Honolulu Tours & Things to Do — 2026

You don't strictly need a tour, but a guided Pearl Harbor tour from Waikiki or Honolulu is the easiest way to do it — it handles round-trip transport, sets the history in context, and ties in the USS Missouri battleship; the wider complex also includes the Aviation Museum and the Punchbowl cemetery. The USS Arizona Memorial itself is a free, timed ticket from the National Park Service that you reserve separately through Recreation.gov; tours cover the transport and the surrounding sites around that reservation. Many visitors combine Pearl Harbor with a Honolulu city or Circle Island tour into one full day.

It depends on what you want from the night. Oahu's luaus range from large beachfront productions with a full imu-roasted kalua pork feast and fire-knife dancing to smaller, more traditional gatherings that lean into the food and the culture. Compare them on the setting (many are at sunset), the menu, and how authentic versus show-driven you'd like the performance to be. A luau is family-friendly and one of the easiest nights out to book — it's the classic first-evening introduction to Hawaii.

Roughly November through May, when North Pacific humpback whales migrate to Hawaii's warm waters to breed and calve — the peak is January through March. Outside those months the boats run other ocean tours instead, so book whale watching to match your travel dates. Morning trips are usually the calmest for spotting, and naturalist-guided boats add the context that makes the sightings memorable.

A Circle Island tour is the classic option — one loop links the North Shore, the Nuuanu Pali lookout, the windward coast, and the Diamond Head and Hanauma Bay overlooks, with a guide narrating between stops. A Honolulu city loop — downtown and the historic district — is most often paired with a Pearl Harbor tour rather than sold on its own. If your time is short, pairing a Circle Island or city loop with a Pearl Harbor tour turns two must-dos into a single full day.

Plenty — guided snorkeling trips to the reefs and sea turtles, catamaran and sunset sails off Waikiki, dolphin-watch boats along the leeward coast, and even a real submarine dive for a dry look at the reef and wrecks. In winter, whale watching (November–May) is added to the mix. Morning departures generally bring the calmest water and the best snorkeling visibility, while sunset sails are the easy evening pick.