Hotels in Honolulu

Honolulu is the only genuine city in the Hawaiian islands and the arrival point for almost everyone visiting the archipelago. Waikiki is the postcard: a two-mile strip of hotels behind a gentle, beginner-friendly surf break, with the extinct crater of Diamond Head anchoring the eastern end.

There is far more to the city than the resort strip. Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial sit west of downtown and need half a day. Chinatown has the best food and a growing bar scene, and ʻIolani Palace is the only royal palace on American soil, a reminder that Hawaii was a sovereign kingdom until 1893.

The rest of Oʻahu is easily reached from Honolulu. The windward coast has Kailua and Lanikai beaches, the North Shore delivers enormous winter waves at Pipeline and Waimea, and the Koʻolau range behind the city offers ridge hikes into rainforest within twenty minutes of downtown.