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Papua New Guinea Papua New GuineaIsland

Manus Island

1,901 km² rising to 665 m out of the Bismarck Sea.

When to go

Manus Island seen from space, cut out from the sea (Sentinel-2)
Lorengau
N 20 km

Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.

In numbers

1,901km²

Area

534km

Coastline

665m

Highest point

33,000

People

30°C

Warmest sea

November

1,035km

To the mainland

When to go to Manus Island

Best for the beach from January to May.

The sea is warmest in November (30 °C) and coolest in August (29 °C). You can swim comfortably all year (21 °C or more).

Sea temperature (the water level) Air: night low to afternoon high Wet days Best months

Averages 1991–2020. Sea: NOAA OISST, the water within 35 km of the coast. Air, rain and sun: NASA POWER. Best months weigh warm afternoons (23–30 °C), sea of 24 °C or more and few wet days.

Island part of Manus Province in northern Papua New Guinea

Manus Island is an island in Papua New Guinea. It covers 1,901 km², with 534 km of coastline. Its highest point rises to 665 m. About 33,000 people live on it. The nearest mainland is 1,035 km away.

Read more on Wikipedia

Getting there

  • Momote Airport (MAS)airport on the island, with scheduled flights
  • 1,035 km from the mainlanddistance to the nearest continental coast
  • From January to Maybest months to go (from 30 years of averages)

Plan the trip

Ferries, stays and things to do

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

On the island

What you find on Manus Island.

  • 3named peaksMount Dremsel, Mount Hahie, Mount Bayem
  • 1hotels, guesthouses and apartments

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, inside the island's outline. A low number may only mean nobody has mapped it yet.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Manus Island in our other atlases

Everything Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas and Cascadyas know about what lies inside Manus Island, each with its own numbers.

  • 1beachCoastya
  • 10mountainsPeakyas
  • Beach with the warmest sea

    30.0°C

    Lorengau Bay

    sea in the warmest month · according to Coastya

1 beaches

on Coastya, the beach atlas

  1. Lorengau Baycove30.0°C

Open Coastya ↗

10 mountains

on Peakyas, the mountain atlas

  1. Mount Hahie
  2. Mount Bayem
  3. Mount Tapalow
  4. Mount Filiam
  5. Mount Dremsel
  6. Mount Chayer
  7. Mount Sabomu
  8. Puto Mountain

2 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

The shape of the land.

On average the island stands 110 m above the sea. 84 % of it is below 200 m.

  • 33 %0–50 m
  • 51 %50–200 m
  • 15 %200–500 m
  • <1 %500–1,000 m

Share of the island's area in each altitude band, from the Copernicus DEM (30 m, read at 30–240 m on large islands).

Size, for real

Next to islands you may know.

Manus Island1,901 km²
Long Island3,529 km²
Mallorca3,685 km²

100 km

All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).

Towns on the island

  • Lorengau5,806 people

Month by month

The weather on the island.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Afternoon high (°C)292928292929282828292929
Night low (°C)282828282828272727282828
Sea (°C)292929303030292929303030
Rain (mm)258221289253239257333241251196240234
Wet days272528272928292725262629
Sun h/day5.95.85.86.26.66.25.56.66.57.06.26.4
Wind (km/h)161716121314181916141314

Averages 1991–2020 for the ~55 km NASA POWER cell over the island; the sea from NOAA OISST.

Recent years

Warmer and cooler years at sea.

Each month's sea temperature compared with its 1991–2020 average, in degrees.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
2020+0.4+0.3+0.9+0.5+0.6+0.8+1.0+0.9+0.7+0.8+0.4+0.8
2021+1.0+0.6+0.7+0.5+0.2+0.3+0.5+0.7+0.7+0.6+0.4+0.2
2022±0.0+0.2+0.7+0.3+0.4+0.5+0.3+0.4+0.4+0.2+0.8+0.5
2023+0.3+0.5+0.4+0.5+0.5+0.2+0.3+0.1−0.1−0.1−0.2+0.1
2024+0.8+0.4+0.5+0.7+0.7+0.8+0.8+0.9+0.7+0.8+0.6+0.6
2025+1.4+1.4+0.9+0.6+0.6+0.7+1.0+1.0+0.9+0.8+0.1+0.1

+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual

Photos

Seen by visitors.

About these numbers

Names, area, populationWikidata (Q602106) · CC0
Outline© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
Sea temperatureNOAA OISST v2.1 · 1991–2020
ClimateNASA POWER · 1991–2020
Relief, 3D modelCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Beaches, ports, lighthouses, trails© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
TownsGeoNames · CC BY 4.0
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Beaches, mountains, lakes and waterfallsCoastya, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.You are here
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit