Hawaii isn't exactly famous for its blue-light-special cost, but you don't need to break your budget to enjoy everything the state capital has to offer.
Honolulu is filled with low-cost things to do, from markets and museums to beaches and stunning scenic drives, as well as lots of sites that tell the story of Hawaii's long, complex history. Listed here are the very best samples by mail to complete in Honolulu.
Hawai'i State Art Museum
With its thought-provoking collections, this public art museum showcases art dating back the 1800s, and each piece has a link with Hawaii. The museum inhabits a grand 1928 Spanish Mission Revival -style building, formerly a YMCA and today a nationally registered historic site.
Upstairs, revolving exhibits of paintings, sculptures, fiber art, photography and mixed media are displayed around themes, like the island's Polynesian heritage, modern social issues or even the natural beauty of land and sea. Hawaii's complex confluence of Asian, Pacific Rim and European cultures can be seen throughout, shaping a pleasing that captures the soul of the islands and also the hearts of the people.
Special events are extremely worthwhile. Around the first Friday evening every month, galleries are open with live entertainment and a family-friendly atmosphere. Drop by at noon around the last Tuesday from the month free of charge "Art Lunch" lectures or between 11am and 3pm around the second Saturday for hands-on Hawaiian arts and crafts, often made with kids in mind.
Pu'u 'Ualaka'a State Wayside Park
Pu'u 'Ualaka'a State Wayside Park offers the best free view in Honolulu! Only at that hillside park, sweeping views extend from Diamond Head on the left, across Waikiki and downtown Honolulu, towards the Wai'anae Range around the right. Manchester international is visible around the coast and Pearl Harbor beyond that. Nowhere Pacific is a backdrop to everything. It's under 2.5 miles up Round Top Dr from Makiki St towards the park entrance. Signs detail the area's history as a macadamia nut farm.
Chinatown Markets
The commercial heart of Chinatown revolves around its markets and food shops. Noodle factories, pastry shops and produce stalls line the narrow sidewalks, always crowded with cart-pushing people and errand-running families. An institution since 1904, the O'ahu Market sells everything an individual cooking Chinese food needs: ginger root, fresh octopus, quail eggs, jasmine rice, slabs of tuna, long beans and salted jellyfish. You may also spot a pig's head one of the stalls.
At the beginning of the nearby pedestrian mall is the newer, but equally vibrant, Kekaulike Market. At the very top end from the pedestrian mall is Maunakea Marketplace, using its popular food court.
Kawaiaha'o Church
Often regarded in the past because the "Westminster Abbey of Hawaii," O'ahu's oldest church was built on the website where the first missionaries constructed a grass thatch church shortly after arriving in 1820. The initial structure seated 300 Hawaiians on lauhala mats, woven from hala (screwpine) leaves. This 1842 Colonial Georgian (Palladian) style church is made of 14,000 coral slabs, which divers chiseled from O'ahu's underwater reefs – a weighty task that took four years.
The clock was donated by Kamehameha III, and the old clock, set up in 1850, still keeps accurate time. The enclosed rear pews of the church, marked by kahilii (feathered staffs) and velvet padding, were for the ali'i (Hawaiian royalty).
The tomb of King Lunalilo, the short-lived successor to Kamehameha V, is located in the main entrance towards the Kawaiaha'o Church grounds. Lunalilo died from tuberculosis last month 3, 1874, following a short reign of the year. Due to his popularity and standing as Hawaii's first elected monarch, he became referred to as "The People's King." He was the very first "elected monarch" because King Kamehameha V, the last of the Kamehameha kings, died in 1872 without naming a successor.
The cemetery to the rear from the church provides a who's who of colonial history: early Protestant missionaries are buried alongside other important figures, including the infamous Sanford Dole, who became the first territorial governor of Hawaii after Queen Lili'uokalani was overthrown.
Izumo Taishakyo Mission
This Shintō shrine was built by Japanese immigrants in 1906. It was confiscated during WWII by the city and wasn't returned towards the community before the early 1960s. Cleaning your hands in the shrine entrance basin is recognized as an action of purification for those who arrived at pray. A large number of good-luck amulets are sold at their office, especially on January 1 to 3 once the shrine heaves with individuals who come seeking New Year's blessings.
