like diving headfirst toward the exceptional and unexpected.

Any visit to Christmas Island will almost certainly include a combination of colourful aquatic life, wilderness walks and rich and colourful cultural components. Here’s our list of carefully curated things to do on Christmas Island over the course of seven days.

Day One

Breakfast at Idah’s Kitchen, at the Malay Club

The lids on the pots in Idah’s Kitchen are always clattering, as it is one of the best (and busiest) places to eat on Christmas Island. Do as the locals do and order delicious roti, pulled straight off the stove, and torn into strips to dip into a bowl of spicy chicken curry.

Attend a colourful island festival

Get a taste of the island’s rich cultural heritage in Kampong, the beating heart of the Australian-Malay community; or at the annual Chinese New Year Festival, when lion dancers wheel around the streets. Celebrate the melting pot of local Malay and Chinese flavours during this year’s pilot Indian Ocean Fest when special guest Poh Ling Yeow cooks with the local island aunties.

Malay Roti, Indian Ocean Fest, Christmas Island

Celebrate the melting pot of local Malay and Chinese flavours.

Visit the blowholes

The Blowholes is another one of Christmas Island’s natural treasures. You will definitely find other camera-toting travellers here, but this hot spot is also popular with friendly locals who enjoy the intermittent drama of water blasting through the rocks.

The Blowholes, Christmas Island, Australia

One of Christmas Island’s natural treasures is the Blowholes.

Accommodation tip: The Christmas Island Bali Style Retreat on Phosphate Hill.

Day Two

Dive & Snorkel Christmas Island

Day two is a choose-your-own-ocean adventure with a half-day CI Wet n Dry Adventures, Extra Divers or Freedive CI tour or experience, where you can admire colourful fish, vibrant corals and dolphins just metres from shore, take a boat trip to one of the many idyllic diving and snorkelling spots, or take an underwater seascooter snorkelling tour. Snorkelling and diving obsessives also feel a mystical pull to dive off Christmas Island alongside whale sharks (between November and March).

Colourful fish, diving and snorkeling in Christmas Island, Australia

Admire colourful fish when you go for a dive.

Lunch at Lucky Ho

Look for the Chinese lanterns and balustrade coloured like a set of crayons outside Lucky Ho restaurant, located in Poon Saan. This popular lunch spot is known for its pan-Asian fare: think Thai fried rice, Mongolian beef, sweet and sour pork and fried wontons.

Sunset drinks at Martin Point walk

Some 63 per cent of Christmas Island is blanketed in national park, so it’s compact enough for forest bathers to well and truly get their fix. Ease into it with sunset drinks and BYO canapes at Martin Point, where you can watch the bright orange sun roll over the horizon and sink into the soft folds of the sea.

Pink skies, Martin Point, Christmas Island

Watch the sky change colours as you relax in Martin Point at sunset. (Image: Wondrous World Images)

Accommodation tip: Splurge on a night at Swell Lodge one of the most unique places to stay in WA.

Day Three

Fuel up on coffee at Smash Espresso Bar

Smash down a few perfect piccolos at the Smash Espresso Bar, which has a servery window and a few tables, chairs and stools set outside. You’ll find locals on the footpath eating bacon and egg burgers and chatting to the owner in the narrow doorway of the cafe, which is made colourful with lanterns and wall hangings.

Smash Espresso Bar, Christmas Island, Australia

Smash down a few perfect piccolos at the Smash Espresso Bar.

Visit sites of World War 2 history

Nineteen Second World War sites have been located on Christmas Island after the Japanese occupation of the island in 1942. You can still find traces of World War 2 history on the island in an old cave and ruins used to store ammunition as well as a restored gun emplacement.

Swim at Greta Beach

You will need to take a 4WD tour to cover some ground and get to Greta, which, on a hot day, will be calling your name. Pack a picnic and plan your visit to coincide with Christmas Island Sea Week, which includes a roster of fun and informative events such as the Ocean Film Festival.

landscape views of Greta Beach, Christmas Island

Pack a picnic and head to the serene Greta Beach. (Image: Rebecca Dominguez)

Accommodation tip: Captain’s Last Resort on Christmas Island is best suited to solo travellers or couples.

