 |
HONOLULU |
|
 |
Hotels in Honolulu |
|
Vacation Rentals in Honolulu |
|
 |
|
Until the Europeans came,
HONOLULU
was insignificant; soon so many foreign ships were frequenting its waters that it had become Kamehameha's capital, and it remains the economic center of the island. The city covers a long (if narrow) strip of southern Oahu, but
downtown
is a manageable size, and a lot quieter than its glamorous image might suggest. The tourist hotels, and most of Honolulu's hustle, are concentrated among the skyscrapers of very distinct
WAIKIKI
, a couple of miles east.
The setting is beautiful, right on the Pacific and backed by dramatic cliffs and the extinct volcanoes of
Punchbowl
(a military cemetery) and
Diamond Head
; but then beauty is not so rare a commodity on Hawaii, and you can see this sort of scenery in plenty of other places without a city in the middle of it. What attracts most visitors to stay in Honolulu, and especially Waikiki, is the sheer
hedonism
of shopping, eating and generally hanging out in the sun. It's also the center of an exemplary
public transportation
system, facilitating exploration of the whole island.
The City
Downtown Honolulu
is surprisingly small, set back a little from the sea and centering around a spacious plaza on King Street that includes
Iolani Palace
and the
state capitol
. The palace was built for King David Kalakaua in...
read more >>
| 
Looking for cheap or discount hotels? Want to find special internet only room rates? EZTrip.com has great hotel specials, including discount hotels in Anaheim, Hawaii, New York, London, Memphis, Paris, Las Vegas, Orlando, San Francisco, Sydney, Toronto - anywhere you want to go! For the best hotel discounts click on 
Copyright Rough Guides Ltd as trustee for its authors. Published by Rough Guides. All rights reserved.