Hidden Gems in Honolulu: 7 Places Locals Actually Go

Most people land at HNL, check into Waikiki, and never leave a two-mile strip of sand and shopping. Nothing wrong with that. But Honolulu is a real city of about 350,000 people, with valleys, old neighbourhoods and lunch spots that have nothing to do with the hotel row. These hidden gems in Honolulu are the places we send friends when they ask where to go once they have had their fill of the beach.

None of them need a tour. A couple need a car or a rideshare. All of them are better early in the day.

1. Lyon Arboretum, up in Mānoa Valley

Fifteen minutes from Waikiki, the road ends and the rainforest starts. Lyon Arboretum is run by the University of Hawaiʻi and covers almost 200 acres of tropical garden at the back of Mānoa Valley. It rains here a lot, which is exactly why everything is so green. Walk the main trail to the small waterfall at the top and you will probably have it to yourself on a weekday.

Good to know: entry is by suggested donation, and on busy days they ask you to reserve a slot online. Check their site the day before, wear shoes you do not mind getting muddy, and bring repellent.

2. Puʻu ʻUalakaʻa lookout on Round Top Drive

Locals still call the whole ridge Tantalus. Drive up the switchbacks of Round Top Drive to the Puʻu ʻUalakaʻa State Wayside and the entire south shore opens up below you: Diamond Head on the left, downtown and the harbour on the right, Waikiki in between. It is the best free view in the city.

Go in the late afternoon, but keep an eye on the clock. The gates close in the evening, so you will not be able to stay for the city lights. For that, pull over at one of the turnouts on the way back down.

3. Shangri La, Doris Duke's house on the water

This one surprises everyone. In the 1930s the tobacco heiress Doris Duke built a house below Diamond Head and filled it with Islamic art she collected from Morocco to India: painted ceilings, carved doors, tile work, a courtyard that would not look out of place in Isfahan. Today it is the Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture and Design.

You cannot just turn up. Small group tours leave by shuttle from the Honolulu Museum of Art, and they sell out, so book a week or two ahead. Make a morning of it and see the museum too.

4. The murals of Kakaʻako

Kakaʻako used to be warehouses and auto shops between downtown and Ala Moana. Then the POW! WOW! festival started bringing artists from around the world to paint its walls every year, and now whole blocks are covered. Start around Auahi Street and just wander. The murals change, so even people who live here find new ones.

When you get hungry, Salt at Our Kakaʻako has coffee, a brewery and a handful of restaurants within a few steps of each other.

The best time in Honolulu is the hour before everyone else wakes up.

5. Chinatown's lei stands and Foster Botanical Garden

On Maunakea Street, a row of small shops has made fresh lei for generations. The air smells of plumeria and pīkake. A simple flower lei costs far less here than at the airport, and the aunties will tell you exactly which one fits the occasion. Locals buy them for graduations, birthdays and anyone arriving on a plane.

A short walk away, Foster Botanical Garden is one of the oldest botanical gardens in Hawaiʻi, with trees that were planted in the 1800s and are now enormous. It is quiet, shaded and almost never busy. Go when the midday heat gets too much.

6. Waiʻalae Avenue in Kaimukī

If you ask someone from Honolulu where to eat, there is a good chance the answer is on Waiʻalae Avenue. Kaimukī is a low-key residential neighbourhood behind Diamond Head, and its main street is lined with bakeries, poke counters, ramen shops and the kind of neighbourhood restaurants that do not need to advertise. Walk from one end to the other and eat as you go.

7. Magic Island at sunset

At the Waikiki end of Ala Moana Beach Park sits a man-made peninsula called Magic Island, with a calm, sheltered lagoon. Families swim here all day. In the evening, half of Honolulu seems to walk out to the end of the point to watch the sun drop behind the Waiʻanae mountains, then picks up a plate lunch on the way home. Bring a towel, sit on the grass, and do the same.

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Getting around

• TheBus covers most of the city and is cheap. Download the HOLO card app before you go.
• A car is worth it for one or two days if you want Round Top Drive and the east side.
• Biki bikes are all over the flat parts of town, including Kakaʻako and Chinatown.
• Mornings beat afternoons almost everywhere: cooler, quieter and easier to park.

Honolulu rewards the people who leave the beach for a few hours. Pick two or three of these, leave the rest for next time, and you will see a side of Oʻahu most visitors never do.