Honolulu 5 Day Itinerary (No Tourist Traps)
Five days is our 4-day plan plus a genuinely relaxed fifth day: Manoa Falls in the morning, a quieter beach in the afternoon, and a Waikiki luau to close things out rather than another packed sightseeing day. For the North Shore or the other islands, see our Honolulu Oahu-base itinerary .
Book these before you go:
- Pearl Harbor’s timed ticket : released 56 days out at 3pm HST
- Diamond Head’s entry slot : out-of-state visitors book up to 30 days ahead
- Hanauma Bay’s entry slot : booking opens 2 days out at 7am HST, closed Mon and Tue
- A Waikiki luau : the Friday and Saturday dates sell out first
- Your Waikiki hotel : resort fees and self-parking both run extra
| Day | Focus |
|---|---|
| 1 | Waikiki Beach, full day, sunset at Kapiolani Park |
| 2 | Pearl Harbor, Iolani Palace and downtown, Chinatown dinner |
| 3 | Diamond Head at dawn, Hanauma Bay, evening in Waikiki |
| 4 | Bishop Museum, Ala Moana Center, Kaka’ako |
| 5 | Manoa Falls, Kaimana Beach, Waikiki luau |
Day 1: Waikiki Beach, the full version
Check in between the Hilton Hawaiian Village and Kapiolani Park and spend the day on the beach itself. The calmest swimming section runs between the Royal Hawaiian and the Moana Surfrider, and beginner surf lessons run roughly $60-70 for 90 minutes. Reef-safe sunscreen is a legal requirement statewide.
Day 2: Pearl Harbor, downtown, and Chinatown
Take your booked Pearl Harbor slot early; the memorial program is free, the timed ticket is not optional, and there’s no walk-up allocation once slots release. Book a guided Pearl Harbor tour on GetYourGuide instead if you’d rather it be narrated. By afternoon, visit Iolani Palace downtown (self-guided audio about $28, 90 minutes) and finish in Chinatown, where Helena’s Hawaiian Food on North School Street is cash only and closes when the food runs out.
Day 3: Diamond Head at dawn, then Hanauma Bay
Start at Diamond Head’s 6am opening; the 0.8-mile trail takes 1.5-2 hours round trip. Finish the summit by 8am and drive the roughly 20 minutes to Hanauma Bay, whose booking window opens only 2 days ahead at 7am HST, well before its 1:30pm last-entry cutoff. Entry runs $25 a person plus $3 cash parking; the preserve is closed Monday and Tuesday, so confirm this day lands on a Wed-Sun.
Day 4: Bishop Museum, Ala Moana Center, and Kaka’ako
Spend the morning at Bishop Museum, Hawaii’s largest collection of Hawaiian and Pacific cultural history, general admission $34-39 adult. In the afternoon, take the bus to Ala Moana Center or walk Kaka’ako’s street-art murals and brewery strip. Either is a genuine lower-key day after two straight days of hiking and snorkeling.
Day 5: Manoa Falls, a quieter beach, and a luau
Manoa Falls Trail is a short, muddy, rainforest hike to a roughly 150-foot waterfall, about 20 minutes inland from Waikiki by rideshare; wear real shoes, not sandals, and expect rain given Manoa’s noticeably wetter microclimate than the coast. Is Manoa Falls worth a whole morning? Yes, as a genuine change of scenery from beach and city days, and it’s short enough (1.5-2 hours round trip) to still leave the afternoon free.
Spend the afternoon at Kaimana Beach, near the Waikiki Aquarium at the quiet Diamond Head end of the strip, with noticeably more room and a more local feel than the main stretch. Close the trip with a Waikiki luau, such as the Hilton Hawaiian Village’s Waikiki Starlight Luau, and book the Friday or Saturday date early since those sell out first.
Before you go
Budget $20-30 for a sit-down lunch and $60-100 for a mid-range dinner; nearly everything is shipped in. Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time runs 10 hours behind UTC with no daylight saving time. Skip the rental car for this whole trip: walking, Biki, and TheBus cover every day above.