---
title: "Marshall Islands travel guide: Majuro, Bikini diving and when to go | Wimup"
description: "The Marshall Islands on Wimup: how Majuro, Ebeye and the outer atolls fit together, what diving Bikini Atoll actually takes, the entry and measles rules, when the dry season runs, and the Marshallese food worth ordering."
url: https://wimup.com/country/marshall-islands
type: Country guide
updated: 2026-10-05
publisher: Wimup (https://wimup.com)
---

# The Marshall Islands, Majuro and the atolls beyond it

**Twenty-nine coral atolls** and five single islands, 181 square kilometres of land, and close to two million square kilometres of ocean around them. Most trips are **Majuro** and a lagoon or two. The other one is **Bikini**, where the United States set off 23 nuclear weapons and the fleet it sank in 1946 is now a wreck dive for technical divers.

## Quick answer

Most trips stay in **Majuro**: the capital, the hotels, the one road and the lagoon. Ride the road out to **Laura** at the western tip, then take a boat to **Bokanbotin Island** for the eco-glamping stay or to **Arno** for a day. **Air Marshall Islands** flies to **Jaluit**, the old colonial seat at Jabor, and **Maloelap**, for the wartime wrecks on Taroa. Build slack around every flight. **Bikini** is a separate trip: one liveaboard from **Ebeye**, technical divers only, May to October. Book it first.

## Quick facts

- **Best months:** Jan · Feb · Mar
- **Ideal length:** 5–8 days
- **Budget per day:** $150–300
- **Language:** Marshallese and English are both official. Marshallese is what people speak; English carries government, the hotels and the airlines.
- **Getting around:** Shared taxis on Majuro’s one road, Air Marshall Islands to the outer atolls, and boats for everything inside a lagoon.

- **42,418** People
- **29** Atolls
- **181 km²** Land area

The Marshall Islands is two lines of coral in the central Pacific: the Ratak chain to the east and the Ralik chain to the west, 29 atolls and 5 single islands made up of 1,156 islets that add up to 181 square kilometres of land. The 2021 census counted 42,418 people on them, a fifth fewer than in 2011 as families moved to the United States, and about three quarters of those who stayed live on two atolls. That concentration is the planning rule. Majuro, in the Ratak chain, is the capital and the arrival point, with 23,156 people on the atoll. Its islets are joined into one long strip, and a single road runs its length from Rita at the eastern end, through the Delap-Uliga-Djarrit town centre and past Amata Kabua International Airport, to Laura at the western tip. Shared taxis work that road and pick up and drop off anywhere along it; fares are not regulated, so agree one before you get in. A bus runs out to Laura except on Sundays. The town end holds the hotels, the government, the Capitol and the hospital beside it. The lagoon is where the day trips go: Bokanbotin Island on Majuro Atoll runs the country's first eco-glamping stay, and Arno, the next atoll to the east, takes picnic trips to Pikooj Island at Rearlaplap. Kwajalein, in the Ralik chain, is the other population centre and a different place entirely. The atoll's main island is a US Army installation with controlled access, and its Marshallese population lives on Ebeye next door, 8,416 people on one small island at the 2021 census. United's Island Hopper stops at Kwajalein, and Ebeye is where the only boat into Bikini sails from. Bikini Atoll is the reason the country is known abroad, and it is not somewhere you go for a beach. The United States detonated 23 nuclear weapons there between 1946 and 1958, including Castle Bravo on 1 March 1954, at 15 megatons the largest it ever set off, and UNESCO inscribed the atoll as a World Heritage Site in 2010. The ships sunk in the 1946 tests, the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga and the Japanese battleship Nagato among them, lie on the lagoon floor. The Bikini council opened the atoll to divers in 1996 and ran its own dive operation until 2008, when unreliable flights and fuel costs closed it. There is no land-based diving today. Master Liveaboards runs the Pacific Master from Kwajalein under a concession from the Bikini local government, in a season it sets between May and October, for up to 18 divers a trip, and it asks for technical decompression certification before it takes a booking. Beyond Majuro and Kwajalein the country is the outer atolls, reached on Air Marshall Islands' domestic network, which serves Jaluit, Wotje, Mili and Bikini among others, or by boat. Life there runs on fishing, copra and food preserved between harvests, and beds are few. Jaluit was the colonial seat under Germany and then Japan, and Taroa on Maloelap still holds the wreckage of a Japanese wartime airbase. Four practical things shape a trip. The currency is the US dollar, and the airport departure fee is paid in dollar cash. Marshallese and English are both official. US citizens enter without a visa under the Compact of Free Association, and many other passports, Australian and British among them, are issued a visitor visa on arrival with an onward ticket; check the Division of Immigration's current list, and carry proof of measles vaccination. And the year has two halves: the drier trade-wind months from mid-December to late April, and a wetter stretch from late April to mid-December that peaks in the autumn. The Bikini liveaboard runs in the wetter half, when the lagoon there is calm.

