East Honiara Historic World War II Battlefields Tour
Description
This tour package offers an affordable sight-seeing journey to most of the WWII historical sites on Guadalcanal. We are flexible on timing and visitors can request bathroom break stops, or shop stop overs. We provide pick up and drop off from hotels or at a meeting point in Honiara City as per visitor's request. Our tour guides are friendly and very knowledgeable about the sites, and our culture and norms. Security is our main priority; our tour guides ensure that our visitors are safe and enjoy the tour.
Tour Options
Itinerary
The Guadalcanal American Memorial is a World War II monument established as a tribute to Americans and their allies who lost their lives during the Guadalcanal Campaign. During this stop, visitors can take their time to read the tributes and listen to the tour guide tales about the events that took place on the site.
The Japanese War Memorial also known as the Japan Peace Memorial Park is located on Mt. Austin. It was built to remember the land and naval forces killed during the Guadalcanal campaign. For this stop, visitors can walk around and enjoy the view and take pictures.
The Betikama School War Museum is a small open-air museum with artifacts from the battle of Guadalcanal. The artifacts includes, aircrafts wrecks that were salvaged in the region. The Museum has its own tour guide who always ready to talk to visitors and talk about each of the wrecks on the site.
Edson Ridge, also known as the Bloody Ridge a land of battle between the Imperial Japanese army and the United States Marine corps. Under the lead of Lietenant Colonel Merritt Edson, the key unit defeated the Japanes on the Ridge and that is how the Ridge got its name. Visitors, visiting the ridge enjoy the view overlooking Lunga river.
Tetere Beach WWII Museum located east of Honiara is a site covered with military artifacts including abandoned amphibious troop carriers (amtracks) and other relics from the war. Tourists visiting the museum will have the opportunity to meet the grandson of Sir Jacob Vouza hero during WII Guadalcanal battle. The grandson looks after the Museum.
The memorial garden located near Honiara International Airport is a serene reflective park dedicated to the memory of soldiers who lost their lives during WWII, particularly in the battle of Guadalcanal. The trees were planted in neat rows and plaques with names of the Soldiers were lined under the trees.
The Pagoda hill located north of the runway at Henderson Field, was built by the Japanese during the WWII. On the side of the hill is a tunnel constructed and used as the control station. This is where communication on flight operation transmitted, known as the "Pagoda Signals". Tourists visiting the hill will have an opportunity to walk through the tunnel and listen to the tales of the war from a local tour guide.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
Look for our logo and name on the vehicle
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
- Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
- Not recommended for pregnant travelers
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- The 30 minutes extra time is total estimate travel time from beginning to end of the tour
Reviews(25)
The five-hour WWII tour was excellent and reasonably priced (SBD 1500) with pick up and drop off at my hotel in a comfortable vehicle with A/C. Carl was a very knowledgeable and personable guide who filled the driving time between sites with lots of interesting historical details and local perspectives about the battles and military leaders, with particular attention to the contributions of the Solomon Islands scouts and coastwatchers to the outcome of the Guadalcanal campaign. Always willing to answer questions and stop for photos. Highly recommended.
Our Hapi Isles driver and guide, Carl, was very knowledgeable and answered our many questions both about our WWII tour and about the Solomon Islands. In addition to the scheduled sites, Carl stopped along the way for other photos when asked. The WWII sites, especially Edson’s Ridge (Bloody Ridge) and the Tetere Beach WWII museum with the amphibious troop carriers, were fascinating. We also enjoyed the many sights we saw along the way. As described, the vehicle was air-conditioned and very comfortable.
Bony, Thank you so much for your lovely review! We're delighted to hear that you had such a great experience with us. We're especially pleased that our guide Carl could share his knowledge with you. Thank you for mentioning the comfort of the air-conditioned vehicle. We work hard to make every part of the tour as enjoyable as possible. We truly appreciate you choosing Hapi Isles and hope to welcome you back to the Solomon Islands again. Warm regards,
The tour was excellent. In addition to the notable WWII sites, we were shown some other interesting sites around Guadalcanal. Our tour guide, Carl, was friendly, personable and vey knowledgeable. I highly recommend this tour, especially to anyone interested in WWII history.
