📱 Essential Travel Apps for Palau

The official Palau Visitors Authority site. Covers entry requirements, the Palau Pledge, current permit fees, dive site guides, cultural experiences, and 7-day itinerary suggestions. Most up-to-date source for Jellyfish Lake population status — check this before planning your itinerary around the lake.

💡 Check Jellyfish Lake current conditions and entry requirements before you go

Official Palau airport site with flight schedules, check-in requirements, and entry documentation. Useful for confirming your flight schedule and the current entry requirements on arrival, including the Palau Pledge process and Green Fee collection.

💡 Check flight schedules for United Airlines, China Airlines, and Philippine Airlines departures

Palau’s premier dive operator since 1972. Online booking for dive packages combining accommodation and diving. PADI 5-Star IDC centre. Rock Island kayaking, jungle tours, and cultural tours also available. If you’re planning multiple dive days, their packages are often the best value in Palau.

Viator has the best selection of confirmed bookable tours for Palau — Rock Islands/Jellyfish Lake day tours, scuba diving with hotel transfer, Big Island Babeldaob cultural tours, and snorkelling trips. Free cancellation on most activities up to 24 hours in advance. Mobile tickets accepted.

Best for finding connections to Palau (ROR). Use the multi-city view to build the US West Coast–Honolulu–Guam–Palau routing. Price tracking helps identify when to buy — Palau fares from Europe and Australia fluctuate significantly by season.

“Everywhere” search and whole-month view help find the cheapest days to fly to Guam or Taipei, then onward to Palau. Useful for European travellers comparing routes through Tokyo, Taipei, and Manila.

Best for complex multi-stop routings to Palau. Can build Europe–Asia–Guam–Palau combinations that standard search engines miss. Self-transfer guarantee available.

Predicts when flight prices to Guam or Tokyo will drop. Useful for planning a Palau trip 3–6 months out when prices are still volatile. Set alerts for your preferred departure dates.

Works well in Koror. Download offline maps of Koror and Babeldaob before you go — mobile data disappears quickly once you leave the main island. GPS accuracy remains good offline. Useful for navigating Babeldaob by rental car — the ring road is shown accurately.

💡 Download Koror and Babeldaob offline before leaving Wi-Fi range

Wind, swell, and weather forecasting essential for Palau. Dive operators use this to assess site conditions daily. Check the previous evening for the next day’s boat trip. The Rock Islands and outer sites can be rough when trades pick up — knowing the forecast helps set realistic expectations.

Detailed offline maps that include jungle trails and island paths not on Google Maps. Better for Babeldaob exploration and waterfall hiking where Google Maps coverage is thin. Completely offline operation.

Useful for understanding connection options from your home city to Palau via various Pacific hubs. Shows flight, ferry, and boat combinations that might not appear on standard search engines.

Best selection of Koror hotels. Free cancellation on most properties. Good range from budget guesthouses (US$80) to mid-range dive hotels (US$200). Outer island properties are sparser — check directly with operators for Peleliu stays.

A small but growing selection of private apartments and guesthouses in Koror. Sometimes undercuts hotel rates. Worth checking for longer stays (5+ nights) where owners often negotiate.

Book hotel rooms just for the day to shower, rest, or store luggage between checkout and your late-night transpacific flight. Useful if your Guam connection is an overnight flight leaving Koror airport in the early hours.

Limited but real options in Koror for budget travellers. Dive inns catering to divers often list here at US$40–80 per night. Worth checking before assuming Palau requires a large accommodation budget.

Used widely by dive operators, guesthouses, and tour operators in Palau for bookings and day-of communication. Faster than email for last-minute changes. Essential for communicating with Peleliu operators and smaller accommodation providers. Download before you go.

Less critical in Palau than most destinations — English is an official language and everything tourist-facing is in English. Palauan language resources are here if you want to learn a few phrases to greet locals. Camera mode can help with handwritten menus at local restaurants.

Enter your destination (Palau), dates, and activities (diving, snorkelling, hiking). Generates a packing list based on actual weather. Critical for Palau-specific kit: reef-safe sunscreen (non-negotiable by law), rash guard, underwater camera housing, reef shoes for rock landings, dry bag for boat days.

Recent reviews of Koror restaurants and the two museums help identify what is currently good vs. overhyped. Particularly useful for identifying which local restaurants are authentic versus tourist-priced. Filter by “recent” — quality can shift.

Store luggage at a safe location in Koror while you go on a boat day or check out early. Useful if your return flight leaves late — store bags and spend the afternoon on one final dive or Rock Islands visit.

Plan hiking routes with turn-by-turn navigation. Useful for Babeldaob jungle trails, the Ngardmau Waterfall hike, and the paths around Peleliu’s battlefield sites. Offline-capable — essential for areas without mobile data coverage.

Best platform for confirmed bookable Palau tours. Rock Islands/Jellyfish Lake day tours, scuba diving packages, Big Island Babeldaob adventure, and snorkelling trips all listed with free cancellation. Most activities include hotel pickup. Mobile tickets accepted by all operators.

Travel and dive accident insurance from the leading dive safety organization. Covers hyperbaric chamber treatment, medical evacuation, and dive accidents. Strongly recommended for any multi-day dive trip to a remote Pacific destination. Annual membership from US$35.

Citizen science app for recording coral reef health observations. Palau participates in global reef monitoring and many dive operators here contribute data. A meaningful way to participate in conservation while you’re already underwater.

Point your camera at a fish, coral, or bird and Seek identifies the species. Excellent for Palau’s extraordinary biodiversity — 700+ coral species and 1,500 fish species. Works offline with pre-downloaded species packs. Turns every snorkel into a learning experience.

Multi-currency card with real exchange rates and no ATM fees up to a monthly limit. Load USD before travel — essential for non-US visitors since Palau uses USD exclusively. No foreign transaction fees on purchases. Withdraw cash at Koror ATMs using the Wise card.

💡 Withdraw enough USD cash in Koror before heading to outer islands — no ATMs on Peleliu or Babeldaob villages

Expense tracking for groups. Boat charters, shared accommodation, and group meals add up quickly in Palau. Track from day one to avoid confusion at the end of the trip when large group costs need to be settled.

911: Police, fire, and ambulance (Palau)
+680 488-2498: Koror police station
US Embassy Palau: +680 587-2920
Palau Health Services: +680 488-2552
DAN Emergency: +1 919-684-9111 (collect calls accepted)

Save before traveling:
• Your embassy contact in Palau
• Your dive operator’s WhatsApp number
• DAN emergency line (for dive accidents)
• Travel insurance emergency number
• Your hotel’s direct number (connectivity on outer islands is poor)