Waikiki Attractions only

Attractions in Waikiki

Duke Statue
Kalakaua Ave beachside. The statue is just past the Moana and the Police Station.

This 9ft statue is to represent Duke Kahanamoku. People pose in front of the statue. There are usually always lei's thrown over Duke.

Who is Duke?: "Duke" was a great Hawaiian Ambassador. Duke Kahanamoku-A Hawaiian native, won his first Olympic gold in 1912 when he was 21 years old. He went on to win many more medals, which in itself is enough to make him famous. But he also introduced surfing to the US Atlantic coast and Australia and New Zealand, Being a movie star and a sheriff in Honolulu were two of many great achievements he achieved throughout his life. There are a number of photographs and memorabilia items within Duke's that you can roam and look at while waiting for your table.

The Travel Concierge tip:
- If you make a flower lei, and like us, get all sneezy when it is in a hotel room, suggest that your children take them down to throw over the Duke statue.
-There is a Webcam at the Duke statue. With your back to the statue, look up at the pole near the street. We always get family and friends back home to save the link to the webcam on their devices and then we text them when we are headed there (line it up with time back home) and then they can see us live on a webcam from half-way round the world. Once when Brendan was back home, we lined the girls in front of the statue and texted to ask if he could see them. When he said yes we texted back "Great, we are headed to grab a cuppa...can you watch them for the next half hour??" (Obviously we were joking) The webcam link is here. (You may need to download Media Player for this to work.)

The Travel Concierge Fact: A number of Hawaiians don't like the statue position. They say that the Duke would never have had his back to the ocean. Obviously, it was placed to have the ocean as a backdrop.

Outrigger Rides and surf lessons
My husband is a surfer, and says that the Outrigger is probably one of the closest experiences a non-surfer will have like surfing. We go on and outrigger most trips but not all- I would highly recommend doing it at least once! There are a number of places on Waikiki beach that you can do it.

Surf lessons also can be haggled, especially if you have more than one person that is wanting lessons. Also negotiate whether you can use the board after the lesson to free surf on your own. Often after you hire from them a time or two, you can then negotiate a lower rate. 

The Travel Concierge tip: 
-Don't accept the first offer of price. Walk up and down the beach and compare costs. Cost will vary depending on what the waves are doing, whether it is high or low tide and whether they are busy or not. Haggle for cost and waves. We always get 3 waves. 
- Check with your hotel whether they have any deals with any of the company's. (But still compare to know it is not higher than other ones)

Honolulu Zoo
151 Kapahulu Ave.

Walk down Kalakaua Ave towards Diamond Head. When you get to the end where the park area starts the street curves to the left and you will see the Zoo.
I must admit to being a total Zoo snob, but when your local Zoo is Taronga Zoo can you blame me? We have never done the Zoo here, but if you want details of it, look here.

Waikiki Aquarium
2777 Kalakaua Ave
The aquarium is found right down the Diamond Head end of Kalakaua Ave. Details can be found here.


World Marine Life Conservation District
How to get here: Head on the pathway down Kalakaua Ave towards Diamond Head. Keep going until you get to the Sans Souci Park. Go past the Zoo.You will see a stone wall but keep going until you get to the second stone wall where there is a Lifeguard tower at the front. If yu get to the Barefoot Beach Cafe you have gone just a bit too far.

My family loves to snorkel. This area is a great place to snorkel and see a great variety of sea life. It is not suitable for young children. You really need to have reef shoes as the entrance is full of rock and volcanic rock. We always go right in front of the Lifeguard tower to know that we are being watched if we got into trouble. If you look at the link here, you will see the wall out past the water. We swim on the left side of this. (facing the ocean) We never go out alone. We hold hands with our snorkel buddy so that we don't end up swimming off to another island.

Ala Moana Shops
1450 Ala Moana Blvd

How to get here:
The Bus- 8,13,19,20,23,42, E
Waikiki Trolley- Pink Line

This multi-storey open plan shopping mall is the shopping 'mecca' of Waikiki. The anchor stores here are Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Nordstrom, and Neiman Marcus.
Ala Moana has been undergoing major renovations for the last few years. The wait has been worth it. The store directory is found here.

