|
Waikiki
Waikiki is a long stretch of picture-perfect white-sand beach just southeast of downtown Honolulu. Its shores are lined with swanky high-rise hotels set against the scenic backdrop of Diamond Head. It boasts more than 30,000 hotel rooms; close to 1000 restaurants, bars and clubs; and more shops, shams and shysters than anyone cares to count.
.
The 2-mile (3.5km) stretch of white sand that runs from the Hilton Hawaiian Village to Kapiolani Beach Park is commonly called Waikiki Beach. Although it teems midday with beach boys and betties, sunrise strolls here are downright meditative. By midmorning, the surfers, sailors and swimmers begin to amass, and by noon it's a challenge to get to the water without stepping on somebody. At the southern end of Waikiki Beach, boogie boarders cluster at Kapahulu Groin, delighting onlookers with their daredevil wave riding. And there's always the natural beauty of the area, with its spectacular orange sunsets, bath-warm waters and night skies overrun with stars.
Chinatown
A walk through Chinatown is a bit like a whirlwind tour across Asia - although it's predominantly Chinese, there are sizable Vietnamese, Thai and Filipino communities as well. The bustling market area could be right out of a Hong Kong back street, and the fire-breathing dragons curled around the red pillars of the Bank of Hawaii are as celestial as any you're likely to run across. In these few blocks, you can get a tattoo, consult an herbalist, munch moon cakes or slurp a steaming bowl of pho, and there are plenty of temples, shrines, noodle factories, antique shops and art galleries to explore.
Bishop Museum
The Bishop Museum is considered to be the best Polynesian anthropological museum in the world. Its Hawaiian Hall has three floors of exhibits documenting the islands' cultural history and includes among its treasures a feather cloak made for Kamehameha I, the king who first united the Hawaiian islands. Other halls brim with masks, weapons, musical instruments and artwork from Pacific cultures as well as Asian and European items brought to the islands by traders.
The Bishop is also home to Hawaii's only planetarium, a natural history hall, and an area where craftspeople demonstrate traditional Hawaiian quilting, lauhala mat weaving and lei making. The museum is about 2.5 miles (4km) northwest of downtown Honolulu, accessible by bus or by car via the H-1.
Diamond Head
Diamond Head is a tuff cone - a hill composed of compacted volcanic ash - formed by a violent steam explosion deep beneath the island's surface long after most of Oahu's volcanic activity had stopped. Its 760ft (230m) peak provides a majestic backdrop to the flair of Waikiki and, as such, it's one of the best-known landmarks in the Pacific.
Tantalus & Makiki Heights
Just 2 miles (3.2km) from downtown Honolulu, a switchback road cuts its way through the lush forest reserve land of the Makiki Valley to the top of 2010ft (600m) Mt Tantalus. A continuous circuit just under 9 miles (14km) long, the western stretch of the road is called Tantalus Drive and the eastern portion is Round Top Drive. As a loop, it offers the finest views of Honolulu available without wings.
Winding past some of the city's swankiest mountainside homes, the well-paved route meets up with several trails leading into the Honolulu Watershed Forest Reserve and Puu Ualakaa State Park. Surprisingly, the only walking most people do here is between their car and the scenic lookouts. Bring your hiking boots along, and you may well have the whole trail to yourself.
|
