Top 10 Volcanoes in Papua New Guinea
Few countries are as volcanically rich and as logistically demanding as Papua New Guinea. The country sits on a tangle of tectonic plates, and its volcanoes — many on offshore islands, several active — are among the least-visited on Earth.
1. Tavurvur (Rabaul caldera)
The 1994 eruption rebuilt the town of Rabaul and made Tavurvur a global news image. The active vent is still steaming above the ruins; boats from Kokopo offer the standard view.
2. Mount Lamington
The 1951 pyroclastic flow killed thousands and remains one of the defining 20th-century volcanic disasters in the Pacific. The mountain sits in Oro Province on the mainland.
3. Manam
A small but extremely active island volcano off the northern coast, periodically forcing the evacuation of its inhabitants. Its summit glows visibly across the sea at night.
4. Ulawun
A frequently active stratovolcano on New Britain, one of PNG's "Decade Volcanoes" identified for international study because of the hazard potential.
5. Bagana
A relentless lava-producing volcano on Bougainville, almost continuously active. The flows have rebuilt the surrounding landscape many times over.
6. Pago
A complex volcanic system in the Cape Hoskins area of New Britain, with a 2002 eruption that altered the local agricultural pattern for years.
7. Long Island (Motmot)
A massive caldera-island with a smaller active cone, Motmot, inside a crater lake — a volcano-in-a-volcano with very limited access.
8. Karkar
An active island volcano off the Madang coast, with cocoa and oil-palm plantations climbing its lower slopes between eruptions.
9. Lolobau
A caldera-island near New Britain, mostly dormant in recent decades but with a long eruption record.
10. Garbuna (Talawe group)
A volcanic group on western New Britain whose 2005 eruption created extensive ashfall — one of the more recent significant events in the country.
Visiting PNG's volcanoes
Most visitors fly to Rabaul and Kokopo on New Britain for Tavurvur and the Rabaul caldera. Bougainville requires its own logistics; the mainland volcanoes (Lamington, Karkar) need internal flights and local guides.
Hazard, access and infrastructure
The Rabaul Volcanological Observatory monitors PNG's volcanoes. Logistics — not eruption — is the main difficulty: roads, flights, and boats are limited; trips usually require local fixers and patient itineraries.
See them on the map
Filter the map to Papua New Guinea and the volcanic chain appears strung across northern New Guinea and the offshore island arcs. Rabaul is the natural starting point.