Cost of Living in Honiara
Where this figure comes from. No cost survey covers Honiara, so the $1,400 a month above is our own estimate rather than a measurement. On 330 of our 921 city guides the figure is built from a published Numbeo basket, a one-bedroom rent in the centre plus one person's monthly costs without rent, converted to USD; this city is not one of them. Treat it as a starting point and check current rental listings before you budget against it. How we source everything.
Budget around $1,400 a month. A one-bedroom runs roughly $400 to $800, with the areas near the ridge and the diplomatic quarter at the top. Market produce is cheap and the Honiara Central Market is the best value in the country, with fish, root vegetables and fruit at genuinely low prices. Imported goods carry a heavy markup and the supermarkets are expensive. Utilities cost a lot because power is diesel-generated and among the most expensive in the Pacific. Eating out is limited, with a handful of Chinese and Asian restaurants and the hotel dining rooms. The Solomon Islands dollar is the currency.
Where to Work in Honiara
Connectivity has improved with the Coral Sea cable, which landed in 2019 and gave Honiara a real internet connection for the first time, so fibre in the centre and the better hotels is workable. Mobile data from Our Telekom and Bmobile covers the town and the main road. Power is unreliable and generators are standard in any serious business. There is no coworking. The time zone is eleven hours ahead of GMT, which puts Honiara an hour ahead of eastern Australia and makes that the practical business overlap. Anyone travelling to the outer provinces should assume no connectivity at all beyond patchy mobile coverage near the larger settlements, and plan the work accordingly.
Getting Around Honiara
Minibuses run along the single coastal road through Honiara for a very low flat fare and are the normal way to move, though they are crowded and stop constantly. Taxis are available and cheap by the hour. Walking in town is possible by day and generally avoided after dark. Honiara International Airport, formerly Henderson Field and the object of the 1942 campaign, is about eleven kilometres east and connects to Brisbane, Port Moresby, Nadi and Port Vila. Domestic flights and ships reach the outer provinces, and the ship schedules are approximate.
Sorting transport? Book an airport transfer, or compare car rental on Auto Europe and QEEQ.
Visas for Honiara
The Solomon Islands grant visa-free entry to citizens of most Commonwealth countries, the European Union and the United States for up to ninety days, issued as a visitor's permit on arrival. Everyone else applies in advance. There is no remote work visa and working on a visitor's permit is not permitted. Extensions are applied for at the immigration office in Honiara. Proof of onward travel and accommodation is normally requested at the airport, and it is worth having both printed. Anyone continuing to the Western Province for diving should note that domestic flights are frequently rescheduled and that building slack into a trip is the norm rather than caution.
Best Time to Visit Honiara
May to October is the drier, cooler season and the practical window, with south-easterly trade winds and better diving visibility. November to April is the wet season and the cyclone season, with heavy rain and the risk of flooding in Honiara, which has flooded severely more than once. Temperatures sit around thirty degrees all year with high humidity throughout. The diving is world class in either season, with the wrecks of Iron Bottom Sound offshore, but visibility and sea state are better in the dry months. The Solomon Islands sit within the cyclone belt but are struck less often than Vanuatu or Fiji, and the storms that do arrive usually track south of the main group.
Pros and Cons of Honiara
The case for the Solomon Islands is diving and history that exist nowhere else in this combination: Iron Bottom Sound holds dozens of ships and aircraft lost in the 1942 campaign, and the reefs beyond are among the most biodiverse on earth. Costs are low and the country is genuinely uncrowded. The case against is Honiara itself, which has a real problem with street crime and has seen serious rioting, most recently in 2021, along with poor infrastructure, unreliable power and limited medical care. This needs current advice rather than assumption.
Who Honiara Is For
The Solomon Islands suit divers above all, and anyone drawn to the Pacific war, since Guadalcanal is where the ground campaign turned. They suit development and conservation workers, of whom there are a good number. They do not suit anyone wanting a comfortable or safe-feeling capital, anyone needing reliable infrastructure, or anyone without a specific reason to be here, because Honiara is a working town rather than a destination in itself. It also suits anyone drawn to the outer islands, since Marovo Lagoon in the Western Province is the largest saltwater lagoon in the world and is reachable in a day from Honiara.
Photo: Kahunapule Michael Johnson from Pukalani, Hawaii, United States of America / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
