Historical building with beautiful architecture and a spacious garden. It was closed today so we…read moreweren't able to enter. This is the Royal palace for King Kamehameha and other royals until 1893. This is an easy walk from the piers if you are on a cruise. The Monkey Pod trees are huge and spacious. The grounds are well kept.

The Iolani Palace is Hawaii's historical landmark, the only official royal palace, visitors must go…read morethrough the self guide audio tour, which can last 30 to 45 minutes depending on your own pace. Despite the underground jewelry room is closed for maintenance, the tour indeed offers a glimpse into Hawaiian history, showcasing the 1st floor staterooms, and the private 2nd floor living spaces where the queen was held under house arrest. I think it should be sufficient planning two hours here, including parking, getting tickets, watching video, and time stamped self guide audio tours, and it costs $28 for adults.

A nice museum that provides insight into the history of Hawaii and people who helped it become what…read moreit is today. Museum is free but you need to pay an entrance fee to tour the grounds outside. Very peaceful and a nice escape from the hustle and bustle outside

This is an absolutely hidden gem. Out your guide was phenomenal, as he explained each location we…read moresaw in such great detail and to where the story was told. Many tours are just names and facts, but this was totally different. Being able to walk from location to location was very insightful. The check in staff was incredibly polite. What a great way to break up vacation with local history and also to another part of the island.

Friendly staff and tons to see. The grounds and are well-kept and walkable. You'll learn a lot…read moreabout Hawaiian history and the Pacific region. There's rotating exhibits in the Castle Memorial Building. When I take the kids, I go to the Science Adventure Center to see the volcano simulation. I would spend about 3-4 hours at the museum. If you need to rest, there's benches and water refill stations across the property. The only cafe on-site is Tutu's Place by Highway Inn. The food is good (consistent with Highway Inn quality). It does get packed though, so plan your dining accordingly.

Museum entry was complimentary courtesy of our hotel. We knew about it the last time we visited the…read moreislands, but didn't have time to make it over to the museum. It's a great place to learn about Hawaiian history and the culture. It also wasn't very crowded and a good way to seek refuge from the sun. I would recommend the planetarium shows (additional charge of $3/person). We spent about 3 hours here including the planetarium show.

The Honolulu Museum of Art is a must for anyone visiting Honolulu. With a $25.00 per person…read moreadmission fee, you get access to the museum for the entire day, access to the snack store, and on Friday nights, you get to experience an art after dark event. Although my brother and I didn't get a chance to participate in the art after dark event, we still had a great time exploring the different exhibits that were there. We're both lovers of art, so it was important to us to stop by and get a sense of how various Asian countries have documented the continent's history through art. While I enjoyed every exhibit equally, I will admit that I had a particularly great time at the Chinese courtyard as it does offer a nice little quiet zone where one could meditate should they fell so inclined. If you're interested in learning more about how various Asian countries have contributed to Hawaii's rich history, the Honolulu Museum of Art is a great place to check out since it doesn't get as packed as bigger museums. The museum's smaller size allows you to move at a slower pace and really take in some of the information and art that's on display.

It's been a while since I've been back. I do miss the Museum of Modern Art up on the hill, in the…read morevery cool mansion. Glad I was able to experience that. Honestly, on this trip...I had to shi-shi. So why not go and look at art too! There were some really interesting exhibitions. I also learned one of my friend's uncle, Victor Kobayashi, had several pieces on exhibit. But the one I really liked and was inspired by was "Divine Disruption" by artist Tsherin Sherpa. It was fun and interesting to walk through the different sections. The only thing that I didn't like was the attitude of the woman working in the gift shop. Yes, I'm only buying some cards. I guess I wasn't hoity-toity enough...LOL! Which is why I miss MOMA! Though the other staff members were great!

Love showing this gorgeous temple to anyone who visits. Parking has CHANGED! Regardless if you park…read morein the lot or the road, EVERYONE must pay for parking now. It's $4 plus your entrance fee. I still think this is worth it. Just make sure you carpool. I believe they are renovating the bathrooms so there are port a potties available. That may have changed by now not sure. The temple is beautiful. You'll most likely spend about 30 - 45 minutes here. It's a quick stop. There is a bell you can ring, signs to learn more about the temple and history, you can go inside the temple but make sure to take off your shoes first, and there is a gift shop as well. Lots of tourists here so you can expect tourist kind of prices from the vendors and gift shop.

Wonderful place to relax, take pictures, ring the bell, feed the fish, feed the birds, purchase…read morefrom local vendors, purchase from the store on site, pray (be sure to take off your shoes), and enjoy the quiet. There is a fee for parking and for entrance.

