Solomon Islands Travel Guide: Self-Guided City Walks

The best things to do in Solomon Islands include exploring its capital, Honiara, and learning about the islands’ deep Indigenous history and important role in the Second World War. This Pacific archipelago combines ancient settlement, colonial history and significant battlefields across six major islands and many smaller ones. Neywo has a free audio guide for Solomon Islands, with 4 narrated places in 1 city and stories available in 11 languages.

What to see and do in Solomon Islands

For many travellers, Honiara is the natural starting point for discovering the country. Located on Guadalcanal, the capital is also Solomon Islands’ largest city and the place where the country’s history comes together most clearly.

Explore Solomon Islands’ ancient history

People settled the islands tens of thousands of years ago. Later arrivals, including the Lapita people, mixed with earlier communities and contributed to the formation of the modern Indigenous Solomon Islander population.

This long history is one of the defining features of Solomon Islands. The country is not simply a group of Pacific islands shaped by colonial history and war; its story begins many thousands of years earlier, with movement and settlement across the region.

Learn how the islands got their name

The Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña became the first European to visit the archipelago in the sixteenth century. Reports of his voyage later gave the islands their familiar name. Other accounts connected the name with stories of the wealthy biblical King Solomon.

The name therefore reflects the European interpretations that followed the voyage, while the islands themselves had already been home to established communities for millennia.

Discover Honiara and its museums

Honiara is the capital and largest city of Solomon Islands. Among its notable places is the Solomon Islands National Museum, one of the city’s key stops for understanding the country and its cultural heritage.

A visit to Honiara also brings together several religious and historic landmarks, including Holy Cross Cathedral and the Cathedral Church of St Barnabas. These places form part of the city’s built history and offer different perspectives on Honiara’s development.

Understand the colonial period

British colonial rule came much later, when the southern islands were declared a protectorate. This period was another important stage in the political history of Solomon Islands, following centuries of Indigenous settlement and the arrival of European navigators.

The country later achieved self-government and became independent in 1978. Solomon Islands then became a constitutional monarchy, marking the beginning of a new chapter in its modern history.

Follow the history of the Guadalcanal campaign

During the Second World War, Solomon Islands became a fierce battleground. The Solomon Islands campaign included the Battle of Guadalcanal, where United States and British Imperial forces fought the Empire of Japan.

Because Honiara is on Guadalcanal, the capital is closely connected to this history. The Guadalcanal campaign is one of the most important subjects to explore when visiting the country, particularly for travellers interested in the Pacific theatre of the Second World War.

Solomon Islands travel guide: where to begin

With six major islands and many smaller ones, Solomon Islands is shaped by movement across the Pacific and by a layered history. Honiara provides the clearest introduction for a first visit, bringing together cultural, religious and wartime places in the country’s capital.

The city is also the only Solomon Islands destination currently covered by Neywo. Its narrated places include the Solomon Islands National Museum, Holy Cross Cathedral, the Guadalcanal campaign and the Cathedral Church of St Barnabas.

Explore Solomon Islands with Neywo

Download Neywo’s free audio guide to discover Solomon Islands through 4 narrated places in Honiara. There are currently no walking, bus or bike tours listed for the country, but the app tells the story of each place as you reach it, at your own pace, with no group and no schedule. Choose from narration in 11 languages and explore Honiara independently.