The things to do in Honolulu that we could check are Pearl Harbor National Memorial, Diamond Head State Monument, Hanauma Bay, Iolani Palace, the Bishop Museum, Waikiki Beach and Ala Moana Center. You can reach most of them without a car, but Diamond Head and Hanauma Bay need reservations, and Hanauma Bay is closed on Monday and Tuesday. We read each official page on 15 October 2026.
The sights, with address, hours and price
Pearl Harbor National Memorial
Address: 1 Arizona Memorial Place, Honolulu, HI 96818. Phone 808-422-3399 (National Park Service, Pearl Harbor visitor page, read 15 Oct 2026)
Hours: The visitor center is open daily, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. USS Arizona Memorial programs run almost every 15 minutes. The first starts at 8 a.m. and the last timed program is at 3:30 p.m. Each program lasts about 45 minutes. The NPS asks you to arrive one hour before your program time. It is closed on Thanksgiving, 25 December and 1 January (NPS, operating hours page, read 15 Oct 2026)
Price: No entrance fee: the NPS calls Pearl Harbor "a fee free park." Program tickets are booked on Recreation.gov, and the NPS says Recreation.gov charges a $1 non-refundable fee per ticket. Reservations are strongly recommended, and standby seats may be limited. Parking is $7 a day (NPS fees page, updated 20 June 2026, and NPS USS Arizona program page, read 15 Oct 2026)
Diamond Head State Monument
Address: The state page gives no street address, only the coordinates 21.263457, -157.805488 (Hawaii DLNR, Diamond Head page, read 15 Oct 2026)
Hours: 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. daily. The last entry is 4:30 p.m. for the 4:00 p.m. reservation. Closed on Christmas and New Year's (same page)
Price: Entry $5 and parking $10 a vehicle for non-residents, by credit card only. Hawaii residents are free with a Hawaii ID. Children 3 and under are free. The page says entry and parking reservations are required for non-residents (same page)
Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve
Address: The city page gives no street address for the preserve. Phone (808) 768-6861 (City and County of Honolulu, Hanauma Bay page, read 15 Oct 2026)
Hours: Open Wednesday to Sunday. Entry is from 6:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., visitors must leave by 4 p.m., and the beach is cleared at 3:30 p.m. The page says "Hanauma Bay is closed every Monday and Tuesday." It also closes on Christmas Day and New Year's Day. The hours may change (same page)
Price: Non-residents pay $25 plus a 2.35% online service fee, and those 13 and older must pay online. Children 12 and under are free. Parking is $3 for non-residents, paid in cash at the booth. Admission alone can be booked only 2 days ahead, from 7 a.m. Hawaii Standard Time. Admission with transport can be booked up to a month ahead (same page)
Iolani Palace
Address: 364 South King Street, Honolulu, HI 96813, at the corner of King and Richards Streets (Iolani Palace, visit page, read 15 Oct 2026)
Hours: Tours run Tuesday to Saturday. The ticket office is open 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on those days. Self-led audio tour times are Tuesday 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Wednesday 1:00 to 3:00 p.m., Thursday 1:00 to 2:00 p.m., and Friday and Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (visit page and self-led audio tour page)
Price: Self-led audio tour: adult (18 and over) $28, teen (13 to 17) $23, youth (5 to 12) $13, ages 0 to 4 free. Kamaaina and military rates are also listed. The audio guide runs 60 minutes. A reservation is required. Tickets are sold online only, with no walk-ups or same-day reservations (self-led audio tour page)
Bishop Museum
Address: 1525 Bernice Street, Honolulu, HI 96817 (Bishop Museum, visit page, read 15 Oct 2026)
Hours: Open daily, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Day (same page)
