Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
You don't need a huge budget to experience Honolulu's best activities, and you don't really
need a car. TheBus can get you where you need to go for $2, or you can hop on a moderately
priced tour or trolley. Your only obstacle to enjoying all the activities here? Trying to fit
everything you want to do into your schedule.
Aliiolani Hale
Don't be surprised if this place looks familiar; you probably saw it on the old
television show Magnum, P.I. This gingerbread Italianate building, designed by Australian
Thomas Rowe in Renaissance revival style, was built in 1874 and was originally intended to be
a palace. Instead, Aliiolani Hale (“chief unto heavens”) became the Supreme Court and Parlia-
ment government office building. Inside, there's a
JudiciaryHistoryCenter
★, which features
a multimedia presentation, a restored historic courtroom, and exhibits tracing Hawaii's trans-
ition from precontact Hawaiian law to Western law. Allow up to an hour to see it.
417 S. King St. (btw. Mililani and Punchbowl sts.).
&
808/539-4999.
Fax 808/539-4996.
www.jhchawaii.net
. Free admis-
sion. Mon-Fri 9am-4pm; reservations for group tours only. Bus: B, 2, or 19. Limited meter parking on street.
Aloha Tower
One of the reasons that the word aloha is synonymous with Hawaii is because
of the Aloha Tower. Built in 1926 (for the then-outrageous sum of $160,000), this 184-foot,
10-story tower (until 1959, the tallest structure in Hawaii) has clocks on all four of its sides,
with the word aloha under each clock. Aloha, which has come to mean both “hello” and
“farewell,” was the first thing steamship passengers saw when they entered Honolulu Harbor.
In the days when tourists arrived by steamer, “boat days” were very big occasions. The Royal
Hawaiian band would be on hand to play, crowds would gather, flower leis were freely given,
and Honolulu came to a standstill to greet the visitors. Go up the elevator inside the Aloha
Tower to the 10th-floor observation deck for a bird's-eye view that encompasses Diamond
Head and Waikiki, the downtown and Chinatown areas, and the harbor coastline to the air-
port. On the ocean side you can see the harbor mouth, Sand Island, the Honolulu reef runway,
and the Pearl Harbor entrance channel.
1 Aloha Tower Dr.
&
808/535-9377.
Free admission. Daily 9am-5pm. Bus: 2, 13, 19, or 20.
BishopMuseum
★★★
Even if you do not have kids, this is a must-see on your vacation. It's
a great rainy-day diversion; plan to spend at least half a day here. The museum was founded
by a Hawaiian princess, Bernice Pauahi, who collected priceless artifacts and, in her will, in-
structed her husband, Charles Reed Bishop, to establish a Hawaiian museum “to enrich and
delight” the people of Hawaii. Not only does this multibuilding museum have the world's
greatest collection of natural and cultural artifacts from Hawaii and the Pacific, but recently
it has added a terrific new 16,500-square-foot Richard T. Mamiya Science Adventure Center,
specializing in volcanology, oceanography, and biodiversity. You'll become a kid again in this
interactive, fun environment: Walk down a “Hawaiian origins” tunnel into the deep ocean
zone, stopping along the way to play with all the cool, high-tech toys, then explore the interior
of a volcano and climb to the top to get a bird's-eye view of an erupting caldera that looks like
the real thing.
The Hawaiian Hall, the original cut-stone building (which dates from 1889) just completed
a massive $20-millon renovation which updated the 19th-century-type displays with com-
puter technology, installed new lighting and surround sound, and added recorded Hawaiian
