Attractions & Natural Wonders · Marshall Islands
Marshall Islands: Six Attractions and Natural Wonders
A necklace of 29 coral atolls in the central Pacific — one of them a sunken WWII fleet turned dive site, another the ground zero of the Cold War's nuclear age, and a seafaring navigation tradition that guided outrigger canoes across open ocean
By Worldlore Editorial · 10 September 2026
Twenty-nine atolls, one navigation tradition
The Marshall Islands are 29 low coral atolls and five single islands scattered across the central Pacific, with a total land area smaller than Washington, DC, spread over hundreds of thousands of square kilometres of ocean. About 42,000 people live here, in free association with the United States, which maintains a military presence and provides significant funding under a compact that also followed decades of US nuclear testing at Bikini and Enewetak. Marshallese seafarers were historically renowned for wave-piloting — reading ocean swells reflected off unseen islands to navigate without instruments.
The six below are spread thin across a vast ocean territory; travel between atolls is limited to small planes and infrequent field-trip ships. It is warm and humid year-round, driest roughly December to April.
1. Majuro
Majuro, the capital atoll, strings a narrow ribbon of land — in places barely wider than the road — around one of the largest lagoons in the world. Its main strip holds government buildings, shops, and the airport; the quieter western end, around Laura village, has the best beaches and a slower pace. Traditional outrigger canoe building and handicraft weaving are still practised in villages around the atoll.
It is the country's only real transport hub, reached by flights from Honolulu, Guam, or Fiji.
2. Bikini Atoll
Bikini Atoll, evacuated in 1946 so the US military could test 23 nuclear weapons here over the following twelve years — including the first hydrogen bomb — remains one of the most significant sites of the nuclear age, and its former residents and their descendants have still not been able to permanently resettle it. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for that history, and the sunken fleet of target ships in its lagoon, including the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga, is rated among the world's best wreck-diving sites.
Access is only via specialist liveaboard dive charters, run occasionally and at real expense.
3. Arno Atoll
Arno, a short boat ride from Majuro, is a quieter, more traditional atoll of small villages, subsistence fishing, and pearl-oyster farming, with excellent sport fishing for bonefish and other species in its lagoon and channels. It offers a glimpse of outer-island Marshallese life without the long-haul flights needed to reach the far-flung western and northern atolls.
Basic homestays are the way to stay; there is no resort infrastructure.
4. Traditional canoe culture and wave-piloting
Marshallese navigators developed a unique open-ocean wayfinding system, reading subtle patterns in ocean swells refracted and reflected by distant islands — recorded on "stick charts" woven from palm ribs and shells that mapped these wave patterns rather than geography as most maps do. Though the tradition nearly died out, canoe-building and sailing has seen a revival, and traditional outrigger canoes are still built and raced in some communities.
Examples of stick charts are held in the Alele Museum in Majuro.
5. Jaluit Atoll
Jaluit was the administrative capital of the islands under both German and Japanese colonial rule and a significant Japanese military base in the Second World War, heavily bombed by the US in 1943–44. Rusting Japanese guns, bunkers, and wrecks remain scattered through the jungle and lagoon, a quieter and less visited counterpart to the Pacific's better-known WWII battle sites.
It is reached by small plane from Majuro, with very limited facilities.
6. The lagoons and reef life
Beyond the named sights, the Marshall Islands' real draw for the few travellers who make it here is the ordinary lagoon and reef environment itself — world-class bonefishing, some of the least-dived reef in the Pacific, and a degree of isolation few other countries can match. Fishing charters and small dive operators run out of Majuro to nearby reefs and channels.
It rewards travellers who want somewhere genuinely far from anywhere else.
A note on the sea and its history
The Marshall Islands are, like Kiribati and the Maldives, extremely low-lying and highly exposed to sea-level rise — a matter the government has raised prominently in international climate forums. They also carry the lasting legacy of Cold War nuclear testing: several islands remain contaminated or off-limits, and the health and land-rights consequences for the Marshallese people are still being addressed through ongoing compensation processes. Visitors will find these subjects present in local conversation, museums, and memorials, not just history.
Travel here is genuinely remote and requires real planning around infrequent flights; a trip usually centres on Majuro, with a specialist add-on (diving, fishing, or an outer-atoll visit) for those with more time and budget.