Editorials
Apia Is Where Robert Louis Stevenson Chose to Die, and Samoa Has Never Stopped Being "Tusitala's" Village
Robert Louis Stevenson spent his last four years above Apia in a mansion called Vailima, and the Samoan capital he wrote about, reached today by only a handful of Pacific flights, still moves at a pace few destinations this photogenic manage to keep.
Sep 30, 2026 · BigTravel.in
Apia sits on the northern coast of Upolu, Samoa's main island, a low-rise Pacific capital of churches, markets and a waterfront that has changed less over the last century than almost anywhere else this reachable by air. Its best-known former resident never planned to stay four years, and ended up asking to be buried there.
Vailima, the house Stevenson built above the town
Robert Louis Stevenson first passed through Apia in December 1889 and returned the following year to settle permanently, buying roughly 127 hectares on the slopes of Mount Vaea and naming the estate Vailima, "five waters," for the streams crossing it. He and his wife Fanny lived in a small shack while building the main house, completed in 1891, which eventually held five bedrooms, a library, a ballroom and what was reportedly the only fireplace in Samoa at the time. Badly damaged by hurricanes in 1990 and 1991, the house was restored and reopened in 1994 as the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum.
"Tusitala," teller of tales
Stevenson earned the Samoan nickname "Tusitala," or teller of tales, for advocating Samoan political interests during a period of German, British and American rivalry over the islands, and for continuing to write even as the ill health that had brought him to the Pacific in the first place persisted. He died at Vailima in 1894, aged 44, of a cerebral haemorrhage rather than the tuberculosis he had long managed, and was carried up Mount Vaea by Samoan friends to be buried at its summit, overlooking the sea he had crossed to get there.
A capital that still runs on its own clock
Central Apia's Fugalēi Market and the waterfront fish market give a more accurate sense of daily Samoan life than any resort strip could, running on produce, kava roots and reef fish rather than souvenirs. Sunday remains genuinely quiet across the country, observed by law as much as custom, with most commerce pausing for church.
Why Apia is worth the detour
Flight connections into Samoa run mainly through Auckland, Sydney, Nadi and Honolulu rather than any direct long-haul route, which has kept Apia off itineraries built around easier Pacific stops like Fiji or Tahiti. For travellers already in the region, though, it offers something increasingly rare: a capital that has neither been rebuilt for cruise-ship days nor left to decay, just quietly continued being itself.
Traveller tips
- The Robert Louis Stevenson Museum at Vailima is a short taxi ride from central Apia and includes access to the Mount Vaea walking trail up to Stevenson's grave.
- Sunday is observed quietly across Samoa by law and custom; expect most shops and services to close.
- The dry season, roughly May to October, is the more reliable time to visit weather-wise.
- Confirm current flight connections and any visa requirements for Samoa before booking, as regional routings can change.
Where this is
Apia, Samoa