The best and nicest hotels in Hawaii
When you think of Hawaii, you quickly imagine expansive beaches and luxury resorts. But if you don't fancy massive hotels with hundreds of rooms—like you'll find along the Waikiki Beach coastline—you can also find small-scale, stylish addresses with a boutique vibe. This selection comes from Karin, who has lived on Oahu for seven years and knows the island like the back of her hand.
Do you want to know where to eat the best food and what you really shouldn't miss, in addition to a nice hotel? Then also check out the list of the best to do's en restaurants.
Here are Karin's absolute favorite hotels for an unforgettable stay in Hawaii!
Let's start with my absolute top favorite. This 122-room boutique hotel is one of those places you walk into by accident and then never want to leave. The lobby is filled with Hawaiian-inspired art in soft pastel shades that instantly perk you up, and there's plenty of cozy seating and lounge sofas to choose from with a beautiful view. You can usually find a spot for a bite to eat and a drink around the lobby bar without making a reservation; between 14:00 PM and 17:00 PM there is pau hana (happy hour) with live music. Do you want to sit down on the beach under the trees with a frontal sea view at restaurant Hau Tree then you better book in advance. Also nice: the beach Kaimana Beach, which you have direct access to from the hotel, is a popular meeting place for locals and surfers, which takes you completely out of the tourist vibe of Waikiki. The renovated rooms are beautiful; you want to live in the signature suite, although you pay the main price for it, starting at $500 per night.
Another address that will make you go crazy. This 94-room and suite hotel has fully embraced the Hawaiian retro look and from the entrance through a long corridor full of bamboo poles you find yourself in another world. The tiny but oh so cozy pool with ditto terrace is surprisingly never overcrowded and at the adjacent pool bar in the form of an old-fashioned tiki hut you can sit on swings instead of bar stools. Whoever I take here for a happy hour drink during a day out, success is always guaranteed. Restaurant Heyday offers a not too extensive but fine menu with small dishes and bar snacks. The rooms are fresh and have a small balcony; if you stay on the ground floor you have a private patio and you can walk to the bar and the pool. For Waikiki standards this hotel is very affordable; from $171 per night.
In this 112-room complex with a well-done vintage look, it is a coming and going of locals. Not only do they have attractive discounts for kamaina (locals) and military personnel of which there are thousands on Oahu, you can also bring your dog and that is eagerly used. If you are not a fan of four-legged friends, do not come here to stay but have a bite to eat at the small pool at restaurant Mahina & Sun's. The menu includes surprising dishes, local products and delicious craft cocktails. There is something to do here almost every weekend. Despite the small footprint of this hotel, there are silent disco nights, theme nights (disco, 80-ies party, open air cinema by the pool), pau hana (happy hour) and shopping evenings with local products and arts & crafts are organized. Enough to do and see. And the room rates are very reasonable. In the period that I was forced to live in a -very large- hotel in Waikiki for a few months, The Surfjack was often my 'way out of the hustle and bustle' happy place.
With 251 rooms, this hotel is a big 'box' compared to the other addresses on this list and is also located on a busy shopping street at a short 10-minute walk from the beach, but... as soon as you take the escalator from the street up to the lobby, the banana leaves are already swinging around your ears and at the front desk you are face to face with an impressive collection of hula dolls. In short, you have suddenly ended up in a secret world above street level. The spacious roof terrace with bar, restaurant and lounge sofas is not called the HideOut. Overlooking the city, it is certainly magical to be here around sunset for a drink and something disappear, or snacks. You don't have to leave this hotel for the rooms and the service; they are equipped with all conveniences, clean and of excellent quality.
Just one more, to finish it off… This hotel has been standing beautifully pink on the shoreline of Waikiki Beach for almost 100 years and is affectionately called The Pink Palace. This eye-catching gem was built as one of the very first hotels in Waikiki Beach and is considered a classic both locally and internationally. In addition to history, grandeur and the unavoidable pink colour, this hotel also has gigantic gardens in which it is so quiet that you would forget that you are in the beating heart of Waikiki. In the palm gardens, as a hotel guest, you can participate in a yoga class, and twice a week a luau performed with hula dancing, live music and fire eaters. In the hotel you can choose between the more modern rooms in the tower block, or the classic rooms in the historic building where everything from wallpaper to dressing gowns is pink. If you are not staying here, at least go for a drink in the one and only Mai Tai Bar. The Mai Tai, the national cocktail of Hawaii, was first served at this bar in 1953. Today, that classic recipe is still used and they serve this strong rum concoction with a pink umbrella, of course.
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