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Aloha ... and welcome to the tour of world famous Waikiki. Before we get underway, if this is your first tour of Hawaii, you might want to look at some basic information about Hawaiian words. We're going to tour the area right around here, starting at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel where you're staying and making a big loop around Waikiki. There's a lot to see, but Waikiki is really quite small. Some people think that Waikiki is essentially the Honolulu beachfront area. Well, Waikiki is in Honolulu, but Honolulu stretches far west and east. It takes 25 to 30 minutes to get to Hawaii Kai far to the east, for example, and still that's Honolulu. So we'll be in Honolulu, but the heart of the city (Downtown Honolulu Tour) is 15 minutes or so Ewa (west) and is visually quite distinct. The heart of the city has its own waterfront. That's where Aloha Tower (Honolulu Waterfront Tour) is located, where passenger ships arrive and depart, and where inter-island and overseas shipping occurs. Anyway, let's take a quick look around here, then get underway. Click here for a note about your comfort on the tour. 1. Sheraton Royal Hawaiian Hotel You're staying in one of the oldest and most famous hotels in Hawaii. By its architecture it feels like old Hawaii, but it is in superb condition, is exquisitely maintained, contains many elegant shops, and is complemented by all modern services. It's a little Diamond Head (east) of the very middle of the Waikiki beachfront and has an excellent (but usually crowded) beach. 2. Checking the Beach Before Leaving It's a nice sunny day, and tourists are out in force. This beach in front of the hotel is used mostly by people from the hotel. Local residents and others generally use the beaches that are easier to get to and that have handy restrooms and nearby parking rather than expensive hotel parking. Since the Waikiki beachfront has a slight curve inward at the middle, there are excellent views of the rest of the beachfront from all points along it, and of course the old volcano Diamond Head is visible from most anywhere. But let's not stay too long, or you'll decide to stay on the beach instead of taking the tour of other great places. 3. Leaving the Hotel This is just one of the several entrances to the hotel. The arched openings make nice frames for images of the grounds. There are some very large old trees on the grounds, and landscaping and Hawaiian flowers make the grounds very lush and colorful in appearance. The hotel grounds used to be open to Kalakaua Avenue, the main east-west drag through Waikiki. However, the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center now separates the hotel from the street. One could drive through Waikiki and completely miss seeing the hotel. But it's here, one of the "landmarks" of Waikiki. 4. International Marketplace Almost directly across Kalakaua Avenue from the Royal Hawaiian is the International Marketplace. Open from early in the morning until about 11:00 at night, the marketplace is always bustling with people. The closer photo at the right (#1) shows the entrance from Kalakaua Avenue. The other photo (#2) might make it look small, but it is not. It meanders for a full block all the way to Kuhio Avenue that runs down through the middle of Waikiki. In the very center is a huge Banyan tree. Not long ago there was a proposal to replace the open marketplace with a building. The idea, of course, was to put the land to more productive use with a multi-storied building. One of the obstacles to that plan was the tree in the middle of the marketplace. As we can see here, it's a colorful place. Jewelry is the most popular sales product. Cart after cart displays what at a glance appears to be the same jewelry items. You'd think that so many people selling basically the same things would mean that no one of them would do very well. But that's not the case. The cart owners may not look as prosperous as store owners, and their carts may be small and temporary looking, but they do very well. A typical cart may easily contain $300,000 worth of merchandise. Salespeople like nothing more than selling to U.S. mainlanders who are used to paying advertised prices. Price negotiation, though, is always permitted. Half price is not out of the question. Pay no attention to the grimaces and looks of astonishment on the faces of salespeople, and offer half price. I've offered half price and had it turned down. After walking away and knowing the salesperson was watching to see if I was "really" walking away, the salesperson has chased me down and very gladly sold me the item at half price. The salespeople are great at bluffing -- they practice it over and over every day. Entrance to the International Marketplace (15-second video) 5. Kalakaua Avenue A scene on Kalakaua Ave. Shops line the Mauka (mountain) side of the street. More shops and hotels on the ocean (or "makai") side. The photo at the left above was taken in the daytime, but the sidewalks are even more crowded in the warm evening. People staying in the hotels spend daytimes at the beach or Oahu's many attractions. But at night they shop and browse. Waikiki is one of those rare and interesting places that "never sleeps." Just a little farther down Kalakaua (two images on the right) the hotels on the makai side end and the ocean comes into full view. An underwater reef protects the shoreline here, so there are never dangerous waves. Swimming is always ideal. More views of the beach along Kalakaua Ave. Waikiki Beach includes this beach as long as beach areas in front of the hotels and Fort Derussy at the opposite end of Waikiki (Atlantis Submarines Tour). Specifically, this is Prince Kuhio Beach. 