The Airport Waikiki Express provides shuttle service to hotels in Waikiki every half hour ($9/$15 on

Honolulu online travel guides [1] , on the island of Oahu , is the capital and largest city of the state of Hawaii . It is the center of government, transportation, and commerce for the state; home to a population of nearly one million people in the metro area (80% of the state's online travel guides population) and Hawaii's best known tourist destination, Waikiki Beach.
The majority of visitors to Hawaii enter through this city, meaning this is definitely not the place to go for a "get-away-from-it-all" Hawaiian vacation - It is as fast-paced and dynamic online travel guides as any city, with all its problems such as heavy traffic, drugs, crime, and homelessness. But Honolulu still has the charm of the Islands' laid-back atmosphere and culture.
Honolulu extends inland from the southeast shore of Oahu, east of Pearl Harbor to Makapu'u Point, and incorporates many neighborhoods and districts. You'll most often hear people refer to these districts by name -- Waikiki, Manoa, Kahala, Hawaii Kai and so on -- as though they're not part of the same city. Technically, they are. In fact, the municipal government of Honolulu covers the entire island of Oahu, including its outlying online travel guides suburbs.
Manoa-Makiki online travel guides A quieter area in the foothills north of Downtown, home to the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the National online travel guides Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in the Punchbowl crater, and the tropical scenery of the Koolau Mountains behind the city.
Eastern Honolulu A mostly residential area which extends to Makapu'u Point, the very southeastern corner of the island and home to rocky shorelines, scenic beaches, and the popular snorkeling spot Hanauma Bay.
The name Honolulu means "sheltered bay" or "peace of shelter" in Hawaiian, and its natural harbor catapulted this humble village to importance when, in 1809, shortly after King Kamehameha I conquered Oahu in order to unite the Hawaiian Islands under the Kingdom of Hawaii, that he moved his royal court from the island of Hawaii to Oahu. Eventually, in 1845, Kamehameha III officially moved the kingdom's capital from Lahaina on Maui to Honolulu.
Honolulu's ideally located port made the city a perfect stop for merchant ships traveling between North America and Asia, and through the 1800s, descendants of missionaries who arrived in the early 1800s established online travel guides their headquarters in Honolulu, making it the center of business and the main seaport for the Hawaiian Islands.
The late 1800s and early 1900s brought the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy and subsequent annexation by the United States. Under American rule, Honolulu saw the rise of tourism online travel guides and the first hotels were constructed in Waikiki. American rule also brought the U.S. military, which built numerous bases in the islands, not least of which was nearby Pearl Harbor; now famous for the surprise attack by the Japanese in 1941, which brought the U.S. into World War II in the Pacific.
Statehood online travel guides for the islands brought rapid economic growth to Honolulu, with all the state's major businesses headquartered in the city, the Honolulu airport as the primary entrance point for visitors, and Waikiki as the center of the island's tourism online travel guides industry.
Honolulu has a very moderate, tropical climate, with very little change of temperature throughout the year - the average high is 80-90°F (27-32°C) and the average low is 65-75°F (19-24°C) any time of the year. Water temperature averages 82°F (27°C) in the summer months and 77°F (25°C) in the winter months.
The only noticeable variation in seasons is in terms of rainfall. Honolulu is on the sunny, leeward side of the island, and where you are in the city will affect the chances for rain - areas like Waikiki, downtown, and the western side of the city will usually be sunny, while the hills or eastern side of the city may get some passing clouds and very brief rainfall. On average, Honolulu gets less than half an inch of rain in the summer months to almost three inches in the winter months.
Honolulu International Airport ( IATA : HNL ), [2] is the main aviation gateway for the Hawaiian Islands. The main terminal is served by most major American online travel guides airlines from the mainland U.S., and by many international airlines from other countries around the Pacific Rim. Its Inter-Island Terminal is the home base of Hawaiian Airlines [3] which offers frequent local service to the other Hawaiian islands. It is quite a walk between online travel guides terminals, so be sure to take the free Wikiwiki Shuttle that runs every few minutes. It's easy to miss it so be sure to ask somebody where it is.
The Airport Waikiki Express provides shuttle service to hotels in Waikiki every half hour ($9/$15 one-way/round-trip). City buses #19 and #20 ($2.50 per adult and $1.25 per child or senior, exact change required, bills and coins accepted) also come to the airport once every half-hour, going through downtown and on to to Waikiki. You can catch them on the outside online travel guides second level of the international and domestic departure terminals.
