- Where
- Funafuti atoll, Tuvalu
South Pacific - Coordinates
- 8.5211° S
179.1983° E - Lagoon
- 275 km²
(Wikipedia) - Land
- About 2.4 km² on some 33 islets
(Wikipedia) - People
- 6,320 (2017 census)
(Wikipedia) - Runway
- 1,524 m, daylight only
built 1943 - Advisory
- Tuvalu Level 1
At dusk the whole town seemed to be out on the runway: boys at football, a net strung across the middle, girls freewheeling on bicycles, a dog asleep on the warm tarmac. On one side the surf came in white over the reef; on the other the lagoon lay flat and green. A siren went, and everyone strolled to the edges. I strolled too, trying to look local.
The short answer
Funafuti is an atoll in the South Pacific and the capital of Tuvalu. Wikipedia describes it as a narrow sweep of land between 20 and 400 metres wide encircling a lagoon, Te Namo, of 275 square kilometres; the land on its 33 islets adds up to about 2.4 square kilometres, less than one per cent of the atoll. At the 2017 census it had 6,320 people, about 60 per cent of the nation. The main islet, Fongafale, is a sliver some 12 km long with the Pacific and the reef on its east side and the lagoon on its west; it holds the government offices at Vaiaku, the country’s only hospital, its only commercial bank and its only airport. Officially the whole atoll is the capital.
Why it's worth knowing
The runway is the town square. Funafuti International Airport was built by a Seabee detachment of the United States Navy in 1943, Wikipedia records, as a bomber base for the campaign against Japanese forces in the Gilbert Islands, and it runs along the widest part of Fongafale. Its one runway is 1,524 metres long. It has no lights, so planes land only in daylight. A World Bank blog on its aviation work in Tuvalu explains what happens in between: on an island where land is scarce, the runway is the only large open area, and people use it for football, volleyball and cycling; sirens sound when a plane is about to land, and the runway is cleared. When the Bank helped rebuild the airfield it left out a perimeter fence: a fence was wanted for technical reasons, the blog explains, but the social cost of fencing off the town’s open space was judged too great.
The country also earns from a two-letter word. Tuvalu’s internet domain is .tv, which happens to abbreviate “television”, and Wikipedia records that by 2019 royalties from it made up 8.4 per cent of the government’s revenue. A small Pacific nation pays part of its way with the letters on the end of other people’s websites.
The field notes
A runway on a reef
The runway was laid over coral fill and reclaimed swamp, and the sea comes up through it. Wikipedia records that the coral dug out as fill left borrow pits that flooded with seawater at every high tide, until a project funded by New Zealand filled them with lagoon sand in 2015, adding about eight per cent to the usable land of Fongafale. The World Bank reported in 2025 that the runway, resurfaced in 2014, began to blister and crack within six months as water pressure built beneath it, a problem engineers from the University of Auckland had found documented at only one other airport. In February 2025 contractors laid a porous asphalt designed to let the water and pressure escape, over the whole 1,525-metre strip, and the Bank reported that it held through the next king tide.
The lagoon and its islets
Across the lagoon, about 15 km from Fongafale by boat, the Funafuti Conservation Area protects 33 square kilometres of reef, lagoon and six small islets along the western rim of the atoll, about a fifth of Funafuti’s reef. Wikipedia records that the islets are nesting sites for green turtles and that one of them, Fualopa, holds a breeding colony of black noddies. The Royal Society drilled into Funafuti in 1896–98 to test Charles Darwin’s theory of how atolls form, and in 2022 the International Union of Geological Sciences listed the atoll among its first hundred geological heritage sites.
Living with the sea
Much of Funafuti stands less than a metre above the sea, by Wikipedia’s account, and the people who live there are working on what that means. In a 2023 assessment, NASA’s Sea Level Change Team reported that sea level in Tuvalu was nearly 15 centimetres higher than thirty years earlier, rising at about 5 mm a year, one and a half times the global average, and projected that much of the land and critical infrastructure would sit below the average high tide by 2050. Tuvalu has been building land: in October 2024, according to the United Nations Development Programme, the Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project handed over 7.3 hectares of new raised land on Fongafale, made from lagoon sand and designed to stay above storm waves beyond 2100, and a second phase is adding about eight more. In 2023 Tuvalu and Australia signed the Falepili Union, which Wikipedia records includes a migration pathway to Australia for up to 280 Tuvaluans a year. The atoll has been hit before: Cyclone Bebe in October 1972 knocked down most of Fongafale’s houses and killed five people.
Funafuti atoll from the International Space Station: a ring of reef and islets around the lagoon.
Photograph: NASA · Public domain · cropped
The runway on Funafuti, seen from an arriving plane, July 2025.
The ocean side of Funafuti: surf on the reef and a beach of coral rubble.
Photograph: Davidarfonjones · Ocean side Funafuti · CC BY-SA 3.0
The lagoon side of Funafuti: clear shallows, moored boats and a seawall.