## Know before you go

- **Population:** 42,418
- **Area:** 181 km²
- **Density:** 234.4 / km²
- **Capital:** Majuro
- **Major cities:** Majuro, Ebeye, Jabor, Wotje, Arno
- **Currency:** US dollar The Marshall Islands issues no currency of its own and runs on the US dollar. Carry cash for the shared taxis, the market and the airport departure fee, which is collected in dollar notes.
- **Language:** Marshallese and English Both are official. Marshallese is what people speak to each other; English carries government, business, the hotels and the airlines. Iakwe is the greeting.
- **Calling code:** +692
- **Power:** 120V · Type A/B
- **Emergency:** 911 Hospitals are on Delap in Majuro and on Ebeye. Outer atolls have dispensaries only, and serious cases are flown out, usually to the US. Insure for medical evacuation.
- **Visa:** None for US citizens, on arrival for many US, Micronesian and Palauan citizens need none. Pacific Forum states, Canada, the EU, the UK and Japan get a visa on arrival. Bring six months' validity, an onward ticket and the exit fee in cash.
- **Health:** Proof of measles vaccination Visitors from six months old, born in or after 1957, must show measles vaccination given two weeks before arrival or be refused. Carry proof. Yellow fever proof only if arriving from a risk country.
- **Getting there:** Majuro, from Honolulu, Guam or Brisbane Amata Kabua International Airport on Majuro is the gateway. United’s Island Hopper links Honolulu and Guam, and Nauru Airlines links Tarawa, Nauru and Brisbane. Routes change: check with the airlines.
- **Getting around:** Shared taxis, domestic flights, boats Shared taxis run Majuro’s main road and stop anywhere; agree the fare first. A bus goes to Laura except on Sundays. Air Marshall Islands flies to the outer atolls, and lagoon trips are by boat.
- **Kwajalein:** An Army base, visitors stay on Ebeye Kwajalein Island is a US Army base with controlled access and its own hospital. The Marshallese town, hotels and Bikini liveaboard departures are on Ebeye next door.
- **Diving Bikini:** Liveaboard only, technical divers No land-based diving. The Pacific Master sails from Kwajalein for up to 18 divers, May to October. You need TDI Advanced Nitrox and Decompression or PADI Tec 45, and 2026 sold out. Book first.
- **Safety:** Normal precautions The US and Canada rate it Level 1, normal precautions. Petty theft and break-ins are the everyday risk. Plan around medical care more than crime.
- **Driving:** On the right
- **Time zone:** UTC+12 · no daylight saving
- **Tipping:** Not customary Taxis, shops and the market do not expect it. On a liveaboard, crew gratuities follow the operator’s booking terms.
- **Tourism board:** Official site

## When to visit

- **Jan** (best): The heart of the dry season, with the trade winds at their steadiest
- **Feb** (best): The driest month of the year on Majuro, with the trades still blowing
- **Mar** (best): Still dry. 1 March is the national day of remembrance for the nuclear tests
- **Apr** (good): The dry season holds until late in the month, then the showers start to build
- **May** (good): The wetter half begins and the Bikini liveaboard season opens. Constitution Day falls on 1 May
- **Jun** (good): Breadfruit season: the harvest now comes in June, sometimes July. Rain on more days than not
- **Jul** (good): Warm and humid, with the trades often interrupted. Bikini trips are running
- **Aug** (good): Wet in Majuro, calm on the Bikini lagoon, which is why the boat goes now
- **Sep** (good): The hottest, rainiest stretch begins. The last Bikini departures of the season sail
- **Oct**: Hot and wet, and the Bikini season closes. Little to gain over the dry months
- **Nov**: The wettest month on Majuro. Come only for something specific
- **Dec** (good): The rain eases from mid-month into the dry season, and Majuro’s New Year Block Party closes the year

## Fun fact

On 1 March 1954 the United States detonated Castle Bravo on Bikini Atoll: 15 megatons, the largest American test, one of 23 at Bikini and 67 across the islands. Its fallout reached inhabited atolls downwind, Rongelap among them. The date is now a national day of remembrance for the victims.