Day Four

Book a guided snorkelling tour from Flying Fish Cove

Enjoy a savoury breakfast of egg roti or samosas with a Malaysian coffee at the Flying Fish Cafe before padding barefoot to Flying Fish Cove where you can snorkel just metres from shore. Book a snorkelling tour with one of the local operators on Christmas Island and look for octopus, turtles, manta rays and spinner dolphins.

Book a snorkelling tour with one of the local operators on Christmas Island.

Indulge in a bout of forest bathing

There’s no better place to forest bathe than in the enchanted atmosphere of Hughs Dale. Enjoy cooling off at the end of the waterfall walk under the gleaming rocks and branches of Tahitian chestnut trees, which have gnarled roots with green fuzzy moss growing on them.

Waterfall walk, Christmas Island, Australia

Enjoy cooling off at the end of the waterfall walk. (Image: Chris Bray)

Enjoy a sunset cruise

Grab a group of friends as the sun starts to turn red and project brilliant gold reflections over the sea and sky on a sunset cruise with Extra Divers. Enjoy a swim then kick back onboard as the sun sinks over the horizon and the water turns navy blue. You will usually find Extra Divers’ boat Nemo moored in Flying Fish Cove. Smaller dive groups can also say cheers to the sunset with CI Wet n Dry Adventures with tailored trips and private charters available.

Accommodation tip: The Diver’s Villa is one of the last pre-war bungalows built by the Christmas Island Phosphate Company and a convenient place to stay.

Day Five

Enjoy a pot of (hot) iced tea

Order a glass of iced tea from The Chinese Literary Association cafe Le Cla located in The Settlement and it will be served hot, over ice, which is, according to the locals, a Christmas Island speciality. Sit outside on the breezy veranda at this Malaysian-Chinese-Australian restaurant and tuck into waffles for brunch to fuel your day’s adventures.

Foshan Chicken, Le Cla, Christmas Island

You can also try the traditional Foshan Chicken at Le Cla.

View a temple or two

You will find several Chinese temples and shrines scattered around Christmas Island as well as Christian churches and a mosque. You will also hear people speaking a second language such as Mandarin, Malay, Cantonese, Min Nan and Tagalog, which reflects the island’s colourful cultural heritage.

Catch a film at the outdoor cinema

The Christmas Island Outdoor Cinema was built in the 1970s and the scene here skews local. Join local families and tourists with sand still stuck to their feet to watch cult classics and new releases on a giant outdoor screen. Held every Saturday and every second Wednesday.

Film screening at The Christmas Island Outdoor Cinema

Join local families and tourists to watch cult classics and new releases on a giant outdoor screen.

Accommodation tip: The Sanctuary has a private lap pool and leafy green outlook.

Day Six

Chill out in a natural spa

Sit in the sheltered embrace of the Dolly Beach spa as white foam swirls around the natural plunge pool like a lacy skirt. When the humidity is thick as soup, you can make your way to the sandy-floored sea cave known as the Grotto after dark. But do take a torch: robber crabs loom all around, their hunched bodies like giant dust mites.

Look for birds in the trees

Christmas Island covers 135 square kilometres, of which about 63 per cent has been declared national park. Look up high in the branches of the trees or head to the clifftops to spot birds that take it in turns to squawk, as if there’s a conductor nearby holding a baton. Look for the rare Abbott’s Booby and giant Christmas Island frigate birds.

Golden Bosun, Bird watching, Christmas Island, Australia

A Golden Bosun is one of the many remarkable birds to be seen on Christmas Island. (Image: Kirsty Faulkner)

Enjoy a cold beer at the Golden Bosun

The Golden Bosun is a CI institution. The thing to do here is order pineapple pizza and a few pots of beer to enjoy on the breezy balcony overlooking the sea until the stars light up the night sky. Enjoy the star-spangled sky and the convivial atmosphere before wandering back to your room.

The Golden Bosun, favorite spot of locals at Christmas Island, Australia

Enjoy a cold beer at the Golden Bosun.

Accommodation tip: The Sunset has a pool and dreamy sea views.