The best way to get to Waikiki by rental car is to follow signs for H-1 east, then follow H-1 east about 2 miles to exit 18A (Waikiki/Nimitz Highway). Follow Nimitz Highway (which turns into Ala Moana Boulevard past downtown Honolulu) straight into Waikiki. You will pass through Honolulu's industrial online travel guides district, along Honolulu Harbor, and past downtown Honolulu and the Ala Moana Shopping Center. You can also follow H-1 east into downtown Honolulu, take either exit 22 (Kinau Street) or 23 (Punahou Street), and follow signs to Waikiki.
The main Honolulu cruise pier , pier 10/11, is located right beside the Aloha Tower in the Honolulu Harbor, which lies between the airport (5 miles to the west) and Waikiki (3 miles to the east). online travel guides Cruise ships frequently link Honolulu with the U.S. mainland. These voyages online travel guides are designed for tourists on a round-trip cruise to Hawaii from the U.S. mainland, and are rarely used as one-way passenger service. One cruise line, NCL, uses Honolulu as a home port for round-trip cruises to the various Hawaiian islands.
Unlike many cities on the U.S. mainland, Honolulu is not laid out in a strict compass-point grid. Its street system conforms in large part to the shorelines, valleys, and ridges, with lots of twists and turns. It can be confusing for people used to straight grid systems. However, online travel guides at the same time, it is not that difficult online travel guides to navigate in, as long as you are familiar with the major arterials and terminology below.
Because it may be difficult to differentiate north and south in the city, directions are normally given in terms of local landmarks. The most common terms that you will run into are mauka (Mow-kah) meaning "toward the mountain" and makai (mah-KAI) meaning "toward the sea". In the case of Honolulu, which is on Oahu's south shore, "mauka" is a rough north, and "makai" roughly south. You will also hear Ewa-bound (Eh-vah) and Town-bound used a lot, in relation to downtown Honolulu, the former roughly means "west" (toward the town of Ewa on the southwest shore of Oahu) and the latter roughly means "east" (towards Honolulu; online travel guides locals refer to Honolulu proper as "town"). Highway signs, however, will use standard compass directions, so if you are asked to go Ewa-bound on the freeway, look for the on-ramp to H-1 west.
It is a very good idea to invest in a good map of Honolulu before doing extensive driving. Members online travel guides of the American Automobile Association (AAA) can request fold-out maps for free from their local office. Rand McNally paper fold-out maps are available in many stores; online travel guides for more extensive coverage you can also purchase Bryan's Sectional Maps (a popular choice among locals) at most bookstores for about $9.50. online travel guides GPS-enabled devices can also be used to navigate around Honolulu, and Oahu.
Some streets in Honolulu can be extremely narrow compared online travel guides to the mainland. Locals are used to this lack of space on roads but if you are coming from the mainland and are used to wide streets, online travel guides prepare yourself for driving very close to the cars around you. Just take a little extra caution and you should online travel guides not have any problems. Once outside of Honolulu proper, the roads will be a bit wider.
If coming from the mainland, speed limits on roads in Honolulu are generally lower than you may be used to. For example, six-laned King Street is 25-30 miles per hour for its entire length. Most streets are no more than 25 miles per hour. In addition to this, many people disregard the speed limit, instead driving slower , which may be frustrating.
City and County ordinance prohibits using or simply holding online travel guides any electronic device while behind the wheel. This includes (but isn't limited to) a cell phone, iPod, or a GPS. Hands-free use is required, otherwise do not use them at all. If pulled over, you may want to hide (discreetly) any electronic devices to avoid fines. Using your in-car radio, however, is allowed.
During the morning and afternoon rush-hour, some streets have contra-flow lanes. Lanes from the direction less heavily traveled will be blocked off with cones and cars traveling in the other direction will allowed to use the lane. During these times, there are no left turns allowed against heavy traffic.
On busier streets, online travel guides cars may not be parked on the side of the road during rush hour. This is heavily enforced, and often results in a parking ticket with fine and immediate towing online travel guides at the expense of the driver.
Many streets online travel guides allow street online travel guides parking on one side and traffic to travel on the other. When on these streets, most times the road is not wide enough to allow two way traffic. In this case, cars traveling opposite online travel guides the direction online travel guides of the parked cars have the right of way, and cars traveling the same direction as the parked cars must pull over to allow the other cars to pass.
Most major streets in Honolulu run Ewa Diamond Head (as described in the preceding section, roughly east-west). There are two main highways in Honolulu: online travel guides Nimitz Highway (Hawaii 92) which runs from Pearl Harbor past Honolulu Airport to downtown Honolulu and Waikiki; and Interstate H-1 which runs mauka (mountain-ward) of do