6 Best Sights in Pearl Harbor, Honolulu and Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor is still a working military base as well as Oahu’s most visited attraction, consisting of five distinct destinations. Managed by the National Park Service, the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center and USS Arizona Memorial make up the national memorial, where exhibits tell the story not only of the devastating Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, but also of the wartime internment of Japanese Americans, World War II battles in the Aleutian Islands, and the occupation of Japan after the war. The history continues at three, privately operated sights: the Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum (whose centerpiece is the USS Bowfin), the Battleship Missouri Memorial, and the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum.

A valid, government-issued, photo ID is required to enter the base. You can walk to the visitor center or the submarine museum from the parking lot, but access to the USS Arizona requires a ferry ride (and ticket reservations via  www.recreation.gov), and access to other sites, including the USS Missouri and the aviation museum, requires a shuttle bus trip.

With the exception of the visitor center, no bags of any kind—not even small purses—are allowed at any of the sights, though cameras, cell phones, and wallets can be hand-carried. A bag check is available. Children under four can visit the submarine museum but, for safety reasons, are not allowed on the USS Bowfin itself.

The gateway to the Pearl Harbor National Memorial and the starting point for visitors to this historic site has interpretive exhibits in two separate galleries (Road to War and Attack) that feature photographs and personal memorabilia from World War II veterans. There are also other exhibits, a bookstore, and a Remembrance Circle, where you can learn about the people who lost their lives on December 7, 1941. Survivors are sometimes on hand to give their personal accounts and answer questions. The visitor center is also where you start your tour of the USS Arizona Memorial if you have reserved the requisite timed-entry ticket ( www.recreation.gov; $1 reservation fee).

Lined up tight in a row of seven battleships off Ford Island, the USS Arizona took a direct hit on December 7, 1941, exploded, and rests still on the shallow bottom where she settled. You must reserve tickets ( www.recreation.gov) ahead of time to ensure access to the memorial; same-day, first-come, first-served tickets are no longer offered. As spaces are limited and tend to fill up, reserve as far ahead as possible; you can do so up to two months in advance. When your tour starts, you watch a short documentary film, then board the ferry to the memorial.

The swooping, stark-white structure, which straddles the wreck of the USS Arizona, was designed by Honolulu architect Alfred Preis to represent both the depths of the low-spirited, early days of the war and the uplift of victory. A somber, contemplative mood descends upon visitors during the ferry ride; this is a place where 1,777 people died. Gaze at the names of the dead carved into the wall of white marble. Look at oil on the water's surface, still slowly escaping from the sunken ship. Scatter flowers (but no lei—the string is bad for the fish). Salute the flag. Remember Pearl Harbor.

Together with the Arizona Memorial, the USS Missouri's presence in Pearl Harbor perfectly frames America's World War II experience, which began December 7, 1941, and ended on the "Mighty Mo's" starboard deck with the signing of the Terms of Surrender. To begin your visit on the fully restored vessel, pick up tickets online or at the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center. Then board a shuttle bus for the eight-minute ride to Ford Island and the teak decks and towering superstructure of the last American battleship ever built. Join a guided tour to learn more about the Missouri's long and dramatic history. The Heart of the Missouri tour (an additional $25) provides an up-close look at the battleship's engineering spaces, accessing its engine rooms, gun turret, damage control station, and aft battery plot room.

The Missouri is 887 feet long and 209 feet tall, with nine 116-ton guns capable of firing up to 23 miles. Absorb these numbers during the tour, then stop to take advantage of the view from the decks. Near the entrance is a gift shop, as well as a lunch wagon and shave ice stand that serve hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, and other treats.

A new and expanded Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum opened in 2021 after a $20 million renovation. Its centerpiece is the USS Bowfin, which launched one year to the day after the Pearl Harbor attack and which claimed to have sunk 44 enemy ships during World War II. Like the Arizona Memorial, the so-called Pearl Harbor Avenger commemorates the lost, but the mood here is lighter. Perhaps it's the childlike scale of the boat, a metal tube just 16 feet in diameter and packed with ladders, hatches, and other obstacles, like the naval version of a jungle gym.

Compartments aboard the vessel are fitted out as though "Sparky" is away from the radio room just for a moment and "Cooky" might be back to his pots and pans any minute. Among the intriguing artifacts is a vintage dive suit known as JAKE that looks too big for Shaquille O'Neal and is now in the gift shop window. A guided audio tour is included with admission to this privately operated museum. A snack bar is also on-site.

For safety reasons, children under four are not allowed aboard the submarine, though they can visit the museum. You can also purchase shuttle tickets to access the USS Oklahoma Memorial at the Bowfin's ticket counter, though you'll probably want to include that stop with a visit to the USS Missouri or the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum, both of which are on Ford Island along with the sunken Oklahoma submarine.

Opened on December 7, 2006, this tribute to aviation in the Pacific battlefield of World War II is on Ford Island in Hangars 37 and 79, actual seaplane hangars that survived the Pearl Harbor attack. The museum consists of a theater where a short film on Pearl Harbor is shown, an education center, a restoration shop, a gift store, and a restaurant. Exhibits—many of which are interactive and feature sound effects—include an authentic Japanese Zero and various other vintage aircraft that help to narrate such great battles as the Doolittle Raid on Japan, Midway, and Guadalcanal. The actual Stearman N2S-3 that President George H. W. Bush flew is housed in Hangar 79.

Ride in Fighter Ace 360 Flight Simulators, and take a docent-led tour for additional fees. Purchase tickets online, at the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center, or at the museum itself after you get off the shuttle bus that departs for the museum and the USS Missouri from the visitor center.