Day Seven

From little things, big things grow

If you’ve timed your visit to Christmas Island between October and January chances are you will witness the mass migration of Christmas Island red crabs and, for triple bonus points, the phenomenal sight of endangered whale sharks that gather off the island’s coast to feed on the crabs’ larvae.

Whale Shark, Christmas Island, Australia

Catch the phenomenal sight of endangered whale sharks.

Visit Hughs Dale

If you’re one of just 30 lucky visitors to score tickets to this year’s Indian Ocean Fest, you will visit Hughs Dale during the Wilderness, Walks & Wildlife Encounters. But you can also explore the island’s beauty spots year-round and the Dales is a must-do, providing significant habitat for the island’s endemic blue crabs.

Boardwalk at Hughs Dale, Christmas Island, Australia

Start from the boardwalk and make your way to Hughs Dale.

Visit Rumah Tinggi Tavern

The Rumah Tinggi tavern is a huge hit with visitors and locals who converge here on a Saturday arvo for pub grub such as fish and chips and steak sangas. Watch the sun set over the sea with your new friends and vow to start planning your next trip to Christmas Island upon your return.

Plan your visit to Christmas Island to coincide with the Indian Ocean Fest June 21-28. To be one of just 30 visitors to secure tickets to the inaugural program, click here.

Located 2600 km north-west of Perth and closer to Asia than to mainland Australia, Christmas Island is unlike anywhere you’ve ever visited before.

Christmas Island, unfairly, is no stranger to bad headlines. So if the only thing you know about this tropical island in the middle of the Indian Ocean is what you’ve read in the news, read on to find out why – between its luxury eco-retreat, unique wildlife encounters and secret swimming spots – it might just be Australia’s best-kept secret, and one of the most unforgettable places you’ll ever visit.

1. It’s a tropical jungle paradise

With a tropical climate that enjoys balmy temperatures in the mid-20s year-round and a landscape characterised by lush jungle and an emerald-green coastline, Christmas Island is a true island paradise. It’s home to a dazzling array of rare and unusual birds and a crazy numbers of crabs, not to mention secret swimming spots and jungle waterfalls – and 63 per cent of its footprint is designated national park.

Tropical reefs teeming with life lie beyond the shoreline; with water temperatures bobbing around a clement 28°C, they make for some of the best diving and snorkelling spots you’ll find anywhere.

Christmas Island is a true paradise.

2. It’s home to one of Australia’s most remote and exclusive eco-lodges

Swell Lodge is Christmas Island’s first luxury eco-retreat, set deep within the jungle of Christmas Island National Park on the edge of a cliff-side that drops away into the Indian Ocean. Its two solar-powered eco chalets are completely secluded from each other and thoughtfully designed in suitably natural and oceanic tones.

The pièce de résistance in each eco-chalet is an expansive private deck that provides your very own audience with the Indian Ocean – with its mighty swell and mesmerising sunsets. A stay at Swell Lodge is an all-inclusive experience, and includes dinner prepared on your deck each night by your very own chef, who works creatively and expertly with ingredients foraged straight from the jungle.

By day, guided activities include everything from nature trails to waterfalls, hidden beaches, swimming holes and the magical wetland area known as the Dales (a popular crab hangout), to boat trips out to some of the island’s best snorkelling spots. In-chalet yoga sessions and massages are also on hand for when you need a little downtime after all that adventuring.

Swell Lodge is Christmas Island’s first luxury eco-retreat.

You can find more Christmas Island accommodation here.

3. It’s closer to Asia than mainland Australia

A trip to Christmas Island lets you feel like you’re leaving the country without having to think about visa requirements or plug adaptors: a speck in the Indian Ocean 2600 kilometres north-west of Perth, this Australian territory is closer to Asia than to mainland Australia; its nearest neighbour is Java, just 360 kilometres away. A direct flight from the WA capital takes just under four hours (and departs from the international terminal – all part of the adventure).

Virgin Australia runs flights twice a week from Perth.

