Solomon Islands · Guadalcanal
Honiara
Where the Allies first went on the offensive in the Pacific, with the battlefield ridges behind town and a sound full of sunken warships in front.
Honiara is the Solomon Islands' capital and by far its largest town, a hot, busy, low-rise strip along the north coast of Guadalcanal. It grew out of the American base built during the Guadalcanal campaign of 1942-43, and that battle is still why most visitors come: ridges, memorials and rusting aircraft line the roads out of town, and the water in front of it is Iron Bottom Sound, named for the warships on its floor. It is a working capital rather than a resort, and the gateway to the islands beyond.
Suggested stay
3–5 days
Language
English, Pijin
Currency
SBD
Timezone
UTC+11
Why you'll love Honiara
The battlefield on the doorstep: Bloody Ridge, Mount Austen and the memorial on Skyline Ridge are a short drive from town, and local guides still walk the ground of the Guadalcanal campaign
Wrecks from the beach two Japanese transports run aground in 1942 lie just off the shore at Bonegi, dived straight from the sand, the shallower one within reach of snorkellers
Iron Bottom Sound the channel in front of town holds the warships lost in the night sea battles of 1942, with Savo's volcanic cone on the horizon
Market and carvings the central market piles up fish, betel nut and garden produce from across the islands, and dark wood carvings inlaid with shell from the Western Province sell around town
Best time to visit
Jun-Sep
31-31° days
9.431° S, 159.955° E
UTC+11 · Pacific/Guadalcanal
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Weather & when to go to Honiara
Month by month: typical highs and lows, rainfall and rain days.
✓ Best Jun-Sep
Diving prime Jun-Sep
Activity seasons none fair good prime
Watch for Nov-Apr cyclones & hurricanes risk · Jan-Mar monsoon flooding risk
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
When to avoid Honiara
January to March is the heart of the wet season: hot, sticky and stormy, inside the cyclone season, with rough crossings to the outer islands. June to September is the driest, most comfortable stretch. The local quirk is the mountains: they shelter Honiara's north coast, while Guadalcanal's south side, known as the Weather Coast, is far wetter.
Top things to do in Honiara
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Guadalcanal American Memorial - Skyline Ridge above town
history scenic 👍 PopularOn the ridge behind the centre, stone walls carry a detailed account of the land, air and sea battles of 1942-43, with a view that takes in the airfield plain, the hills where the fighting ran and Iron Bottom Sound. It is the best first stop for making sense of the ground before you visit it.
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Bonegi - dive and snorkel two beached Japanese transports
diving history ⭐ Highly recommendedWest of town, two Japanese transports that were run aground in November 1942 while landing troops and supplies now lie just off the beach at Bonegi. Divers walk in from the sand and follow the hulls down the slope, coral-crusted and full of fish; the shallower wreck sits close enough to the surface for snorkellers. Expect a custom fee to the landowners.
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Vilu War Museum - aircraft wrecks in a village garden
history ⭐ Highly recommendedA family-run open-air museum on the west coast road, where the remains of American fighters, Japanese field guns and other relics gathered from the surrounding bush sit among flowering shrubs, alongside memorials to the nations that fought here. It is small, unpolished and strangely moving.
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Bloody Ridge - where the Marines held Henderson Field
history 👍 PopularAlso called Edson's Ridge, this grassy spine south of the airport is where US Marines held off a Japanese night assault on the airfield in September 1942, one of the campaign's decisive fights. A memorial stands on the crest, and with a guide the shape of the battle is easy to read in the ground.
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Mount Austen - the Japanese Peace Memorial
history scenicThe high ground inland from the airfield was the scene of some of the hardest fighting of the campaign's last months. The Japanese Peace Memorial on its slopes looks down over the plain to the coast and the sound.
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Solomon Islands National Museum - shell money and carvings
culture arts historyA small museum on Mendana Avenue with traditional shell money, weapons, canoe carvings and body ornaments from across the provinces. It is modest, but it is the best short introduction to how varied the islands' cultures are.
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Honiara Central Market - fish, betel nut and garden produce
food culture arts 👍 PopularThe city's busiest space, by the waterfront, where growers from Guadalcanal and the other islands bring taro, cassava, slippery cabbage, bananas and reef fish, and betel nut sellers do steady trade. Look for cassava pudding baked in leaves. Mornings are liveliest, and it is a good place to watch the city rather than to shop.
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Mataniko Falls - forest walk to a cave of swiftlets
nature wildlife adventureFrom a village in the hills behind town, a hot, steep walk with a local guide crosses ridges and forest to a waterfall pouring into a cave, where swiftlets wheel in the gloom. It takes most of a morning, it is slippery after rain, and a custom fee goes to the landowners.
Best areas to stay in Honiara
$ Budget $$ Mid-range $$$ Premium
Central Honiara (Point Cruz and Mendana Avenue)
First-time visitors $$$Waterfront hotels in the working centre
Explore hotels in Central Honiara (Point Cruz and Mendana Avenue) →
Tambea, northwest coast
Beach and quiet $$Quiet beach stay out west
Explore hotels in Tambea, northwest coast →
Tulagi, Florida Islands
Wreck divers $Old colonial capital, now a divers' base
Explore hotels in Tulagi, Florida Islands →
Live nightly prices from Booking.com, Agoda and others, centred on Honiara
Getting to & around Honiara
Getting there
Fly into Honiara International, the wartime Henderson Field, a short drive east of the centre
Flight
Honiara International Airport (HIR)
The airport stands on Henderson Field, the airstrip the whole campaign was fought over, and the centre is about 20-30 minutes west by taxi or hotel pickup along the coast highway. Most international arrivals come via Brisbane, with other links from Fiji and neighbouring Pacific capitals; domestic flights to the provinces leave from the same airport.