Price: The tickets page shows two tables. The current table lists general admission at $33.95 for an adult, $30.95 for a senior (65 and over) and $25.95 for youth ages 4 to 17. A "new pricing" table lists $38.95, $35.95 and $30.95. The page does not say when the new prices start. The planetarium is $3 more, bought on site (Bishop Museum, tickets page)
Waikiki Beach
Note: Hawaii's tourism site calls Waikiki a two-mile stretch made of linked beaches: Fort DeRussy Beach to the west, the beach in front of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel and Westin Moana Surfrider, Kuhio Beach along Kalakaua Avenue, and Queen Surf Beach on the Diamond Head side. It lists lifeguards, restrooms, showers, rentals and food. The page gives no price, hours or street address. It points to HIOCEANSAFETY.COM for surf and safety reports (GoHawaii.com, Waikiki Beach page, read 15 Oct 2026)
Ala Moana Center
Address: 1450 Ala Moana Boulevard, Honolulu, HI 96814 (Ala Moana Center website, read 15 Oct 2026). We did not find its opening hours on the page we read
Manoa Falls Trail
A state notice dated 15 May 2025 says the trail is run by the Division of Forestry and Wildlife and gets about 700 to 1,000 visitors a day. It also names the Paradise Park lot as a place to park. The notice was a closure for a fallen tree limb, so it lists no regular hours or fees (Hawaii DLNR, read 15 Oct 2026). We could not confirm today's hours, fee or parking price. Check the state's trail page before you go, because the trail has closed on short notice.
Kailua and Lanikai
The city's Lanikai Transportation Management Plan (Department of Transportation Services, June 2025, read 15 Oct 2026) says "There are no public parking lots for Lanikai Beach." It also says the half-mile beach has no restrooms, showers or lifeguards, and that you reach it through public and private shoreline access points. On three-day holiday weekends the city sets up temporary rules that ban parking on the unpaved shoulders of all local streets in Lanikai, marked as tow-away zones. The plan says TheBus Route 671 (Kailua-Lanikai) ran about every 40 minutes, 6 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., including weekends, passing Kailua Beach Park. That was in June 2025, so check TheBus for today's times.
At a 4 June 2026 meeting the city said it plans "No Parking Any Time" signs along Mokulua Drive, with money set aside for the 2026-27 fiscal year (DTS Lanikai plan page and meeting slides, read 15 Oct 2026). The slides do not say when the signs go up. We found no official page with hours or fees for Kailua Beach Park.
The North Shore by TheBus
TheBus's route page lists Route 60 as Honolulu-Kaneohe-Haleiwa. The Honolulu end is Ala Moana Center, and the Haleiwa end is at Kamehameha Highway at Weed Circle (TheBus, Route 60 description, read 15 Oct 2026). The page does not name Waimea Bay or Sunset Beach, gives no trip time, and has no effective date. We did not confirm the schedule, so we cannot say how well it works as a day trip.
With kids
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Hanauma Bay: free for ages 12 and under, closed Monday and Tuesday.
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Iolani Palace: $13 for ages 5 to 12 on the audio tour, ages 0 to 4 free, Tuesday to Saturday only.
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Bishop Museum: youth tickets for ages 4 to 17.
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Diamond Head: free for children 3 and under. A child 4 or older is charged $5 as a non-resident.
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Waikiki Beach: lifeguards are listed on the state tourism page.
Free things
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Pearl Harbor National Memorial: no entrance fee. The Arizona program has a $1 booking fee per ticket, and parking is $7 a day.
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Waikiki Beach: the tourism page lists no charge.
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Kamaaina Sundays at Iolani Palace: free audio tours for Hawaii residents, so not for most visitors.
