The Solomon Islands are easily one of my favourite and most unusual travel destinations.

Friendly locals, stunning islands, lack of crowds and of course world class waves are just some of the reasons I fell in love with the Solomons.

And there are heaps of things to see and do, so if you’re thinking of planning a trip to the Solomon Islands soon, here are 7 epic things to do that you should add to your Solomons itinerary…

9 Epic Things To Do In The Solomon Islands

Surfing

Out of everywhere I’ve surfed on my travels – including the likes of the Mentawai Islands, Bali, Maldives and South Africa – the Solomon Islands easily wins as my favourite ever surf adventure!

With empty, perfect waves scattered throughout the country it’s the ideal destination for anyone on the hunt for an alternative surf destination.

Epic reef breaks reel amongst empty islands, disconnect without phone or wifi signal, barely see another surfer during your whole stay and score some of the best board short surf sessions you could ever imagine – with only a handful of locals for company.

Sure it’s not the cheapest place to surf and you’re not going to be sitting in a luxury surf hotel for your stay – but the pay off is what every surfer strives for – uncrowded pumping waves!

Check out my full Solomon Islands Surf Guide here.

 

Scuba Diving

And alongside epic surfing the other major ocean attraction in the Solomon Islands has to be the world class scuba diving on offer.

Discover colourful coral gardens teaming with life, marine sanctuaries that are packed with schooling fish and pristine dive sites and of course delve into the darker history of the island and explore some of the many WW2 wrecks that litter the ocean floor throughout the Solomon Islands.

With warm water temperatures and only a hand full of dive centres and charters on offer, the scuba diving in the Solomon Islands offers amazing locations, varied dive sites and incredible experiences.

The only downside is it’ll set the bar pretty high for your next dive trip!

 

Snorkelling 

Not into scuba diving or simply don’t have enough time in the Solomon Islands to fit in a scuba dive? Well there’s so much incredible snorkelling to be done too!

With plenty of shallow, colourful coral gardens to explore even the most inexperienced snorkelers will have an absolute blast snorkelling in the Solomons!

Island jetties are beacons for marine life and whilst loading up our surf boat we saw everything from tuna and octopus to bio luminescent plankton.

So grab a mask, head into the big blue and see what amazing marine life is waiting to say hello!

 

Fishing

As an advocate of sustainability and a veggie I was reluctant to add fishing to this list – but its undeniable that the fishing in the Solomon Islands is also a huge draw for many travellers.

With rich, untapped fishing grounds and thousands of miles of coastline and reefs the sports fishing in the Solomons will have you hooked – full pun intended!

Giant GTs, huge tuna and of course bill fish like the blue marlin all call the Solomons home – and even the quickest of fishing trips will easily stock the cool box for dinner.

In fact on the way back from one of our surf sessions our guide reeled in a stunning tuna – which was quickly turned into some of the freshest sushi I’ve ever seen back at camp, with surfers and locals all enjoying the bounties of the sea.

All I asked if you don’t take anymore than you need and share it around!

Bird Watching

Travelling with a twitcher or lover of wildlife yourself? Well bird watching in the Solomon Islands offers up its fair share of fun and discoveries!

With hundreds of tropical bird species, many of which are endemic to the Solomons Islands, hiring a local guide will allow you to learn more about these incredible species and give you the best chance of spotting them too!

And if you head to Santa Isabel (where I stayed on my surf trip) ask a local to take you to the nesting frigate island at sunset – where the pirates of the sky roost for the night – for an incredible display or beauty and grace.

 

Delve Into History 

For history buffs the Solomon Islands has a huge range of historic locations to visit and explore. The most prominent has to be the dark and gruesome history of the Solomon Islands during World War 2 – where it played a huge roll in the Pacific battle between Japan and the Allies.

Explore the battle grounds, ruins and of course the many shipwrecks and plane wrecks that litter the seabed too for your chance to walk in the footsteps of history and discover more about this recent but intense part of the islands history.

Even if history isn’t really your things it’s worth learning about so you can appreciated the tranquility of the islands that much more.

 

Learn About The Local Culture

No matter what your reason for visiting the Solomon Islands, no trip here is complete without learning about the local culture.

And there’s plenty of ways to do it to – a chat with your local hosts is always my top recommendation! Everyone I met in the Solomon Islands greeted me with a smile and loved talking about their island home – happy to answer any questions I had about life in the Solomons, both past and present.

There are a range of more organised trips and tours to help you learn about the culture too – from traditional dance displays (which were incredible to watch) through to basket weaving and of course a personal favourite – a local cooking class.

So don’t leave this incredible island paradise without learning a bit more about the people and their customs, it’ll fill you with even more appreciation and love for it!

 

Paddle A Dug Out Canoe

Alongside learning about the culture one of the things you can’t leave the Solomon Islands without doing is paddling a traditional dug out canoe!

Trust me it’s definitely not as easy as the locals make it look (they can easily paddle around with a full canoe whilst standing!) but it’s certainly worth the laughs of trying yourself!

If you can’t figure it out (and I barely did!) you can always jump on a relaxing canoe tour to explore the lagoons and waterways…and of course grab that postcard perfect shot for your Instagram!

 

Just Enjoy Some Island Time

Sure you can pack your time in the Solomon Islands full of incredible things to do, but its also important to make the most of the relaxing side of it as well!

Kick back on some island time, enjoy the hospitality, find a hammock and read a book.

Or take a stroll along an empty beach, or top up your tan!

However you choose to wind down enjoy disconnecting from the chaos of everyday life and enjoying some serious island time in the Solomons!

 

What’s top of your things to do in the Solomon Islands?

Anything you’d add to the list?