Things to do in O'ahu
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Eggs 'n Things
Never empty, this bustling diner specializes in hearty breakfast fare, from thick pancakes done up with whip cream to steak and eggs. The odd hours reflect its clientele, early morning tourists, graveyard shift workers and post-clubbers.
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Ala Moana Center
Holy fashion, this attractive open-air shopping mall could compete on an international runway with some of Asia's most famous malls. And the shoppers are top-shelf fashionistas, stocking up on couture. The usual mall anchors are here, (Sears and Macy's) as are the designer name brands (you name it) and the trendy teen brands (Abercrombie & Fitch).
A favorite for local color is the Crack Seed Center, where you can just scoop from jars full of pickled mangoes, candied ginger, dried cuttlefish and banzai (rice crackers, nuts and dried fish) mix. The ground floor or the shopping center is also the hub for TheBus service.
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Roy's
Chef Roy Yamaguchi's namesake restaurants are sometimes referred to as the Spago of the islands. The O'ahu-born enterprise was an early innovator of Hawaiian Regional Cuisine, which emphasizes fresh local ingredients and blends European, Asian and Polynesian flavors. Today, Roy's restaurants have populated the islands and mainland, but this Hawai'i Kai location, east of Waikiki, is one of the originals.
A more centrally located restaurant is slotted for the new Waikiki Beach Walk (corner of Kalia Rd and Lewers St).
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Diamond Head Market & Grill
Fast-food for an upscale neighborhood, this takeaway counter and deli market feeds families who don't want to heat up the kitchen as well as career bachelors with healthy versions of plate lunches. The salmon plate gets an approving nod from others in line and there are picnic tables beside the parking lot for immediate consumption. In the market, you can stock up on salads and picnic supplies.
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Sam Choy's Breakfast, Lunch & Crab
Its menu offers huge portions of local specialties, such as fried noodles or loco moco (three hamburger patties and more, buried in gravy) for breakfast, along with mainland staples such as bacon and eggs, and fresh crab. The food is great, a high-quality change from overpriced hotel fare. The on-site Big Aloha Brewery pours some of the best microbrews in town.
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Ward Farmers Market
Ward Farmers Market, across the street from Ward Center, is this almost daily fresh market and grocery. For the average tourist, a visit here is more like sightseeing for food and is a good introduction to Hawaiian and Asian dishes and ingredients, from local produce to prepared meals. The market covers the budget range from blue collar to gourmet imports.
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He'eia State Park
He'eia State Park on Kealohi Point, just off Kamehameha Hwy, has a good view of He'eia Fishpond on the right and He'eia-Kea Harbor on the left. The fishpond, an impressive survivor from the days when stone walled ponds of fish raised for royalty were common on Hawaiian shores, remains largely intact despite the invasive mangroves.
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Down to Earth Natural Foods
Honolulu's largest natural-foods supermarket has a small sandwich and salad café with lots of vegetarian options. The grocery section has a decent selection of local and organic produce including Hawaii's tasty papaya and apple bananas.
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Imanas Tei
At this top-rated izakaya (a Japanese pub serving food), enjoy world-class sake while grazing on delectable sushi and crowd-pleasing nabemono (do-it-yourself meat and vegetable soups).
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Rainbow Drive-in
If nothing else, it's refreshing to have a president who appreciates plate lunches and shave ice. President Obama has enjoyed plate lunches at Waikiki's Rainbow Drive-In
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Ono Hawaiian Food
A legendary destination for traditional Hawaiian dishes and local grinds - get a combo plate, but don't miss the kalua pig.
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Makapu'u Point
Makapu'u Point has a precipitous view of the ocean from its 647ft pedestal. The coastal lighthouse at its tip marks the easternmost point of O'ahu. The gate to the mile-long service road is locked to keep out private vehicles, but hikers can park off the highway just beyond and walk in. Although not difficult, it's an uphill walk, and conditions can be hot and windy. The path and the lighthouse lookout give fine coastal views and, during winter, whales are sometimes visible offshore.
