Aloha Honolulu

Honolulu is the beautiful capital of Hawaii. For most tourists, it is the main entry point to the state. Honolulu is divided into three areas – Waikiki, Downtown, and Pearl Harbor. 

The top attraction is Waikiki which is a peninsula with soft-sand beaches. It has more hotels, shops, and restaurants than the rest of Hawaii. This neighborhood sits on the southern shore of Honolulu.

It is known as the home of Olympic gold-medalist Duke Kahanamoku. He is a swimmer and surfing instructor, credited with being the “Father of Modern Surfing.” The Waikiki Historic Trail is made of surfboards and has a statue of Duke.

At the Royal Hawaiian Center and the International Marketplace, you'll find most of Waikiki's boutiques and restaurants.

The Waikiki Beach Walk offers cafes and nightly entertainment and a great boardwalk for strolling.

The Polynesian Cultural Center is a living museum featuring six villages. They are all dedicated to the unique culture of different Polynesian Islands. There is a traditional Hawaiian village and the others represent the islands of Fiji, Samoa, Tahiti, Aotearoa, and Tonga. Among the highlights here is the Alii Luau with live entertainment. Visitors enjoy canoeing through a Tonga village, fishing in authentic Tahitian gear, and watching a traditional Maori warrior dance.

Pearl Harbor is the largest natural harbor in Hawaii. Today it is still an active naval base and a National Historic Landmark.

Among the highlights here from WW II are the Valor in the Pacific Monument, memorials for the USS Arizona, USS Oklahoma, and USS Utah, Battleship Row, and Ford Island.

The Pearl Harbor Visitor Center is open to the public. Here you can learn about the tragic 1941 Pearl Harbor attack and about the military and natural history of the harbor.

The Pacific Aviation Museum on Ford Island has video presentations, historic photographs, hangars with various WW II aircraft, and flight simulators letting visitors experience take-off and landing on an aircraft carrier.

Diamond Head State Monument is the most recognizable natural landmark in Hawaii. It is located on the eastern portion of the coastline of Waikiki. This historic peak was once an important part of coastal defense. Visitors can hike up a steep trail from the floor of the crater to the summit.

At the summit is an enormous lighthouse built in 1917. You can also see bunkers and the Fire Control Station. There are awesome vies of the shoreline below.

Hanauma Bay is a unique natural bay that formed within an ancient volcano crater. To keep from damaging the fragile ecosystem and preserve the bay the number of visitors is limited daily. Beachgoers have to watch an educational video to learn how they can keep from harming the reef and ecosystem. The Hanauma Bay Education Center has interactive displays. 

The Honolulu Museum of Art has around 50,000 pieces in its Asian Art collection. There are also over 23,000 objects representing Japanese, Chinese, and Korean Art. There are exhibits representing Hawaiian artists from the 1700s through today. You can also see European and American art. The antiquity collection has examples of ancient Greek, Roman, and Egyptian artifacts.

Iolani Palace is a neo-Classical building completed in 1882 for King Kalakaua. It's the official residence of Hawaii's monarchy. It opened as a museum in 1978. The facade has stained glass and elaborate decorations. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Queen Emma Summer Palace was the summer home of King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma. It has been a museum since 1913.

Lyon Arboretum is a botanical garden in a rainforest. There is a collection of over 5,000 tropical plants from Hawaii and Polynesia. You can see one of the largest collections of palms found in a botanical garden. There are themed gardens among them a herb and spice garden, a bromeliad garden, the Beatrice H. Krauss Hawaiian Ethnobotanical Garden, and others.

You can take a beautiful walk along a path starting from the entrance to the arboretum which leads to Manoa Falls.

Climbing the 1,050 steps up the Koko Crater Railway Trail you'll see breathtaking views of the Honolulu shoreline. The “stairs” are railroad ties once used by a military tram carrying supplies and personnel to the lookout and bunkers during WW II. 

The Koko Crater Botanical Garden can be reached by taking a two-mile path looping past endangered and rare plants. You can get a printed map at the gate or arrange for a tour. The lovely plants here are native to Hawaii, Africa, and Madagascar. 

Aloha Tower was named for the Hawaiian greeting that is etched on the side of the building, welcoming passenger ships arriving in Honolulu Harbor. The tower is 194 feet high and was built in 1926 as a lighthouse. It had become a landmark and continues to greet cruise ship passengers. You can get panoramic views from the observation tower.