The Garapan Street Market

Thursday evenings Garapan converts its strip to the island's table: the street market lines with barbecue smoke - chicken, ribs and reef fish off the grills - alongside apigigi (young coconut parcels steamed in banana leaf), kelaguen plates, shave ice and the Marianas' Chamorro-Carolinian kitchen at family prices, while dance groups run island numbers and the crowd mixes residents and visitors at the correct local ratio. Craft stalls trade weaving and shell work, the evening runs unhurried, and the market remains Saipan's easiest cultural full meal - literal and otherwise. Garapan was the largest town in the Marianas under the Japanese administration and was destroyed almost completely in 1944.

What you actually see

• The grill lines - barbecue at island volume.
• Apigigi and kelaguen - the Chamorro plate assembled.
• The dance sets - island numbers through the evening.
• The craft stalls - weaving and shell work traded.

When to go

Thursday evenings year-round; early arrival beats the plate queues and catches the first dance sets.

Honest expectations

Cash and appetite are the kit; parking fills by dusk. It is cheerful, family-scaled and exactly as advertised.

Nearby

Garapan's beaches, the American Memorial Park and Managaha boats.