Madang has been called one of the prettiest towns in the South Pacific, and the claim holds up on a slow walk along the waterfront. The shoreline curves in and out of small sandy swimming spots shaded by large trees. The lagoon is protected seaward by Kranket Island. The water is clear enough that divers come here deliberately, drawn by reef systems that begin almost at the town's edge. On Madang Harbor stands a working lighthouse that doubles as the Coastwatchers Memorial, dedicated to the mostly Australian volunteers who stayed behind after the 1942 Japanese invasion and, with local helpers, radioed the movements of Japanese ships and planes at extraordinary personal risk. The lighthouse throws its beam out across the same water the coastwatchers used to scan.

The center of Madang is a market, and the market is fed by a road. People come in every day from the PNG Highlands along a stretch of highway that climbs through some of the most spectacular mountain country on earth, bringing produce to sell and loading up with coastal goods to take back. The result is a daily cross-section of the country: Highland bilums and betel nut, coastal fish and coconuts, piles of leafy greens and whole stalks of bananas. A traveler arriving by PMV, the shared minivans or open-back trucks that serve as public transport, steps directly into this exchange. Each vehicle carries a number for its route, and flagging one down is as simple as matching the number to where you want to go. Other passengers will be friendly and curious.

The real adventures start once you leave the town. Krangket Island, a five-minute boat ride from the small terminal and costing two kina, has no roads, two villages trimmed with hedges and flower gardens, and a lodge of two basic bungalows on a private beach that looks back at the mountains. The north coast of Madang Province holds more layered stories. An old Japanese airfield sits under jungle, with plane wreckage and bomb craters scattered through the trees, including a large and reasonably well-preserved Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" bomber. Small missionary stations cling to the coastline with views and cemeteries and their own quiet World War II histories. Village stays at Hobe and Haya put a traveler inside the daily life of coastal New Guinea for twenty-five kina a night.

Madang simplifies itself after sundown. There are no taxis. Walking the streets at night is not recommended. If you want dinner somewhere other than your hotel, you arrange a driver in advance to take you and collect you, and most travelers skip the errand entirely. Hotels and resorts become the evening itself, which is not a hardship: the Madang Resort and Madang Lodge both run pleasant restaurants and small craft shops stocked with better pottery and carvings than you will find at the market. The golf club serves meals during the day, when it is open. A local friend can sometimes get you signed in as a guest at the members-only boat club, a favorite of expats and PNG business travelers, where the beer is cold and the conversations long. For a town that reshuffles its day around the flight of bats, Madang keeps its nights equally particular.