## Stereotypes, sorted out

- **Myth:** The Marshall Islands is an American territory. **Reality:** It is an independent republic, with a constitution since 1979 and a UN seat. The Compact of Free Association blurs the line: the US dollar, visa-free Americans, a US Army base on Kwajalein, and Marshallese free to live in the US. The 2021 census found 42,418 people, a fifth fewer than in 2011.
- **Myth:** Bikini is a beach you can go and lie on. **Reality:** Bikini is a World Heritage Site because of what was done to it: 23 nuclear tests between 1946 and 1958. It has no residents and no land-based dive operation. Visitors come only on a liveaboard from Kwajalein, as technical divers, between May and October. The swimsuit is the least of it.
- **Myth:** The islands are about to vanish under the sea. **Reality:** The threat is real and drives the country's diplomacy: Tony de Brum pushed the Paris Agreement toward 1.5 degrees, and Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner took the case to the UN in a poem. But 42,418 people live here today, with a capital, two hospitals and an airport. Listen to what they are up against.
- **Myth:** Nobody has heard of it. **Reality:** More people have seen its name than could find it. Its ship registry is the second-largest in the world by gross tonnage, so Majuro is painted on tankers in every major port. In 2011 the Nitijela made all 1,990,530 square kilometres of its waters a shark sanctuary, then the largest anywhere.

- Iakwe is the greeting, hello and goodwill in one word. Use it with everyone, drivers and market sellers included.
- Dress for a church-going country once you leave the beach: shoulders and knees covered in town and in villages, and swimwear kept for the boat and the resort. For women, thighs are treated as private.
- Sunday belongs to church and family. The Laura bus does not run, and a village visit that day is for the service, not for sightseeing.
- Every islet belongs to someone. Land passes through families and their chiefs, the iroij, so ask before you land, picnic or collect anything on an outer islet, and go with a local operator where there is one.
- The nuclear years are family history, not a tour theme. People from Bikini, Enewetak, Rongelap and other atolls still live with them, and 1 March is a national day of remembrance. Let a host bring it up.
- Sharks are protected in every Marshallese water. Commercial shark fishing and the sale of any shark product have been banned since 2011, and a shark caught by accident has to be released.
- Shared taxis take on other passengers along the way. Fares are not regulated, so agree one before you get in.

## Famous Marshallese faces

- **Amata Kabua**: Founding president from 1979 to 1996, who wrote the anthem. The airport bears his name.
- **Hilda Heine**: President 2016 to 2020 and from 2024, the first modern woman leader of a Pacific nation.
- **Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner**: Poet who opened the 2014 UN Climate Summit with Dear Matafele Peinam, to an ovation.
- **Darlene Keju**: Health pioneer who said in 1983 that test fallout spread far wider than the US admitted.
- **Tony de Brum**: Foreign minister who sued the nuclear states in 2014 and pushed Paris toward 1.5 degrees.
- **Kessai Note**: President 2000 to 2008 and the first commoner elected to the office. Speaker from 1988.
- **Lijon Eknilang**: Rongelap survivor of the 1954 fallout who testified at the International Court in 1995.
- **Selina Leem**: At 18, gave the Marshall Islands’ closing statement at the 2015 Paris climate conference.
- **Alson Kelen**: Runs Canoes of the Marshall Islands, founded in 1989, which trains young canoe builders.
- **Korent Joel**: Government ship captain and one of the last navigators trained to read ocean swells.
- **Mattie Sasser**: The first Olympic weightlifter for the Marshall Islands, eleventh at Rio, tenth in Paris.
- **Giordan Harris**: Swimmer for the Marshall Islands at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics.

