The nowadays peaceful ambiance in Palau was not always as such. After WWI, Palau was under Japanese occupation, serving as a territory for mining and agriculture, as well as one of the biggest Japanese Marine Bases in the Pacific.

During WWII, Palau was the focal point of a fierce battlefield between the US and Japan, with the longest battle taking place in Peleliu, where the Japanese built a small, yet effective, landing strip.

Peleliu Island was the scene of one of the Pacific's bloodiest battles when U.S. Marines made an amphibious assault on the beaches in 1944 to liberate the island from Japanese forces. Peleliu was heavily fortified with massive concrete bunkers and over 300 man-made and reinforced natural caves used to shelter the Japanese forces during massive naval bombardments prior to the assault. The battle lasted several months, resulting in victory for the U.S., marking the end of the Japanese occupation of Palau and the beginning of U.S. involvement in the archipelago.

Due to its historical significance, the U.S. Department of Interior designated Peleliu as a National Historic Landmark in 1985.

Join our guided WWII History Tour on Peleliu island, where all vegetation has been fully restored, creating a peaceful, nearly surreal, setting where the remnants of a Japanese headquarter buildings, gun emplacements, tanks, planes and weapons are scattered around the island. Visit the infamous Thousand Man Cave, an incredible cave system used by the Japanese soldiers for hiding. The tour includes a visit to the Museum, where many personal items of Japanese and American soldiers who died in the war are enshrined. 

The tour is conducted using a local van/bus (depending on the group’s size) for easy mobility around the island. We offer two options for the Peleliu Land Tour:

• Full-Day Land Tour: Guests depart for Peleliu from Sam’s Tours by boat and spend a full day tour visiting WWII relics and sites.
• Half-Day Land Tour with Two-Tank Dives at Peleliu: For divers who don't want to miss your 2-tank dive for a day, you can still do it at Peleliu’s magnificent dive sites, followed by a half-day land tour after lunch.

Both the full- and half-day Peleliu land tours include a professional guide who specializes in WWII history in Peleliu, lunch and refreshments, a Peleliu land and/or dive permit, free hotel transfers in Koror, boat transfer to/from Peleliu and ground transportation in Peleliu.

What to Bring:

• sunglasses
• sunscreen
• hat
• camera
• flashlight for the cave
• light rain jacket
• good footwear you don't mind getting wet in

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