Thank you so much for your wonderful review! We’re absolutely thrilled that you enjoyed the tour and found it excellent. It’s fantastic to hear that you appreciated both the key WWII historical sites and the additional interesting locations we included around Guadalcanal. We believe these extra stops really help give a fuller picture of the island’s story, and we’re glad they added value to your experience. A special thank you for highlighting our guide, Carl. He’s one of our most experienced and passionate team members, and we’ll be sure to pass on your kind words about his friendliness, personable nature, and deep knowledge. Comments like yours motivate him and the whole team to keep delivering top-quality tours. Reviews from guests like you help others discover these important historical sites. Thank you again for taking the time to share your experience! Cheers, Joyce
A very detailed and well organized tour. Schedule early to avoid traffic jams. Advise bringing snacks.
Thank you so much for your kind review! We're truly delighted that you found the tour very detailed and well organized. It’s always our goal to deliver a smooth, informative, and enjoyable experience, so feedback like yours means a lot to us. We really appreciate your practical suggestions. Your input helps us improve, and we’ve already shared these points with our team. Safe travels, and thank you once again for taking the time to share your experience! 😊 Best regards, Joyce
Excellent experiense to understand historical, strrategic and tactical importance of Salomon Islands during WW2.
Arturo, Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. It will help us alot. 🙏
Carl our driver was very accommodating and friendly. The vehicle was clean and very comfortable. A great history lesson taking you on the journey of WWII
Jacky, Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback on the tour, driver & vehicle. It means alot to us. 🙏
Comprehensive tour , covered all WWII , sites . Though it was heavy rain , muddy roads but the driver and the tour guide did everything to make it work . Plus they added extra stop on the house of Parliament. And stopped few times upon my request to have photos with locals and with other sites on the road . Great experience.
LAITH, Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. It means alot to us. 🙏
Hapi Isles driver Morrison rescued five of us at the Port Authority after a mix-up with our scheduled bus pickup, leading to a remarkable personalized tour with deep insights into Solomon Islands culture and history. He somehow managed to navigate us to all seven sites at precisely the time we would be alone for contemplating the significance of Guadalcanal for the War in the Pacific. Morrison answered any and all questions reflectively, as I personally benefitted from riding shotgun. At one museum with lush plants growing around and through the skeletons of rusting planes, tanks, and jeeps, I received a personalized tour of the indoor rooms from a local carver, negotiating the purchase of one of his prized pieces.
Hi, Thank you so much for your detailed and thoughtful review! We’re delighted to hear that you had a great time on your tour. Your kind words and feedback mean a lot to us and will help us attract more guests who are looking for memorable experiences. Thank you again for taking the time to share your feedback!
After disembarking from ship, it seemed like they were extremely disorganized. There were multiple different tours and buses. They were having people get off buses, others looked like the bus couldn’t hold everyone. This went on for about 30 mins. Once on the way, our tour had several war memorial stops. We wish the tour guide gave some explanation of what we were seeing. There was no context or details. We were basically taken to each memorial and walked around, read whatever plaques there were. A taxi service could have done the same thing. Later back on the ship, we watched some YouTube videos which really gave us excellent context and explanations of what we saw. In hindsight, it would have been better to watch these videos first before going on the tour.
Dear John, Thank you for taking the time to share your honest feedback about the tour—we truly appreciate it and are genuinely sorry to hear how disappointing the experience was for you. We’re really sorry about the disorganization you encountered right after disembarking. The heavy rain that morning made conditions very challenging, with pouring rain causing significant delays and complications at the dock. Unfortunately, two of our main guides were unable to make it to the ship to assist with boarding and leading their groups as planned. This forced us to quickly reassign guests to fill the gaps with an available guide who wasn’t as familiar with the full tour details and WWII historical context. That’s no excuse for the lack of explanation and guidance you received at the memorials—we completely understand why it felt more like a self-guided taxi ride than an informative tour, especially when you later found excellent context on YouTube. We’ve taken your review very seriously and have already called a team meeting with all our guides to discuss what went wrong. We’re also organizing dedicated training sessions right away to ensure everyone is fully prepared, knowledgeable about the sites (like the American Memorial, Japanese Peace Memorial, Edson’s Ridge, and others), and better equipped to handle unexpected situations like bad weather or staffing issues. Our goal is always to provide meaningful, guided experiences that honor the history of Guadalcanal, and we’ve learned a valuable lesson here to prevent this in the future. We hope you’ll give us another chance if you’re ever back in Honiara—we’d love the opportunity to show you the improved version of what we aim to deliver. Thank you again for your feedback; it helps us get better. Wishing you safe travels and smoother adventures ahead! 🌺
Leonard and Chris took us to all of the destinations listed in the advertisement. The van was comfortable, clean and the air conditioning worked! We would have liked a little more commentary on the sites.
