Things to Do in Papua New Guinea: City Guides & Audio Tours

Looking for things to do in Papua New Guinea? This country stretches across the eastern half of New Guinea and hundreds of offshore islands, bringing together mountain ranges, rainforest, coasts, island landscapes and extraordinary human diversity. Its communities, languages and relationships with the land are central to understanding the country, as important as its natural scenery.

Neywo has a free audio guide for Papua New Guinea, with 5 narrated places in 1 city, available in 11 languages.

What to see and do in Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea is not a destination with one uniform culture or a short list of sights. It is a meeting place of many communities, each with its own language, relationships and ways of belonging. For a first introduction, explore the country through its people, landscapes and main urban centre.

Discover Port Moresby

Port Moresby is the only city in Papua New Guinea currently covered by Neywo. Its narrated places include St. Mary’s Cathedral, the Papua New Guinea National Museum and Art Gallery, and Hohola Mosque.

The city offers a starting point for understanding Papua New Guinea’s mixture of traditions, communities and public life. Its cultural landmarks reflect a society in which local identity remains powerful, while English and Tok Pisin help people communicate across linguistic boundaries.

Experience remarkable linguistic diversity

Papua New Guinea is home to around 840 known languages, more than any other country. Many are spoken by small communities separated by mountainous terrain and long-standing local ties. English and Tok Pisin help people communicate across those boundaries, but local identity remains powerful.

This diversity is not only linguistic. It reflects different ways of belonging, maintaining relationships and understanding the surrounding world. Traditional communities and lifestyles are explicitly protected by the constitution, and the country can feel less like one uniform national culture than a vast meeting place of many communities.

Understand the wantok system and community life

The wantok system reflects strong obligations to one’s own group. In Papua New Guinea, the value of an action may be judged by what it brings to the local community, rather than only by its benefit to an individual.

Traditional Melanesian societies often recognised leaders known as big men. Their standing was earned and demonstrated, including through generosity. This older pattern still influences public life, where political and economic positions can be used to support local networks.

Explore the relationship between people and land

In many parts of Papua New Guinea, land is understood through community connection rather than individual ownership. Relationships matter not only between people, but also between communities and the natural environment.

The land provides food, natural resources and other everyday benefits. Many people live as subsistence farmers and remain relatively independent of the cash economy, making the natural setting closely tied to daily life.

Take in rainforest, mountains and islands

Papua New Guinea stretches across the eastern half of New Guinea and hundreds of offshore islands, just south of the equator. Its geography includes mountain ranges, forests, coasts and islands, with plant communities changing from lowland forest through mountain and alpine zones.

The forests of New Guinea form the world’s third-largest continuous rainforest area, while Papua New Guinea holds around 5% of all known living species. Complex geology and variations in rainfall, temperature and altitude have created isolated habitats where distinctive plants and animals can persist.

This biological richness is inseparable from the communities living across the country. The landscape is not simply a backdrop: it has helped shape rural life, local relationships and the variety of communities found throughout Papua New Guinea.

Explore Papua New Guinea with Neywo

Download Neywo to explore Papua New Guinea with a free audio guide to Port Moresby. It includes 1 city and 5 narrated places, with stories that play as you reach each place, at your own pace, with no group and no schedule. Narration is available in 11 languages.