King Kamehameha Statue

Kamehameha certainly lived up to this dramatic start. His contemporaries described him as an intimidating warrior who “moved in an aura of violence.” During the 1700s, numerous chiefs battled for control of the Hawaiian Islands. NOTE: This 1.6-mile-mile-long tour covers the essentials of Downtown Honolulu in 1-2 hours.

10 minutes

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That’s Kawaiaha’o Church. At one time, this was the national church of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

10 minutes

Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives

This museum showcases items from Hawaii’s missionary period.

10 minutes

Ali'iolani Hale

Originally, Kamehameha V built Ali’iolani Hale as a palace for Hawaiian monarchs. But King Kalakaua decided to convert it to government offices.

10 minutes

Honolulu Hale (City Hall)

King Kalakaua returned from his world tour at the end of 1881. Hawaiians decorated the whole city and strung a grand “Welcome Home” banner across Honolulu Harbor. But as Hawaiians celebrated the return of Kalakaua, others plotted his downfall… Remember the Reform Party? This was the mostly American political party that slowly took control of Hawaiian politics after the 1875 Reciprocity Treaty.

10 minutes

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This statue honors a more recent figure in Hawaiian history, Representative Patsy Takemoto Mink. Patsy Takemoto was a third-generation Japanese-American who grew up in Hawaii.

10 minutes

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When you look at Sky Gate, what do you see? Just a collection of bendy black tubes? Maybe a simple spider web? A three-legged animal? Noguchi himself described Sky Gate as “an evocation to the skies of Hawaii.”

10 minutes

Hawaii State Capitol

Prior to the construction of the Capitol Building, Hawaiians used the ‘Iolani Palace as their seat of government. You’ll see the palace soon.

10 minutes

Eternal Flame Memorial

This memorial honors the men and women who died in the December 7th, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor—“a date which will live in infamy” in the words of President Franklin Roosevelt.

10 minutes

Washington Place

See that two-story mansion on our right, set back from the road? That’s Washington Place, the one-time home of Queen Liliʻuokalani!

10 minutes

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We’re standing before the Iolani Barracks. Before Dole and the Annexation Club completed their coup against Queen Liliʻuokalani, the Barracks housed the Queen’s Royal Guard.

Iolani Palace

Before us stands Iolani Palace, dating back to 1879. This is the only royal palace in the United States!

10 minutes

Queen Liliuokalani Statue

As the 1900s wore on, Liliʻuokalani gradually retreated from public life. She took up full-time residence in her home at Washington Place, where Native Hawaiians visited her constantly. To them, she never stopped being their Queen. And in turn, Liliʻuokalani never stopped loving her people. In her memoir, she wrote: “It is for them that I would give the last drop of my blood; it is for them that I would spend, nay, am spending, everything belonging to me.”

10 minutes