Four things to see and do in Lae, Papua New Guinea’s second city

1. National Botanic Gardens

First established in 1949 but later going through periods of neglect, the National Botanic Gardens were revived and reopened in 2015 as part of the Lae National Botanic Garden Advancement Program.

The 57-hectare gardens contain around 500 species of native and exotic plants, many of them rare and endangered. The first-time visitor to the gardens (and indeed to Lae itself) can’t help but notice the impressive height of many of the trees, as well as the birdlife that can be heard (but not easily seen) high in the canopy.

A highlight is the old Royal Australian Air Force DC-3 plane located to the right of the main entrance. The RAAF purchased the Dakota A65-112 from the US Army in 1945, just six weeks before the end of World War 2 in the Pacific, and used it for several decades for transport and missions. In 1980, it donated the plane to the Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) for use in training. In 1999, the PNGDF decommissioned the aircraft and donated it to the National Botanic Garden Management Committee, which restored it and moved it to its current location.

Entrance fees: Adults PGK5, students PGK2, children PGK1, infants free.

2. Lae War Cemetery

The Lae Memorial at the Lae War Cemetery. Credit: Nadav Shemer Shlezinger

The Lae War Cemetery, located adjacent to the botanic gardens, is the final resting place of 2817 Commonwealth casualties from World War 2. Most of the graves belong to Australian soldiers (including some Papua New Guineans serving under the Australian flag), alongside some soldiers from British India and the United Kingdom.

Notably, the cemetery also contains the remains of one soldier who died while serving in World War 1: Sergeant Frank Alfred Tibbey of the 1st Battalion, Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force.

The Lae Memorial, located inside the cemetery, commemorates more than 300 Australian war dead whose remains were never found.

The cemetery sits in a beautiful location, with the botanic gardens providing a fitting backdrop to this hallowed ground, and is very well maintained. An ANZAC Day dawn service is held at the cemetery annually on April 25, although it is open year-round to the public. 

3. Lae Market

Fresh produce at the Lae Market. Credit: Nadav Shemer Shlezinger

The Lae Main Market is currently being redeveloped with funding from the Australian and New Zealand governments and the Lae City Authority, and is expected to reopen by the end of 2026.

In the meantime, the Lae Temporary Market is the perfect place to go for fresh produce from the fertile Morobe and Madang provinces and from the Highlands region, considered the breadbasket of PNG.

An impressive range of fruit and vegetables can be found at the market, including many types of bananas (there are hundreds of varieties in PNG!) and sako, a wild green vegetable that is a staple for many Papua New Guineans but would be unfamiliar to most foreign visitors.

A somewhat-neglected memorial to the famous American aviator Amelia Earhart sits directly across the road from the market’s car park. Lae was the last place that Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan were seen before they went missing over the Pacific Ocean during their attempt to circumnavigate the globe. A new memorial to Earhart was recently unveiled by the US Embassy in PNG, with plans to move it to a permanent location at the PNG University of Technology in Lae.

4. Lae Yacht Club

The Lae Yacht Club’s marina. Credit: Nadav Shemer Shlezinger

A favourite of the business community, the Lae Yacht Club contains a restaurant, bar and marina located inside a secure, guarded compound.

Visitors to Lae Yacht Club can enjoy superb views of the Huon Gulf and of Morobe’s rugged, mountainous coastline to the south – best enjoyed over a drink at sunset.

The Lae Yacht Club is also the ideal location for watching ships call into the nearby Lae Port, PNG’s largest and busiest port, handling more than 60 per cent of all the country’s international and coastal trade. 

Air Niugini has 29 flights between Port Moresby and Lae weekly. See airniugini.com.pg.

This article was first published in the February – April 2026 issue of Paradise, the in-flight magazine of Air Niugini.