Vaiaku is the administrative village on the southern coast of Fongafale and the closest thing Funafuti has to a town centre. The government buildings, the parliament, the foreign missions, the post office, and the country's only proper hotel are all clustered within a few minutes' walk of each other. The maneapa (community meeting house) here is the largest in the country and the venue for major national ceremonies.
The post office is worth a visit even if you have no letters to send. Tuvalu has issued some of the more striking national stamps in the Pacific since independence in 1978, and the Philatelic Bureau stocks the back catalogue. They make a weightless souvenir and are one of the few things in the country actually produced and sold here rather than imported from Fiji.