Hawaii attractions

Eerie and abandoned, the salt water swimming pool and stone bleachers of the Waikiki Natatorium War Memorial off San Souci beach was a shimmering seaside tribute when it opened in 1927. Today, some call the crumbling venue haunted and it is often featured in Island-wide nighttime ghost tours.The aging edifice, shuttered since 1979, is still worth a daytime visit, if only to peek through the bars of its towering front gate and imagine what it once was. As one of the country’s few ‘living memorials,’ the space served both as a gathering place to honor the 10,000 Hawaii service men who served during WWI and a public facility where Hawaii residents learned to swim in its 100m length. The Natatorium is credited with creating a swimming culture in the local community, and providing a peaceful practice spot for Olympians including legendary Hawaiian waterman (and five-time Olympic swimming medalist) Duke Kahanamoku. On Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day, the chipping lot around the structure still occasionally hosts commemorative ceremonies honoring the structure’s original purpose.Despite its designation as a ‘national treasure’ by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, no one seems to know what to do with the Natatorium. Throughout the years, numerous plans to revive or raze the structure, adding a new stretch of white sand to Waikiki’s crowded beaches, have been passed over. Until then, it just waits.

With 100 acres (40.5 hectares) of public beach situated right between Waikiki and downtown Honolulu, Ala Moana Beach Park is a local favorite and top destination for Oahu visitors. There are paths for walking, calm water for swimming and stand-up paddleboarding, gentle waves for surfing, and plenty of soft, golden sand for sunbathing.

A landmark stop on almost every organized Honolulu tour is the nine-foot-tall bronze statue immortalizing Hawaii’s original ambassador of aloha, Duke Paoa Kahanamoku. One of those guys who was seemingly good at everything, Kahanamoku wore many hats. He was a Hollywood actor, a full-blooded Hawaiian descended from alii (the royal class), an Olympic swimmer who won gold in both the 1912 and 1920 games, an Olympic water polo player, a 13-term sheriff of Honolulu and one of Waikiki’s first surf and canoe instructors. Kahanamoku used his charm and personable nature to popularize surfing and was later the first person to be inducted into both the Surfing and Swimming Halls of Fame.Poised in front of a longboard and welcoming visitors with open arms, the Duke statue has enjoyed a prime seaside spot across from popular Waikiki breaks since it was installed on what would have been Duke’s 100th birthday in 1990. Many visitors honor Duke’s memory by draping floral and kukui nut lei around his neck and from his arms, or just pause long enough to take a shaka selfie. Making this stop even more popular is the fact that one of Honolulu’s live city cameras is constantly trained on the statue and the palm-lined sands of Waikiki behind it — a great tool for making family back home jealous in real time.Each summer, Duke’s OceanFest honors the waterman’s memory with ceremonies at the statue and a series of ocean sporting events including longboard surfing, paddleboard racing, swimming, surf polo and beach volleyball.

An expanse of white sand complete with beach cabanas and flanked by towering resorts, Wailea Beach is a postcard-worthy image of Maui. The idyllic beach, which holds the claim to fame that it was once rated the number one beach in American, draws in everyone from locals who come to play in the surf to sunbathers basking in beach chairs.

Maunalua Bay is a popular bay for water sports activities on Oahu’s south shore. Home to many stand up paddlers and kayakers, snorkelers and divers also come to explore the nearby reef. Hawaiian for “two mountains,” Maunalua Bay is framed by the Ko’olau range and sits by the peaks of Koko Crater and Koko Head.Famous for its sunsets, the adventure beach is especially popular among Honolulu’s boaters and jet skiers who come to make the most of Maunalua Bay’s launch site. Look out for parasailers while you’re here too, and if you’re coming to Maunalua Bay to snorkel or scuba dive the reef is a mile out to shore, its crystal-clear waters full of colorful reef fish and bright green sea turtles. If you’d rather relax, there are also park benches available on the shore where it’s popular to enjoy a picnic under the setting sun.

Located high in the mountains above the Kalalau Valley, Koke’e State Park is one of Kauai’s most popular hiking destinations. The park offers over a dozen trails for all ages and ability levels from gentle bird watching trails to strenuous cliff edge trails. First time visitors to Kauai won’t want to miss the panoramic views of the Kalalau Valley and Waimea Canyon from the park’s lookouts.