Photograph: Stefan Lins · Tuvalu Funafuti atoll beach · CC BY-SA 2.0 · cropped
- Arrive with a spare day at each end, and spend both of them at the water's edge rather than at the airport.
- In the evening the runway belongs to the town. Keep to the edge, cheer for both sides, and move off smartly when the siren goes.
- Go by boat to the little islets on the far rim, and come back sunburnt and quiet.
- Talk with people about their island as it is today, and follow their lead about anything else.
- Pocket the list during the football. Out on the tarmac it kept trying to referee.
The runway at Funafuti. A strip of chip-sealed coral and, since 2025, porous asphalt, 1,524 metres long, running down the widest part of Fongafale with the Pacific surf on one side and the lagoon on the other. It was laid in the Second World War for bombers. Today a few flights a week from Fiji land on it, by daylight only. In between, it is the town’s football pitch, volleyball court and cycle track, cleared by a siren whenever a plane is due.
Tally, in the marginA road out to the world on the days a plane comes, and the town's back garden on all the others, and it does both jobs without once getting above itself.
Getting there
How to get there. Fiji Airways flies to Funafuti from Fiji; Wikipedia lists flights on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from Suva and on Mondays and Fridays from Nadi, but check the current timetable before planning anything else. Planes land only in daylight. The State Department notes that commercial transport to and from Tuvalu is only sporadically available, so book both directions together and early. On Fongafale, Wikipedia records four taxis and motorbikes for hire; the Conservation Area is reached by boat across the lagoon.
When to go. Wikipedia describes Funafuti’s climate as wet in every month, with the most rain from December to February and the least from June to August. Tuvalu’s Independence Day on 1 October brings a sports festival to Fongafale.
What to arrange ahead. Flights in both directions, with a spare day in case one is cancelled; a room at a guesthouse or the Funafuti Lagoon Hotel; and cash, since the National Bank of Tuvalu is the country’s only commercial bank and the Tuvaluan dollar circulates alongside the Australian dollar. Travel insurance that covers evacuation is sensible: Princess Margaret Hospital on Fongafale is the only hospital in Tuvalu.
Safety. The State Department has Tuvalu at Level 1, exercise normal precautions, its lowest level, with a note that commercial transport to and from the country is sporadic.
Mark this place
Common questions
What is Funafuti?
Funafuti is the capital of Tuvalu, an atoll of about 33 islets around a 275 square kilometre lagoon in the South Pacific. At the 2017 census it had 6,320 people, about 60 per cent of the country. Its main islet, Fongafale, holds the government offices at Vaiaku and Funafuti International Airport.
Why do people play on the runway at Funafuti?
The runway of Funafuti International Airport is the largest open space on Fongafale, Tuvalu’s crowded main islet, so between the few flights a week from Fiji it is used for football, volleyball and cycling. A World Bank blog describes sirens sounding when a plane is due, so that the runway can be cleared.
How do you get to Funafuti?
Funafuti is reached by Fiji Airways from Suva and Nadi in Fiji, a few times a week; Wikipedia lists Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday flights from Suva and Monday and Friday flights from Nadi. Funafuti International Airport has no runway lights, so flights land in daylight only. Ships to the outer islands sail every three or four weeks.
How narrow is Funafuti?
Very narrow. Wikipedia describes Funafuti atoll as a sweep of land between 20 and 400 metres wide around a lagoon 275 square kilometres in area, with about 2.4 square kilometres of land on all its islets together. Its main islet, Fongafale, is about 12 km long, with the Pacific on one side and the lagoon on the other.
What is happening to sea level at Funafuti?
NASA’s Sea Level Change Team reported in 2023 that sea level in Tuvalu was nearly 15 cm higher than thirty years before, rising about 5 mm a year, and projected much of the land below average high tide by 2050. Tuvalu’s coastal adaptation project handed over 7.3 hectares of new raised land on Funafuti in October 2024, according to UNDP.
What does .tv have to do with Tuvalu?
.tv is Tuvalu’s country-code internet domain, valuable because the letters also abbreviate “television”. Wikipedia records that by 2019 royalties from .tv made up 8.4 per cent of the Tuvaluan government’s revenue, and that since 2023 a unit of the Tuvalu Telecommunications Corporation has marketed it with GoDaddy.
What is the Funafuti Conservation Area?
The Funafuti Conservation Area protects 33 square kilometres of reef, lagoon and six small islets on the western rim of Funafuti atoll in Tuvalu, about 15 km by boat across the lagoon from Fongafale. Wikipedia records green turtles nesting on the islets and a colony of black noddies on the islet of Fualopa.
Is Tuvalu safe to visit?
The U.S. State Department has Tuvalu at Level 1, exercise normal precautions, its lowest level (advisory reissued 2 December 2024). It notes that commercial transport to and from Tuvalu is only sporadically available, which makes flexible plans and evacuation insurance sensible.