Honolulu Museum of Art
First Hawaiian Bank's high-rise headquarters on Bishop St is home to the downtown gallery of the Honolulu Museum of Art, featuring fascinating mixed-media exhibits of contemporary and contemporary works by Hawaii artists. Exhibits cover several floors and the building itself features a four-story-high art-glass wall incorporating 185 prisms.
Aloha Tower
Built in 1926, the 10-story Aloha Tower was a landmark and when the city's tallest building. In the golden days when all tourists to Hawaii arrived by ship, this pre-WWII waterfront icon – using its four-sided clock tower inscribed with "Aloha" – greeted every visitor. These days, Hawaii Pacific University occupies the mostly defunct Aloha Tower Marketplace, which was designed to ensnare people coming to the nearby cruise ship docks. Go ahead and take elevator towards the top-floor observation deck free of charge for fabulous 360-degree views of Honolulu and the waterfront.
Manoa Chinese Cemetery
The Lin Yee Chung Manoa Chinese Cemetery is on the knoll nestled around the eastern slopes from the Manoa Valley. Founded in 1852, with all the elements of design of a classic Chinese cemetery, it is the oldest and largest Chinese cemetery around the Hawaiian Islands. Stroll one of the gates and gravesites for any consider local history and enjoy the views from the valley mouth towards the tall buildings of Waikiki.
Washington Place
Formerly the governor's residence, the colonial-style Washington Place was built in 1846 by US sea captain John Dominis. The captain's son became the governor of O'ahu and married the Hawaiian princess who later became Queen Lili'uokalani. Following the queen was released from house arrest inside 'Iolani Palace in 1896, she lived here until her death in 1917. Your building is still used for official events. Free tours take place every Thursday, but you must register in advance.
Hawaii State Capitol
Built in the architecturally interesting 1960s, Hawaii's state capitol is really a poster child of conceptual postmodernism: two cone-shaped legislative chambers have sloping walls to represent volcanoes; the supporting columns in the shape of coconut palms symbolize the archipelago's eight main islands; along with a large encircling pool represents the Gulf of mexico surrounding Hawaii. The building is closed to the public, but visitors can walk-through the open-air rotunda and peer through viewing windows into the legislative chambers. Learn more about it having a self-guided tour brochure.
National Memorial Cemetery from the Pacific
Northeast of downtown Honolulu is a bowl-shaped crater, nicknamed the Punchbowl, formed with a long-extinct volcano. Hawaiians known as the crater Puowaina ("hill of human sacrifices"). It's believed that at an ancient heiau (temple) here, the slain bodies of kapu (taboo) breakers were ceremonially cremated upon an altar. Today, the remains of ancient Hawaiians sacrificed to appease the gods share the crater floor with the bodies of more than 50,000 soldiers.
The remains of Ernie Pyle, the distinguished war correspondent who was killed in Okinawa throughout the final times of WWII, lie in section D, grave 109. Five stones to the left, at grave D-1, may be the marker for Ellison Onizuka, the Hawai'i (Big island of hawaii) astronaut who perished within the 1986 Challenger space shuttle disaster. Other notables buried here include longtime US senator and WWII vet Daniel K Inouye. Screens at the visitors center in the cemetery entrance let you lookup the place of any gravesite.
Even with no war sights, Punchbowl may be worth the drive up for the plum views of the city and Diamond Head. After entering the cemetery, bear left and go to the top of the hill, where there is a sweeping ocean-view lookout. Special events held at the cemetery include Memorial Day ceremonies to honor veterans along with a traditional Easter sunrise Christian service.
Sand Island State Recreation Area
A barely visited half-mile ribbon of sand hides in plain sight from much of Honolulu. Industrial Sand Island, sitting between your airport and also the port, hosts this large urban park. The beach faces the open Pacific and it has fine-grained sand. It's backed by vast lawns dotted with trees and public facilities.