Kilauea Iki crater is one of the most visited spots in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, and its most popular hike cuts across the floor of the crater—a walk into the heart of an active volcano. Though today the crater looks tame from above, steam vents still rise from areas with moisture, and the otherworldly terrain of the crater floor is unique among others in the Hawaiian chain.

The Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Factory is a full-sensory experience that ushers visitors in through expansive macadamia nut orchards and onto a self-guided tour that displays the production process from harvest through packaging. Your visit is not complete without sampling the treasured Hawaiian nuts and visiting the gift shop to pick up some for later.

Evidence of a little-remembered attempt by Russians to gain a foothold in Hawaii between 1815 and 1817 can still be found in the remnants of an old fort alongside the mouth of the Waimea River. Though today the site is little more than jumbled red rock walls hinting at its former layout, an irregular octagon guarding entrance into Kauai via the waterway, it once was the site of grand plans to use Kauai as a permanent provisioning and trading station for the state-sponsored Russian American Company. With outer rock walls constructed from ancient heiau (Hawaiian temples), the fort once included residences, a chapel, gardens, a trading center and the main fort building. Visitors can explore what’s left via a self-guided interpretive tour following signage with drawings of how the area once appeared.Here, Dr. Georg Anton Schäffer, sent to retrieve lost cargo from a wrecked Russian American Company ship, overstepped the orders of his mission. Schäffer instead built the fort complex, befriended Kauai’s chief, set him against the newly instated Hawaiian King Kamehameha and secured a sandalwood monopoly for the company. When Mother Russia learned of Schäffer’s actions, however, she disapproved. Russia didn’t want to become embroiled in the already complicated politics of the islands; they just wanted their cargo back. So, Russia summoned Dr. Schäffer home, leaving the fort to be claimed by the Hawaiians, and, later, after the dismantling in 1864, the elements.

Looming large over Honolulu Harbor, the Aloha Tower complex features several buildings including a 10 story clock tower, the (now closed) Hawaii Maritime Center and several dining establishments overlooking the large wooden and permanently-stationed Falls of Clyde sailing ship. The tower, built in 1926, housed a lighthouse and its clock was one of the largest in the United States at the time. It was first structure most immigrants and visitors to Hawaii saw when their boats docked here prior to the popularization of air travel. Today, cruise ships still pull into the nook alongside the building, and, regardless of whether you arrived on one, you can take a free elevator ride to the top of the tower and lookout over downtown, Waikiki and out across the ocean. While there’s little action at the marketplace today aside from a Hooters and a Gordon Biersch restaurant, Hawaii Pacific University has plans to revitalize the area in the coming years, converting the now largely-abandoned center into meeting space, shopping, dining and even residences.

Koko Crater is where locals head when they’re in need of a really good workout, and it’s also a popular visitor attraction thanks to the stunning views from the top. In order to reach the summit, however, you’ll first need to conquer the 1,048 steps that run in a straight line up the mountain. The steps themselves are actually railroad ties left over from WWII, and while the first half of the steps are moderately steep, it’s the final push to the 1,100-foot summit that make your legs really start to burn.The reward for reaching the top, however, is unobstructed, 360-degree of the southeastern section of O‘ahu. Gaze down towards Hanauma Bay and the turquoise waters of the crater, and watch as waves break along Sandy Beach and form foamy ribbons of white. Neighboring Diamond Head looms in the west and is backed by Honolulu, and the island of Moloka‘i—and sometimes Lana‘i—float on the eastern horizon. To explore Koko Crater’s dry interior instead of hiking to the top, the Koko Crater Botanical Garden offers self-guided tours of the 60-acre basin and its colorful dryland landscape.