Christmas Island is a wild destination in the Indian Ocean that’s closer to Asia than Perth. (Image: Christmas Island Tourism Association)

4. It has some of Australia’s best – and most hidden – beaches

Secluded, fringed by coconut palms and only accessible via a forest boardwalk, Dolly Beach on Christmas Island’s east coast was voted seventh best beach in Australia by Tourism Australia beach ambassador Brad Farmer in 2017. And it’s just one of many similarly hidden gems on the island.

While its 80-kilometre coastline is dominated by an almost continuous sea cliff, it gives way to some shallow bays and a series of small and impossibly pretty sand and coral shingle beaches. There’s even one so petite, Merrial Beach (only accessible at low tide), that it comfortably accommodates a couple of people at a time; local ‘law’ dictates that if you already see a car parked at the trail’s entrance, drive on.

Explore Australia’s best – and most hidden – beaches. (Photo: Chris Bray)

5. There are secret swimming spots to discover

One of the joys of a trip to Christmas Island is getting to experience its myriad secret swimming holes, from a grotto associated with Chinese legend to Hughs Dale Waterfall (which makes not so much for a swimming spot as it does a rainforest shower spot).

Indulge in a rainforest shower at Hughs Dale Waterfall.

Take the mostly easy 1.5-kilometre walk through the rainforest along a boardwalk to get to the Hughs Dale Waterfall. This waterfall is set within the Dales, a unique wetland ecosystem that is fed from streams that bubble up from underground caves that flow into the ocean and have resulted in pooling water that has hewn a series of gorges into the landscape over time.

The Grotto, a sandy-floored hidden pool drenched with streaks of sunlight flowing in from the entrance of the cave, is equally magical and just a 10-minute drive from the Settlement. Then there are the island’s many beaches to explore; put Lily Beach at the top of your list, it is surrounded by cliffs on both sides and the at low tide the ocean recedes to reveal a collection of pretty rock pools to explore.

6. Christmas Island has some of the world’s best snorkelling and diving

Ringed by tropical reef, Christmas Island erupts dramatically from the edge of the Java Trench, the Indian Ocean’s deepest point – and with practically no coastal shelf, this means the water plummets to a depth of about 500 metres not far offshore, which means you don’t have to sail (or swim) very far to find some spectacular diving walls. All this combines to make for some of the best snorkelling and diving conditions in the world.

Take a day trip out with Christmas Island Wet ‘n’ Dry Adventures (an option when you stay at Swell Lodge) to explore untouched corals and shipwrecks and meet all manner of tropical fish including surgeon fish, wrasse, butterfly fish and giant trevally. You might even spot dolphins, sea turtles, and, between November and April, the majestic whale shark.

Christmas Island has some of the world’s best snorkelling and diving.

7. You can see crabs all year round. Lots of ’em.

You might have heard of the annual red crab migration that takes place on Christmas Island and was made famous by Sir David Attenborough; the naturalist has described witnessing this phenomenon while shooting a documentary in 1990 as one of his greatest TV moments.

An estimated 40 to 50 million bright red land crabs live in shady spots all over the island and every year, with the first rainfall of the wet season, they start their merry march across the island to the ocean to breed – swarming across roads, streams, rocks and beaches and turning them all into blankets of red. The migration (which can happen anytime between October and January) is the island’s biggest tourist attraction but if your visit doesn’t coincide, rest assured you’ll still see crabs. Lots of ’em.

In fact, their proliferation contributes to a sense of ‘island time’ – the time it takes you to drive anywhere is dependent on how many crabs you must carefully navigate around and gently sweep off the road (your Swell Lodge hosts will show you how). In fact, you get so used to this idiosyncratic island ritual that it makes going to home to crab-free roads a rather strange sensation at first.

The annual crab migration is a sight to behold.

8. But it’s not all about the red crabs

The red crab is just one of 14 species of land crab that lives on Christmas Island. There’s also the endemic Christmas Island blue crab – with its beautiful sky-blue hues – and the coconut crab, the largest land-living arthropod in the world that’s also known as the robber crab on account of its thieving tendencies. Christmas Island hosts the largest and best-protected population of these magnificent creatures in the world.

Keep your eyes peeled for a blue crab.

