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Honiara

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The Solomons' capital along the north-west shore of Guadalcanal, where the airport runway was once Henderson Field and a Japanese wreck still lies off the beach.

Fly to Honiara All of Solomon Islands
Arrival
Honiara International · HIR
To the city
About 20 to 30 minutes by car
Private jets
Handling compulsory; weekday hours
Best time
May to October

The city

Point Cruz and the Mataniko.

Honiara took over as capital of the British protectorate in 1952 and kept the role at independence in July 1978; about 130,000 people lived here at the 2019 census. Ships clear in at Point Cruz, Chinatown runs along the Mataniko River, and the Central Market is where trade for the islands is done.

The Guadalcanal campaign is never far away. The Battle of Henderson Field was fought round what is now the airport, eleven kilometres east, and just east of the Mataniko mouth lie the wrecks of a Japanese ship destroyed on 23 October 1942. May to October are the drier months, with the sea at 28 or 29 degrees.

  • National Museum Across the road from the Mendana Hotel, with “Pistol Pete”, the Japanese 155 mm howitzer that shelled Henderson Field, in its grounds.
  • Guadalcanal American Memorial Dedicated on 7 August 1992, fifty years after the Red Beach landings.
  • Solomons Peace Memorial Park Built by Japanese veterans of the campaign, some three and a half kilometres along the coast road.

Arriving

Henderson Field, under a new name.

Honiara International is the old Henderson Field, reopened in 1969, about eleven kilometres east of the centre. Its single runway is 2,200 metres long.

Business & First Class Airline flights QantasLink flies in from Brisbane, and Port Moresby is linked by Air Niugini and Solomon Airlines, among other routes. Business & First fares Private Jet Private flights Private flights from abroad can clear customs and take jet fuel here. A handler is compulsory (Just Aviation is one listed), and the airport's normal hours are 08:00 to 16:30 local time on weekdays: anything outside them is restricted and has to be arranged beforehand. Charter a jet
Approximate flying time by midsize jet
  • Nadi 3 h 05
  • Brisbane 3 h 05
  • Sydney 4 h 05
  • Beijing 9 h 25 long-range jet
  • Los Angeles 13 h 00 long-range jet

When to go

May to October.

Days of about thirty degrees in every month. Tourism Solomons counts May to October as the dry season, when Honiara gets 100 to 150 mm of rain a month; from December to April it is often twice that or more, and cyclones, though uncommon, can come.

  1. 31° J 281 30°
  2. 30° F 299 29°
  3. 30° M 331 29°
  4. 30° A 215 29°
  5. 30° M 139 29°
  6. 30° J 100 29°
  7. 29° J 115 28°
  8. 30° A 114 28°
  9. 30° S 114 28°
  10. 30° O 148 29°
  11. 30° N 165 29°
  12. 31° D 234 29°
Best months weather2travel.com, long-term averages

Where to stay

Two addresses on the waterfront.

Shown for information. We have no arrangement with any of these hotels.

Elsewhere in Solomon Islands

More reasons to come.

All of Solomon Islands

Flying to Honiara?

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A Business or First Class seat on a scheduled airline, or an aircraft of your own. Tell us the date and how many are travelling, and we reply with one final price, our margin included.

Business & First Private Jet