Panoramic ocean views, strange rock formations and smoothed shelves with wave-battered edges await at Lanai Lookout. This popular scenic overlook on a promontory north of Kahauloa Cove is so named because it affords sweeping views of the neighboring islands of Lanai, Molokai and Maui on a clear day. Though it may be challenging for visitors to peel their eyes away from the turbulent blue sea, turning 180 degrees provides a rewarding view of the southern slopes of Koko Crater, a dormant volcano climbable via a trail that follows old railroad ties to the summit rim.Lanai Lookout has little more infrastructure than a parking lot with space for just under two dozen cars, but it’s worth it to circle for a space in the early hours of the morning when the sun rises over the horizon beyond the Oahu’s Windward Coast; visitors don’t stay here long. Another good time to visit? Between November and April, when the lookout becomes one of the island’s best locales for spotting visiting humpback whales—many of which spout, dive and frolic in the waters between Oahu and Maui.

Just across the street from the tropical Pacific Ocean in downtown Honolulu, the four-story Ala Moana Center (often just called Ala Moana) is currently the world’s largest outdoor shopping mall. With 2.4 million square feet of retail space alone (that’s as much as 42 football fields!), the sprawling property boasts 340 shops and 80 restaurants including national and international name brands chains (Burberry, Cartier, Apple, Gap, Macy’s, Starbucks, California Pizza Kitchen and Barnes & Noble) as well as Hawaii-only outlets (Happy Wahine Boutique, Big Island Candies, Kahala Sportswear, Martin & MacArthur, Honolulu Coffee Co. and Sand People). Free live entertainment—from singing competitions to hula performances and fashion shows—often take place in its central corridor stage. Always bustling, Ala Moana Center is the place to see and be seen for residents and visitors alike.The revamped Shirokiya Japan Village walk, the last stronghold of an otherwise extinct Japanese department store, is perhaps the mall’s most unique-to-Hawaii offering. The space was revamped in 2016 and boasts 32 different Japanese food vendors, shopping, artwork and a spirit garden all fashioned to look like the thoroughfares of a traditional monzen-machi village.

Situated on a hill overlooking Kealakekua Bay, St. Benedict’s Painted Church is a small yet beautiful church known for its lavishly painted interior. An active Roman Catholic parish, the church welcomes visitors and is also listed on the Hawaii State Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historic Places.

Though this stately two-story lava rock and stucco home in downtown Kailua-Kona is no castle, it did serve as a vacation home for royalty in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.Built by Hawaii’s second governor John Adams Kuakini in 1838, the six-room estate was handed down to Princess Ruth Keelikolani after his death, and she opened its doors to many visiting members of the Hawaiian royal family including King Kalākaua and Queen Kapiolani. The palace today is run as a museum of Hawaiian artifacts downstairs—including kapa (bark) cloth, King Kamehameha’s own giant spears, royal busts—and a showcase of royal life with original Victorian furniture and details—koa wood furniture, original bed frames and quilts—upstairs. Docent-led tours give a brief overview of Hawaiian and palace history including the rapid adoption of European tastes evident in the home’s décor.Set on prime ocean-front real estate in the heart of downtown Kailua-Kona off Alii Drive, the palace is close to other historic attractions including the islands' oldest Christian church (1820) across the street and the final residence of Island-uniting King Kamehameha I visible from the palace’s top floor lanai (porch). A small gift shop on the property outside the palace sells Hawaiian cultural books and souvenirs, and one Sunday a month, traditional music and hula performances take place on the palace lawn.

Mauna Loa’s status as the largest active volcano in the world doesn’t stop travelers from flocking to the rugged mountain—in fact, it attracts them. With its last eruption occurring in 1984, the volcano is known for non-explosive activity, making it an inviting and worry-free destination to explore on scenic drives or backcountry trails.

Even as early 1877, the Hawaiian Royalty recognized the need for preserving open space. With the city of Honolulu rapidly growing, King David Kalakaua—the last reigning King of Hawaii—allocated 130 of Waikiki’s acres towards a park for the people of Hawaii. Naming it after his beloved wife—Queen Kapiolani—the park today offers sprawling green fields for locals, visitors, and families.In addition to the soccer fields, tennis courts, and jogging paths, the park also houses the Honolulu Zoo and public art shows on the weekends. For special events, the Waikiki Shell is a performance venue set in the middle of Kapiolani Park, where some of the world’s largest musical acts will throw concerts, benefits, and shows just minutes from Waikiki Beach. The Honolulu Marathon—held every December—usually finishes at Kapiolani Park, and even during other times of the year, this is a happening place for Honolulu residents to escape the city rush.

