📋 Table of Contents

🏢 1. The Terminal & Palau’s Only Gateway

ROR is Palau’s sole international airport, on Babeldaob just across the bridge from Koror, and it got a modern new terminal in 2021 (built in partnership with Japanese companies), which lifted its capacity and comfort. The schedule is small and has shifted over the years with the region’s politics and economics: United Airlines serves Palau (via its Guam hub, with the connection reworked in 2025) and Air Niugini flies in from Papua New Guinea, with East-Asian links from Taipei and Seoul appearing on the schedule too — but connectivity is limited and changeable, so confirm the current routes when you book. This is an endpoint airport at the end of long flights, not a connecting hub.

🛂 2. The Palau Border: Visa-on-Arrival, the Pledge

ROR uses Palau’s own entry system, which is unlike anywhere else in this set.

• Entry is via Palauan immigration.
• The mandatory pre-arrival form. You must submit the Palau Entry Form within 72 hours before arrival and present the resulting QR code at the airport — do this before you fly.
• The Palau Pledge. On arrival, every visitor signs the Palau Pledge, an environmental-and-cultural promise stamped into the passport — a genuine (and charming) requirement, not a formality to skip.
• Bring a passport valid 6+ months, proof of onward travel, and proof of sufficient funds (around US$200 per week).

The currency is the US dollar (USD) — Palau uses it outright, so no exchange is needed if you carry dollars.

🚐 3. Getting to Koror (Arrange It in Advance)

There is no rail and no public bus from the airport — and the single most useful thing to know is that taxis do not wait at ROR. Arrange your transfer before you arrive: most visitors use a hotel shuttle (often free or around $10), or a pre-booked taxi or private transfer (roughly $15–35 for the 15-minute, ~6 km run to Koror across the Koror–Babeldaob bridge). Walking in unprepared and expecting a kerbside cab is the classic mistake here. Rental cars are the other common option for getting around Palau, since the islands are spread out and public transport is essentially nil; book ahead. Confirm your pickup with your hotel when you book the room.

🛋️ 4. Lounges at ROR

ROR is a small island airport, and there is no confirmed Priority Pass lounge here — do not count on network lounge access. The 2021 terminal is modern and comfortable, with the usual seating and a café/shop, but plan for the general gate area rather than a lounge wind-down. If lounge access matters to your trip, it is one thing Palau’s gateway does not reliably offer; the upside is a calm, easily-navigated terminal.

💵 5. The Dollar, the Sunscreen Rule & Palauan Food Before You Fly

Money is simple: Palau uses the US dollar, so dollars need no exchange; cards are accepted in hotels, dive shops and larger places, but carry cash for small vendors and outer-island operators, as ATMs are limited. One rule trips up beach-bound visitors: Palau banned reef-toxic sunscreens (those with oxybenzone and certain other chemicals) in 2020, and non-compliant sunscreen can be confiscated on arrival — bring reef-safe sunscreen.

The food reflects Palau’s mix of Pacific, Japanese and Filipino influences: fresh reef fish and seafood, taro and tropical staples, Japanese-style sashimi and bento, and the island’s notorious traditional dish, fruit-bat soup (an authentic local delicacy you can take or leave). There is little standard to carry home — and note that marine products and certain shells/corals are export-restricted to protect the reefs. Tipping is modest and US-style where it occurs.

💡 6. Insider: the Rock Islands, Jellyfish Lake & the Layover Math

Palau’s draw is the sea. The Rock Islands Southern Lagoon — a UNESCO World Heritage maze of mushroom-shaped, jungle-topped limestone islets — is the signature, and within it Jellyfish Lake lets you snorkel among millions of (mostly stingless) golden jellyfish. The diving is world-class: Blue Corner, the German Channel (manta rays) and the Blue Holes are bucket-list sites, and there is poignant WWII history at Peleliu. On Babeldaob, the Ngardmau Waterfall and the tiny capital Ngerulmud round it out, while Koror is the main town and base.

The layover math: in plain terms, Palau is not a layover destination — it is an endpoint you fly to and stay in. The flights are infrequent (often a few a week), so you do not “connect” through Palau, and the actual attractions — the Rock Islands, Jellyfish Lake, the dive sites — are boat trips of half a day or more from Koror, requiring permits and operators, not a dash from the airport. Koror town itself is a 15-minute transfer if you have hours to spare between a rare connection, but the reef and the islands, the whole reason to come, need days. Plan Palau as a trip, not a stopover.

🧭 7. Practical Notes Before You Go

• Arrange your airport transfer in advance — no taxis wait at ROR; use a hotel shuttle (~$10) or pre-booked taxi/transfer (~$15–35), or rent a car.
• Submit the Palau Entry Form (QR) within 72 hours before arrival and have it ready; you will sign the Palau Pledge on arrival.
• The $100 environmental fee is included in your airfare — nothing extra to pay at the airport for it.
• Bring reef-safe sunscreen — reef-toxic sunscreens are banned and can be confiscated on arrival.
• USD is the currency — no exchange needed; carry cash for small operators, as ATMs are limited.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

📊 2026 Summary Data Table