About a third of a mile further along the highway, a scenic roadside lookout spies across the coastline at aqua-blue waters outlined by white sand and black lava beds - an even more spectacul…
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University of Hawai'i at Manoa
Born too late to take advantage of the tweedy academic architecture of the mainland, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, the central campus of the statewide university system, is a modern complex filled with shade trees and well-bronzed students. UH has strong programs in astronomy, second-language studies, geophysics, marine sciences, and Hawaiian and Pacific studies. The campus attracts students from islands throughout the Pacific.
Staff at the Ticket Information & ID Center provide campus maps and can answer general questions about the university. Free one-hour walking tours of the campus, emphasizing history and architecture, leave from the Campus Center at 14:00 on Monda…
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Kualoa Regional Park
The 153-acre Kualoa Regional Park on Kualoa Point provides an expansive vista of offshore islands and inland mountains. In ancient times Kualoa was once one of the most sacred places on O'ahu. When a chief stood on Kualoa Point, passing canoes lowered their sails in respect. There are picnic tables, rest rooms, showers and a lifeguard. Camping is allowed from Friday through Sunday. The children of chiefs were brought here to be raised.
It may also have been a place of refuge where kapu (taboo) breakers and fallen warriors could seek reprieve from the law. Because of its rich significance to Hawaiians, Kualoa Regional Park is listed in the National Register of Historic Pla…
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Dole Plantation
About halfway between Wahiawa and Hale'iwa on the North Shore, the food empire behind the Dole Plantation is almost synonymous with Hawaii. What started out as a fruit stand in the heart of O'ahu's pineapple country is now a bustling gift shop with various kid-friendly activities. Miles of pineapple fields surround the complex and Dole's processing plant sits across the street.
The pineapple industry in O'ahu was established in 1901 by James D Dole, a cousin of Sanford B Dole, then president of the Republic of Hawaii after the overthrow of the queen. Not only was Dole successful at growing pineapples in the temperamental soil but he introduced industrialization into the …
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Queen Emma Summer Palace
Queen Emma was a consort of Kamehameha IV and her summer palace is now open to the public as an historic house museum. Emma was three-quarters royal Hawaiian and a quarter English. She was a granddaughter of the captured British sailor John Young, who became a friend and adviser to Kamehameha I. The house is also known as Hanaiakamalama, the name of John Young's home in Kawaihae on the Big Island, where he served as governor.
The Youngs left the luxurious home to Queen Emma, who often slipped away from her more formal downtown home to spend time at this retreat - a bit like an old Southern plantation house - columned porch, high ceilings and louvered windows catching the …
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National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific
Today it's the site of a 114-acre National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific where the remains of over 25,000 US soldiers are interred, more than half of whom were killed in the Pacific during WWII. The remains of Ernie Pyle, the distinguished war correspondent who covered both world wars and was hit by machine gun fire on Ie Shima during the final days of WWII, lie in section D, grave 109.
Five stones to the left, at grave D-1, is the marker for astronaut Ellison Onizuka, the Big Island native who perished in the 1986 Challenger space-shuttle disaster. Their resting places are marked with the same style of flat granite stone that marks each of the cemetery's graves. A hug…
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USS Arizona Memorial
One of the most significant WWII attractions in the USA, the USS Arizona Memorial presents the history of the Pearl Harbor attack and commemorates the fallen service members. Run by the National Park Service, the memorial comprises two sections: the mainland visitor center and offshore shrine.
Within the visitor center is a museum that presents WWII memorabilia and a model of the battleship and shrine, as well as a documentary film for historical background. The offshore shrine was built over the midsection of the sunken USS Arizona with deliberate geometry to represent initial defeat, ultimate victory and eternal serenity. One of three chambers inside the shrine acts as …
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US Army Museum of Hawai'i
The US Army Museum of Hawai'i traces the military history of consolidation of power under King Kamehameha in the 1700s to the US army's ongoing role on the island. Located at Fort DeRussy Military Reservation, the museum occupies Battery Randolph, a reinforced concrete building erected in 1911 as a coastal artillery battery.
