Stacks to do in Honolulu
This American city is a popular destination for young and old, writes Max Anderson.
Honolulu delivers exactly what you expect of it – a sparkling crescent of colour, kitsch and curling surf. And if you grew up watching endless repeats of Blue Hawaii and Hawaii Five-O you’d be disappointed with anything else. Honolulu is one of the world’s most striking cities, a long, slender strip of 400,000 people with beach out the front and a phalanx of extinct volcanoes out the back. No matter how many modern hotels get built behind Waikiki Beach, it always looks fabulously 1950s. Embrace it – buy the Aloha shirt, take the ukulele lesson, and definitely hire a longboard at $10-$20 an hour (the Waikiki surf is as benign as the island). If you need to get serious, head for Bishop Museum (bishopmuseum.org), where an imposing piece of late 19th century architecture has been converted to tell Hawaii’s story from the time it was first squeezed out of a magma reserve.
There’s history and art at beautiful Iolani Palace (iolanipalace.org), the only royal seat to hold court on American soil. And the profound influence of Chinese sugarcane labourers on Hawaii’s racial mix has its roots in the gritty Chinatown. One of America’s great eating experiences awaits you in Honolulu – don’t miss Uncle Bo’s Pupu Bar & Grill (unclebosrestaurant.com). Utterly unprepossessing from the outside (and on a perfectly ordinary street), inside is a space of colour and light, and stellar plates of modern Hawaiian cuisine. A few doors up, Leonard’s Bakery sells a soft, chewy Portuguese doughnut that has people queuing from 5.30am.
At dawn, you should do cheerful beachfront breakfast at Lulu’s (luluswaikiki.com); at dusk, flex the plastic for a table at the gorgeous 1927 Royal Hawaiian hotel right on Waikiki. Diamond Head (hawaiistateparks.org) is an imposing piece of topography within city limits. The extinct volcano is a popular earlymorning hike, with the 90-minute round-trip crossing the crater floor before scaling the rim to look over Honolulu. The stroll back to Waikiki is also terrific, taking you past seafront real estate where Honolulu’s rich and famous hang 10 (million dollars). Pearl Harbour is the place to visit the poignant floating memorial moored over the wreck of the USS Arizona, sunk on December 7, 1941. But the naval base complex is home to other attractions, including the USS Bowfin submarine, the Mighty Mo battleship and a slew of LARRY DOWNING thoughtful, balanced and conciliatory displays. For a happier memorial, visit the statue of Duke Kahanamoku on Waikiki. The 1920s father of modern surfing is always garlanded with fresh flowers. If you have lots of hula moolah, stay at handsome beachfront hotels like the Moana Surf-Rider (moana-surfrider.com) or Royal Hawaiian (royal-hawaiian.com). If you haven’t, try the big old Queen Kapiolani (queenkapiolani.com). Visiting the USS Arizona memorial is free, but for safe passage book online before your visit (recreation.gov). The complex gets 1.8 million visitors a year, and ferrying them all to the relatively small memorial is a military operation. – Traveller ● Max Anderson travelled at his own expense.