The Travel Concierge tip: 
-Print off the directory and map and prioritise the stores you want to visit first.
-You will most likely arrive via either The Bus or the Pink line Trolley. You arrive on the beach side of Ala Moana. To get back to Waikiki you will need to exit Ala Moana on the mountain side of the shops. You walk through the carpark to the street and the bus stop.
-If you shop too much and need to get another suitcase (um yes I am so guilty of doing this on a number of trips) DON'T buy a suitcase from Ala Moana if you intend to travel back to Waikiki on the bus. They will not allow you to take it on the bus. You can take it in a taxi, but you will be paying a lot more for the trip. You can buy suitcases from a number of shops in Waikiki including Ross which is in Seaside off Kalakaua on the right-hand side.

Diamond Head
Entry to Diamond Head is $5 per car and $1 per person if you walk in.

How to get there:
You can drive to Diamond Head-personally I think this is the safest with children.
You can catch the Green Line Trolley ( details are here.)
You can walk from Waikiki (if you are super keen!)
You can catch the Bus here. Catch bus 2, 23

The view from the top of Diamond Head is breathtaking. The walk up there is hard, but you can take it as fast or slow as you want to. There is a new section that cuts out what we call "heartbreak steps" This also allows people who cannot get through the narrow ledge of the original path a way to get to the top easier. The suggested time is 1 hr each way. Our best time is 11 minutes but we were running. If you have small children, just take your time. Take a torch or use your torch app on your phone to go through the tunnel. Take water and a camera to record that you made it to the top.

The Travel Concierge tip: When you go through the tunnel and to your right see a very steep set of stairs, go left and you can take the easier route. If you go the steep stairs, you then have sets of circular steps and a ledge you have to crawl through to get to the top.

International Marketplace
The old International Marketplace was knocked down and the new one is due to open in August 2016. Here is the official website.  The anchor store is Saks 5th Avenue.

Complimentary Cultural Activities. There are a number of places in Waikiki that offer complimentary Hawaiian Cultural activities that are not just exclusively for hotel guests but for the general public. Below are a few and their details.

Royal Hawaiian Centre
Kalakaua Ave.

Waikiki Beach Walk
Lewers St

Kuhio Beach Park (near the Duke Statue)
Every Tues, Thurs and Sat night (weather permitting) Nov-Jan 6pm Other months 6:30pm

Ala Moana Centre
Ala Moana Shops Centre Stage.

Iolani Palace
364 S King St. Honolulu
How to Get There: Catch The Bus- 2,13, 42, E or 19, 20 to King or Alakea (nearby)
Details of tours, cost and hours are found here.

The Iolani Palace is the last Royal Palace of Hawaii before it became part of the United States of America as the 50th State. It is a very interesting place to visit. The fact that you can walk through the halls of a Royal Palace is very special. I would really recommend the tour as there are a lot of things that I learnt, that I wouldn't have picked up on a self-guided tour.

You may notice that the Palace has rooms that are very sparsely furnished. When it was taken by American ruling, they took most of the Palace furniture outside and sold it off for prices that were equivalent to if you sold it in modern day at a Garage/Yard sale. When restoring the Palace, the decision was made to only put back into the Palace furniture that had originally been there. they had enough photos of each room to know what was in them. Each room has a photo on an easel showing the room, and you can see what is still missing. Over the years, pieces have been found as far away as Australia. On the year we visited, a family had been clearing out the home of their Grandparents that had recently died and found a suitcase stored away. When they opened it, they found a quilt cover with the Royal crest on it and had returned it to the Palace.

King Kalakaua (this is where the main street in Waikiki gets its name) was very keen to explore the world and adapt to modern technology. He had a telephone and electricity installed in Iolani Palace before the White House and Buckingham Palace. To see what the Palace looks like look here.

Queen Liliuokalani was ruling when the Monarchy was overthrown in a political revolt. (1893)She was imprisoned in the Palace in an upstairs room. You can see the room and see the sewing she did while imprisoned. The Tour is suitable for children as long as they will stay with you and not run around under ropes etc. Everyone who goes into the Palace wears the slippers over their shoes (see below) to make sure they don't damage the floors. Our tour guide told the girls it was their job to polish as much of the floors as possible so she didn't have to later.
Under 5 are free. They need to either be strapped to the parent via a carrier or you can use one of the Palace strollers for free. Their strollers are designed to protect their beautiful wooden floors.