Travel guide
Guam Travel Guide
Guam is a US island with an Asian flight map: most visitors arrive on a short hop from Japan or South Korea and land minutes from Tumon, the one bay where most of the island's hotels stand. That concentration shapes every trip, because the real decision is how far beyond the bay you go, and getting around by car turns the rest of the island into day drives. Hagåtña, the small capital a short drive south of the hotels, is where the island's Chamorro story is easiest to find.
Updated 2026-09-19
Deep dives
Deep dive
Tumon Bay, Guam: The Reef, the Beaches, Two Lovers Point →
Tumon Bay is where most of Guam's hotels stand, and the reason is the bay itself: shallow water almost enclosed by a fringing reef. Its beaches, the cliff at its northern end and the boulevard behind it each work differently.
Deep dive
Guam's War in the Pacific Park: Seven Sites, One Coast →
Guam's World War II national park is not one site but seven, strung along the west coast from the Asan landing beach to the guns at Ga'an Point. Knowing what each unit shows turns a drive past memorials into a story you can follow.
Deep dive
Guam Diving: The Blue Hole, Two Wrecks, Five Preserves →
Guam's signature dives lie close together: a shaft through the reef off Orote Peninsula, and two wrecks from different world wars side by side in Apra Harbor. Five marine preserves bring the reef within reach of snorkellers too.
Deep dive
Guam's Chamorro Culture: Latte, Fiestas and Language →
Guam's Chamorro culture is easiest to meet in its villages, where each of the nineteen holds its own fiesta and visitors are welcome to join. The latte stone, the language and the Guam Museum explain the rest.
Itinerary
Guam: Rent the Car for Days, Not the Whole Trip →
On Guam the hotels, malls and capital are all within easy reach of trolleys, buses and taxis, while the south's villages and the northern refuge are not. That makes the car a per-day decision, and the calendar decides which days.
Ways to Experience This Destination
A shallow bay almost enclosed by its fringing reef and protected as a marine preserve, lined by the island's hotels, with Ypao Beach Park at its southern end, Gun Beach to the north and the cliff of Two Lovers Point above it.
The Blue Hole's shaft through the reef off Orote Peninsula, a German cruiser from World War I and a Japanese steamer from World War II lying side by side in Apra Harbor, and five marine preserves where reef life can be reached straight from the shore.
War in the Pacific National Historical Park spreads over seven units on the west coast — the Asan landing beach and the ridge above it, the guns at Ga'an Point and Piti, the Fonte Plateau bunker and the Asan Bay Overlook's wall of names.
Latte stones, the island's emblem; a fiesta for the patron saint of each of the nineteen villages; the Wednesday night market at Chamorro Village; and the Guam Museum, which tells the Chamorro story in Chamorro as well as English.
Guam has no sales tax on most shopping, and the boutiques and duty-free galleria along Tumon's Pale San Vitores Road draw many visitors as much as the beach does, with larger malls elsewhere on the island.
Umatac's bay and Spanish-era fort, the reef-sheltered saltwater pools at Inarajan, Talofofo Falls and Mount Lamlam, the island's highest point, in the south — and in the north, the white-sand beach and guided cave and latte tours of the Ritidian wildlife refuge.
City guides
Frequently asked questions
The dry season, roughly January to May, brings the most settled weather and calmer seas, which is why it is also the busiest time. The rainy season runs from about July to November, with June and December as transition months. Typhoons can affect Guam in any month, but the main season is July to November, and it peaks from mid-August to mid-September — travellers in those months should watch the forecasts and choose flexible bookings.
No. English and Chamorro are both official languages, and English is spoken throughout the island. Chamorro is still very much alive, though, and the greeting you will hear everywhere is “Håfa Adai”; “Si Yu'os Ma'åse'” is thank you. Because so many visitors come from Japan and South Korea, signs, menus and hotel services often add Japanese and Korean. The tourism board spells the language CHamoru.
It is the tourism board's slogan, and it rests on the clock. Guam keeps Chamorro Standard Time, ten hours ahead of UTC, all year round with no daylight saving, so it runs ahead of every US state and is usually already on the next calendar date. The gap to the mainland shifts by an hour whenever the mainland changes its clocks, so check the current difference before scheduling calls or connections.
Entry rules, visa types and practical notes live on the Guam overview.
Treat this Visaja page as your starting point: verify the current rules directly with the official source before you submit an application.