North of the village of San Roque the hotels stop and the road runs out across the Marpi plain: scrub, tangan-tangan thicket and coconut palms beneath a long inland escarpment, with sea cliffs on three sides. It is twenty-odd minutes from Garapan and feels like another island.
Marpi is also a place of mourning. In the last days of the Battle of Saipan, which ended on 9 July 1944, hundreds of Japanese civilians and soldiers — the figure is often put at a thousand or more — died by suicide at the cliffs now known as Banzai Cliff and Suicide Cliff. The area is a National Historic Landmark, lined with memorials raised by Japanese prefectures and families, by Okinawa and by Korea, and it is visited by relatives as well as tourists. Come with that in mind. Alongside the memorials are some of the finest natural sights in the Marianas: the Grotto, a collapsed cavern filled with luminous seawater; the seabird sanctuary of Bird Island; and beaches at Pau Pau and Wing where you may have the sand to yourself. For the background, see our history and culture page.
Highlights
- Standing quietly among the memorials at Banzai Cliff
- The view over the whole Marpi plain from Suicide Cliff
- Descending the steps to the blue pool of the Grotto
- Morning light on Bird Island from the clifftop lookout
- A calm-water swim and snorkel at Pau Pau Beach
- Some of the darkest night skies on Saipan for stargazing
Northern Saipan in pictures
How long to stay and where to base yourself
How long: the cliffs, the Last Command Post and Bird Island fit comfortably into a half-day. Allow a full day if you want to dive or snorkel at the Grotto, swim at Pau Pau Beach and come back for sunset at Banzai Cliff. Most people visit from a base in Garapan.
Where to base yourself: there is nowhere to stay in Marpi itself. The two resorts in this part of the island are on the north-west shore around San Roque and Achugao — peaceful, self-contained places on good beaches, 10 to 15 minutes from the memorials and about the same from Garapan’s restaurants. They suit travellers who want quiet and do not mind driving or taking a hotel shuttle to eat out. See where to stay for how they compare with the west coast.