## Must-try Marshallese food

- **Chukuchuk**: Rice balls rolled in fresh coconut for special occasions. Many call it the national dish.
- **Mā**: Breadfruit, the top atoll crop, baked, boiled or fried. The harvest now comes in June.
- **Bōb**: Pandanus, an atoll staple, sold ripe at the Majuro market and the raw material of mokwan.
- **Bwiro**: Breadfruit fermented and baked underground, to keep it between harvests. Recooked to eat.
- **Mokwan**: Dried pandanus paste that keeps, the old voyaging food of Ailuk, Likiep and Mejit.
- **Iu**: The crunchy core of a sprouted coconut, sweeter than heart of palm. Plain or with lime.
- **Jekaro**: Sweet sap tapped from the coconut flower stalk. Boiled into syrup or left to ferment.
- **Barulep**: Coconut crab, its sweet meat often likened to lobster. Roasted, or boiled in coconut milk.
- **Sashimi**: Raw sliced fish, everyday food. Fish intake is often put at 240 pounds a head a year.
- **Smoked fish**: Sold at the Majuro market with taro chips and cooked breadfruit. Buy some for the boat.

## FAQs

### Can you dive Bikini Atoll?

Yes, if you are a technical diver and you book early. The Bikini council opened the atoll to divers in 1996 and ran its own dive operation until 2008, when unreliable flights and fuel costs closed it, and access has been by liveaboard ever since. Today that means Master Liveaboards’ Pacific Master, sailing from Ebeye on Kwajalein under a concession from the Bikini local government, for up to 18 divers a trip in a season it sets between May and October. The minimum certification is TDI Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Procedures, PADI Tec 45 or an equivalent, because the ships sunk in the 1946 tests, the carrier USS Saratoga and the battleship Nagato among them, are decompression dives. There is no day trip, no land-based alternative and no hotel to base yourself in. Most 2026 departures sold out, so the boat is the first thing to book.

### Do you need a visa for the Marshall Islands?

Not if you hold a US passport: American citizens enter without a visa under the Compact of Free Association, as do citizens of Micronesia and Palau. Citizens of the Pacific Islands Forum countries, including Australia and New Zealand, and of Canada, the European Union, the UK, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines are issued a visitor visa on arrival; Australia’s travel advice puts it at 30 days, extendable through the Division of Immigration. Other nationalities apply before flying. Everyone needs a passport valid for six months, an onward or return ticket, the departure fee in US dollar cash and, under the current entry guidance, proof of measles vaccination.

### How do you get to the Marshall Islands?

By air into Amata Kabua International Airport on Majuro. United’s Island Hopper connects Majuro with Honolulu in one direction and Kwajalein, Kosrae, Pohnpei, Chuuk and Guam in the other, which makes Honolulu and Guam the two usual gateways. Nauru Airlines links Majuro with Tarawa, Nauru and Brisbane, and with Pohnpei and Koror. Inside the country, Air Marshall Islands runs the domestic network to the outer atolls. Schedules in this part of the Pacific change, so check them with the airlines directly and leave slack at both ends.

### When is the best time to visit the Marshall Islands?

For Majuro and the lagoon, January to March. The drier season runs from mid-December to late April, the trade winds are steady, and February is the driest month. From late April to mid-December the weather is wetter, with the autumn the hottest and rainiest part of the year and November the wettest month. Bikini works to its own calendar: the only liveaboard runs there in a season between May and October, when the lagoon is calm, so a diving trip lands in the wetter half by design.

### Is the Marshall Islands safe to visit?

Yes. The United States rates it at Level 1, exercise normal precautions, and Canada’s advice is the same. Petty theft and break-ins happen, so lock up and keep the passport secure. The thing to plan around is medical care: Majuro and Ebeye have the only hospitals, the outer atolls have dispensaries, and a serious case is evacuated, usually to the United States. Buy insurance that covers evacuation before you fly, bring the prescriptions you need, and carry proof of measles vaccination, which the entry guidance asks for.

## Related countries

- [Australia](https://wimup.com/country/australia.md)
- [New Zealand](https://wimup.com/country/new-zealand.md)
- [All of Oceania](https://wimup.com/oceania)

Part of [Oceania](https://wimup.com/oceania.md)

## Sources

- [Emergency](https://www.rmiocit.org/health-safety?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Visa](https://rmiimmigration.org/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Diving Bikini](https://www.bikiniatoll.com/divetour.html?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Tourism board](https://www.rmiocit.org/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- Rankings are Wimup editorial picks. Prices, durations and budgets are editorial estimates, not live quotes; check the official site before you go.