| Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 | |
Where to go in the Solomons?Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea / Solomon Islands | ||
My wife and I are planning to go to the Soloman Islands in May 2013. We like beaches and want to stay away from the tourist posh resorts. Can anyone give me information where to go and what to see. I'm a professional photographer and like photographing exotic people. Thanks Edited by: Andreas_at_LP | ||
Check out places in the Western Province. Flights to and from Honiara is much reliable than any domestic route. Places like Sanbis Resort, Lola Resort, Fatboys and many others For more information, check this websites: might not have enough info, but will help for a start. | 1 | |
Western province is the place for resorts, as such. There is much less tourist development in the rest of the country, making it much more interesting if you are interested in culture. Look at Santa Ana, Ulawa and Malaita, for example, on the Visit Solomons site. | 2 | |
Re: #1.....from what I have seen of the prices/websites I would consider Fatboys, Sanbis etc as 'tourist posh resorts', as far as Solomon Islands goes....the type the OP wants to avoid.... | 3 | |
the Solomon Islands aren't very..um....posh. it's all fairly basic here except for some resports int eh western province and Tavanipupu resort (recently visited by Prince Will and Kate) But if you want a nice little cheap escape from Honiara, head to Maravagi or Mbike.. cute little cottage type places only about 2-3 hours by boat away from Honiara. AMAZING snorkeling and a really relaxed atmosphere... or Savo is a short trip away from Honiara (not great for beaches) but great if you want to hike up a volcano! | 4 | |
If you have been planning to visit Solomon Islands for a relaxed holiday, then i would recommend you to visit Honiara. It is a very beautiful island that is not spoiled by the crowd. The peace and serenity of the island and beauty around makes it an amazing place to visit. To get more information on the island, you can browse through: http://www.solomonislandsresorts.com/local-attractions.html | 5 | |
Post #5 makes no sense. It sounds like the poster has never even been to Honiara. Honiara is the capital city on the island of Guadalcanal. It is rarely called beautiful, and is not an island. | 6 | |
or #5 lives in Honiara, and maybe even works for that hotel...???? | 7 | |
I would recommend Munda in the Western Province based on a recent stay there. Very close to the airport is Agnes Lodge - the main place to stay. It's pretty much the only game in town and not what I'd call posh. They have all sorts of rooms. I'm sure you could find something you'd like. They have a tour agency - Go West Tours - connected to the hotel but the prices for any tour are out-of-this-world expensive. I actually discussed this with two others guests. Together we could only conclude they don't actually want to run the tours and thus make them super pricey. Otherwise it just seemed to make no sense. A group I met at the airport spoke highly about Seghe and that the places to stay there were getting better. They sounded almost like rustic b&b type places. The lagoon in that whole western province area was amazingly beautiful. | 8 | |
One of the reasons tours are super expensive is the cost of fuel, if outboard motors are involved, especially in rural areas. | 9 | |
There are no posh tourist resorts on the Solomon islands! And barely any tourists. It truly is an unspoilt pace, and there is very little infrastructure for tourists. Gizo, the only island that could be called "touristy", meaning it maybe has a dozen or so people there on diving holidays and a few British volunteer medical medical students. There is Fatboys and Sanbis on Gizo but they could hardly be called "resorts" I stayed at Fatboy's 2 years ago and it was truly paradise, we were the only people staying there and had the whole place to ourselves, the rooms are luxurious for the Solomon Islands (ie. there is a fan and a mosquito net, a comfy bed and a working shower) and the bar and restaurant is lovely, you really are in the middle of nowhere and you can jump right off the jetty and go snorkelling. If you really want to get away from it all, go to a place called Oreavo (may not be spelt exactly correctly!) But the tourist office in Gizo will know what you mean. It's a little cottage on it's own tiny island, a 20 min boat ride from Gizo, owned by an Australian-Solomon Islander family, they move out and go to their other house on a different island and you stay there. It is beautiful, so rustic, there's an outdoor shower and a huge porch where you can feed a million different types of fish and dive off and snorkel (we even saw some small sharks). They bring you breakfast, lunch and Dinner everyday, which is delicious. Amazing! Good luck. | 10 | |
Most tourists go to the Western province, Munda & Gizo. You may have decided already on where to go. I have my own favourite spot..papatura retreat located to the Northern end of Isabel province (www.papatura.com). Not many people know this place but it is a great hideaway, one of the best snorkelling spots in Solomon Islands and the fishing is probably the best in my opinion ., An australian couple owns this retreat and it is only a stone throw from Suavanao airstrip, 55mins fly from Honiara with Solomon Airlines. Villages to visit are Baolo, Zuzuao, Kolopakisa if you wish to experience the local culture. | 11 | |
Places to stay on Seghe now? Wow, how things have changed!! | 12 | |
I forgot to add that there are a few places to stay on Bellona Island, one of the Polynesian outliers. One of the 'resorts' is actually a set of caves, the Aotaha Caves, and is quite unique. I've just learned that there is a bad outbreak of Dengue Fever in Solomons, so please use Deet! http://pidp.org/pireport/2013/March/03-13-03.htm Edited by: Watsoff | 13 | |