In the shadow of verdant mountains, and shaded by palm and ironwood trees, Makua Beach has golden sand and baby blue waters. The post-card-perfect setting was featured in the 1958 movie South Pacific, but it’s the labyrinthine underwater reef, snaked with caves, that lends the beach its nickname and draws visitors today: Tunnels Beach is one of Kauai’s best snorkeling spots. Best of all, it’s frequently uncrowded.Protected within a small cupped North Shore bay, two layers of reef offer different experiences. The smaller inshore reef boasts calmer waters and frequent sea turtle sightings, while the expansive offshore reef is a well-utilized scuba dive site with more varied terrain—some sections drop to 70 feet. The ocean-facing edge of the outer reef is popular with expert surfers. Both reefs are home to colorful wrasse, moray eels, butterfly fish and Hawaii’s state fish, the hard-to-pronounce Humuhumunukunukuapua`a. If you’re lucky, you may even see an endangered Hawaiian monk seal hauled out on the shore.

Historic Honolulu Harbor, the state’s original hub for commerce and immigration, stretches from Honolulu’s downtown business district in the east to Ke’ehi Lagoon in the west. A center of activity even prior to European contact, the harbor today—a series of dredged channels and basins encircling the less-than-a-square-mile Sand Island—is picturesque in parts and downright commercial in others. Despite a massive molasses spill that occurred here in Sept. 2013, there are those who say the harbor is among the cleanest commercial ports in the nation. To see for yourself, head down to Pier 7 where modern cruise ships still occasionally dock (if you didn’t arrive by boat, look for the giant wooden Falls of Clyde sailing ship fronting the now-shuttered Hawaii Maritime Center). There, just along the concrete harbor wall, is a veritable open-air aquarium: coral, tropical reef fish and the occasional reef shark can be seen making a living just steps from downtown skyscrapers.Among the best places to watch the big cargo ships that supply the city with cars, groceries, goods and commodities are from the harbor-facing restaurants in the Aloha Tower MarketplaceComplex, or from the bars and restaurants located directly on Sand Island. During the 1800s, the harbor was the main point of entry into the state for visitors and immigrants, while Sand Island was used as a quarantine checkpoint for sick passengers. Also worth a visit are Piers 36-38, home to the Honolulu Fish Action—the largest tuna auction in the United States—severalnotable seafood restaurants and moorings for the state’s largest commercial fishing fleet.

You might never guess that the twisting labyrinth of branches, roots, and foliage engulfing the Banyan Tree Park square all stem from a single banyan tree. Planted in front of the Lahaina courthouse in 1873, the tree now consists of a dense canopy expanding more than 60 feet (18 meters) with innumerable offshoots providing shade for picnickers, art shows, and passers-by.

This popular stretch of Kohala Coast beach, commonly called A-Bay, offers beachgoers a little bit of everything needed for a fun day, with good facilities and plenty of water sports. Palms trees add to the picturesque setting, framing sunset views in the evening and providing shade in the heat of the day.

The shriek of the Honolulu Zoo’s population of endangered white-handed gibbons is a familiar morning sound to Waikiki’s regular surfing contingent. The sprawling 42-acre (17-hectare) zoo, located in Kapiolani Park, near Waikiki Beach, is home to more than 900 species, including many animals (and plants) found only in Hawaii.

Aliʻi Kula Lavender Farm is set on the slopes of Haleakala Crater in upcountry Maui and offers garden tours, lavender-flavored treats, and a shop full of lavender products. The bluff-top farm boasts 45 different varieties of lavender, plus other Mediterranian and native Hawaiian plants. You can enjoy purple blossoms backed by ocean views.

Kauai’s Fern Grotto is a fern-covered lava cave on the south fork of the Wailua River. Once off-limits to all but Hawaiian royalty, the Fern Grotto is now accessible to visitors, but only by boat. The grotto acts like an amphitheatre, and musicians are drawn to the site for its incredible natural acoustics.