It was $75 for us to attend (2 adults and 3 kids, and a baby-- at $15 each, but the baby was free)…read morebut I quickly got over the sticker shock once I saw the quality of the exhibits. We've been to a few discovery museums (mostly in California) but this one particularly impressed me. The staff was constantly sanitizing the toys and touch surfaces (literally, we would leave an activity and then the worker would spray down everything we had touched). I also liked that they had baskets for people to place toys that needed to be sanitized. Very impressive, and we felt very safe. You could spend HOURS in this place-- especially if your kids want to perform a few plays for you in the theater exhibit. All 3 of my kids loved this place and I wish we had arrived earlier because it was closing time before we knew it. I think this would make for an especially great visit on a bad weather day and/pr when your kids want a break from the beach or pool. If your hotel room isn't ready yet it would be a good way to let kiddos burn off some energy after a long flight too. If you have young kids I would say this is a MUST VISIT. For reference my children are 7, 5, and 2.5 years old (my 4th born is an infant and doesn't even sit or crawl yet so she was too young but I did see some older babies there who seemed to be enjoying themselves in the under 3 years old and under 5 years old zones).

This children's discovery center is fun and educational for kids. I also like that they promote…read morediversity and inclusion with their pretend-play wheelchair medical corner, cultural center, etc. Everyone is friendly. A lot of the things inside appear to have looked the same for maybe 25+ years, so I think the center is due for some upgrades. Additionally, it would be good if there's more effort for cleaning and sanitizing toys throughout the day. I sat on something there and realized it was somebody's bodily fluid. I tried looking for a hand sanitizing station, but it was out. I ended up going to the bathroom to wash it off with soap. Despite this incident, I still like taking my kid here. I just bring hand sanitizing wipes and wash our hands as often as we can.

I love coming to Kānewai, its definitely a great view in suburbia. There's a normal class that's…read morethere every semester for loi kalo. Great for all ages and they always accommodate as well. Every first Saturday they have a community work day that starts I believe at 8am until about 12pm-ish. To schedule a tour you have to contact them, I always see them having different groups. Its a very spiritual place and should be highly respected when entering this āina. If you can and you're around the town area, I highly recommend experiencing and participating in aloha and mālama āina!

Visited doing some volunteer work with my son's soccer club. Great cultural experience with a lot…read moreof hands on work. The staff were great and super friendly provided an awesome history lesson while we worked. Not only was the experience top notch the food and snacks delicious and Top Chef quality and was not expected so it topped the day off filling our stomachs with ono food!

This was a reasonably fun experience at the Hilton Hawaiian village. We knew it would probably be a…read morebit of a tourist trap, but we figured that we had to try a luau in Hawaii. Book your tickets ahead of time particularly if you want the diamond premiere seating option which guarantees you a table in the first two rows for better entertainment viewing as well as express entry into the venue, first access to the buffet, and a welcome drink plus three cocktails per person. When you enter you are given a welcome Mai Tai and then have to take the obligatory souvenir photo which they will try to sell you later - I think it was $60. We were then shown to a table in the second row which had a great view of the entertainment. These are shared tables where you will likely sit with other families. There was a group "hula lesson" which was silly but sort of fun. They will then release each table to visit the buffet with the first two rows going first. They had a nice variety of hot and cold dishes of varying quality. The pulled pork was probably the best. The beef short ribs were the worst with some portions being almost entirely fat. A gross aspect - there were flies and bugs buzzing around the buffet with no covers on any of the food. Also, keep an eye on the buffet if you want to go back for seconds. At some point they just closed it down with no announcement before they admitted guests who had booked the entertainment only option which did not include the food. There are some restrooms a short walk away just outside the luau area. The bar seemed massively overwhelmed with a huge line the entire night except right after we hit the buffet the first time. I spent part of the night in the long line instead of having a closeup view of the entertainment. Maybe offer the first two diamond premiere rows table service so we wouldn't have to wait in the enormous line. The entertainment was the best part of the experience with some amazing performers including fire dancers. They charge more for the luau on nights when there are fireworks, but they did not seem to make any effort to help you view the fireworks and instead started clearing away all the tables which made us feel like they wanted us to leave before the fireworks even started. Overall, this was a fairly fun experience but I doubt we would visit again on future trips.

I don't recommend buying show only tickets, you won't be able to see much of anything. The show…read morewhile nice, is on the floor so you can't see much of it. The distance and stage height make it a challenge. I would recommend moving seats closer on sides. Making the dancers go to all areas not just food guests, have some entertainment, hula hoops, games, things for kids. Give more than a single .25 cent soda. They tried. The people putting on show did their best. But you can see the show for free if you walk by the lagoon 15-20 minutes after the show starts. Save your money.