WHAT THE CITY IS LIKE: Honolulu is a melting-pot city with the highest rate of inter-marriage in the country and dozens of ethnic groups represented including significant Filipino, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Hawaiian, and Caucasian populations as will as diverse denominations from East and West. Every house has a bottle of soy sauce and popular Asian dishes such as fried rice and kimchee are island staples. Japanese noodle shops outnumber pizza joints. No surprise, then, that Honolulu has some of the most sophisticated Asian fusion cooking in the world and has become an international Mecca for Asian arts. The city has one of the lowest violent crime rates in the country among large metropolitan areas, although property crime rates – petty theft, stolen cars – are among the highest. Honolulu has very little distinctive architecture and, as a result, a diminished historic feel. But the city makes up for these failings with fabulous cultural offerings, world-class food, and unsurpassed natural beauty at every turn – even within the urban setting. Honolulu residents are a bit more hurried than their Outer Island counterparts but they remain genuinely friendly and ready to help visitors, for the most part. It's a big city with a laid-back vibe that's just now coming into its own.
WHAT TO DO AROUND TOWN: Golf in Honolulu is religion. The Sony PGA Open at the Waialae Country Club draws many off the top pros each year. And Oahu has a plethora of good places to play with dozens of municipal and public/semi-private club courses dotting the island. Two of the best are the Fazio and Palmer courses at Turtle Bay, pro-level course set along the ocean in an idyllic resort an hour from Honolulu on the rugged North Shore (57-091, Kamehameha Highway / (808) 293-8574). A closer option is the Luana Hills Country Club (770 Auloa Road / (808) 262-2139, a semi-private course nestled in rainforest in the shadow of the steep Koolau Mountains that is roughly 25 minutes from downtown Honolulu. Most courses have great twilight round deals for golfers on a budget.
Come nightfall, all of Honolulu's beachfront hotels also have lively bars with live Hawaiian music. A local favorite is the House Without a Key (2199 Kalia Road, 808-923-2311) at the Halekulani. There you can sit on a large patio, quaff delicious (and strong) Mai Tais designed by cocktail connoisseur Dale DeGroff, and take in hapa haole music sung by a swinging trio. The house hula dancer is Kanoe Miller, a former Miss Hawaii who is one of the most elegant practitioners of the modern awana hula style. Downtown locales for cocktails include Indigo Eurasian Cuisine (1121 Nu'uanu Avenue, (808-521-2900), which turns into a veritable nightclub on most late-nights, and Palomino's (66 Queen Street Mezzanine , 808-528-2400, an upscale nouveau American eatery with wood-fired pizzas and pupus that is popular with the after work crowd.
WHAT TO SEE: Housed in a turn-of-the-century Spanish compound, the Honolulu Academy of Arts (900 S Beretania St / (808) 532-8701 has stunning Asian arts including the James Michener Collection, one of the most impressive collections of Japanese art and furniture in the world. The Hawaii State Art Museum (250 S. Hotel St. / 808-586-0900) has a rotating collection of contemporary art from local artists that includes stunning photography of the islands, delicate raku pottery, and finely wrought naturalist paintings of Hawaii flora and fauna. Punchbowl Memorial is the largest military cemetery in the Pacific and the western cousin of Arlington in Washington D.C. Three of the best beaches for bathing and walking – Kailua, Waimanalo, and Malekahana -- lie along the Windward Coast on the opposite side of the island from Honolulu. Each offers miles of powdery sand, no hotels, little development, and shady ironwood trees. On the North Shore of Oahu, the best surfers on Earth paddle into critical barrels only 20 meters offshore at the Banzai Pipeline. When the surf is huge, Waimea is the place to ride and crowds line this amphitheater bay to witness the daredevil antics of heroic North Shore watermen. Mere mortals can learn to surf in Waikiki (surf boys offer lessons for $20 per hour in front of the Duke Kahanamoku statue on Kuhio Beach). To the west of Honolulu at Pearl Harbor, the Arizona Memorial (1 Arizona Memorial Rd /(808) 422-2771) is a moving monument to the men and women who died in that day of infamy. Visitors take a boat ride out to the site of the sunken where the outline of the ship is clearly visible. A newly revamped visitor center also has a fascinating film and audio-visual offering covering Pearl Harbor. While out there, a visit to the U.S.S. Missouri (1250 South Dr. / (808) 423-2263) provides a unique first-hand view of what life was like inside an actual battleship.
Honolulu airport is served by major airlines and often a stopping off point for flights from the American mainland to Australia and New Zealand.
Text courtesy of HawaiiRama
Photo credit Joe Solem Photography