9. It’s a birdwatcher’s paradise

People flock (pun intended) from around the world to catch sight of Christmas Island frigatebird patrolling the sky, the rarest of its kind in the world, and the Abbott’s booby, a species of the seabird that only breeds here on the island. There are hundreds of bird species here, with seven of the 13 land birds endemic to the island. Watch out for the elegant golden bosun, the melodious Christmas Island thrush and the elusive Christmas Island hawk owl.

One place you’re all but guaranteed a sighting of an Abbott’s booby, or one of the island’s other feathered friends, is during feeding time at the volunteer-run bird rehabilitation centre at the Parks Australia headquarters.

There are hundreds of bird species on the island.

10. And a natural scientist’s dream, too

With so many endemic species, Christmas Island is considered the Galápagos of the Indian Ocean; you’ll meet plenty of PhD students out here researching its weird and wonderful fauna. Their efforts are focused on the Pink House, a research station in the middle of the rainforest that includes a reptile house and Lizard Lounge, which is open to tourists every Wednesday.

Here, Parks Australia is busy breeding the blue-tail lizard, which is extinct in the wild, and other endemic reptiles

11. Christmas Island is a melting pot of cultures

The island is home to a multicultural community that harmoniously blends Buddhist, Christian, Taoist and Muslim residents. The foundation of this melting pot was laid in the late 19^th century, when Britain annexed Christmas Island to claim its valuable phosphate deposits and migrant workers, including Chinese, Malays and Sikhs, arrived from overseas to staff the mine and its operations.

The island became an Australian territory in 1958 and today its 2000-strong population, focused largely on the settlement at Flying Fish Cove, is a mixture of Chinese and Malay Australians as well as people from mainland Australia. Watch out for the Taoist temples and shrines that overlook the ocean, and the gleaming mosque in Kampong, the island’s traditionally Malay neighbourhood.

You’ll find the melting pot of cultures reflected in the architecture on Christmas Island.

12. It’s got one of the world’s most unique golf courses

This one’s for those who like their nine-hole golf course with a view. Australia’s northernmost golf course is located among palm trees and tropical rainforest with a sweeping view of the Indian Ocean. Just watch out for robber crabs trying to pinch your golf ball. Established in 1955, the golf course hosts the Christmas Island Golf Open every year in May.

13. There’s even an open-air cinema

Cap off your unique island experience by watching a movie in the balmy open-air of Christmas Island Outdoor Cinema. Established in the ’80s, this community-based organisation is run by volunteers and screens new-release and cult-classic movies at 7.30pm every Saturday. Tickets are just $5 a pop for adults and $2 for children (up to 17 years), and there’s a kiosk, too, selling choc tops, popcorn and other snacks.

14. You can stopover in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands

Get two holidays for one when you visit Christmas Island by stopping over in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands – another external Australian territory in the Indian Ocean, about halfway between Perth and Sri Lanka.

Of the two return flights between Perth and Christmas Island a week, one leg of each goes via the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. This atoll of 27 islands, of which only two are inhabited (with a tiny community of about 600 Cocos Malay people), is a perfect complement to a stay on Christmas Island. Both fall into tropical paradise territory: whereas Christmas Island is all wild jungle and dramatic sea cliffs, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands are all long stretches of white-sand beaches fringed by lazily swaying palm trees.

The waters off the island are famously pristine.

15. Christmas Island is a freediver’s dream

A dreamy destination for both the professional freedivers and for those wanting to learn the skills to dive beneath the surface on one breath. Australian freediving champion and AIDA/Molchanovs instructor David Mulheron, has a passion for teaching others to freedive. Christmas Island is blessed with crystal clear water, incredible marine life and freedivers are blessed with the luxury of the reef dropping off only a short swim from shore. You won’t believe what you can see in just one breath.

Whether you are a complete newbie or are fine-tuning your skills, you will learn techniques in a short period of time that will leave you feeling confident and in awe of what your body is capable of. Our tip would be to schedule your freediving course for the first two days of your trip, that way you can continue to improve your skills every day for the rest of your visit to this remote slice of paradise.

Freediving with Dave Mulheron on Christmas Island

Learn to freedive to explore the underwater paradise of Christmas Island.