Where to stay in Honolulu
We did not check any hotel's rate, so we give no prices. Rates change by date, so look up your own.
| Area | What it is near |
|---|---|
| Waikiki | The beach sections, and the end of the W Line bus from the airport |
| Ala Moana and Kakaako | Ala Moana Center, and stops on the W Line |
| Downtown | Iolani Palace, and the W Line bus passes through |
| Windward side (Kailua) | Kailua Beach Park, and TheBus Route 60 passes Kaneohe. A June 2025 city plan says Route 671 links Kailua Town with Lanikai. Lanikai has no public parking lot |
Getting around
Price: TheBus and Skyline use the same fares. With a HOLO card: 2-Hour Pass $3.00, 24-Hour Pass $7.50, day cap $7.50, 3-Day Pass $20.00, 7-Day Pass $45.00, card fee $2.00. Cash on TheBus is $3.25 for one ride, with no transfers. These fares took effect on 1 July 2026 (TheBus fare table, read 15 Oct 2026). Youth ages 6 to 17 pay $1.50 a ride with a HOLO card, with a day cap of $3.75 (TheBus youth fare page, undated, read 15 Oct 2026)
Getting there: Airport to Waikiki: Skyline serves Lelepaua Station at the airport. The W Line bus runs from the airport through Downtown (via Nimitz Highway), Kakaako and Ala Moana Center to Waikiki. Skyline runs every 10 minutes from 4:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. and every 15 minutes from 8:30 to 10:30 p.m. The last full trip starts at 10:00 p.m. The W Line runs every 10 minutes at weekday peak times, every 15 minutes off peak and on weekends, and every 30 minutes after 7 p.m. Skyline needs a HOLO card, sold at the machine at Lelepaua Station. Transfers are free within 2 hours of the first paid tap, but not when paying cash. The page gives no trip time (Hawaii Airports, The Bus and Skyline page, read 15 Oct 2026)
On TheBus, each passenger may bring one standard medium suitcase and one smaller carry-on, says the airport page. Skyline has luggage racks.
Do I need a car in Honolulu?
Not if you stay in Waikiki, Ala Moana or downtown. Skyline reaches the airport, the W Line runs from there to Waikiki, and one fare covers both for 2 hours. A car is more useful for the east side and the North Shore. Route 60 goes to Haleiwa, but we could not confirm trip times or whether it stops at the beaches, so we cannot call it a good day-trip option. Hanauma Bay lists a paid car park at $3, and also sells admission with transport. Diamond Head charges $10 a vehicle to park. Both need reservations, so plan around them either way.
Best time to go
Note: NOAA's 1991 to 2020 monthly normals, Honolulu International Airport (NOAA NCEI, normals-monthly-1991-2020, station USW00022521, read 15 Oct 2026). The airport is on the dry side of Oahu
| Month | High / low (F) | Rain (in) |
|---|---|---|
| January | 80.5 / 66.8 | 1.84 |
| April | 83.1 / 70.1 | 0.77 |
| July | 88.1 / 75.1 | 0.52 |
| October | 86.9 / 73.9 | 1.51 |
April to September are the driest months, each under 1 inch. For all 12 months and visitor counts, see our guide to the best time to visit Hawaii.
What we checked and what can change
Read on 15 October 2026: the National Park Service's Pearl Harbor fees, operating hours and USS Arizona program pages, the Hawaii DLNR Diamond Head page and its May 2025 Manoa Falls notice, the City and County of Honolulu's Hanauma Bay page, TheBus fare table and youth fare page, Iolani Palace's visit and self-led audio tour pages, the Bishop Museum's visit and tickets pages, GoHawaii.com's Waikiki Beach page, the Ala Moana Center website, TheBus's Route 60 page, the city transportation department's Lanikai Transportation Management Plan page with its June 2025 plan and June 2026 meeting slides, and the Hawaii Airports page on The Bus and Skyline. NOAA's normals came from the NCEI data service.
Not confirmed: the Pearl Harbor program ticket price and release date, a street address for Diamond Head and Hanauma Bay, Ala Moana Center's hours, Manoa Falls hours, fees and parking, Kailua Beach Park hours and fees, the date Lanikai's new parking signs go up, TheBus Route 60's schedule and trip time, the travel time from the airport to Waikiki, when the Bishop Museum's new prices start, and any hotel rate. Prices, hours and reservation windows change, so check each operator's page for your date. We did not visit Honolulu for this page, and we have no hero photo for it yet.
