Guadalcanal. For entire generations, this name meant, first and foremost, a battle. Today it's the name of a lush, rugged island in the Solomons, whose capital, Honiara, welcomes ships at the Point Cruz Terminal, opened in late 2024 right in the heart of Honiara. You step ashore just a few hundred metres from the main thoroughfare, Mendana Avenue, named for the Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña, who reached the archipelago in the 16th century. The point itself is called Point Cruz in memory of the cross he is said to have planted there in 1568, long before the city ever existed.

First Steps in the Capital

The city can be explored on foot straight from the dock, provided you're ready for the humid heat and the occasionally uneven sidewalks. Mendana Avenue lines up banks, shops, and offices in the easygoing, unhurried bustle of a Pacific capital. The National Museum, modest and charming, set in a garden just minutes from the terminal, showcases the cultures of the archipelago's nine provinces: shell money, canoes, dance ornaments. It offers a valuable key to understanding a country where dozens of languages coexist.

The Central Market

A few minutes further on, Honiara's central market overflows with produce from gardens and sea alike: yams, taro, sweet ripe pineapples, reef fish just brought ashore, and pyramids of betel nuts. Vendors sometimes arrive by boat from coastal villages at first light. It's the best place to feel the pulse of everyday Solomon Islands life, and one of the few spots where you can buy directly from the women who grow the produce. The wood carvings and woven baskets sold around the market rank among the most honest souvenirs in the Pacific: made here, by local hands.

The Memory of 1942

Around the city, the hills still bear the marks of one of the fiercest campaigns of the Second World War. From 1942 to 1943, Americans and Japanese fought bitterly over this island and its airstrip, today's Henderson International Airport. The American memorial at Skyline Ridge overlooks the bay from its engraved marble walls; the Japanese Peace Memorial, on Mount Austen, invites quiet reflection facing the sea. At Bloody Ridge, a grassy, almost silent field, a guide is needed to grasp what unfolded there. Organized excursions generally combine these sites into a half-day tour.

Gardens and Seaside

For a gentler pause, the botanical gardens west of downtown bring together orchids and native trees along shaded paths. Divers already know this well: the waters around Guadalcanal, nicknamed Iron Bottom Sound, hold dozens of wartime wrecks; guided outings are arranged for certified divers, while others make do with mask and snorkel: west of the capital, two Japanese cargo ships run aground in 1942 rest just a few fathoms off Bonegi Beach, reachable straight from the shore.

Before You Go Ashore

• Point Cruz Terminal: right downtown; Mendana Avenue is about 500 metres away.
• Central Market: about a fifteen-minute walk from the terminal.
• War memorials: by vehicle, up in the hills; half a day is enough.
• Bring a hat, water, and local currency (Solomon Islands dollar); the heat is constant year-round.

Heading Back Aboard

Honiara is unlike any polished stop on the well-trodden Pacific tourist trail. The city is raw, alive, marked by an immense history that surfaces just beneath the hills. Walking back to Point Cruz, that contrast lingers: stalls overflowing with fruit just a few kilometres from ridges where so many men once fell. Perhaps that's what stays with you: a place where memory and everyday life share the same shore.