6. Waikiki Pier At the end of the central hotel area in Waikiki, the scene changes rather dramatically. On the left ahead is the zoo and Kapiolani Park that we'll visit in a few minutes, and Kalakaua narrows as much of the traffic turns left onto Kapahulu Ave. Directly opposite is the Waikiki Pier (photo on the left above). Boats do not dock here or anything, and the pier is wide open to the public. It's a favorite place for boogieboarding. In the photo in the middle, directly out from the pier, kids await the next wave. In the photo on the right, a view to the left of the pier, they catch a low wave. Boogieboarders at the Waikiki pier (15-second video) Above, two views to the right from the pier. This is the beach area we just passed on Kalakaua Avenue. Above, two views to the left of the pier in the direction in which we're headed on Kalakaua. The beach is wider here. And being a little beyond hotel row on Kalakaua, it's a little less populated. Looking right along Waikiki Beach (15-second video) Looking left along Waikiki Beach (15-second video) Two more photos of the beach near the pier. 7. Lower Kalakaua Avenue Another couple of minutes along Kalakaua we leave the heart of Waikiki, the tourist shops, and the sidewalks bustling with people. On the left now is the Honolulu Zoo that we'll visit as soon as we park just a little farther ahead. At the same stop we'll visit the Waikiki Shell, Kapiolani Park, and the oceanfront opposite the park, all of which are in the same general area. So this is a public stretch dedicated to pure recreation and relaxation. Kalakaua is divided here. We'll just pull off to the right, park, and walk around a little. In spite of being very close to the busiest section of Waikiki, parking is usually quite easy to find -- and there are no meters. Having parked now, we look back in the direction from which we just came (photo at the right). Those are Ironwood trees in the median. 8. The Honolulu Zoo Across Monsarrat Ave. on the Waikiki side of Kapiolani Park is the Honolulu Zoo in a triangularly shaped block. Up against the zoo fence, local artists display their paintings and crafts. Most of the artists do not have umbrellas like these, and they choose cooler places in the shade. It was simply too shaded to take a picture where most of the artwork is on display, but it's a colorful, local-flavor thing that has endured for many years. At the right, the entrance to the zoo facing Kalakaua Ave. The zoo occupies one large block right next to the highrise hotels in Waikiki. Inside, the zoo animals can be seen around two fairly wide park-like areas. A fairly new Kabuni Reserve area in back left corner of the zoo shows the animals in as natural a setting as possible. A meandering path leads from one area to another with little evidence of fences and other barriers. The zoo has recently been in the news because of the possibility of it losing the elephants which the zoo has on display only with the understanding that it will create a breeding area for them. Always strapped for operating funds, the zoo, it was suggested, might lose the elephants. That certainly provoked public discussion. What, many asked, would be a zoo without elephants? Scenes at the zoo. On the far left is a picture of an alligator (that log-looking thing) in the water. Visitors to the zoo can see things like this through glass. The alligators are in the Karibuni Reserve section of the zoo. 9. Waikiki Beach Across Kalakaua Ave. on the ocean side is the beach park. The photo at the right is a view (sky brightened) of the beach looking back in the direction of Waikiki proper. You can see how the beach curves, as I mentioned a little earlier. Now that we're at the Diamond Head end of Waikiki, there are fewer people on the beach. Many tourists either do not drive, or they drive to distant places but not around in Waikiki where parking can be hard to find, so they use the beach areas closer to their hotels. The number of people on the beach today is fairly typical. There are so many great beaches on Oahu that people do not need to crowd onto only one or just a few beaches. A little farther along, Kalakaua Avenue is not quite so close to the beach. Some people prefer to suntan on the grass rather than the sand (photo on the left). Another view (photo on the right) back along the beach. Now that we're even a little farther from the heart of Waikiki, there are even fewer people on the beach. On the left, you can see our hotel, the low pink building. Looking at its size compared to that of other hotels in the photo, it's hard to imagine that it was once "the" hotel in Hawaii, although it may still be that, but now because of its history and former prominence. Your patronage of our sponsors is appreciated.