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Sights & Beaches Overview

Should you even bother with O'ahu? Aren't the Neighbor Islands where the real beauty of Hawai'i lives? Isn't Honolulu just another traffic-clogged city and Waikiki just another tourist trap?

To answer, we present these O'ahu scenes:

The broad golden sands and turquoise waters of Kailua Beach.

The shops of Chinatown noisy with a half-dozen languages, stacked with mysterious goods, redolent of steaming pastries and jasmine lei.

The creaking wooden floors of the Queen Emma Summer Palace and the hushed voice of a guide who seems to be speaking of beloved friends, transporting you back 100 years.

Sunset Beach on a winter morning, the power of the waves communicating itself in the throbbing sand under your feet, the surfers slicing furroughs through the walls of water.

A looping, easy trail through a cool forest above 'Aiea, a sharma thrush imitating your whistle, the perfume of ferns, a sudden view into an untouched emerald valley.

Darkness and the hair-raising call of the ancient nose flute introducing a hula -- not a tourist show but a recital by an amateur troupe that dances for love.

A catamaran off the Wai'ane Coast, slapping through mischievous winter waves while spinner dolphins wheel and turn in the froth, seeming to eye you with intelligent interest.

An outdoor stage just yards from the beach where a twentysomething island hipster is demonstrating why 'ukulele means "jumping flea," reinterpreting rock.

In short, O'ahu is one-stop Hawai'i -- all the allure of the Islands in a chop-suey mix that has you kayaking around offshore islets by day and sitting in a jazz club 'round midnight, all without ever having to take another flight or repack your suitcase.

It has more museums, staffed historic sites, and walking tours than any other island. And only here do a wealth of renovated buildings and well-preserved neighborhoods so clearly spin the story of Hawai'i history. It's the only place to experience island-style urbanity, since there are no other true cities in the state. And yet you can get as lost in the rural landscape and be as laid-back as you wish.