From the sand there are fine views of planes taking off (wave to the morose faces overhead winging their way home) as well as the high-rises of downtown and Waikiki. On the downside, the park is affected with shabby maintenance and there's a few people wandering about who clearly don't have any place else to visit. It's additionally a bit of a trek to achieve the beach. In the intersection where the Sand Island Access Rd heads southwest in the Nimitz Hwy (Hwy 92), it's in regards to a 4-mile drive, as you've to drive up to the east end from the island before hooking back to the beach.
Kuan Yin Temple
With its green ceramic-tile roof and red columns, this ornate Chinese Buddhist temple is Honolulu's oldest. The richly carved interior is filled with the sweet, pervasive odor of burning incense. The temple is dedicated to Kuan Yin, bodhisattva of mercy, whose statue is the largest within the interior prayer hall. Devotees burn paper "money" for prosperity and best of luck, while offerings of fresh flowers and fruit are placed at the altar.
Royal Mausoleum State Monument
Known as Mauna 'Ala, or Fragrant Hills, in Hawaiian, this is actually the final resting host to Hawaii's two prominent royal families, the Kamehamehas and also the Kalakauas. Completed in 1865 for Prince Albert, it's next to the public O'ahu Cemetery. The mausoleum is home to the remains of just about all of Hawaii's monarchs, their consorts, and various princes and princesses. There is no entrance fee to this sacred spot to all Hawaiians, where the manicured grounds are peaceful and the Gothic Revival chapel is on the National Register of Historic Places.
John Young Museum of Art
A short walk downhill from the UH Campus Center, the John Young Museum of Art features 20th-century Hawaii painter John Young's assortment of artifacts from the Pacific islands, Africa, Asia and Mesoamerica, mostly ceramics, pottery and sculpture. The museum includes a lovely outdoor courtyard and hosts excellent special exhibitions – often with Hawaii themes. The skill Gallery, in the nearby art building, can also be free to visit, as well as hosts excellent contemporary exhibitions inside a 4000-sq-ft brutalist octagonal exhibition space encompassed by bamboo.
Ali'iolani Hale
The first major government building ordered by the Hawaiian monarchy in 1874, the "House of Heavenly Kings" was designed by Australian architect Thomas Rowe to be a royal palace, even though it was never used as a result. Don't miss the King Kamehameha V Judiciary History Center to determine short films and exhibits about the reign of Kamehameha I, the rule of law under the Hawaiian Monarchy, and martial law in Hawaii during WWII. The middle is free to visit, and is a great place to learn about Hawaii's judicial process and legal history during ke au 'ōiwi wale (the native-only period) through kēia manawa (current day).
Hiroshima to Honolulu Friendship Torii
In a grassy median known as the Mō'ili'ili Triangle Park sits a symbol of Honolulu's partners to Japan. This bright red Shintō gate is a half-size replica of a famous torii (traditional gate) in the water's fringe of Miyajima Island, just south of Hiroshima. Few know that Honolulu and Hiroshima are sister cities, even fewer know that the two cities' ties go back to the 1800s – once the first wave of Japanese immigrants were sucked from the Hiroshima region.
Tantalus-Round Top Scenic Drive
Starting 2 miles above downtown Honolulu, a narrow switchback road cuts its in place in to the Makiki Valley's forest reserves and climbs almost to the top of Mt. Tantalus (2013ft), aka Pu'u 'Ohi'a. There's a a profusion of tropical plants on the way, as vines climb towards the tops of telephone poles and twist their way over the wires. This 8.5-mile circuit is a two-way loop called Tantalus Drive on its gulf, Round Top Drive to the east.
Keliiponi Hale
The Keliiponi Hale was erected in front of 'lolani Palace in 1883 as a pavilion for that coronation of King Kalakaua. Because there wasn't any other ranking person to do the job, Kalakaua placed the crown by himself head. The pavilion was later moved to its present site and used as a bandstand. These days, the Royal Hawaiian Band plays free concerts near the pavilion at noon on most Fridays. However, during COVID, their schedule has been altered. Check their website for updates.
Cathedral of St. Andrew
King Kamehameha IV, attracted to the royal Church of England, decided to build their own cathedral and founded the Anglican Church in Hawaii in 1861. The cathedral's cornerstone was laid in 1867, four years after his death on St Andrew's Day – hence the building's name. The architecture is French Gothic, using stone and stained glass shipped from England.