Ferry
Point Cruz wharf
Passenger ferries and cargo boats link Honiara with Malaita, the Western Province and other islands; they are slow, crowded and at the mercy of the weather
Getting around
Walking
The centre along Mendana Avenue is walkable by day, though it is hot and the footpaths are patchy
Free
Minibus
Minibuses run the main coast road through town from east to west, frequent in daylight; pay the conductor in cash
TBC
Taxi
Plentiful and unmetered, so agree the fare before you get in; the sensible way to move around after dark
TBC
Car and driver-guide
The easiest way to cover the battlefields and the west coast, and a guide who knows the landowners smooths the custom fees
TBC
Day trips from Honiara
Savo Island
Full dayVolcano island and megapodes
Savo is the volcanic cone on Honiara's horizon, still active, with hot springs and steaming ground. Megapodes, chicken-sized birds, bury their eggs in the warm sand and leave the volcano to incubate them, and villagers dig the eggs out. Dolphins are often seen in the channel on the way.
Getting there
ferry | tour
Roughly 1-2 hr by small boat across the sound, usually arranged as a tour
Tulagi and the Florida Islands
Full dayOld capital and wrecks
Tulagi was the capital of the British protectorate until 1942, and US Marines stormed it and the islets beside it on the same morning as the Guadalcanal landings. Divers come for wrecks in and around the harbour, some at technical depths; above water it is a quiet small town with a few colonial traces.
Getting there
ferry | tour
Roughly 1-2 hr by boat north across Iron Bottom Sound
The west coast to Cape Esperance
Full dayWWII coast drive
The coast road west passes the Bonegi wrecks and the Vilu museum, then runs on past beaches and villages to Cape Esperance at the island's northwest tip, where the Japanese took the last of their army off Guadalcanal by night in early 1943. Pack snorkel gear and swim at Bonegi on the way back.
Getting there
car | tour
About 1-1.5 hr by car along the coast road, with stops
A little history of Honiara
A Spanish expedition under Alvaro de Mendana reached the island in 1568, and one of its officers named it Guadalcanal after his home town in Andalusia; the expedition raised a cross on the headland still called Point Cruz. Britain declared a protectorate over the southern Solomons in 1893 and ran it from Tulagi, across the sound, while Guadalcanal's north coast stayed a place of villages and coconut plantations.
In August 1942 American Marines landed here to seize an airfield the Japanese were building on the Lunga plain, and six months of fighting on land, in the air and at sea followed; so many ships went down in the channel offshore that it became Iron Bottom Sound. After the war the ruined capital at Tulagi was abandoned, and the administration moved to the roads, wharf and huts the Americans had left around Point Cruz. Honiara grew from there into the capital of an independent Solomon Islands in 1978, drawing people from every province.
Alvaro de Mendana's Spanish expedition reaches the island and names it Guadalcanal
Britain declares a protectorate over the southern Solomon Islands, later governed from Tulagi
US Marines land on Guadalcanal and Tulagi on 7 August, opening the Guadalcanal campaign
The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in November; Japanese transports are run aground on the coast west of today's city
The Japanese evacuate their surviving troops from Cape Esperance in February, ending the campaign
Independence on 7 July, with Honiara as the national capital
Cyclone Namu brings devastating floods to Guadalcanal
Honiara hosts the Pacific Games
Know before you go
Payment
Cash preferred
English
Widely spoken
Wifi
Workable
Power
Type I
230 V, 50 Hz
Dialing
+677
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Monsoon flooding risk in this window; check current conditions before you go.
The months our climate read flags to avoid: the wettest, lowest-rated weather of the year.
FAQs about Honiara
▸ When is the best time to visit Honiara?
June to September is the driest and most comfortable stretch, when the south-east trades keep the north coast relatively dry and boat crossings are easiest. January to March is the heart of the wet season: hot, sticky and stormy, and inside the cyclone season. The months either side sit in between.
▸ Is Honiara safe?
Most visits are trouble-free and people are friendly, but take normal city care: petty theft and drunkenness are the usual nuisances, so use taxis rather than walking after dark. The city has seen unrest around political events, so avoid demonstrations and check your own government's current advice before you travel. Around the battlefields, wartime ordnance still turns up: stay on paths and never touch old munitions.
▸ Do I need to worry about malaria in Honiara?
Yes. Malaria is present in Honiara and across the Solomon Islands all year, and dengue outbreaks happen too. See a travel doctor about prevention well before you go, and cover up and use repellent from dusk.
▸ Why do I have to pay to visit waterfalls and war relics?
Most land in the Solomon Islands, including beaches, reefs, waterfalls and the wrecks and relics on them, is held by clans under custom. Landowners commonly ask a small custom fee to visit, and paying it is how you get permission, not a scam. Ask your guide or driver who to pay, and carry small notes.
▸ Can you dive Iron Bottom Sound?
Only a little of it. Most of the warships lie far too deep for recreational diving, so the sound is mainly something to look out over. The accessible wrecks are the Japanese transports off Bonegi, dived from the shore, and the wrecks around Tulagi, several of them technical dives. For reef diving, most people fly on west to Munda and Gizo.
▸ How many days do you need in Honiara?
Three days covers the core: one for the memorials and battlefields east and south of town, one for the west coast with Vilu and a dive or snorkel at Bonegi, and one on the water to Savo or Tulagi. Most visitors then fly on to the lagoons of the Western Province.
▸ What language is spoken in Honiara?
English is the official language, used in government, business and hotels, but the everyday language on the street is Solomon Islands Pijin, and people also speak the languages of their home islands, of which the country has dozens. A few words of Pijin go a long way: tanggio tumas means thank you very much.