Honiara

Honiara needs 2 days: the National Museum and the war memorials commemorating the Battle of Guadalcanal (1942-1943), one of the bloodiest confrontations in the Pacific between the United States and Japan, on one, and a diving trip to the shipwrecks off the coast -the «Iron Bottom Sound»-, on the other. May-October is best, avoiding cyclone season. It's mid-to-high priced given how underdeveloped local tourism is. It's the smallest capital in Oceania among independent countries, and the whole island of Guadalcanal is still scattered with wartime remnants -rusted helmets, cannons, sunken planes- making the area one of the world's best historic diving sites.