Situated on Maui’s northern tip past the sweltering shores of Lahaina, Kapalua is a luxurious enclave of beaches, golf, tennis and resorts. The signature beach—Kapalua Bay—has been voted America’s best, and the Plantation Golf Course regularly hosts the best in professional golf. Snorkel with sea turtles and colorful reef fish at hidden Namalu Bay, or hike the Village Walking Trails that climb their way up the ridge. Wherever you stand in Kapalua, the island of Moloka’i dramatically sits on the not-too-distant horizon, and whitecaps fleck the Pailolo Channel that separates the two islands. In winter, locals flock to Fleming Beach Park for the bodysurfing and waves, and secret, white sand Oneloa Bay is a sanctuary of footprints and silence. And, even though tony Kapalua is only 20 minutes from Lahaina, its exposure to the trade winds means it’s always cooler just a few minutes up the road.

The dramatic landscape of Kilauea Point—a rocky promontory crowned by a historic red-topped lighthouse—is one of Kauai’s most scenic spots. And on this Island, that’s saying a lot. Pacific trade winds whip up the water surrounding the blustery point and drive them, shattering into millions of tiny droplets, against the more than 500-foot-tall sheer cliff faces. Seabirds soar and dive into the deep blue water for food.Most of the expansive 203-acre refuge is off limits—it protects some of the largest nesting colonies of seabirds in the main Hawaiian Islands. But, from the short interpretive trail between the entrance and the lighthouse, it’s easy to find red- and white-tailed tropic birds, albatross, great frigatebirds, red- and brown-footed boobies and wedge-tailed shearwaters flying overhead. Hawaiian spinner dolphins, rare monk seals and migrating humpback whales (Nov. and April), can sometimes be spotted offshore. The area is also an important habitat for the nēnē, the world’s rarest goose and Hawaii’s state bird.Visitors can climb the spiral staircase to the top of the lighthouse, built in 1913, for outstanding ocean panoramas on tours offered two days a week. A small bookstore and information center has details about the various birds and habitats in the refuge.

Manoa Falls is a beautiful, moderate, 1-hour hike close to downtown Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Thanks to a paid parking lot and gravel path, it is one of the island’s most accessible hikes—and with a 150-foot (46-meter) rushing waterfall at the end, it is well worth the effort.

Two of the oldest wooden houses in Hawaii—the former site of the Sandwich Islands mission, the Island’s first western colony—remain not far from the skyrises of downtown Honolulu’s financial and government district. The Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives is comprised of the Frame House, the Chamberlain House and the Printing Office—built between 1821 and 1841, and restored and furnished as they would have been in the early 19th century. Each feature small exhibits and artifacts detailing early missionary’s way of life: a recreation of a medical dispensary, chamber pots in the rooms and quilts on the beds. Short-term exhibitions regularly make an appearance too and have included features on children’s toys, portraits and portrait-making, quilts and reading. The site also includes a library featuring over 12,000 printed works, handwritten missionary journals and a printing press used to create the first written Hawaiian language materials. A block away, you’ll find the old coral Kawaiaha’o mission church and the state’s first Christian cemetery, still in use today. The buildings of the Hawaiian Mission Houses site are listed on the National Register of Historic places, and also serve as a venue for regular public programming including workshops, teas and lectures.

Visit the Waikiki Aquarium to see and learn all about Hawaii's marine life. Observe a diverse range of species in the aquarium's 3,500 marine animals on exhibit, from monk seals to reef sharks. Some you might spot later on a snorkeling trip, while others are difficult to glimpse in the wild.

On a grand section of the coast of the Big Island of Hawaii, the best way to see Onomea Bay is with a scenic drive — granting views of the coastline, turquoise waters, and tropical forest. The Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden is located along the route, as is the Onomea Arch (which collapsed during an earthquake in 1956.) With many streams and waterfalls, it is a particularly lush area of the Big Island.Historically the bay was a small fishing village for early Hawaiians, and became one of the Big Island’s biggest landing spots for large ships. There were once taro and sugarcane fields growing in the hills above, with both products being shipped out from the bay. The “Donkey Trail” is the path (now hike) from the remains of the old sugar mill that was used to take products down to the water for wider distribution. Now the bay is a much-loved scenic spot popular with snorkelers and those driving through.