The battery once held two formidable 14-inch disappearing guns with an 11-mile range, designed to recoil into the concrete walls for reloading after firing, which shook the whole neighborhood. A 55-ton lead counterweight then returned the carriage to position. Also on display is a Cobra helicopter and various military tanks and machinery. On the 2nd …
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USS Missouri
The decommissioned battleship USS Missouri, nicknamed 'Mighty Mo,' provides a unique historical 'bookend' to the US campaign in the Pacific during WWII. If you're a history buff the USS Missouri is a worthwhile sight, but if your time or money is limited a visit to the USS Arizona Memorial will suffice. The 887ft-long USS Missouri launched near the end of WWII and served as a flagship during the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
On September 2, 1945, the formal Japanese surrender that ended WWII took place on the battleship's deck. The USS Missouri is now docked on Ford Island, just a few hundred yards from the sunken remains of the USS Arizona and is managed by the nonpro…
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Kane'aki Heiau
Set within the Makaha Valley, this is one of the best restored sacred sites on the island. According to legend the rain goddess was impressed with the fishing prowess of a local chief. His generous offering to her was reciprocated with generous rainfall to the parched valley and in turn a heiau was built in her honor. The site was later used as a luakini, a temple to the war god Ku and a place for human sacrifices. Kamehameha worshipped here.
The site remained in use until the time of his death in 1812. Restoration, undertaken by the Bishop Museum and completed in 1970, added two prayer towers, a taboo house, drum house, altar and god images. The heiau was reconstructed u…
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Waikiki Beach
The 2-mile stretch of white sand commonly referred to as Waikiki Beach runs from Hilton Hawaiian Village in the west to Kapi'olani Park in the east. Along the way, the beach changes names and personalities. In the early morning, the surprisingly quiet beach belongs to walkers and joggers. Strolling down the beach toward Diamond Head at dawn can actually be a meditative experience.
By midmorning it looks like a normal resort beach - body-board, surfboard and catamaran concessionaires and lots of beached bodies. By noon it's challenging to walk along the packed beach without stepping on anyone.As the beachfront developed, landowners haphazardly constructed seawalls and offs…
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Valley of the Temples
The Valley of the Temples is an interdenominational cemetery in a stunning setting just off the Kahekili Hwy. For most visitors the main attraction is Byodo-In, the 'Temple of Equality.' Dedicated in 1968 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Japanese immigration to Hawaii, Byodo-In is a replica of the 950-year-old temple in Kyoto, Japan. For a panoramic view of the valley, head up to the hilltop mausoleum with the cross.
The Byodo-In temple's symmetry is a classic example of Japanese Heian architecture and garden design symbolizing the Pure Land of Mahayana Buddhism. The seated 9ft-tall tall Buddha in the main hall is positioned to catch the first rays of morning sunli…
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Shark's Cove
Shark's Cove is beautiful both above and below the surface. The origin of its name is uncertain, but sharks are no more common here than anywhere else on the island. It's part of the Pupukea Marine Life Conservation District, dedicated to conserving the unusual coral reef here, noteworthy because of its resistance to the impact of big winter waves. From May to October, when the seas are generally calm, it offers great snorkeling and diving.
Turtles are commonly sighted and often crawl up onto the ledges so that the waves and smaller fishes can clean their shells of algae. A fair number of beginning divers take lessons here, while the underwater caves and caverns will thri…
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Mission Houses Museum
Containing three of the original buildings of the Sandwich Islands Mission headquarters, the Mission Houses Museum is authentically furnished with handmade quilts on the beds, settees in the parlor and iron cooking pots in the stone fireplaces. The first missionaries packed more than their bags when they left Boston; they actually brought a prefabricated wooden house, now called the Frame House, around the Horn with them!
Designed to withstand cold New England winter winds, the small windows instead block out Honolulu's cooling trade winds, keeping the two-story house hot and stuffy. Erected in 1821, it's the oldest wooden structure in Hawaii. The coral-block Chamberlain …
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