🇼🇫 Wallis and Futuna

Solo travel

Travelling alone is mostly a planning issue, not a security one. Tell your accommodation where you are going, especially for hikes, beach walks and boat trips, because help can be slow to arrive.

Women travellers

No government publishes guidance for women travelling in Wallis and Futuna, and there is no documented pattern of harassment or assault against visitors. That is a gap in the evidence rather than proof there is no risk, so use the precautions you would use anywhere: avoid isolated places after dark and arrange transport in advance.

At night

The UK advises avoiding isolated areas after dark, including beaches. Plan how you will get back to your accommodation before you go out.

LGBTIQ+ travellers

French law applies. Same-sex relationships are legal, and same-sex marriage (since 2013) and civil partnerships (PACS) are valid in the territory. No government warns about LGBTIQ+ travel here. Society is small, close-knit, strongly Catholic and organised around customary chiefdoms, and there is no published evidence about how open same-sex couples or transgender travellers are received. Public discretion is likely to draw less attention, and you are unlikely to find any visible LGBTIQ+ scene.

Cyclones

The cyclone season runs from November to April. Cyclone Evan passed over Wallis in December 2012, destroying homes and roads. A cyclone can close the airport, cut power and water, and stop inter-island flights and boats for days. If you travel in this season, follow Wallis et Futuna la 1ere and the prefecture for warnings, and keep water, food and cash for a few days.

Earthquakes and tsunamis

Germany notes the territory lies in a seismically very active zone where strong earthquakes can occur. A strong earthquake near the coast can cause a tsunami within minutes: if you feel a long or strong shake near the sea, move to high ground at once without waiting for an official warning.

Heat, rain and the sea

The wet season is hot and humid, with heavy rain that can flood roads and cause landslides on Futuna's steep slopes. Reef passes and open water can have strong currents: ask locally before swimming, snorkelling or taking a small boat out.

Dengue

Dengue is the main infectious disease risk. It is spread by mosquitoes that bite mainly in the daytime, in and around villages. A local epidemic was declared in mid-May 2026, starting on Futuna and then spreading on Wallis, and WHO data show it easing by September. Australia notes outbreaks are most common from February to May. Use repellent containing DEET, icaridin or IR3535, wear long loose clothing, and choose screened or air-conditioned rooms. See a doctor quickly if you get a high fever, and avoid aspirin and ibuprofen until dengue has been ruled out.

Other mosquito-borne infections

Chikungunya and Zika are not currently circulating: one imported chikungunya case was recorded in 2025, and CDC reports no Zika cases. The same mosquitoes are present, so the same bite precautions protect you.

Food, water and blood

Hepatitis A and typhoid spread through contaminated food and water, so take care with hygiene. Hepatitis B is fairly common locally, so avoid unprotected sex, tattoos and piercings with unsterile equipment.

Rabies

Rabies has not been reported in animals, but bats can carry bat lyssavirus. Do not handle bats. If a bat bites or scratches you, wash the wound for 15 minutes and get medical care the same day.

Medical care

Healthcare in the two hospitals is free, but facilities are basic. Complex cases, including diving injuries and complicated pregnancies, are flown to New Caledonia, so evacuation insurance matters.

Malaria and yellow fever are not present.

Recommended

Make sure your routine vaccines (such as MMR, tetanus, diphtheria and polio) are up to date. Hepatitis A is recommended for all travellers who are not already immune.

Depending on your trip

• Hepatitis B: for longer stays, healthcare work, or if you may have sexual contact or medical treatment.
• Typhoid: if you are visiting friends and relatives, staying long, or eating where hygiene may be poor. The UK lists it; Germany does not.
• Rabies: only if your activities bring you into contact with bats.
• Dengue: only for people who have had dengue before, after specialist advice.

Entry rules

Yellow fever vaccination is not needed for the territory itself. You need a yellow fever certificate only if you are 1 year or older and arrive from a country with yellow fever risk, or spent more than 12 hours in transit at an airport in such a country. Arriving from France, New Caledonia or Fiji does not trigger this.

Malaria tablets are not needed.

Wallis and Futuna is barely covered by the nine governments this site checks. Only the UK publishes territory-specific security text, and it describes little crime beyond petty theft, advice to avoid isolated areas after dark, and no recent terrorism. New Zealand and Australia deliberately issue no advice level. Canada, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong's Security Bureau publish nothing for the territory at all.

The one formal disagreement is procedural. The United States has no Wallis-and-Futuna advisory, so the only US advice that could apply is its France advisory, which tells you to exercise increased caution because of terrorism and protests. Canada likewise tells you to exercise a high degree of caution in France. Both ratings are written about Paris and mainland France and say nothing about the Pacific territories, so this site does not treat them as evidence of a threat in Wallis and Futuna.

Health sources agree on the essentials: no malaria and no yellow fever, dengue present, and hepatitis A recommended. They differ on details. The UK lists typhoid and a bat-rabies caveat while Germany does not list typhoid and treats the territory as largely rabies-free. WHO's 2026 regional surveillance is the only source that picked up the May 2026 dengue epidemic, while the UK's health page for the territory was last updated in 2021 and CDC's Zika listing in 2024.