Samoa Solo Female Travel Safety Tips and Advice

On this page you will find first-hand, unbiased, and real safety tips, advice and reviews from women traveling solo, submitted directly from their personal experiences in the country.

Their opinions are unfiltered and submitted independently as part of the Solo Female Travel Safety Index, a ranking of 210 countries and regions based on how safe they are for women traveling solo.

The safety scores range from 1 to 4 with 1 being the safest and 4 being the most dangerous for solo female travelers.

You don’t need to login to read the below reviews. But do sign up or login to share your solo travel experiences, country safety rating and comments.

Samoa Country data

We have compiled a few data points below that can help you better understand Samoa and have more context when thinking about travel safety.

Official country name: Independent State of Samoa.

Etymology: The meaning of Samoa is disputed. Some modern explanations are that the "sa" connotes "sacred" and "moa" indicates "center," so the name can mean "Holy Center".

Alternatively, some assertions state that it can mean "place of the sacred moa bird" of Polynesian mythology. The name, however, may go back to Proto-Polynesian (PPn) times (before 1000 B.C.). A plausible PPn reconstruction has the first syllable as "sa'a" meaning "tribe or people" and "moa" meaning "deep sea or ocean" to convey the meaning "people of the deep sea".

Capital: Apia.

Independence / foundation: New Zealand annexed Samoa in 1914 after the outbreak of World War I. Opposition to New Zealand’s rule quickly grew. In 1929, New Zealand police shot into a crowd of peaceful protestors, killing 11, in an event known as Black Sunday.

In 1962, Samoa became the first Polynesian nation to reestablish its independence as Western Samoa but dropped the “Western” from its name in 1997.

Population: 207,501.

Currency: Samoan Tala (WST)
1 USD = 2.74 WST
1 EUR = 3.03 WST

Time zone: UTC+13

Languages spoken: Samoan (Polynesian) (official) 91%, Samoan/English 7%, English (official) <1%, other <1%, unspecified 2%.

Religions: Protestant 55% (Congregationalist 29%, Methodist 12%, Assembly of God 7%, Seventh Day Adventist 4%, other Protestant 2%), Roman Catholic 19%, Church of Jesus Christ 17%, Worship Centre 3%, other Christian 4%, other 3% (includes Baha'i, Muslim), none <1%.

Climate: Tropical climate with a rainy season from November to April and a dry season from May to October.

Real GDP (ppp – purchasing power parity): $1.14 billion.

Real GDP per capita (ppp): $5,200.

Main airports: Faleolo International Airport.

World heritage sites in Samoa

There are over 1,100 world heritage sites spread across more than 165 countries. New ones are added every year, and some may be removed from the list for various reasons.

Number of UNESCO listed sites: 0.

Top world heritage sites:

N/A

Interesting facts about Samoa

- Archaeologists have discovered more than 80 star-shaped stone platforms in Samoa. It's believed these ‘star mounds’ were used to trap wild pigeons.

- Samoa became the first country in decades to officially switch from right- to left-side driving in 2009. In 2011, it also changed time zone to be closer to Australia and New Zealand instead of neighbouring American Samoa. It is now 24 hours ahead of American Samoa so that it is 3 hours ahead of Australia's most western time zone.

- Hollywood actor and ex-professional wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is half-Samoan.

- To Sua Ocean Trench is one of Samoa’s most famous sites. It consists of a giant 20m-deep sinkhole with an underwater passage linked to the sea. You can walk down the stairs and swim in it or towards the sea.

Further reading: N/A.

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Samoa Travel tips

More about Samoa on Solo Female Travelers

Coming soon.

Did you spot any errors? We do our best to keep this information updated and accurate, but things change. If you saw anything that is not right, let us know so we can fix it: [email protected].

About the Solo Female Travel Safety Index

Safety matters to solo female travelers, you told us so in our annual Solo Female Travel Survey, where year after year, women prove that this is their most important concern when traveling solo.

We wanted to do something about it, so we built these country-specific pages where you can find reviews and scores for 7 key variables affecting the safety of women traveling solo.

How to use the Safety Index

On this page, you will find the country score and the personal opinions on safety of other women traveling solo.

You can sort the comments by:

• The level of experience traveling solo of the reviewer (beginner = <5 trips solo, Intermediate = 5 to 10 trips solo, Experienced = >10 trips solo).
• The age of the traveler.
• Whether they are a visitor or local.
• The date they were posted.

The safety scores range from 1 to 4 with 1 being the safest and 4 being the most dangerous for solo female travelers. 

Thus, the lower the score, the safer the country.

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Looking for more safety resources?

This entire website is devoted to helping women travel solo. Check out the links below to learn more:

Solo Female Travel Stats: Results from the the largest, most comprehensive and only global research study on solo female travel trends, preferences and behaviors published.

Thanks to Jacobo Vilella for creating the Solo Female Travelers Safety Index ❤️